As a college student, the most common, daunting question for me is “Where are you from?” My response is “I’m from Las Vegas.” And then I have to go through the same conversation over and over again because people entertain themselves with that fact about me, as if I’m some circus freak show or something. And since spring break is approaching, I thought people should understand what Las Vegas actually entails since many students are probably going to Las Vegas for spring break. For those people visiting Viva Las Vegas, this is the top five conversational starters I pull through:
1. Do you live on the strip?
Yes, I spent my teen years living in the “Suite Life” of living in a Las Vegas strip hotel with a dumb heiress as a best friend, a strict hotel manager as a mentor/tormentor, and a single mom that sings in the lobby every night. Yes, my life in LV was definitely a nostalgic Disney Channel show.
2. There must be like no people living there.
Only 2 million citizens live in LV but who's counting.
3. There are probably a million things to do.
If you’re 21 and over, there is a whole adulterated version of Disneyland on Las Vegas Blvd. But other than that, Las Vegas is just like any other suburban area where kids are bored and do stupid things like parkour, or engage in, ehm, not the most legal activities, or just walk around a mall for 5 hours straight. Just your everyday suburban life for a teenager. Or you could avoid the outside world and binge watch the latest T.V show on Netflix.
4. People must get freaky, you know, since it’s Sin City and all.
Yes, the amount of Mormons riding around the city in bikes to convert the entire city is quite sinful. The amount of churches congested in one area is unholy You know what's a sin? No Chick-fil-a in Las Vegas because of that nickname preventing corporate from building a location there.
5. What do you mean you’re not from Las Vegas but you are at the same time
I’m from Las Vegas but I live by a suburb called Henderson which is apart of Las Vegas, and only 20 minutes away from the strip. And so is Summerlin, another Henderson. But it's still Las Vegas. It's insane that there are places that exist outside of the Strip. Places where families raise their children, where those children goes to school, and the places where children go to soccer practice after school. And people do people things like shop for groceries, wash their cars, and do other chores? Gasp!
