Recently, I had to fly to Minneapolis for my transfer orientation, which gave me the opportunity to explore the city. Earlier in the year, I had a decent amount of expectations for my new home and I was surprised both by how right I was about some things and how wrong I was about others. Here are a few of my preconceptions about Minneapolis and the realities behind them.

1. Expectation: Minneapolis is always cold (to some degree)

This was probably the first aspect of Minnesota I thought of when I decided to transfer. For a while, I actually believed that Minnesota summers would only be about as hot as California winters, which usually go as "low" as 65 degrees.

However, as it turns out Minneapolis is capable of mid 80-degree temperatures. At the same time though, I do realize that once Fall hits, I'm going to have a very different experience from the one I had in orientation.

Reality: Minnesota isn't Antarctica; hot days do exist.

2. Expectation: The UMN campus is massive.

One of my personal draws to the Twin Cities campus was its sheer size, housing over 30,000 undergraduates alone. With this in mind, as well as the fact that it covers both Minneapolis and St. Paul, I was expecting a campus that was three or four times the size of my community college.

After taking a stroll around the premises I realized that I severely underestimated how large the campus really was. With about half an hour worth of walking I probably covered around 5% of the place in total. Maybe I'm over-exaggerating a little, but to me, it felt like there was so much to explore and one couldn't possibly cover every part of the university in one day.

Reality: It's even more massive than I anticipated.

3. Expectation: Minneapolis is constantly busy.

Another major selling point for UMN was its location; I may want to settle in a small quiet town in the future, but as a college student I have a thing for big cities. When I visited downtown I imagined it would look similar to downtown Los Angeles or New York City, but I quickly found that wasn't the case.

The infrastructure was still there; there wasn't exactly a shortage of tall buildings and trendy restaurants. However, the streets themselves seemed empty compared to the big cities I'm used to. I kind of assumed that the downtown area would be packed during a weekend, especially in the middle of summer. I don't know if I visited on a slow day or something, but it's strange to have a social hub like downtown feel so quiet.

Reality: Big city buildings with small town vibes.

I doubt that my limited experience in the city is enough to disprove my initial thoughts about Minneapolis, but what I've seen either contradicted my previous expectations or built upon them even further.