Three years ago I had to move from the Dominican Republic to the United States, and even though I enjoy living here, there are things that I haven't been able to forget.

Here are 5 things that I miss the most about living in the Dominican Republic:

1. Local food.

Even though here in America I'm able to find almost everything at certain supermarkets, it's still not the same. I used to live in Miami and there it wasn't unusual to find places centered around foreign food, however, certain places will overprice the food that they serve and food diversity is certainly not the same as back at home. In here, I have to conform to the limited amount of options available. There were instances in which I had to drive for more than 30 minutes to a place because they were the only ones selling the type of food that I was looking for.

2. The salty smell of the Caribbean sea.

I know that it might sound a little weird, however, this is one of the things that I missed the most since my days of living in a coastal town. In the area I used to live, there is a promenade alongside the sea and there you could feel a fresh breeze in the air mixed with the salty smell of the sea. The scent was so strong that you could almost taste it, making drives alongside the coast even more pleasurable.

3. People in general.

I feel that Dominicans are unique in their own way and customs that are normal there seem unusual in America. Their people are more outgoing and you're encouraged to be friends with everyone. This wasn't hard to do, especially in my province, because everyone knew each other. I went to the same school for eight years and I can guarantee that even though my parents didn't attend most of my school events, they knew more than half of all my friends and their parents.

4. The proximity of everything.

There is no doubt that the Dominican Republic is a small country with a population of 10 million people and a size almost the same as the state of Georgia. It comes as a no surprise that you can drive from one end of the island to another in less than seven hours. My house was about 20 minutes away from my old high school and that was considered to be far for some people - that's why I was so surprised when I moved here and I was told that a place which is 25 minutes away is believed to be close by.

5. The cheese.

A good thing about living so close to almost everything is that traveling to certain locations once in a while doesn't require a big sacrifice. For example, rural areas were relatively close to some of the major cities. One of the main benefits is that you could get food from local farms, including home-made cheese.