Well here I am at a crossroads in my life. I’m 18, fresh outta high school and I don’t have a clue what the future has in store for me. One thing I do know is, I must get the hell out of here before I’m sucked into country living for life.
For those of you who don’t know, I live in the country…many, many miles away from a thing most of you know as civilization. Wanna go to a movie theater? Well unless you want to watch the movie with rats, it’s an hours drive. A mall? Gotta go to Tennesseee, another hour drive. A city? A realy honest to go city? 3 or 4 hour drive. My town doesn’t even have a Mcdonalds. So as you can imagine, where I live it’s pretty dang boring.
I need to get out of here. Preferably as soon as possible. I don’t know where I want to go to college at or what I want to do with my life, all I know is that I gotta get out of here before I waste my life away. So dopers I need your help. I need help deciding on where to escape to. I need to find some place with culture, diversity and openmindedness. I need a dose of civilization before I start chewing tobacco and tipping cows. My only problem is I don’t have a clue where to go to! I need your recomendations! All I require is a nice city, and maybe one with a culinary school (what I’m considering at the moment).
So, who wants to help a poor country girl plan her escape from Virginia?
Fizzy, congratulations on getting over your post shyness. You do know that Res and I will be there for you to help you get over any trepidation you may feel, right? Or at least, I will be… I can’t speak for Res, and wouldn’t want to presume to do that. (we’re also good at helping you touch your posts up, if need be) Don’t worry, it wasn’t long and rambling at all, like you ewre worrying about.
Why don’t you just escape one time zone at a time, like you were saying just a few minutes ago? Might get you accustomed to West Coast time, if you really want to live in Portland or somewhere. A road trip, like Violet suggested, is also a good idea. It’ll allow you to meet lots of different people, gain new experiences, and see a bit of the rest of the country. (photos and stories, anyone?) Let us know what happens! (heck, maybe you’ll win the lotto and ahve enough money to move wherever you want… that’ll be excellently awesome)
Hell, I choose to live in rural Virginia. I love it.
But then again I’m 35 and married and a father. It’s different, I understand.
OK, you need to see different things and meet different people. That’s completely reasonable. I felt the same things at 18 and they’re good impulses. You want to expand your horizons and that will benefit you in the long run.
Here’s some options:
a) I will ALWAYS recommend that a young person in the United States go to college. Choose one far FAR removed from your current situation. If you don’t know what you want to study any accredited college is as good as another. Try on in a big city off the east coast. Say University of Sourthern Cal or Oregon State. Or go completely whacko and try for University of Alaska - Fairbanks (I almost went there for Grad School).
b) See the world. Join the Peace Corps and let them ship you to Africa or South America or something. You’ll be meeting people who don’t live in your town and share your background.
c) Road Trip. Take a year off and go see the country. Head for NYC and stay in a hostel for a month then head east. See things you’ve never seen and meet people you’ve never met.
Let me know how it goes. I can remember the anxiety about making these same decisions and I was a suburban mall rat (in contrast to your sistuation) so you’re not alone. It’s something all young people go through (or they should, at least).
Flami It’s all about baby steps. I’ll make another post in another month or two…One day I’ll break a 100! A road trip sounds like a good suggestion but if I were to make one I think it’d require a friend to come along with me. Finding a friend that’s willing to go on a road trip is a whole 'nother story.
Jonathan Chance Those are all excellent suggestions. I’ve considered going to a college far, far away from here but out of state tutition will kill ya. I have the option of going to Portland, Oregon and going to college there cause my sister lives there and I’ve seriously considered it. I’m rather enamored with Portland at the moment but I want to see what the rest of the country has to offer me first.
Taking a year off to see the country sounds like a great thing to do too. It’d give me time to clear my head and decide on what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. I’ve considered it before, and the option is still in the back of my mind. I’m stuck with going to college for this semester but once I get my financial aid money back, and save up some more a road trip and taking time off will be serious possibilities.
The scariest thing in life to me is staying here right where I’m at and not doing a thing with my life. That’s the only thing that terrifies the ever living crap out of me.
Road trip.
Tidewater area of Virginia.
Virginia Beach/Hampton/NewportNews/Norfolk area
I grew up there. Love it.
Then move there and go to college at William and Mary, or University of Richmond, or Hampton University. Christopher Newport and Thomas Nelson are two local community colleges.
Fizzes,
Start w/in your own state SW VA maybe lame, but SE VA is sweet. VA beach is nice this time of year. Plus Busch Gardens and more attractions to talk about. Grizz is right about the colleges, too. Also ODU is a nice college that’s growing in its academics. And if schools not to your liking military will treat you pretty well.
