Lessons in Urbanization

At the very core of me is the fact that I am a suburban girl. Yes, the city was never far and I did visit often most of my time was spent in the shadow of Dallas right in the middle of Dallas and Ft. Worth. I moved to the San Antonio which is undoubtedly a city it’s incredibly different from my suburban paradise and even the proper city I call the proud part of my past. In my time in the city here are a few things I’ve learned.

• I am now recently afraid of dogs after being nearly attacked by wild dogs waiting for buses and walking through poorly designed parking structures.
• I don’t like happening upon people in various stupors on the stoops of businesses.
• This city moves at a ridiculously slow place.
• I find tourists even more obnoxious than ever before.
• I am amazed with how antiquated at time this city is and what it means in the grander scheme of city planning. People still can find and still use payphones.
• I am incredibly surprised how far I can get with without a car between the buses and my own two feet. And now that I have a car I’m surprised how many places I now can reach.
• I am also incredibly surprised with all of this access some places are still tortuously inaccessible.
• There are a few very nice buses here: my question is why there aren’t more of them?
• There are more houses of predatory lending here than I have ever seen. These establishments prey on those who need financial help most and trap them in a spiral of debt. I see plenty on my ride home from work.
• The food scene here is very rapidly changing. I’m happy to be in the middle of it while I tell tourists to visit plastic haunts, I savor the bounty of now being a local.
• I’m amazed that San Antonio is a young and old city simultaneously and there seems to be no middle ground.
• San Antonio on a whole seems to be a city of no middle ground: the housing issues here are interesting either apartments are very expensive or designated for low-income housing.
• It seems like the new emergence of a middle class here has posed a few issues, I look forward to seeing them resolved.
• Now that I’m driving, I do love that I can leave the city and visit plenty of other locations.
• I’ve gotten use to a wide variety of noises.
• I have no idea how to make friends as an adult in this city that doesn’t involve stomaching the bar scene or frolicking around other hipster locations that I normally frequent. Like how do we do that? Is there a Tinder for friends?
• There is something to be said about a sensible flat shoe in the city.
• First Friday is pretty magical.
• I do love South Town.
• Come to think of it, most of the arts districts are where I’ll likely be found.
• But bigger city does mean more history and ARCHIVES. ARCHIVES.

This is a short one and maybe I’ll add to it as I learn more. But I will say whenever I leave Dallas, I am miserable leaving the skyline. When I return to Dallas, the skyline is what greets me: I love the glitter of artificial Suns and man’s desire to blanket the sky with its own burning effigies. I’m a suburban girl by nature, but a city girl at heart.