Seven Hills and Cincinnati

For the past four days, I have been home in Cincinnati for Fall Break. Fall Break is an interesting creation: two days off from school coupled with a weekend to create a "break" from Emory classes. My only class on Friday was cancelled so I got a fifth day. As much as I enjoy Emory, it is nice to have a break from the hectic pace of college life and to return home to sleep in my own bed.

Today, I went back to visit Seven Hills, my academic home for the first 14 years of school. It's always a bit strange to come back to a place where you spent most of your time as a student for so many years, not as a student, but as a visitor. However, today, as it usually is, was a most enjoyable time back at Seven Hills. Saying hello to old teachers and friends is always a pleasure. It's great to stay connected and see how things are going with people.

Seven Hills is pretty much the same place that I graduated from a year and a half ago. Even though the years pass by, the school remains the same place it has always been. Students and faculty come and go, but the school is the school with its own spirit.

Seven Hills is truly a great place. I miss Seven Hills, the people, and the incredible sense of community. Talking to other alumni, it seems that other people feel the same way. We never realized how great Seven Hills is until we moved on to other places. It seems like lots of things in life are like this.

Exhibit B: Cincinnati, Ohio. My hometown. A place that we loved to rip on in middle and high school. "It's boring." "There is nothing to do." etc, etc... But now that I have spent most of the last year in other cities (Atlanta during the school year and Washington, DC during the summer) I realize I miss Cincinnati a ton. Cincinnati really is a great place. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's pretty nice. There is just as much to do here as any other similar city. Plus we don't have the terrible traffic that plagues Atlanta.

Kids in high school love to complain about where they live in high school. I know people from big cities like New York, Miami, and L.A. that complain that there is nothing to do. It's just part of growing up. But as you grow more and move away you realize that where you grew up isn't bad at all and there are plenty of things to do.

Cincinnati has a lot of great things (a la the Reds). And we have great food like Greaters (there is no good ice cream in Atlanta, period), Skyline (the best food ever), and Buskins (best cookies, in fact a box is traveling with me back to Atlanta). Basically, I think that Cincinnati is a great city and a really good place to call your hometown.