Just a Small Town Girl Moving to the Big City

By Brittany Loeffler on March 22, 2017

Let me paint a picture of the town I grew up in. There were more churches than schools or grocery stores and our single story library was in the same building as the police station. There is just one high school for the tri-county area, so you knew pretty much every teenager in town if you went there. When people ask where I’m from, I have to first ask if they have heard of Longwood Gardens, a famous thousand acre garden display, and follow up with, “I’m 20 minutes south of that.”

There wasn’t much that happened in our town. I remember the summer after my senior year of high school the Sunoco gas station a couple of miles from my house was torn down and rebuilt. The day it opened, everyone on my Snapchat recorded himself or herself going into the new gas station excitedly.

Needless to say, I felt that I was too big for such a small town. Predominantly white Christians, I was tired of meeting the same people with the same ideas. I aspired to meet people of different cultures, hear new and exciting stories, and be exposed to the world. Moving to the city did exactly that!

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The College Search

Since I was little, I dreamed of living in New York City. After attending a two-week writing intensive program during high school, I knew I could fit in with large crowds and navigate my way through the mean streets of a big city. When it was time to search for colleges, I told my parents I had to be in a big city. (I never even dreamed of applying to Penn State, unlike many of my peers)

I previewed some schools in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. I ended up choosing the first school I toured, Temple University in Philadelphia. Now that I am in my senior year, I can confidently say it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Adjustment Period

There is an adjustment period for anyone who is going away to school. I like to think my adjustment was a little different since my school is located in North Philadelphia, a neighborhood that has high crime rates and is still being developed. Sitting in my dorm room the first week of school, I had never heard so many sirens in my life!

Our RAs would warn us not to walk off campus alone late at night, but growing up in a small town and hearing my parents always telling me to be careful in empty parking lots at night after getting off from work at the grocery store, I didn’t take these warnings too seriously. I guess it was the ignorant feeling of invincibility in me. It wasn’t until the TU Alerts, text messages and emails campus security sends out to students when a violent occurrence happens, started arriving in the middle of the night that I took these warnings seriously.

I’m grateful for going to school in North Philadelphia. If I hadn’t, then I would never have gained the street smarts and common sense I have now. Four years later I think back to my freshman year and realize how blissfully ignorant I was of living in the city.

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Public Transit and Learning How to Read a Map

Where I grew up, you needed to have your license and a car if you wanted to do anything. Since moving to Philadelphia, I rarely drive anymore. That’s where learning how to take the subway and read a map came in handy. I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me almost three weeks to finally understand how the numbered streets and house numbers correlated. Now that I learned these skills, I can use them everywhere. When I was traveling through Europe last summer, I was able to decipher public transit signs and maps easily.

Famous Pat’s Cheesesteak

Food! Food! Food!

I can’t imagine moving back home and only having the option to order from a pizza place. When I first discovered GrubHub, I spent too much money than I’d like to admit. One of my favorite hobbies is now going out to eat at different restaurants for both the atmosphere and the cuisine. One of my favorite restaurants is Marrakesh, an authentic Moroccan restaurant where you eat a seven-course meal with your hands.

Being someone who likes to experiment with food and try new things, I was in love! There are still many restaurants that I need to try, but that’s the great thing about living in Philadelphia. There are always more restaurants opening and endless food options, which is probably where the Freshman 15 came from, not because of the dining hall food.

Diversity

The most important thing I have experienced moving to Philadelphia is diversity. Since coming to Temple University, I have been exposed to many different cultures, races, and religions. Between dating my boyfriend who had been raised a different religion than me and becoming friends with international students, I have learned so much about the world. A city really is a melting pot of so many different people from various backgrounds.

Moving to the city has taught me to be more open-minded about people and traditions. It has taught me to be accepting and nonjudgmental. It has taught me to view situations from various perspectives. It has taught me to love.

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