/lit/ - Literature

>>18894320
>>18894489
>>18894530
>>18894726
Let me guess, you came from a small boring/shithole town - likely in the Midwest or some dead rural region in bumfuck nowhere - where you felt trapped and wanted to escape to live the glamorous life?

Been there and got the scars to prove it. This is what I told myself when I moved to LA (to attend UCLA) and the city destroyed my soul and turned me into a neurotic shell of myself. Also made me realize the true nature of people and the corrosive life of cities as being a bunch of bugmen packed like sardines. Damn shame because LA and California at large were paradise on earth a couple decades ago.

I'm now moving to Chicago to attend UChicago, to probably make the same mistake. I think the city is more tolerable - Midwestern vibes, not as fake, more affordable. But UChicago is near the south side and students have been shot and killed practically once a year. Oh, and we have mandatory vaccination policies and still have to wear masks to all our classes! The city also re-introduced its mask mandate policy. It's so tiresome.

With all due respect anon, moving to a new city to start a new life is usually a mistake, doubly so if you don't know anybody there and have to rely on co-workers to make friends - very hit or miss. You are in the largest city in the US with endless opportunities but you will feel more alone with yourself. Now with the pandemic, you lose all the social and recreational opportunities and have to pay up the ass without any of the city benefits. With minor exceptions, meeting people of the opposite sex through bars will not lead to meaningful relationships, neither will dating apps and those are usually the only options. Grad school is my last chance to find wife material.

>It could be worse but I guess I just feel out of place still.
Of course. Even natives barely have roots anymore. Transplants will NEVER have them. If you want to feel at place, you could've gone to a state school with or around your childhood friends and stayed in the region while finding a mid-sized city nearby. Wisconsin has Milwaukee, Ohio has Columbus, Michigan has Ann Arbor, etc. This is it used to be and why boomers have long-lasting best friends.