The Great Debate: The city or the suburbs?
By Julia Feeley

You are awoken by the sounds of sirens. For a minute you panic wondering what is going on. Then you remember you live in the city. You have to be used to the noises or you’ll never get any sleep.

You put in some earplugs as the sounds of honking horns and sirens grow to a cacophony. In the morning you wake up late to your beeping alarm. You hop out of bed and grab some clothes off the floor. You quickly brush your hair and teeth. A piece of fruit will have to do for your breakfast.

You rush past people to reach your train. You swipe your subway card and practically jump down the stairs, only to see that the train you usually take is pulling away and the next one doesn’t come for 15 minutes. You’re going to be late for work or school. But since you’re already going to be late you can walk to a place to get coffee and breakfast.

The story is different for me, living in the suburbs. I slept wonderfully with no outside sounds to wake me. I can take my car to school in the morning because I don’t have to worry about parking. 

That’s only one of the upsides to not living in the city. City life seems to have a strong hold on people though. It might be the loud noises, the constant strange smells, the tourists everywhere, or the fact that you can’t drive anywhere without feeling rage. When you’re not in the city it’s a lot easier to drive places. 

I stop at Dunkin’s in the morning and get a coffee without waiting in a huge line.  I say hi to the barista that’s friends with my mom. As I pull out I still hear the morning crickets waking in dew. But Dunkin’s may be the only place that is close enough that I can stop at in the morning. 

My view on the way there is all trees and swamps. I don’t see many cars. After a long uneventful day at school I drive home. As I pass by houses I see families with kids playing out in their yards. I know most of the faces because it’s such a small town. Oh look . . . there are the Johns walking their dog.

When I get home I open my window and play some music, without bothering anyone. When I finish my homework, my friends want to hang out. There is nowhere close that we can go. We finally decide to take a drive out to the city where there are many places we can hang out. But we can’t stay there too long because everyone has to get home before their curfew, and the drive to the city is almost an hour, so we have to plan accordingly.

Once we get there, there’s another problem. We never decided what we wanted to do. There are so many options in the city, and we don’t know anything about them. There are fun activities to do, and wonderful places to see and enjoy. We decide to stop for food- a hotdog from a random cart- and just walk around. We see so many different types of people and places. Everything in the city is much more diverse than the suburbs. I try to commit everything to memory. 

When it’s time to leave we get stuck in a long tedious line of traffic. Finally, I drop everyone else off at their houses and drive home to mine. There are no cars on the road and barely any lights on in houses. Everyone goes to sleep early in the suburbs.

The next morning is the same as every other day. When I get home I start my homework. One of the questions I have is: What do you want to do after high school?

I stop to think about what I saw in the city. There were so many interesting places that I could work. There are also many opportunities for school.

I think over the many ups and downsides to the city and I’m stuck on the old question: City vs Suburbs.