Urban/Suburban vs Rural

[TheRussian]

Has anyone that spent most of their life in an urban or suburban area ended up going to school in a rural area?

If so did you have an easy or hard time adjusting? Did you find yourself frustrated that there is nothing to do or was it easy to find something fun to occupy your free time?

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[UseUrHeadFred]

Here are two questions to start off with: Do you have any hobbies or interests that would be MORE available in a rural area? Do you have any of either that would be extinguished by living in a rural area?

 

[Super Rob]

I'm in the same boat as you, so bump.

It looks like "getting involved" will be the only way to occupy our time, since things don't stay open late and there aren't that many people around to begin with. That or we can become a bunch of gunners

 

[TheRussian]

Here are two questions to start off with: Do you have any hobbies or interests that would be MORE available in a rural area? Do you have any of either that would be extinguished by living in a rural area?

Nope.

I have a feeling I might enjoy skiing but I've only been twice and I suck at it. I feel that it would be hard for me to do that with future classmates because most of them would probably be quite a bit better skiiers then I am and probably wouldn't want to spend time on the small hills while I get better and I don't think I would enjoy skiing by myself.

In general however, I am not really that outdoorsy. I don't really go out to bars or clubs very often, maybe once a week. The thing that I guess I'm going to miss most is having a lot of options of where to go out to eat.

I am a little apprehensive about this move simply because everyone puts emphasis on lots of outdoorsy stuff and I'm not too into that.

Super Rob: I'll be a fun classmate. I am also a big procrastinator so there will be plenty of weekends where I would be more than willing to go down to Boston.

 

[Super Rob]

I will probably be learning how to ski this winter myself (pizza... french fries... pizza... french fries)

There are some pretty cool restaurants out near DMS (although probably expensive). There are also indian food restaurants, chinese food, japanese cuisine, steakhouses, a seafood place, and then the usual suspects: MacDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, Pizza Hut, Uno, Chillies, AppleBees, Denny's, Friendly's, The 99, Dunkin Donuts, Taco Bell, Pizza places. The cafeterias around campus tend to cater to the burger and french fries crowd. There are many grocery stores, some that sell organic produce. There's even a "health food store" in Lebanon.

Off campus are some killer bookstores, one decent coffee shop, and a few "taverns." EBA serves food and beverages really late! Lots of music stores. There's a "super mall" or "power mall," or something to that effect, but it has about five shops and closes around 7ish (D'oh!). Movies are always an option. More goes down on the campus itself.

I was never into the outdoors until I went away to a semi-rural undergrad. I began hiking because it was fun and easy. I now feel as though I will miss the outdoors if I go away to some city school. There's even an Orvis in town, which reminded me that I used to go fishing when I was a kid.

 

[midlifecrisis]

I grew up suburban and now I can't stand being in urban areas for more than a couple of days. Having to be more urban for the next while is going to be the hardest part of med school for me. I thought pretty hard about Dartmouth just because of its mellower location.
Burlington is a fun place to visit. Skiing only gets better with time, don't let the first few days scare you away. Snowboarding is actually faster to get proficient at, though the first couple of days may be the most painful of your life. XC skiing and skate skiing are great and Hanover region has great trails and some great skiers to learn from. Canoeing on the river in the fall and spring......Access to local trails as well as the Green and White mtns. You don't have to be rad dude skier, climber, boater to enjoy the outdoors. There's tons to do rural, its just a bit less focused on other people than the stuff to do in urban areas. Getting away from people can be a pretty nice way to unwind, especially with all the time you spend focused on people at school and in medicine.

 

[DMBUGA34]

I'm from the suburbs, and I've never been too outdoorsy myself, but I've always wanted to. I've never been canoeing, hiking, ice skating on a pond (hard to do in tx and ga), XC skiing. I've been camping only once (only for a night), fished a couple of times with other people's stuff, never been fly fishing.....

I'm basically looking at my first 2 years at Dartmouth (if that's where I end up at) as my last chance in a while to do all of these things. One thing I do enjoy is running through trails (I hate running in a gym!), and that's a great way to get away for a while. I expect I'll be too busy during my 3rd year to really do much (no matter what school I attend), and I also expect to spend a decent amount of time during my 3rd and 4th years away from Hanover at away rotations.

Also, with classes at 8 every day I won't be able to stay up til 2am every night like I did in undergrad, so I won't mind that things close down early. I'll really miss gameday weekends in Athens, but that's about it.

That or we can become a bunch of gunners

I'm tempted to send negative karma your way just for thinking about it!

 

[Trekkie963]

I grew up in Orange County, CA, but spent four years in New Hampshire in a town of 10,000 people. Honestly, you just get used to it. I had a fine time there, although now living in a big city its difficult for me to remember just how I got by.

I didn't do too much outdoorsy stuff, aside from the occassional bikeride to America's smallest seacoast. Basically I just got used to little things being big events. A trip to the town uniplex to see a movie...a trip to the mall thirty minutes away to go shopping (or even go to a regular-sized movie theater!)...dinner out at one of the local restaurants...These are the main social events I remember. A trip down to Boston was the be-all end-all of decadently fun activities.

I guess the other major filler of free time was just chilling, and there's nothing wrong with that. Watching Jerry Springer with some buddies, playing computer games, talking about random stuff...good times, y'know? As has been said, getting involved in some clubs helps too.

 

[Super Rob]

One thing I do enjoy is running

Or we could become a bunch of runners instead