Growing up in Sacramento, California my perspective on the world was romanticized by my unreal surroundings. The Pacific ocean to the west, Sierra Nevadas to the east, and San Francisco being only an hour away set my “normal” for what the rest of world was.
It wasn’t until I moved out of state to Denver, Colorado that I realized how unique California is not only in its geography, but the culture and energy that go along with it. As I reluctantly started to build my life in Denver, I noticed myself making rash judgement calls on everything I experienced here in relation to California. While this is a natural way of seeing the world, it gave me a cynical perspective on my surroundings.
My first year in Denver was filled with negative thoughts; I hated the fact that it was a full day’s drive to the nearest ocean, and the general consensus that skiing is the best thing to ever exist. It bothered me that people said “Nev-ah-duh” instead of “Nevada”, and that people wore Birkenstocks instead of Rainbows. I dreaded the fact that you can never really be sure if you’re wearing the right outfit for the weather that day, and that I could possibly slip on my way to class.
I was not willing to accept this new way of life I had jumped into. I missed my home, and my friends, and just wanted everything to be the same as it always had been. Instagram had convinced me that all of my high school friends had only good days, and that I should have just gone to SDSU like everyone else in my class. I only had a couple friends in Denver, and didn’t know my way around the city at all. It was always cold, and I had nothing to do.
Instead of recognizing this as a normal transition into college, I blamed the place. I made it Denver’s fault that my freshman year of college wasn’t the highlight of my life, and in the process of doing this I missed out on a years worth of everything this city, I now call home, has to offer.
My unwavering devotion to California made it difficult to see the beauty of Colorado. I became anti-Denver comparing every single thing I experienced to its Californian counterpart, and created an obstacle course on my path to appreciation. I was convinced that I was going to transfer back to a California school, it was only a matter of time.
Though I did not make it east for myself, I trudged down the path to appreciation. For me this journey began with coffee. Coffee shops have been my go to spot to meet friends, study, and take a minute for myself as long as I can remember. They created an easy opportunity to engage with Denver in a way I knew I could appreciate. I started seeking out new coffee spots all around Denver.
I became a regular at La Belle Rosette, located on University behind the Newman center. A hot spicy chai latte and a mini sausage breakfast burrito (with Cholula – of course) beat out any coffee or breakfast burrito I had had in California. More importantly than being delicious, this coffee shop proved to me that there are things that are better here than there are there, and it is okay to accept that.
As my horizons widened and I started to meet more people, I started to take much more advantage of the beautiful state of Colorado. Although my plan remained that I was eventually going to move back to California, I was able to break down the wall of hate towards Colorado, and stop comparing every piece of every experience to my home state.
A few weeks after I had submitted transfer applications to two California schools, I met someone living on the floor above me in Centennial Halls who was also from California and loved it just as much as I did. We started hanging out one day, and didn’t stop until we went home for summer.
As I spent time with my new found friend, I started to realize that it was okay to miss California: my friends and family. But it was also okay to make the best out of my current situation. I realized I wasn’t alone in missing the place I had called home for my entire life, and that people had the same thoughts rushing through their minds as I did. I was persuaded to give my new life a try and let myself enjoy it.
My friend taught me how to skateboard which gave me something constructive to focus and improve upon. Not only that, but it gave me something to be excited about. I had an activity that was healthy, entertaining, and distracting from what at one time seemed to be an endless train of negative thoughts. Skateboarding around campus, and the few parks I went to proved to me that I could find enjoyment in Denver, I just had to try.
This friend and I did everything together, from making peanut butter and honey bagels in the dining hall every morning to skating to Spanish, to going out with our other friends at night. He showed me that no matter where you are, there’s opportunity for friendship and time for appreciation, all it takes is a little bit of effort.
As time went on this friend and I drifted apart a bit, but I will always be appreciative of his ability to open my eyes to the opportunities around me while simultaneously being sympathetic to the difficulty I had letting go of California.
As my normal started to change, and I began to accept my surroundings I started to enjoy my time in Denver. I dove into my friendships here without fear of losing my friendships from home which I had never been able to do before, and sought out adventure instead of shying away from an activity because it was new.
I re-entered my new life with a feeling of optimism and sense of adventure, willing to accept that things were different now, and that was okay. This new headspace allowed me to enjoy Denver, and come to appreciate all of it’s beauty and opportunity.
Meeting friends to study at coffee shops or to skate around campus gave me a way to break into the natural opportunities for fun that Colorado provides. It took some trial and error to find the people I now call my best friends, but through numerous extended coffee and skate dates, I found the people that were going to change my outlook on Colorado for the better and eventually convince me to stay.
Through an unfortunately toxic roommate I met these two amazing people; one of whom is from Boulder, and loves her home state just as much as I love mine. Through the past couple years she has shown me amazing new spots all around Colorado from the Laughing Goat in Boulder to a backpacking trail on Mt. Evans.
Since becoming friends with these two, I have come to see Colorado from an entirely new perspective. I can understand why people love it here so much. There are endless adventures, coffee shops and sunsets to see, it just takes the right group of people to bring out how special this place truly is.
Now that I have been a Colorado resident for almost four whole years, my mind and energy has shifted to accepting everything that I encounter. Instead of comparing everything back to how it was in California, I can see the value in the uniqueness that Colorado provides.
I’ve started to love driving up to the mountains instead of dreading the day-long drive to the beach. I don’t quite get the skiing thing, but I can appreciate that so many of my friends do. I now see why people have Birkenstocks, and while I will never get rid of my rainbows, I am now a Birk wearer. I now realize I’m the one saying “Colo-raw-do” incorrectly – the natives say “Colo-rad-o”.
I realize that the people are what make any place great, and I was missing my tight knit community from home and wasn’t giving myself a chance to make a new one. Once I did, I appreciated the beauty that is Colorado, and have completely revised my “normal”. I have a community and a home in Colorado that I wouldn’t trade for the world — it just took a few great people to convince me of that.
