When I started to think about college in high school, before I knew which universities to look at or which majors and programs to research, the one thing I was sure about was, I didn’t want to go to college in New York City.
Born and raised in the Big Apple, I wanted a college experience that was different from everything I knew. And, if I wasn’t going to go to college in what I thought was the best city in the world, then no other metropolis seemed worth the four-year move. Also, I wanted the college experience I grew up seeing in movies with a big lush quad, football games and house gatherings. That left me looking at colleges outside of big cities, with a more suburban and rural feel.
I landed on Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a small city along the Lehigh River, population 75,000. It was quite an adjustment from living among the 8.5 million people spread among five boroughs I call home. Here’s what I’ve learned:
Not everyone loves walking or walks at city pace.
Living in New York City means developing a fervor for walking—and walking fast. New Yorkers are go, go, go. They move quickly, and never stop moving, weaving in and out of crowds on city streets. They also walk everywhere. If your destination is less than two miles away, there’s no transportation more reliable than your legs. This becomes ingrained in you while you live there, which means you’ll bring it to college.
Dinner on the North side? Trust I will be walking. Need to go back to M&M from the bottom of the hill? I’ll be getting there on my feet. Call it preference or stubbornness, but I really have walked everywhere these past four years. I didn’t even ride the bus on campus until my senior year.
But not everyone hails from NYC. Many students come from suburban towns where they drive to get from point A to point B, so they might not always walk with you if they see the campus connector is two stops away, and, if they do, they might not be walking as fast.
Transportation is not as convenient: bye bye MTA.
For destinations that aren’t walkable in New York City, there is a train, bus, ferry, shuttle, tram or taxi that will take you just about anywhere. Commuting at home is as easy as looking up a place on Google Maps and picking a subway line. That is not the case in Bethlehem. There’s a Lehigh bus that will take you to Mountaintop campus and a LANTA bus that stops at select places in the Lehigh Valley, but public transportation is much more limited.
Getting somewhere in my first year at Lehigh required booking an Uber or opting for delivery instead. Luckily, now, I have a bunch of friends with cars who I can beg to drive me around—as I, myself, do not have a car, nor a license (truly a city kid)–but there is no transportation system in Bethlehem that is as expansive as in New York. Your options are to walk, get a ride from a friend or call a car.
Everything closes early.
They call New York the city that never sleeps because people don’t, nor do businesses. I can have dinner as late as 11 p.m., pick up a slice of pizza at 3 a.m. or mosey on down to a convenience store at any hour of the day. This is not the case in Bethlehem. Get used to only needing things until 9 p.m. because that is when most places will be closing up shop—barring El Jefes, which will be your hunger cravings savior until 3 a.m.
Everyone from the city knows each other.
I know that sounds silly, and surely not everyone knows each other, but somehow you can find some connection between all New Yorkers. It feels just as true here as it did 82 miles away and a few years ago at my Upper East Side high school. You will meet people who went to camp with your childhood best friend or is dating the girl in your calculus class from high school or is from the same small Croatian island as your cousin from Queens (true story of how I met my best friend at college).
Many of the conversations I’ve had with students who are from New York are positive and fun. Sometimes these connections even transpire into beautiful relationships—and, they mean you have options for carpooling home for breaks.
Bethlehem will teach you to relax.
Living in New York with its never-stop-moving mentality can often lead to feeling burnt out. Coming to Bethlehem has challenged me to unlearn living life at high speeds with no breaks. I’ve learned to slow down, enjoy myself and know what leisure actually looks like, even as a busy college student.
There is so much to appreciate in Bethlehem—the gorgeous landscapes being at the forefront of that list. Our campus, and the greater region, is sprouted with lush trees, green grass, blankets of white snow in the winter, multi-colored leaves in autumn, pastel spring flowers, hills, rivers, farms, etc. and hammocks on campus to lay down and take it all in.
Bethlehem is full of radiant culture.
Growing up in New York, I’ve been primed with diverse cultures, art and food, and there is a lot of that to seek in Bethlehem. The pizza and bagels aren’t as good, but the diversity of cuisine from Thai Kitchen to Aqui Es will keep your soul and stomach happy.