Since my recent shift in locations, from Riverside, Calif. to Washington, DC for a semester; I have noticed the benefits, as well as some hardships that accompany city-living versus on-campus living. Ultimately, I want to encourage my fellow Lancers to have more city involvement. It benefits you and your neighbors.
First, I will describe a typical day in each location in order to best depict the lifestyle difference of living in each of these venues.
Riverside-
Wake up in my University Place Apartment.
Walk to class and recognize 95 percent of the faces.
Enjoy learning from professors who I am familiar with and whose opinions I trust.
Have a chance to worship God in the middle of the day by attending chapel.
Swipe my ID card and money is taken from my meal plan and not directly from my wallet.
Go to another class or two.
Fill my few hours before dinner with a sporting activity or reading, perhaps?
Eat dinner with friends.
Do homework in the Library.
Engage in some other form of social activity.
Sleep.
Washington-
Wake up in Capitol Hill apartment.
Walk to the bus stop. Wait.
Get packed in a late bus and have to stand in close proximity to someone I’ve never met.
Arrive at my workplace on the fifth floor of a centrally located office building.
Sit in a cubicle all day, unless I’m out reporting or attending events aimed something of the political sort.
Have a lunch break, at some point and spend a pretty-penny on a sandwich.
Ride to the traffic-hindered bus home.
Walk one block to my apartment in the dark, pepper spray in-hand.
Make my own dinner, usually something that required ingredients, like grilled cheese.
Socialize.
Do homework.
Sleep.
As you can tell, Washington city-living is much different than CBU campus-living. After reading those two depictions, you probably think I’m complaining. In fact, I’m not. But I am trying to emphasize some of the hardships of city-living.
After rubbing shoulders with so many different people who have obviously differing world views, I have been reminded that I need to be strong in my own beliefs. Living in such a diverse city has really caused me to evaluate my beliefs, as well as affirm them.
The second great aspect of city involvement is that it benefits those you come into contact with. When living in a city, you become familiar with the problems faced daily by the cities inhabitants.
Reality is, we all are going to have to live somewhere outside the security of a Christian-college campus one day, so we might as well start getting a handle on what it’s like in the “real world” so that it is not a complete shock to us.