I looked upon college as my one chance to go anywhere I wanted. I knew later decisions would be based on job availability and such, and would be bounded by things like a need for good schools, spouse’s career prospects, etc. But right then the geography was wide open. I went from Nebraska to (coincidence!) Virginia.
My thoughts:
Don’t rule out colleges far away until you investigate financial aid options.
Whatever school you go to (even one close by), remember there are semester exchanges and study abroad. Many of the same fees and financial aid apply. You can spend a semester at a different campus or in a different country.
The military will definitely broaden your horizons.
If you like children, you can become an au pair. That’s where young women (and men, actually) live with a family for a year, getting room, board, and a small salary in exchange for child care. You can request a placement in an interesting area (and your transportation will be paid for).
And I forgot Americorps. They take people 17 and older.
Ender recently took a cross-country road trip where he stayed with Dopers along the way. It’s a neat way to see a lot of the country without spending money on hotles!
Or you could always run off with me, and we’ll travel the country, fighting crime.
Actually, I’ve just always wanted to buy a van and drive across the country. Solving mysteries, like in Scooby-Doo.
But, as far as actual cities go, I’d try Chicago, Minneapolis, or New York. New York may be a bit much, though, right off the bat. Try Minneapolis. That’s a great town, pretty diverse, has the University of Minnesota there, and is just beautiful.
The Culinary Institute of America is in Hyde Park NY, which is close enough (and far enough away) to NYC. Their Greystone campus is in Napa Valley, w/i driving distance to San Francisco.
How about Le Cordon Bleu? Then you could go to Paris, London, Ottawa?
Johnson and Wales may be a good choice (at least in the short term), allowing you in-state tuition in Norfolk…but making it easy to transfer to another campus or studying in Sweden for awhile.
GrizzRich I’ve been to the VA beach area, and I absolutly adore Williamsburg/Jamestown. I went there for vacation and I wouldn’t mind going back to it. I’ve even considered William and Mary as a possible college but from what I understand it’s rather hard to get into and quiet expensive also. I haven’t forgotten about it though. Maybe one day I’ll be smart enough to get in!
Superdude I told you, I’m not getting near that motorcycle! I’m to much of a nervous wreck to go to New York, but Chicago sounds interesting. So does Minneapolis. takes notes
Sue Duhnym I found a Culinary school in VA. It’s in Arlington. I’m seriously considering going to check it out and see what it’s like. I book marked the sites you posted though, I’m keeping notes on all my suggestions thus far. Thanks for the links.
CrankyAsAnOldMan I’ve got an interview with Americorps at the local community college I’m going to attend, but it’s not a program where they send students to different places. It’s a little thing where students tutor children in grades K-3rd and for that they get paid about 5,000 dollars through the year and they get extra scholarships and money to use for future education purposes. As for going cross country and staying with dopers, I don’t know enough of you yet!
Ironically I just spent the weekend camping out somewhere in the sticks of Virginia. I was lamenting about how I didn’t want to return to this “concrete hellhole”. Well at least my heartrate was lowered, if only for a few days.
Vancouver Community College has a pretty good culinary program in a great city with a lot of ethnic diversity and all the big-city amenities, and extensive rural areas nearby (in case you feel the need after a while).
I don’t know what sorts of financial aid there may be for those on a student visa, but it’s worth checking out.
If you go the college route, consider a community college. Some are quite good academically, and most are smaller than the big state schools. It won’t be quite such a culture shock, if that’s a concern for you. Plus the tuition probably won’t be so bad.
Teaching
Nursing, especially so. I’m told that an RN right out of school can go anywhere they want and land a job. And there’s lot of jobs besides in a hospital.
IMHO, this is the best advice in this entire thread!
Golly. Thanks. I suppose it’s kind of a “practice” city. It appears to be just another major metropolitan area, yet poses no harm to humans. It’s fairly clean, as far as cities go.
As far as different for Fizzes, I suppose there isn’t much snow down your way either. But don’t stay here long . Live life. travel. Maybe look into a nursing school. It’s tough and dirty work, but everywhere needs em, and they are offering nice bonuses if you work for 60 days, and a lot of places help with short term housing.
You do know that Res and I will be there for you to help you get over any trepidation you may feel, right? Or at least, I will be… I can’t speak for Res, and wouldn’t want to presume to do that. (we’re also good at helping you touch your posts up, if need be) Don’t worry, it wasn’t long and rambling at all, like you ewre worrying about.
(heck, maybe you’ll win the lotto and ahve enough money to move wherever you want… that’ll be excellently awesome)
)