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Let's see...born and raised in a small town, moved to suburbia, moved back to small town to finish high school, moved to an urban area, moved back to small town for financial reasons... (All of this in the same state, by the way.)
...and I find myself hating the small town more and more everyday. While I would not move back to the particular urban area I lived in, I liked the history, vibrancy, cultural and racial diversity, and even the "realness" of the people a place like that provides.
Small town people aren't generally very friendly and the ones that are are more fake and bubbly than genuinely nice. Wave a somebody going down the road? Most of the time you won't be waved back at. Wave at the neighbor across the street? They turn around and go back in the house, at least in my neighborhood. Let somebody out in front of you in traffic? I'm 100 times more likely to receive a thank you wave in a Southern or Midwestern metropolitan area than in a small town.
I'm a very fast-paced individual who does not like the tractor pulls, country music, rednecks, lack of motivation to succeed among individuals, and slow driving and walking that a small Kentucky town's culture generally offers. I've NEVER adjusted to it...ever. I have more friends in surrounding college towns and urban areas than I've EVER made in "po-dunkville." People around town know me as pleasant and polite, sure, but in all the years of living here I have very little social life and am becoming more and more distant from long-time friends QUICKLY as our interests diversify or change.
I'm saving up feverishly to leave this rural-minded state. I feel very trapped to the point where it's depressing.
I find it funny you say this when I have been through many small towns here in Kentucky in my and have had complete strangers wave at us as we have passed in our cars. I have stopped at the side of the road to help a jack-knifed truck with a load of wood and had severalpeople stop and help. I have went to small towns to visit and have had nothing but pleasant experiences including Frankfort where you are. My husband and his father lived in Frankfort when they first moved here from Ireland and had NONE of the problems you have. I have had cases of bad service everywhere I have been but it has definately NOT outweighed the good. I have held conversations with many many people in lines, waiting rooms and such in many places. I do believe it is time for you to look at yourself and maybe see if it is the look on your face, the general judgement you have of our good people, and the air about you. People can read body language and facial expressions alot more than you think and tend to be yoo polite to say anything. I and the rest of Kentucky don't need such hateful, negative people here.
I live in an extremely small town in North Dakota, with a population of probably about 1,500. And I don't even technically "live in" it. I live on a farm ten miles out of town. I hardly get out, I can hardly carry out a conversation with these narrow-minded people in my high school, and I can hardly wait to get out of here! I'm a freshman. I don't even know what I want to study when I get to college, but I KNOW I'm not going to college in North Dakota. I know, I would probably never be able to handle a major city, (like NYC or Chicago or anything like that) but I definitely want somewhere much bigger than where I am now.
I remember, until I was in about fourth or fifth grade, my grandparents lived in Albuquerque, NM, and every Christmas we'd come to visit. I don't remember it well, but I think I'd like to go back sometime. Although even after one or two weeks, you start to miss the color green, you know, as in grass and trees. Around there it was mostly cactus... My sister is going to college in Montana. She's living in a town with a population of about 27,000, which I guess is still considered small, but still a lot bigger than our hometown. And things are still pretty spread out there too, but at least it's really pretty out there with all the mountains and whatnot. My sister does a lot of hiking out there. Around here things are pretty flat... nothing but endless prairie, which some people might think is pretty, but I'm really tired of it. I don't really know where I want to be, (which might be part of my frustration) I just know I'm sick of this place!
Also, I really can't stand country music! Not to mention the flippin' awful winters! It's freezing right now, and of course the infamous, North Dakota wind! The wind is just horrid. Although this winter has been rather mild, but it's usually pretty bad.
Also, I would LOVE to visit a foreign country at one point (other than Canada! T.T) I'm especially interested in Japan and South Korea. (but that's probably cuz I spend so much time watching Japanese anime and Korean dramas XP ) I've even found myself daydreaming about what it'd be like to move to Japan, which I could probably never do, but a person can at least dream, right? It's awful how people around here are so caught up in themselves, and seem to think the US is the only country or whatever. In junior high when I was really caught up in the whole Japan thing, one of my classmates just HAD to go and make a comment about Pearl Harbor. Really?! Another time I tried to get one of my friends to watch Coffee Prince with me, her words were, "No! It's weird and Korean!" Come on!
But yeah, I'm really hoping things will get better after graduation.
You idiots don't know what you're talking about. Whining about living in 1000+ population cities? Just shut up you pathetic little turds. Try living in a "town" of 60 people and then you can complain.
Exacty the same here. Ever heard of Altamont TN? Of course not. You probably won't be able to find it as the sigh is missing so many letters from the bullet holes in it. People here get out of highschool and usually get pregnant and/or on drugs. I wasn't born here , we moved here when I was 9 as an invetment that was only supposed to last 2 years and 6 years later here I am. On top of having redneck neighbors and no friends Im homeschooled, a better option than the highschool with a horrible reputaion. I live 1 hour from a walmart and 10 minutes from a dollar general, we have to leave this mountain just to get healthy food. Nutrition is so bad here. (Im a health nut) I need to get out of here! I don't want anything to do with this place, I have been working on my grammar so I don't sound local and also to help me learn Japanese. My education is very important to me but I'm not THAT smart, still people my age at church claim I'm a "super genius". They are not dumb but they have no dreams or hopes for a future other than flipping burgers! There is much more but YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
You have no idea how much I relate to bug1596
Sorry for the errors, I'm on my phone in the car.
Last edited by ashleyotaku98; 04-23-2013 at 08:34 PM..
