I grew up in a suburb in Western New York. I went to a public high school where friday nights were dedicated to football games. Weekends were spent at a friend's house or at one of the few coffee shops around town because there wasn't much else to do. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the opportunities that town gave me. I was given a great education, I was involved in activities I still miss and I made friends that I still consider to be my best friends to this day. But with little to do other than school or watching Netflix with friends, I felt trapped.
I was twelve years old when I decided that I wanted to move to New York City. To me the city represented everything that my hometown wasn't: Exciting, unique and maybe even a little romantic. When it came time to apply to colleges, I only sent applications to one safety school that is not located in the city. I was determined to not only to move to New York City, but to also succeed.
Once I easily committed to a college in the city, I began to feel nostalgia for the town I knew I'd be leaving soon. Everyone's senior year of high school is full of lasts, but I made an effort to really appreciate all of these fleeting moments with my friends and classmates as we all prepared to start new chapters in our lives. I didn't know this at the time, but these memories would easily become some of my favorites.
When I moved away for college, I initially felt lost. I didn't have friends to spend the weekends with and I didn't have home cooked meals prepared for me each night. The dorm situation at my college is anything from normal. Students are put in two bedroom apartment styled dorms with a kitchen and private bathroom. Not only did this mean I had to learn how to cook something other than mac and cheese, but it also meant that I had a lot of growing up to do. I no longer had my parents to help clean and do the chores I've always taken for granted.
The two paces of New York City and the suburbs are night and day. While I didn't have too difficult of a time adjusting to the new lifestyle, I noticed many of my new college acquaintances struggling to keep up. Many of my high school friends and new college friends were able to drive home every few weekends to do their laundry or just to visit because they were homesick, but the six and a half hour drive between the city and my hometown was too long for me to do on a whim. When I was homesick, I had to find ways to make the city feel like my new home. This forced me to grow up a little faster than most students that go to school less than an hour away from their hometowns. Slowly but surely I grew up. I can now cook a variety of dishes, I clean all the time and I work two jobs along with a full schedule of classes to make just enough money to survive.
After living in New York City for almost three years, spending the past two summers here and moving into my own apartment, I know that I'll spend the rest of my life here. There's so much about the city that I love and that I can't imagine living without. One thing I will say about moving away from my hometown, though, is that it really helped me appreciate the town I spent the first eighteen years of my life in. Obviously moving away from my family and friends was difficult, but I anticipated this form of homesickness. What I didn't anticipate was missing the food that is custom to my hometown, those friday night football games that I always dreaded going to, being the only person on the road while driving to a friend's house and even high school in general. I began to miss the quiet nights that I also took for granted as I struggled to fall asleep to the loud sound of traffic that continuously takes over the streets of the city at all hours of the night. I missed having a lawn and being able to drive myself to wherever it was I wanted to go. I began to actively pay attention to my hometown sports teams because it helped me feel close to the sport crazy town.
If I had stayed in my hometown for college, I wouldn't have had some of the incredible opportunities the city has given me, but I also wouldn't appreciate the little things that make my hometown unique. I think it's important that everyone moves away from their hometown, even if it's only for a short amount of time. My move to New York City pushed me out of my comfort zone, forced me to act like an adult, and helped me figure out who I exactly am. Moving away from my hometown was the best decision I've ever made.
