As a child growing up in rural Vermont, I always loved going to the big city and dreamed of a fabulous, impressive big city life. Trips to Boston were always a big deal, as were vacations to NYC, DC, Montreal, and others. I could not wait to leave Vermont and left at the first chance I got, in the form of going to college in Boston. Various different circumstances led me to transfer the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine, which I loved- it was a perfect mix of urban and rural Northern New England. When I finally went to grad school, I made a decision that surprised even me: I decided to go to American University in Washington, DC. While the call of the big city was enticing, there has always been something about DC that I found unappealing- something that I can't really describe. Perhaps it is that, as someone that studies international relations, I knew that it was a place that I would HAVE to go to, eventually.
In truth, DC has grown on me in ways that I didn't think it would (which is good considering I decided to go to AU before I had ever been to visit the school!). People in DC DO have souls, as it turns out! I love being immersed in the diversity and variety of this city. The opportunities offered by this city are innumerable. I love seeing the military personnel in their uniforms go off to their jobs in the Pentagon or the young professionals rush to their jobs in the middle of DC with their expensive suits. I love having public transportation readily available.
However, there is a time when these aspects of city life lose their luster, and the hour-and-a-half long metro commute to work gets old, and I long for a place where people don't live so close together and people actually care about making conversation with people, both people that they are familiar with and random strangers, and people aren't so in a hurry to get anywhere and everywhere. A place where people enjoy life and have time to balance work and friends and family and fun. Could I have been seeking Vermont all along?
