I have lived in Naperville, IL my entire life, and I'm not sure whether that is a good or bad thing. My friends today are the same friends from my neighborhood that I have had since starting the first grade. I expect most, if not all of them will be my friends the rest of my life. That means a lot to me. I think that is important in life. As of now, the city of Naperville is all I know as a teenager and I look forward to expanding my perspective by travelling/living in other areas of the country, while still remembering the good times and memories of my hometown . I also hope that I can make more memories in a place such as Iowa City that I can look back on one day, and I am excited because so far my experience/diversity is limited.
My parents both grew up in similar circumstances- living in the same house, same subdivision, in the same town, from grade school through college. What is interesting however, is that they had the opportunity after college to live in a number of cities through job relocations. The cities include Milwaukee, Cleveland, Des Moines, Minneapolis, and Chicago. In 1992, when offered a job in Des Moines my parents said they both cringed- my Mom even cried. A small town in the middle of nowhere scared them, but they ended up really enjoying the town and the people in it. Looking back on it, they say it was one of their favorite places to live and on a recent trip to Iowa City, they both said the comfortableness of being in Iowa came right back. Honesty, Real people, Integrity, Hard-working, Easy pace, Comfortable, Affordable, and Real are the words they used to describe it.
As I said, exploring a new world makes me anxious and excited, and I would like it to be in Iowa City. After visiting my sister who attends the University of Iowa, I realized that I like atmosphere of the campus and surrounding city because you get a sense of a community rather than a large city.