College-Bound Student Says Goodbye Summer, Goodbye Dix Hills

My summer was spent working at Crestwood Country Day School as a camp counselor. Since day one, I have been counting down the days until I would be heading back to Boston for junior year.  

Now as I'm looking back at my summer, realizing how quickly it flew by, it is sadly too late. I have already begun packing away my life (my clothes, my shoes, my bags, etc.) into boxes and duffles, and in no time I will be back in my dorm. Sunday is just around the corner, but I still have the week to give my town at least some of the appreciation it deserves.

Though I've always had a strong love for the city life, it does not compare to the calm and peaceful suburbs of Dix Hills. From the Big Apple to the Bean, I have always appreciated skyscrapers, fabulous shopping, great food, and diversity embodying the busy streets.

But it isn't until now, when I have a mere five days left of summer in Dix Hills, that I am realizing what a liberty it is to drive my own car or walk around the quiet, flower-lined streets of my own neighborhood. And even after spending months at a time in Boston, it still does not feel right to call Boston my home. Because it isn't. I am a Dix Hills girl, and I always will be, no matter where my career path takes me.

There is something to be said for underground transportation--the dirty subways and trains of New York City and Boston are fast, easy, and (somewhat) cheap. But I don't really mind driving five or ten minutes on Deer Park Avenue in the late afternoon to grab a bagel.  Let's be serious-- the best bagel in Boston could never top a Dix Hills bagel (NYC bagels are a different story, though).

There is a lot more in Dix Hills that I will be missing than the peace, the bagels, and my neighbors' landscaping.  While I am walking to class next Thursday (a fifteen-minute walk, which would probably be a five-minute drive but my parents say it is unnecessary to have a car in Boston--but I won't get into that right now), I will probably be thinking of how I miss my home already, but more importantly, the family who raised me. And how I wish I was driving to class instead. You can take the girl out of Dix Hills, but you can't take Dix Hills out of the girl.