One of toughest things in life is having to leave behind the place you love the most. Having to leave the memories, the good times, friends and family along with it. For me, that place is my hometown of the Bronx, New York. About five years ago, my biggest nightmare began- or what I thought was my biggest nightmare, at least. My parents announced that we were moving out of New York and heading to Pennsylvania. That’s when I lost it.

This was something that made me extremely sad because that city had been my everything for the past 10 years. From the minute I left the Dominican Republic until I was taken away from it. Imagine having to leave the greatest city in the world to move to the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. If you think about it, it sounds horrible, yes. That’s exactly what I thought when I first moved out here but little by little my opinion about this place changed.

At first, living here wasn’t so bad. I didn’t mind it honestly. My parents still worked in the city for about a year and half after we had moved, so I went back to the city everyday with them. It felt as if I hadn’t left the city, like I just found a temporary living space about 90 miles away. It was such a struggle having to wake up at 4:30 AM everyday, but if it meant I was going back home, it was totally worth it.

Once school started, that’s when everything changed. I was upset because I didn’t know anyone here and I had no clue how I was gonna survive in a big public school. I wasn’t ready to be the “new girl from NYC” who was going to be either ignored by everyone or be bombarded with questions about what it’s like living in the city. I also wasn’t ready to ride a school bus again. Heck, I hadn’t been on a school bus since elementary school, so imagine having to ride it in high school because you don’t drive and school’s too far of a walk. Back in the city, I took three subway trains and a bus to get to school and now I was a 5 minute bus ride away. Talk about change, alright.

I think that the thing I missed the most about the city was having everything close by. Either up the block or a subway ride away. Here, everything is at least a mile away… Yikes! Just being able to meet up with my friends and going on adventures in SoHo, crossing the bridges downtown, ice skating in Central Park in the winter time, seeing city lights, taking pictures of taxi cabs, and running through open fire hydrants in the summer...those are the things I definitely miss most.

Whitehall is beautiful and quiet, and even though these past few years here have been good to me, it will never be compared to the city. The police and fire sirens late at night, the skyline shining with beautiful lights, the different accents you hear on the street, everything open 24/7, it’s just beautiful and nothing can ever compare to my beautiful city.

Although, it’s been four years since, I’ve gotten used to my new town, made new friends and found ways to make life bearable here. I’m still sad that I had to leave, but sometimes I think about how different my life would have been if my parents didn’t move us out here. I believe everything happens for a reason and maybe it just wasn’t best to stay in the city. It’s only a 2-hour drive away so if I ever want, I can just go. I’ve learned to live with it and I survived. New York will always be my true home and I would’t trade it for anything in the world but I guess I’m okay for now.