The weather in California isn’t so different from that in Texas; Texas is just a bit more extreme. Seasons don’t seem to matter. It’s practically freezing in the morning, hot in the afternoon and cold in the evenings again. It’s hot and humid in August, cold and dry in December. While the weather is rather similar, the two towns that I split my time between the last two years are a world apart.
I moved to Tyler, Texas in August of 2015. This August I will begin my senior year. It has been an interesting two years, and I am glad I chose the school I did, but I am also glad to be graduating a year early. The differences between the towns were far greater than I expected. The people, the roads and the places, they are all different.
In Tyler, I have a couple aunts and I made incredible friends. I have my school community, beautiful woods to explore and superstores only five minutes away. There are churches and cemeteries on every corner. I once had a 45 minute conversation with two strangers in Walmart at 10 pm.
In Coronado, I have my immediate family, my fiancé and my pets. I have beaches, forests and mountains a short drive away. A world class zoo, dozens of museums, and hundreds of hiking trails are just across the bay from my home. I can walk down Orange Avenue and get groceries and a new dress. In San Diego, there are about 13 more types of food available, from Greek to Argentinian.
It’s always an adjustment, each time I come back home or go back to school. It’s interesting, being a military child-I never really called a place home before; home was always people to me. I lived in San Diego longer than anywhere else, though. It’s where I learned to drive, fell in love, started to figure out who I am. So, I’m glad to be back this summer and I’m glad to move back next year. It will always be one of my homes, regardless of where I go later in life.
A piece of advice though: if you get the chance to live somewhere new, take it. I don’t know what it’s like to live in one place for my entire life, but moving around when I was younger and now as an adult has given me perspective and appreciation for the differences between places and people. Everyone I have met and everywhere I have lived or visited has had a lesson to teach me. I haven’t traveled out of the country, but I learned more from what few places I visited than I could ever have if I had stayed in one place for all my life. Go somewhere new, talk to strangers and learn as much as you can.
