When I'm at college, I am seven hours away from home. I attend USF, situated right on the edge of Tampa, Florida. The school is diverse with students from all over the world. If you drive 25 minutes down the interstate, you can easily access downtown. Downtown is packed with white-collared workers, cute coffee shops, art museums and boutiques. All of this is much different from the small town I call my home up in the panhandle of Florida.
Returning home in the summer is always bittersweet for me. I love seeing my pets, family and friends. I indulge myself in the summer heat by laying for hours on the beach and swimming in The Gulf. My best friend since fifth grade returns home as well in the summer so we spend almost every day together, catching up on the past few months spent apart. Despite all of this, the bitterness comes from my claustrophobia. The little town seems so small now because I have fallen so in love with Tampa. Everywhere I go, I feel as if I see half my graduating class walking around. Nothing changes in the town except for the addition of a McDonald's.
As a high school student, I felt so trapped in my town. Every person in my school seemed to have the same ideas about everything. My school sat in the heart of the suburban Bible belt. The only thing providing any excitement was the Friday night football games. Unfortunately, I have never been a huge football fan, but I didn't dare tell anyone that. I was involved in Student Government which provided a solid friend group to make memories with. Other than that, I felt the town didn't offer much for me. I always wanted more. I wanted more room, more adventure, more concerts, more busy streets, more diversity, more opinions and more genuine personalities to surround myself with. My town was the typical high school town. And honestly, it still is. When I come back, most people still dress the same, talk the same and act the same. It is difficult to speak about anything that might be against the conservative lifestyle. Homosexuals and people of color still have a lot of issue in my town, and that really upsets me.
While keeping your roots is great, returning home just isn't for me. The simple lifestyle of living in the same town with a family is for some, and I give major props to those people who want to do that. As for me, I'll take a breather at home every once and a while, but I prefer the busy lifestyle full of hustle and bustle. And quite honestly, I don't plan on settling down anytime soon. I can barely remind myself to sleep and eat.
