When most kids go to college, they're going someplace bigger than their hometown. This isn't everyone, of course, but generally, there are way more small towns and suburbs than there are bustling cities. Therefore, every fall, millions of nervous eighteen-year-olds leave the comfort of their homes, their towns, and the people they've known their entire lives, to a new, and most likely bigger place with up to thousands of new people. Especially in Wisconsin (or any Midwestern states, for that matter). A lot of college students will be coming from suburbs and small towns to go to school somewhere that's at least a little bigger than their hometown.
So I guess that makes me the exception. I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And yes, when I say Milwaukee, I mean the actual city of Milwaukee, not a small town on the outskirts of a suburb 25 minutes away. I grew up ten minutes away from downtown, spent six years of my education at a school where we literally went on walking field trips to places around the city, and my favorite running path has a perfect view of the Milwaukee skyline. I may not be from a huge, global city like Chicago or New York, but if you ask me, I'm a city girl through and through.
As much love as I have for the city life, however, I had absolutely no desire to stay in Milwaukee when it came to college. I'd always dreamed of getting away from home and finding myself somewhere else (preferably in an even bigger city), and college is the perfect place to do that. But with private and out-of-state schools' prices being outrageously high, my college options pretty much narrowed down to the public schools in Wisconsin. Which, for me, meant one of two things: I'd either have to stay in Milwaukee or move somewhere smaller.
I decided on the latter option, and I can honestly say that I have no regrets about that decision. My school may not be in an urban setting like I'd originally hoped, but it's also a decent drive away from home, which was also always on my college agenda. So in that aspect, I can't complain. I like my college, I like my friends, and I like the atmosphere.
On the flip side, though, I can't really pretend like it doesn't bug me sometimes that I'm attending college in a town that's about a tenth of the size of my hometown. The thing is, I don't really get homesick in the sense where I'm desperately yearning to be in my own bed, in my own house, surrounded by my loving family members.
Of course, I miss my home and my family, but homesickness has never been an issue of mine. But what I do miss is all the things I had in Milwaukee that I don't have here. The city lights, the excitement of downtown, every store, and food chain I could possibly want just a short drive away. It's not the easiest transition, going from a place that's fast-paced, highly-populated, diverse, and endlessly entertaining, to a smaller community that doesn't have quite as much to do, and where the vast majority of people look the same. It was a culture shock, for sure--one that may not occur to most people who mostly think about college students leaving their cozy little homes for bigger places and infinitely more people.
At the end of the day, though, I'm happy with where I am. I'm far away enough from home so that I can be my own person, find myself, and not be tempted to run home every weekend. I'm close enough so that if I really miss my city, it's just a bus ride away. I might not be in my preferred urban setting when I'm away at school, but I know that the hustle and bustle of the big city will always be there waiting for me when I come home.
