I was very lucky this Thanksgiving because even though we have a very short break at AMDA, (a whole four days!) I was still able to go home for Thanksgiving. Granted I don't live too far away (Maryland represent!) but still it was a blessing to be able to come home.
I was so thankful for homemade food, but more importantly food I didn't have to make myself, or go out to pick up. I'm also thankful for my family who had missed me, and I missed them too! Lastly, my menagerie of pets that I left behind when I went to college who thought they'd never see me again.
I always knew my small town was different from New York. But it was on this trip that I realized just how different it really was. I think that the most obvious difference was that everything was closed. I remember at orientation one of the speakers who works at the school was talking about how New York would spoil us and that when we get home we'd be sitting around saying; "What do you mean I can't get Chinese at three o'clock in the morning?!?" All I can say is, she was so right about that.
It was Black Friday and virtually nothing in the next town over was open, not even the McDonald's. The only places that were open were A Macy's, a Target, Best Buy for a little while, and a Walmart. And it was only one o'clock in the morning, but still.
It also gets really dark at night. Which I personally found kind of creepy. I think that since there's always lights on in the city that never sleeps, I never really experienced darkness. So when I was going home from shopping, the fog and lack of light on the open road was a bit unsettling.
Another thing I noticed was that no one was around. New York was busier on a day to day basis than stores back home were on Black Friday. I mean sure that made the once arduous task seem easy as pie. But it was definitely different.
The quietness as well was something to acclimate back into. Living in a place where the only time it was as remotely quiet was when Donald Trump was announced president; going back home to where there were no sirens, car horns, or the hum of the city was just flat out weird. Not really a bad weird, but funny weird.
I never realized how spread out my small town was, and how big my house was until I came to the City. Back in my dorm, which is roughly smaller than a Kardashian closet, I made the best of how small my living space was and acclimated accordingly (aka playing tetris with my belongings). But back home that wasn't even an issue. Before I moved up to New York, I thought my bathroom at home was small compared to my friends at their houses. But coming back home, I realized that my bathroom was huge compared to my cubicle sized bathroom that doesn't even have room for a tub. Needless to say I've been bathing a lot while I can.
All and all the change in scenery, and the familiarity of home was welcome. And although my love of the city will never falter, my love for home will always be that, love.
