I'm being sucked in. I didn't really think it would happen, but the past few weeks I've noticed I've been experiencing this strange new sensation that I've felt at moments before, but has started to permeate into everything I do. I think it's called happiness. Bizarre, I know.
Last August I moved from a Detroit suburb to northern Indiana ("Michiana" to the locals) to start my first "real" job. I was excited about the job, but not wholly enthralled by the locale. Nothing personal to you Hoosiers, but us Michiganders in general truly believe that we are, well, superior beings. (I'm not sure where this attitude stems from- maybe a form of state sibling rivalry. I was shocked to learn that my Indiana colleagues feel the same way about my native state, but I think it's just peninsula envy.) Sure that there was nothing to compare to the excitement of living a few miles from Hockeytown, I resigned myself to life among the Amish.
I wasn't wrong my first semester. I threw myself into a whirlwind schedule, working 60+ hours a week (pretty normal for a first-year teacher, I think), but somehow didn't make friends as quickly as I have other places. I blamed the small-town biblebelt elitist attitude of the people around me. Weekends were taken up by the marching band I was working with and desperate trips back to spend time with my friends and family in my beautiful Michigan. In November, I tracked the gubernatorial election fanatically, then trudged over to my local Indiana polls to cast sullen votes in a state I didn't plan to stay trapped in for long. From Thanksgiving until Christmas break I went home every weekend for various reasons. Except one.
A colleague invited me out to the bar to hear a local cover band. I met some people, heard some great music, and actually had fun. Real fun, with real Hoosiers, in Indiana. Who knew?
I haven't been back to Michigan since early January. I'm starting to make friends here now, both young and old. Hardly the cultural wasteland I once thought, I now have to decide what I want to do tonight with my new local boy: fabulous authentic Italian restaurant or great sushi? Chekhov play, big band concert, Broadway production of Chicago, or bluegrass festival? Either way, I know we'll have a great time.
So I guess I really am settling in here, despite myself. It'll never be Michigan, but I think it might work for me. At least it's not Ohio.
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