Growing up in a small town and being subjected to what seemed like the world’s cliquiest high school, getting out and moving to New York City was the ultimate goal and had so much potential to change my life. Of course, getting into schools in New York was one thing – but committing to go there was another (not to mention financial aid, because let’s be real, who can afford full tuition anymore). So long story short, I initially found myself in a small town in Florida and then eventually at a big school in the middle of western Massachusetts – and what even exists in western Mass other than cows and tumbleweeds.
Being in the middle of nowhere was scary, would I miss being able to take a train into Boston? Would I go insane amidst all the cows and tumbleweeds? What is there to do in the middle of farmland?
Recently, I went to visit a friend from high school – who is living the dream and studying acting in New York City. The entire 6-hour bus ride was spent thinking about how envious I was going to be after seeing how he lives. Immediately, I was shocked into realizing how much of a sensory overload the city can be. My phone GPS told me the bus dropped me somewhere in New Jersey, leading me to call my friend in an absolute panic. Spoiler alert: I was actually just in the basement of the Port Authority bus station and didn’t have enough service for my phone to recognize that I was in the correct place – not my most intelligent moment.
New York is a crazy place: everyone runs everywhere, nobody says sorry when they run into you, and being run over by a taxi is a real thing. The students there have the whole city as their campus, giving them endless possibilities – but at some point does that get to be too much?
A pretty big chunk of my time in NYC was spent in my friend’s dorm room – which was great and I did not mind just hanging out – but that showed me that the students in New York enjoy doing nothing just as much as the rest of us lazy college bums. Which got me thinking, is it possible that college is just as fun in the middle of nowhere as it is in the greatest city in the world?
After spending one glorious weekend in a bustling city, I realized that I would not trade my experiences of college in a nowhere town for anything. Being out here with the cows is relaxing and it means that I get to be a stereotype of a college student if I want to be. I can tailgate in a gigantic parking lot and then not even go to the football game. I can lay out in the grass and listen to music with my friends. I can go to weird frat parties and dance like a typical college girl.
It’s not that none of this is possible living in a big city, but the experience is certainly quite different. My weekend in NYC was amazing, don’t get me wrong, but living there is something that I can look forward to as an adult. In the meantime, living out here in nature and being dumb for four years is great.
