People are always asking me, “Where do you want to work when you graduate? In Kansas or somewhere else?” That’s a difficult answer for me to answer. After living in Kansas for nearly my entire life, I’m ready to experience the rest of the world. At the same rate, if I were to leave there would be aspects that I would miss that make the sunflower state so loveable.

Now that I think about it... The things I love and hate about Kansas, they are one in the same.

"The Wizard of Oz"

"The Wizard of Oz" is an amazing film full of imagination and wonder and it’s a beloved classic of everybody everywhere. What’s not to love? But when you’re from Kansas and you travel out of Kansas, everybody seems to have the same running joke. “You’re not in Kansas anymore!” Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny. Like I haven’t heard that one a million times before.

Even though the setting was Kansas and not actually filmed in Kansas, we still accept this film as a part of our culture. Plus, Judy Garland has an amazing voice. "The Wizard of Oz" is a gemstone in the Kansas culture and we proudly accept it.

Small Schools

Living in Kansas, you won’t have the opportunity to meet a lot of new people until you are an adult and ready for college. Especially if you go to a small school in Kansas like me (and there are a lot of them in Kansas), you cherish the opportunity to travel and meet other people. Whether it would be a conference or competition out of town or out of state, traveling and meeting other people is an exciting thought. Otherwise, you have the same 50 people that you see and learn with and talk to and eat with every weekday from 8 AM to 3 PM. For 4 years.

BUT. There is a certain “cuteness” about the small schools in Kansas. Being in a small school, there is a lot that you build with the same 50 people because you see and learn with and talk to and eat with every weekday from 8 AM to 3 PM. For 4 years. I love my class. I love my close circle of friends that I found at my small school, as opposed to getting lost in a sea of 500 students. I wouldn’t trade my small school experience for anything.

Sunsets

Literally, everybody and their dogs are posting pictures of the sunsets.

BUT THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL.

Sunrises

Did I mention there’s just as many sunrise photos as there as sunset photos?

* heart eyes emoji*

The Flat Nothingness

Living in Kansas, you usually have to drive a good while (if you don’t live in town). For me, I have to drive two and a half hours on the interstate to go to school, but the drive is so baron. Apart from the occasional hill, rest stop, town or windmill, there isn’t much to look at. Unless you love looking at prairies, farmland, farm animals and/or general nothingness, Kansas is the state for you! Even worse, driving in the dark is unbelievably scary because the land is so flat and nearly anything can come out of nowhere from the side of the road and there is a strong possibility of wildlife becoming wild-dead.

On the other side of the coin, the nothingness of Kansas offers us the opportunity to drive out into the country, find a no name dirt road and look at the stars. There is enough flatland for everybody to grab their own plot of nothingness and look up at the sky with no light pollution. Nothing beats the quiet hum of nature while staring up at the night sky.

After all this time in Kansas, I’ve come to appreciate the things that annoyed me when I was younger.