I’m not usually one to burn bridges or to antagonize people, but now that I’m graduating it seems like a good time to do so if I’m ever going to.
You see, I really can’t wait to leave this town.
I was born across I-5 in the sprawling metropolis of Springfield, and I spent my entire life there until I finally moved out of my parents’ house in college and moved into an apartment in Eugene. All you out-of-town kids think you hate Eugene/Springfield, and certainly there have been enough lists of why people hate Eugene, but try living here for 22 years. I think I’m slightly more qualified to criticize my town than some rich kid from Portland. So while I’ve certainly enjoyed my Oregonian life well enough, I also have plenty of reasons why I can’t wait to move away:
? I need to experience new things. There were maybe four or five black people I can think of in my middle school, and that is really, really sad. Two of my best friends now are black, but that doesn’t change the fact that when I’m in downtown Portland at night and a black gangster-looking guy walks by, I suddenly start sweating. I want some diversity – racially and otherwise.
? The dating pool here is incredibly shallow. All I have to choose from for potential mates are stereotypes. People in Eugene are so busy finding a category for themselves (Greek kids, party kids, stoners, activists, feminists, environmentalists, and the list goes on) that no one stops to just be normal. That might be a stereotype in itself, but I’m willing to admit that.
? I want to live somewhere that values the new. Development gives me a sense of excitement, so I want to live in a place where development actually happens, not Eugene, where people are terrified of new buildings and buildings higher than the trees. Really, people? This town has become stale from all the hindrances to bringing anything new or – god forbid – corporate.
? I really can’t stand hippies anymore. I could handle them in small doses when I first started college because I hadn’t encountered them too often in Springfield, but my four years of college have exposed me to plenty of hippies and their hypocrisies, and I’m so over it.
? People get stuck here. They grow up here, go to school here, then get crappy jobs here and never leave. I don’t want to be one of those people. The idea of getting stuck here frightens me because, frankly, where are the career opportunities for me? I’m not going to be one of those kids who gets a job at WinCo and never looks back.
? I look forward to coming back to visit. Having lived here my entire life means there are definitely things about the area, and Oregon in general, that I’ll miss if I move away. It’ll be nice to return to Eugene/Springfield to visit family and friends and to enjoy (in small doses) that small-town feel that the area has. And, if I’m living in L.A., the clean air and abundance of trees will be refreshing when I come back for Christmas, birthdays, etc. I’ll also miss Café Yumm! and all the other fantastic restaurants that are exclusive to the area. But I prefer to think that big cities offer the opportunity to discover even more potentially better food places.
That said, those few things I’ll miss are less important than the strong impulse within me to get the hell out of this town and live a real life. Every bone in my body is yelling at me to get out of here (once I finish up my last term with the Emerald this summer). Then, and only then, when I’m living a plane ride away, will I be able to decide if Eugene or even Oregon is the right place for me.
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