I grew up in, what I thought was a small town, but was really a not-so-small suburb of Chicago. I came to Ames, and Ames is not a small town, but I met many people from way smaller towns than where I am from. I had the chance to go to a small town in Iowa called Lakota and I saw that, where the size of that town was not physically smaller, there were less people, and less stoplights. Where Lakota had a farm, an entire neighborhood would be in Cary, IL.

We had to drive really far in Lakota to get to a store to find ingredients for puppy chow. Growing up in what my friends here would call a city, I have to drive 5 minutes, tops. I used to ride my bike to the store without breaking a sweat, and there were multiple options for me to go to.

Also, dirt roads. I was not used to those. If a road near my house isn’t paved then it’s either under construction (which happens more often than I would like) or not a road. I had never seen a tractor driving around on a road before; now, I have seen farms and seen the tractors around in those farms, but being stuck behind one on the highway sucks. My aggressive “city” driving isn’t ever going to be used to that.

Students like to walk right out in front of cars here. I learned from an early age growing up near a city to look both ways before I walked and that the yellow cars don’t stop. Drivers from Illinois are much more aggressive than Iowa drivers and I have had to learn that people wont be waiting for me, in a car that is much larger than them, before they step into the street. Also that means being behind a lazy driver who has no time limit to get to where they are going means I get frustrated.

I also learned that many of my friends from Iowa had never ridden on a train before. I was shocked because that is how I get from my town to downtown Chicago. It is only a 40-minute ride from me and I go downtown at least twice a year, it used to be more when I lived at home year round. The fact that I met so many people who had never ridden a train baffled me. After being in Ames for a while I realized most of the trains that go through here are freight trains–another annoying thing for Illinois drivers because of so many train tracks in the suburbs.

As much as I love Iowa State and Ames, I am most definitely a city girl. I am hoping to live downtown Chicago when I graduate, provided that I have a job that pays well. I have a new appreciation for anyone that lives in a farm town or even has to drive more than 10 minutes to get to a store. As much as I love country music, I know I couldn’t do what you all do on a daily basis.