When I made the decision to move away for college, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. Moving to a new area you are unfamiliar with where you have a fresh start can be exciting but extremely scary at the same time. Even if it's only a 200-mile distance. In my case, I learned going to school in Birmingham makes me appreciate my hometown in Memphis every day. Although the cities are very different, they still have a common ground that makes them the same: the type of people you meet.

Maybe it's just from living in the south for most of my life, but when you're in Birmingham, you are going to meet some of the nicest people you have met in your life. Not kidding. Not a single harmful soul. It made the transition extremely easy and finding friends was not a hard task. People from Birmingham are outgoing and genuinely happy to meet you.

In addition, the type of people that go to school at UAB are authentic and unique. In my first year, I met little to no toxic people that negatively impacted my life. Now that I have been home for almost two months, I have been enjoying my time home more than I did prior to living in Memphis for the summer.

Before I went to school, I used to hate living in Memphis. Because I have lived here for so long, I could not find anything fun to do or places to go for years. In all honesty, I just wanted to get the heck out of Memphis because I thought there would be somewhere to live that was more exciting. And after moving away, I thought Birmingham was better. But then I realized I LOVE THEM EQUALLY.

The longer I lived in Birmingham, the more I started to miss Memphis, but in a fond way. There are things in Birmingham that I couldn't find in Memphis, but there were also things in Memphis that weren't in Birmingham. The biggest example is barbecue and bubble tea. Barbecue is one of the staples that puts Memphis on the map. While there are some good B-ham barbecue places, it does not compare to the smoky goodness you find in the 901. But you can't find good bubble tea in Memphis. These are just small comparisons of the differences between the two. Finding the comparisons only makes me happy because I know I can always go back to either place if I am missing the latter.

My plans post-graduation is completely in the unknown, but you will find me living in one of these cities before I decide to settle down. I call both of these places home now, but if it weren't for a city smack dab in the middle of Alabama, I would not love Memphis as much as I do now.