HAD to move to a small college town due to a job several years ago. Bottom line: I dislike it because deep down, I was a big city person. More options/choices, better health care, diversity and anonymity.
Moved from the Victorville-area(100 miles NE of Los Angeles, 200-odd miles SW of Vegas) with a total population of 300,000 to Clovis NM with a total population of 40,000.
Not really small when stacked against the other places people mentioned, but after being used to not seeing the same faces every day, I was kind of shocked by running into some of the same people here in different parts of town on a daily basis.
Also, there was the noticeable thing about families starting relatively young over here and some substance abuse problems(what place doesn't have that).
However, I'm an odd-person that loves some aspects of rural-living(firearms, deer-meat was pretty tasty, country roads that take you to places where civilization hasn't touched down), as well as some urban amenities(public transit, places being open 24 hrs/day that aren't Wally-World/Wal Mart, bicycle/ped accomodating).
Which is why I'm looking at cities that have a little bit of both aspects, and I could also find a job in my given line-of-work(driving trucks).
After I get some time in, I'll possibly see about a transfer to either Phoenix, SLC, Denver or even the Portland(OR) Metro area.
Eclectic mix of choices? Yes.
But those are the urban areas I see meshing with my unique needs/wants.
I grew up in a small town of around 2000 people in a basically all white area in the northern midwest. Not only that, but the town was surrounded by nothing but similar sized towns for at least 100 mile radius. There definitely wasn't a whole lot of action but I also don't remember getting board. I never really thought much about how isolated we were until my early teenage years when I started dreaming of living in a bigger city.
At age 16 my family moved to a city of about 90,000 about 30 minutes from Nashville,TN. This was a major change for me as far as north/south culture, and city/country culture. Although I wasn't to excited about leaving friends and family, I was definitely amazed at all the diversity. I was now going to school with blacks, hispanics, asians, egyptians, ect. ect. These people had all kinds of different lifestyles, speaking different languages with different accents, and even lots of different food. Not only were there different people, but there were so many stores and restaurants I had never even heard of.
There was definitely so much more to do!
On the other hand, I found out pretty quickly what else comes with a higher population and more diversity. The first week that I was in my new neighborhood in my new city, my brothers and I decided to take a walk a couple of blocks down and explore the area. In our old town, we could go anywhere as kids. To the park, the lake, candystore,baseball field, on and on, and be safe. Very little traffic or crime. But on this first walk we ended up in a bad area, witnessing drug deals taking place in the street, something I had only seen in the movies.
I guess we looked so out of place that thankfully one young guy walked up to us and literally said " ya'll aren't from around here are you?" He advised us that if we were, we would not be down there. On our walk home 4 young black kids started yelling at us,calling us CRACKERS, which I had never heard before, and throwing rocks at us while also chasing us with big sticks in their hands!
I could tell story after story of new experiences I encountered but I'll try to just sum it up.
Although this city was nothing compared to some bigger ones, it was much much different than the small town I grew up in. As a high school kid I was immediately exposed to gangs in the school, drugs that I had never even heard of, as well as kids carrying weapons. I got into several fights in school that year, basically just sticking up for myself.
I grew up with my family not locking the doors on the house or car, but our house was broken into twice the first year we lived in the city. Kids in the neighborhood seemed to make a game out of stealing each others bikes. There were kids in the elementary school my younger brothers went to who were selling crack already.
Most of the responsible parents would hardly let their kids leave the yard.
Long story short, I am still here 16 years later. I adjusted and married a girl from here and have two kids. Now the older my kids are getting, I am dreaming of moving back to a smaller, quieter, and safer community.
The majority of people who I know that prefer city life are young and usually single. In my experience, people in the city are much more competitive and a little less trustworthy. Money seems to be top priority in the city and people seem to care more about outdoing each other than just having time to enjoy their own life. Everyone seems more stressed and always in a hurry without much down time. Anxiety and mental health issues have actually been proven to be much higher in urban areas.
It can take me 30 minutes to go a half mile down the road to get a gallon of milk, just because of the traffic.
I think small towns can be boring for some but can be paradise for others. I also think they are also the best places to raise kids.
[quote=Vivian309;3681752]That would be me! I'm stuck in your typical "middle-of-nowhere southern country town" and can't wait until I graduate high school in one year. I'm just tired of being surrounded by people with narrow minds, no ambitions, and who live in their own little bubble and are completely oblivious to the outside world (I'm not saying this about all small towns... just mine). Everytime I visit a city I just want to stay there!
Does anyone feel the same way about their situation?[/quote
ABSOLUTELY. I grew up in an isolated shipyard town of apprx 35,000, and that number is shrinking every year. Unless you were a native-born "blueblood" with connections/right last name it was DISMAL. It's like high school never ends. FOR LIFE!! There simply weren't enough decent jobs/resources to keep everyone out of trouble.
I saw the writing on the wall for myself and bailed. I went to a city of apprx 250,000 where there was opportunity. I knew no one, and had no idea what to expect, 'cept I knew it'd be a change of SOME kind. I was a good guy with his heart in the right place and my hometown just didn't have much left over for me after the "small town aritocracy" threw out it's table scraps.
When I made the move my head opened up and I got a decent career and life changed dramatically. I have no doubt that had I stayed in that little "roughneck berg" I'd be in jail or on the street by now, like most of my peers that didn't get the heck outta there.
We owe it to ourselves to give ourselves the best chance to suceed in life. Sometimes all a person needs is a level playing field. I wish I'd moved sooner!!
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