© Sven Menschel
Whenever I get the opportunity to interact which students studying in the Netherlands, one thing they constantly mention is that they want to study in the big student cities. They often think that only the big student cities are hip and happening and are promising in terms of making their life look amazing on Instagram and Facebook. But having lived all my childhood and a major part of my youth in a big capital city myself, I know for a fact that it’s not true. I have noticed that the bigger the city, gets the smaller the world becomes. Big cities sure do keep our lifestyle engaged and busy, but if you carefully observe, young people often take getaways to smaller cities to revive themselves.
Now tell me, what if you always lived in a smaller, calmer and more relaxing environment? Would you live the same life? Would you be equally stressed out? And most importantly, would you be the same person? Hmm, something to think about.
Holiday
For me, living in Wageningen is like living at a holiday destination for life. Smaller cities make your world bigger and the surroundings nicer. And by surroundings, I don’t just mean the beauty and nature but also the people. People in smaller cities are much nicer and friendlier. They make you feel welcome and comfortable, they don’t judge you for who you are, and they let you breathe the air you want. Their priorities still lie in things which people, in general, are losing touch with, like gardening, going for a picnic with family, taking your pet for a walk or celebrating occasions at home instead of a big fancy restaurant.
I was so caught up in my routine that my world became really small
I come from a big city too; I too spent more money and less time on my birthdays; I also went an extra mile to keep up with my FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). I was so caught up in my routine that my world became really small. But after coming to Wageningen, my perspective changed, and I have an active social life now. Since my stay in Wageningen, I have spoken to and gotten to know more and different people than I ever did when I lived in a big city. It is rare that you will miss any event that happens here, because of Wageningen’s compactness. Because everyone knows everything that happens in Wageningen. Wageningen changed my lifestyle and gave me the freedom I was always looking for.
Intimacy
And that’s how my world got bigger and I got better and happier as a person. Next time you want to complain about a small city being small or less happening, try living there and you will realize its intimacy and close-knitted society will lure you into its charm and make you forget all about the city bling you asked for. Like Wageningen did to me. When someone said size doesn’t matter, I think they really thought it through.
Kaavya is a master’s student of Food Technology.