Location.... Location..... Location?

People frequently ask me "Where do you see yourself in five years?" or "Where would you like to move after college?"  Most times, the best I can muster is a simple "I don't know" because I really don't.  The world is full of so many amazing places and locations, with scenery for miles or people who seem to be the friendliest you ever met, at least at the outset.  All of these places I've visited in my lifetime seem to be great candidates to return to, but there's always more to the equation.

For those of you who don't know, I deal with occasional bouts of homesickness.  They're never powerful enough to make me unable to function or anything like that, but I tend to remember some of the best memories and people from my time at home, and then I start to get a little sad because I feel like they're gone forever, even though in all reality I can visit them whenever I want to, and I have visited people from my past several times on trips home.  I'm not sure why I miss home as much as I do, and it seems strange, but in a way it makes sense because I was living in the same region at the same house for nineteen years, a luxury many people I know don't have and will never have.  The house I grew up in, both the old version and the new castle-like behemoth it is currently, are places I love(d) to be, and it's always a source of happiness each time I go home, even to see my dog.

Other places have been fun too.  There's nothing better than visiting random little towns and cities even just to stop by, and then you leave wanting to visit again.  I've had a lot of those... Sheboygan, Wisconsin was one of them, a neat little lakeside community with some awesome views of Lake Michigan at Kohler-Andrae State Park being the main takeaway and the main event.  Then there's Normal, Illinois, a little town we stopped in on our trip to the Southeastern US back in 2012 for a hotel, but begged to be explored further.  Other fantastic little spots were Minot, North Dakota where I went to a Rend Collective concert in 2017, and Rapid City, South Dakota, where we took a roadtrip in 2009 to see The Black Hills and The Badlands.  For a while in 2014-15, I thought I was going to end up somewhere in Iowa for college, perhaps the Des Moines area at Drake University or up in Ames at Iowa State University.  Looking back though I'm kinda glad that didn't pan out for me, because eight hours would have been a long way to drive home and back for as often as I do it. There are so many other places that I have visited at one point or another, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Then there's the places I've been to a little bit more in the recent years.  Fargo, North Dakota has been my home for about two and a half years, and I keep finding surprises in the city and it's surrounding communities every single day.  For example, I found out that people who weren't NDSU students could rent bikes and ride them wherever they wanted around town, or how there was a great place to see the stars I missed just a quick fifteen minute drive west and south of the Metro Area.  There's even radio available almost in my backyard, along with movie theaters, cool restaurants, and even a bowling alley pretty close to home.  

But does that make Fargo-Moorhead the place I want to stay after college?  Not necessarily.  The winter keeps me pretty cold and also hunkered down indoors.  Back home, I'm able to be outdoors for longer than five minutes without freezing to death, and you can really enjoy the Winter season there doing anything like building snowmen, sledding, and skating (I don't skate though).  But enough rambling about the cold, because it's what's on everyone's mind around here right now.

Then there's Bemidji, which has a beautiful big lake, radio for volunteering within 10-15 minutes depending on where you live in town, and a vibrant arts and culture scene all in the downtown area.  It's almost like the beautiful little community I never had growing up.  I would love to wake up each morning and look out onto Lake Bemidji and it's beautiful sunrise.  It seems too good of an offer to pass up.  But then you remember that I have a lake right outside my window back home, and volunteer radio not that far away (little over an hour).  Plus there's so much beautiful scenery near by, even though Bemidji has that too.

So in short, it all comes down to "Location.... location..... location?"  I still have about a year and a half or two years left of college, and not all of that time will go to deciding where to splash down after I graduate, but I can assure you that at least some of it will.  And no matter where I end up, my goal is to try and have the best time I possibly can and meet the most new people that I can also.  So, wish me luck, and feel free to message me to try and persuade me to move one place or the other.