Throughout my teen years (which I'm still in for a few more days), I longed to live in the city and be part of the constant flow of people going about their lives. My romanticizing eyes drew a fairytale over the reality of the city, but I didn't care. I found it to be beautiful and I wanted to be part of it.
As time goes on, however, I've grown to like and even miss my small corner in the middle of nowhere. Here are seven reasons why the suburbs are better than the city.
1. No One Can Hear You Scream
There is so much nothing in the suburbs that if you tried hard enough in the right area (a park, for example), you could literally scream at the top of your lungs and no one would hear you. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends, but sometimes you just need to be alone and scream and the middle of the woods is the perfect place to that, which takes me to No. 2.
2. The Woods
Green is a wonderful color and the city doesn't hold a flag to the suburbs. As far as I'm concerned, green is the color of the suburbs. There are so many trees in the suburbs that the woods are literally right outside my bedroom window. I can get deer ticks by rolling out of bed and rolling across my front lawn if I wanted to. Granted, I don't want to, but I could. I can walk barefoot on the grass to get my mail. I'd like to see someone in the city do that.
3. Keep Your Friends Close
The suburbs make it easy for casual acquaintances to deepen to full-blown friendships. When you've spent thirteen years with the same people, you're bound to walk away with some lifelong friends without much effort outside of going to class. On top of that, at least one person in your friend group has a pool.
4. Excuses, Excuses
This may be one of the greatest things the suburbs offers and is, in some ways, an extension of No. 1. Privacy. The suburbs are created for not seeing people you don't want to. First of all, the landscape is against you. Sure, you could walk to school… if you have half an hour and a spare shirt for when you sweat through the one you're wearing. Your friend invited you to something but you're knee deep in Netflix? Your car's busted and your mom's at work. Sorry, I'll catch you next time we play Smash.
5. King Kone
Every town has something like this and mine is called King Kone. It's some random roadside ice cream place that, in reality, serves mediocre soft serve, but due to memories and locality—excuse me, exclusivity—, it's the best thing in the world once summer hits.
6. Summer Festivals
The Fourth of July is a huge event in my town with all of the classic symbols of Americana. Every year, the town dresses up the main park with inflatable obstacle courses, grill stations, music performances and at night, fireworks streak across the sky. Knowing that you're sharing the night with your closest 22,000 friends just makes it all the more special.
7. A History All Your Own
Although this was tedious to learn during school removed from the town, you carry all of the local histories you learned with you like a badge of honor. While I personally don't have that much to tell, I'm always happy to tell people about Old Bet.
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