I'm just going to put this out there: I don't like living in a small town.

Where I'm from, this is a very unpopular opinion. People seem to idolize small town living. They imagine small towns as perfect, idyllic places full of unicorns and rainbows. Well, that might be a stretch, but people who live in small towns usually love small towns, and those who don't live in them dream of them. They picture the simple nature of a small town, with peace and quiet. It's a world where everyone knows everyone.

I won't deny that there are certain perks to living in a small town. You wake up to quiet. There is no traffic on the streets. You know all your classmates. Life is easy. Life is simple.

But there are also downsides to small town life. You may know all your classmates, but you know them a little too well. You know where they live, who they're dating, what their grade point average is, and what they did last weekend. Everyone knows you and everything about you. The nearest mall is 50 minutes away. And the downside that I hate the most is that residents don't want to leave.

Growing up, my parents encouraged me to spread my wings and travel. They wanted me to move away from the small town. They didn't want me to stay. Heck, my parents don't want to stay in my small town, but this is where they work. I grew up with big dreams that involved bigger cities in bigger places across the country and even across the world. I never wanted to stay where I grew up. I never planned on it.

In small towns, there aren't many opportunities and people aren't open to things that are different. I dream of working in the publishing industry and being a writer. Most people in my town are agriculture majors since we live in a farming community, and that is the norm. I want to live in New York, Boston, London, or Paris. Most people from my school don't leave the Midwest.

Small town life is too simple for me.

I want something different.

I want something new.

I want to be able to walk to the bookstore or the mall or a coffee shop, instead of having to drive 50 minutes to the closest one.

I want to be able to navigate the subway, and I can't do that in a small town.

I want to live in a city where I have the opportunity to meet someone new every single day.

I don't want to know everything about everybody and I don't want everybody to know me.

As Belle said in "Beauty and the Beast," "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere."

That's what I want.

Small town life doesn't give that to me.

While I'm grateful for the life that I lived in my small town, I'm ready for my next great adventure.