Recently, I returned home after a short but sweet trip to The Windy City. Until I was there, it hadn’t occurred to me how much I’ve hungered for such an uplifting, spontaneous atmosphere for my entire life.

Don’t get me wrong, growing up in the country has been a humbling experience. The closest kid your age lived miles down the road, and he or she was probably someone you never wanted to hang out with anyway. While taking showers, you weren’t always guaranteed hot water for a long period of time, and you could forget about buying quality designer shoes. They’d just get ruined out in the mud anyway.

Growing up country, however, has encouraged me to defy the average “country girl” stereotype. I’d rather wear heels versus cowgirl boots any day of the year, and I prefer skyscrapers to the small and desolate structures found in one horse-towns.

Although growing up in the country was never my idea of an ideal lifestyle, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Growing up this way taught me how to appreciate the little things in life while merging myself into a big city way of life. Plus, going back to the country shows you how far you’ve come. Regardless of my personal preferences, I am happy to say that I have been lucky to experience the best of both worlds. Even though I plan on settling down in a bustling metropolitan after my undergraduate studies are complete, I will always hold the simplicity of the country life in my heart, and I will always remember the morals it instilled in me at such a young age. Here’s to the stretches of cornfields, the cicadas that sing during hot summer nights, and the howl of an elderly hound dog on the front porch, audible from miles away. For this place that they call the country is the place I will forever call home.