Athens, OH and a Personal Revelation

b4ndito, Mon Sep 03 2012, 07:25PM

I was visiting my friend Caitlin in Athens, OH on the awesome campus of Ohio University, one of the biggest and most recognized party schools in the country. I've never had more fun on a trip anywhere. I arrived on Saturday after the Ohio Bobcats beat the shit out of Penn State (Haha FUCK YOU, Nostie!) and I caught up with my friend while we were getting ready to go to some parties.

When I arrived in the town there was a moment where I realized that this place was waiting to explode in an all out drunken bash. I've never been to a place that just buzzed with so much energy. It was electric. The parties were all great but the prize of the trip was Court Street. Bars up and down and I'm pretty sure the entire student body was out hopping around going wild. It was like a street festival; it's apparently like this every weekend, and I don't know how anything could compare.

This trip was more than just an excuse to get drunk somewhere else though. It was a two-part scouting trip. One, I wanted to see if there was any remaining interest between Caitlin and me, because we are both single for the first time since we met. I can't say definitively one way or the other on that; her breakup came too recently and so I didn't push the issue. Part two was more subconscious.

Sunday morning me and Caitlin woke up and she showed me around campus and all the libraries and quads and greens. It made me think of a state park. The campus was just covered in oak trees and it was beautiful. It was like they erected these buildings in the middle of a forest. Impressive in all facets. That's when I realized something that I should have realized a long time ago: I need to get the fuck out of Cincinnati.

Outside of the best team in Major League Baseball, this city doesn't offer me anything to care about. Cincinnati doesn't cater to the aspirations of an amateur writer and near-college dropout. The University of Cincinnati doesn't help me towards those goals and has actually hindered me in my 5 year tender at the school. My bucket list is unchecked and I'm no nearer to achieving any of my goals. Frankly, being around my family has never done anything positive for me either (and a few thousand dollars worth of therapy verifies it). I languish here in routine and comfort.

My plan was to go back to school at UC in January and finish up my degree, but I don't think that it'll ever get me where I want to be, even upon completion. This trip has essentially made my mind for me and it is clear that my best interest lies in going somewhere, anywhere besides where I'm at now. I could be blindfolded and dropped in any unknown city in the world and I would bring myself to success in no time. Cincinnati has become some shackle to all my worst memories and bad habits. I'm going to look into transferring to a different school and succeeding there. Ohio U is high on the list of targets.

I know (and frankly expect) some of you may scoff at this thread because you're all just internet friends and I've never actually seen any of you in person and I really don't have any gains at stake by telling you all this but it did me a lot of good to put this all into words and hash out some plan. So thanks for just being here to listen to someone who doesn't really have anyone to talk to anymore.