Going away for Spring Break is a great adventure. Even if it's just going home, you can discover new things about your hometown. Going to PCB (Panama City Beach) or Destin or across the pond are great ways to get away from OSU and your own little slice of Heaven, a.k.a Stillwater, Oklahoma. It may only be a week but I do miss my home away from home. Between the construction, the terrible roads and the endless back roads that you can take anywhere and end up where you started. Stillwater has its faults but it also has so many merits. Here are 9 things I miss about Stillwater:
1. Friends
Since going to college I lost most of my hometown friends so when I do go home I'm usually home with my little siblings watching cartoons (they're currently 4 and 6 so it makes sense). I don't hang out with anybody but my family when I'm home, which is a perfectly good reason to go home if not the only reason. My friends are in Stillwater. They may be other places too but when I'm there my friends are too and I always have someone to hang out with and talk to and go on midnight rides around town with.
2. Driving
Sure my small town of Muskogee, Oklahoma (population of almost 39,000 people) has some sights, such as the Country Music Hall of Fame and the USS Batfish submarine but it's not Stillwater. That city has endless miles of road that leads all around (what city doesn't?) but it's different because of all the tiny towns that surround it. Stillwater is a hub of highways that lead anywhere you want. You can take an hour trip and you're in the Tulsa or go the other way and end up in Edmond and OKC. I love driving in Stillwater, as long as I avoid the bad roads.
3. Freedom
I may be 21 but whenever I go home I still ask for permission (usually) and my parents always have questions about what I'm going to do. I also have the freedom to choose what to do and when to do it. Stillwater gives me the freedom to live exactly how I want (besides living in a dorm where rules are around every corner).
4. Food
Muskogee doesn't have Golden Dragon, or Fuzzy's Tacos, or Slim Chickens or ANYTHING Stillwater does. Even though I go to the same place all the time I still have the option to have different things if I want to.
5. Schedules
I'm the kind of person who needs to have everything planned out or have absolutely nothing planned out. At school, I have a schedule and purpose and things I need to get done. At home, everyday blends together and I can't tell if it's Monday or Friday. I don't get homework done and I don't get laundry done, both are obvious necessities of the weekend.
6. Spontaneity
Home is the same thing every time. Stillwater is a constant game of "what am I doing tonight?" Going to the bars, going shopping, even going to McDonald's at 1 a.m. is fun when you're with friends.
7. Responsibility
Home is generally where your parents are. Depending on how you're raised you have to have your room spick and span and the dishes done and the trashes taken out every night. Being in Stillwater doesn't require that every night. You can get away with a night of dirty dishes and clothes on your floor.
8. The mullet
I don't know about you but Mike Gundy doesn't live in my hometown. There isn't a chance that I could catch a glimpse of his mullet but Stillwater there's a chance to see it every day.
9. Campus
Having the cowboy family by your side in every class is a great support system. You may not know anyone but knowing that you're surrounded by like-minded people is one of the greatest things about Stillwater.
