I would never consider myself a "farm girl", ever. I'm sure from the perspective of someone who grew up in the city, it's hard not to assume that every person from a small town is a redneck (and trust me, a lot of them are). Knowing that I wasn't one of those people, I thought that city life would just be like my everyday life, but boy was I wrong. I will admit that while it was not hard to adjust, it was quite the change. I wish I would've known how different it was going to be, and how much I was going to love it.
1. You can get more than just pizza delivered.
I sometimes still can't believe that with apps like DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats, I can have McDonald's at my door in 20 minutes. Growing up, I didn't even live close enough to town to get a pizza delivered, so moving to the city and being able to order whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, completely blew my mind.
2. Diversity is a great thing.
Growing up in a small town, I basically only knew white people. We had the occasional non-white person, but I would estimate that about 98% of my hometown identifies as white. I would also estimate that 100% of my hometown identifies as Christian. Because of this, there is a huge problem with racism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia where I'm from.
My family had always taught me to love everyone despite their background, but I'm sad to say that I lived almost my whole life just assuming that the majority of the white people that I met were going to be racist because the majority of the people in my hometown were. Moving to the city and seeing how everyone from different races, religions, and cultural backgrounds coexist and respect each other was so eye-opening to me. Obviously, we've still got a long way to go, but it's great to know that everyone isn't as close-minded outside the borders of my small town.
3. I hate traffic.
Okay, I know that everyone hates traffic. But traffic in a town with a population of approximately 1,400 people is A LOT different than traffic in a town with 50,000 people. In high school, I used to leave for work and school ten minutes before I had to be there, and still got where I was going with time to spare. Now, I'm lucky if I can make it to work on time if I leave half an hour early.
4. Whole Foods is not as cool as I thought it was.
Living in a small town, I had never even seen a Whole Foods in person, let alone grocery shopped there. Before I moved, I remember always telling myself that as soon as I got my own apartment in the city I was going to go straight to Whole Foods for groceries. That fantasy was squashed pretty quick when I saw that avocados were $3 each. Plus, now that I live near so many different stores, I've discovered that shopping locally is better for you, the environment, and your wallet.
5. Being five miles from a grocery store is a godsend.
If you've ever been to a small town, then you've seen the prices at small-town grocery stores. If I needed something urgently, I was most definitely going to pay double what I would pay at Meijer at my local Family Fare. Going grocery shopping was something that was only done once every two weeks since the grocery store was 40 minutes away. Now, I live less than ten minutes from any grocery store I could imagine, and can even go to more than one store in one trip!
6. Leaving the house in pajamas is wonderful.
In my small hometown, I could barely walk out of my front door without seeing someone I knew. Because of this, there was no running to the store really quick in my workout clothes to grab milk. I had to be prepared to stop and catch up with someone every time I left the house. Now, I can be out for hours without seeing a familiar face, and nothing is better than being able to wear your pajamas grocery shopping.
7. Concerts are so much more convenient.Â
In high school, I was quite the concert goer. Since I lived three hours from the nearest mainstream concert venue, this also meant that I had a lot of days where I had to keep myself open all day, which usually meant calling in sick to work and school. I had to get up early to get ready, drive three hours to wherever the concert was, and then drive around the city for an hour looking for parking. Now that I live in the city, I can get out of work at 6:00 and still make it to a concert at 8:00.
8. Gas is EXPENSIVE.
"Highway miles" and "city miles" have no meaning when you live in a small town because there are almost no stop lights, so your gas mileage stays about the same most of the time. I think I filled up my gas tank once every two weeks when I lived in my hometown. In the city, however, I fill up once, maybe twice a week. You don't realize how much gas stop and go really wastes until you're spending $30 a week just to go to work and school.
9. Boredom is NOT exclusive to small towns.
Before I moved to the city, I thought that I would never be bored again, since there would be so much to do in such a huge place. Boy was I wrong. While there is a lot more to do, they all have big city price tags, meaning that (most of the time) I still just sit at home bored. At least in a small town, you can go to Walmart and walk around when you're bored.
10. I am NEVER going back.
I can't say that I didn't love my childhood in a small town, because I did. I will always cherish the memories that I made and the friends that will be there for me for a lifetime. I can say, however, that I will never regret leaving. I was able to broaden my horizons, meet so many new people, and have had so many opportunities that I would have never had if I had stayed in my small town.
