I am from a small town and no it’s not a place like in the movies where the small town is romanticized. It’s a tiny town where people who you don’t know, know you and things about you. My town is a place where people know your parents’ parents. I grew up in a town of 1,000 people and I graduated from a school of 300 students, my class being about 100 kids.

After high school I was headed to college in a bigger town. I was also headed to a more liberal location. I was excited because I never had a lot of people in my high school, who had my viewpoints. I wasn’t open about a lot of my views in high school because I cared too much what people thought of me. I realize now that more people in my school actually agreed with my views than I realized but I think we all felt the pressure to not really voice them or maybe that was just I.

Though I am from a state about 2,000 miles away from my college and I miss home and my family at times. I don’t regret going far away because I got to experience how it felt to be accepted by people. I felt I could finally be myself and embrace parts of me that I never got to in high school. I am more open about who I am than I have ever been in my whole life. I think that’s an effect of not only being out of high school, but also getting out of my town.

No one knew me when coming into college, it didn’t matter who I was in high school or what I did in high school. My status in high school didn’t matter. I wasn’t cool in high school, but that’s okay because I didn’t fit in with those kids anyways. And that’s okay.

I realized that coming from such a small town where most people had one view of things that I had an eye opening experiences coming to a very liberal college. In my town we never talked about gender or about sexuality. Everyone mostly thought there were only two genders and everyone was either straight or gay. I experienced having my sexuality ignored in high school. In college, everyone assumes that you may not be straight and you may not identify as a female (since I go to a historically all women’s college). I think it’s great that I can experience myself being seen as the full me rather than just being what others approved of.

I also am so happy to be in this college because I have never felt more confident and better about myself. I think the change of environment was really good for me. Though my stress levels are a lot higher here, I wouldn’t trade my experiences here for anything. So to all those who live in a small town, I strongly encourage you to leave. Maybe not forever but at some point in your life explore the world or just maybe start with the USA. You will see there is much more than a town that wouldn’t let you embrace every part of yourself. I promise there is more out there and I hope you see that one-day.