In my eighteen years, I have yet to leave my little west side 'burb of Cleveland for longer than two weeks at a time. After graduating high school I decided to dive further into my favorite city, moving right downtown to attend college at Cleveland State University. For years and years, I have heard all of the terrible and embarrassing aspects that outsiders believe about CLE and I have yet to agree on a single one. I now laugh at all of the people with whom I went to high school that proclaimed all throughout our senior year, "I cannot wait to get out of here and go to a school hours away from Cleveland." I am so glad that I chose to stay right here with my friends and my family in my favorite place.

Not only was I born a Cleveland lover, I now am ecstatic to see my city flourish right before my eyes while living down here and experiencing it all first-hand. This time last year Cleveland had almost nothing to brag about, and even the most loyal fans' pride dwindled. Today, us Clevelanders are the owners of our first NBA championship trophy -- thanks to our beloved Cavaliers-- we are entering game one of the MLB World Series alongside our Tribe, and we welcomed thousands upon thousands of republicans to our city when CLE hosted the RNC back in June. Need I also mention that CSU tops their enrollment every single year! The university is becoming so popular that it is racing to get more student housing built and is bringing in enough money to build state of the art, beautiful classroom buildings.

There is no better feeling than walking through downtown Cleveland on a game night and seeing the city come to life with the excitement of the fans. I feel even more at home since leaving for college and moving to the city.

There is no place I would rather be, especially this year, than CLE.