Moving from your hometown is always a difficult choice. Leaving the place where you grew up, met your friends and lived for your entire lifetime requires a lot of willpower. Still, so many people face this problem in their life.
I’m from a small town in north-western Hungary. As a senior in high school, this question is more relevant for me than it ever was. In less than a year, I’ll be a university student, most likely in the capital, Budapest. I always imagined myself as a townsman, even though I’ve been living in the rural areas of Hungary for almost 18 years.
My affection for Budapest started very early. This is partly because of my grandma who lives in the centre of the city and thanks to her, I fell in love with Budapest as a kid. To this day, I have vivid and fond memories from the times when we spent our whole day exploring the monuments, bridges, restaurants, playgrounds and other places of the capital. I’ve visited many beautiful and huge cities all across Europe and America but none of them ever came close. My dream was to move there one day. Soon it will be a reality.
Despite all of this, you’ll soon realise that leaving so many things behind is not that easy. Things that meant so much for you. Things that you couldn’t imagine living without. All your friends going to different cities, universities, the struggle to keep in touch with them and the fear that you might lose them. Saying goodbye to the place where you used to play football, the small bridge where you used to jump down into the river and the hill that was perfect for sledging in the winter. No other city could replace these things. This is home.
That is why no matter how far I’ll go, no matter how much time has passed, I’ll never forget my small town. I’ll come back and relive all those memories I couldn’t forget.