Last spring as my senior year of high school came to a close the only question anyone seemed to be asking me was, “what are your plans for after graduation?” I would respond by saying I was going to Denison and since no one in Massachusetts seems to have heard of the school before, their next question would often be, “where is that?” To which I would say “Ohio.” There normally would be a beat of silence where the person tried to grasp for something nice to say about the state or any fun fact they knew. However, when nothing came to their mind, the response just ended up being something like, “I’m sure you will have a great time wherever you are.” I interpreted this as being code for “Ohio is not where I would want to be”.
I will admit that I was spoiled growing up in suburban Massachusetts. All I needed to do was hop on the T at one of the two purple line stops in my hometown to go into Boston. I lived about an hour away from Cape Cod and basically spent my summers growing up boogie-boarding in the bay and playing mini golf. If my friends and I did not want to go to the Cape for a beach day, Newport or Narragansett in Rhode Island was right there only a little over an hour away. To get to the Berkshire Mountains all you had to do was drive on the Pike for about two hours and suddenly it felt like you were in a whole different place. Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire could all be the location for a day trip. Not to mention the insane sports culture Massachusetts has that can make even someone indifferent to sports a die-hard fan. For some context, my elementary school bus would chant “we want the cup!” with full fervor both in the mornings and afternoons when the Bruins were in the Stanley Cup finals in 2011. I’m sure the team winning the championship can be attributed to 40 squeaky elementary schoolers harassing their bus driver twice a day. So, at the risk of sounding like every other arrogant person from Massachusetts with too much Dunkin’ iced coffee in their system, I wholeheartedly believe there is an argument to be made for it being the best state.
With that being said, I am now just shy of having lived in Granville, Ohio for six months. I will admit that Ohio has its charms. I mean when else in my life will I be 20 minutes from the largest picnic basket and 40 miles from a field of giant corn cobs? It doesn’t get better than this. On a more real note, I have recently been identifying things I can do here to make me like the location more. Since I got my license a few years ago, going on long drives has been one of my favorite things to do. The drive from Denison up to Kenyon is one that I enjoy making to take in the farm scenery and get off of the hill for a little bit. If I’m in the mood for a much longer drive, I can always go over to Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, or West Virginia to check some more states off my visiting list. I have found a bagel spot in Columbus that I enjoy and the Columbus Art Museum can be a good place for an afternoon adventure. Also, Heath and Newark seem to have every chain you could dream of, including a Joann’s Fabric, so I’m in no place to complain.
I’ll admit, I’m not stalking the companies based in Columbus in hopes of getting a jumpstart on my post-graduation career. However, I also know that as I spend more time here and things become more familiar, I will be able to unearth some of the other good things Ohio has to offer (fingers crossed).