As a naive middle schooler all I wanted to do was move around and live anywhere but Harrisonburg. To me Harrisonburg was small and where my family has been forever and even though I had only been here for twelve years, I was ready to move on. I always asked myself why in the world do we have hotels? Who would want to vacation here? That mentality lasted all the way until I hit Harrisonburg High School (HHS) and since then I have realized about a gazillion reasons why we have hotels.

1. Diversity: Within my concrete friend group we have someone who is Filipino, Russian and one who came from Iraq seeking safety. I think that is crazy cool. Being at HHS has given me the opportunity to learn about the world and different cultures that you can’t pick up from a textbook.
2. Learning Spanish: HHS has been the best way for me to “leave” Harrisonburg by still staying in it. There are more than 40 different countries represented in this one building and I can choose which one of those I want to go to/learn about everyday that I’m here. I can’t even imagine going to another school in this area and trying to learn Spanish. The only real way to learn is to speak it and if I want to do that all I have to do is find my soccer teammates who know to only speak to me in Spanish (to help me learn). Keep in mind memorization and learning language are not my strong suits so shout out to Mayerly Rodriguez and Jenny Arteaga for putting up with that mess.
3. Hiking and outdoorsy stuff: If you are into outdoorsy stuff our little city is in a perfect area for it. Looking to do a little fishing, searching for crayfish or having stream fun? Riven Rock and Blue Hole both have beautiful clear water to have fun in. Also since having my license I have realized that hiking is one of my favorite things to do and the beautiful Shenandoah National Park is just a short drive on 33.
4. Mountains: First of all they are just gorgeous, second they keep our valley isolated from inclement weather and third they provide a homey secure feeling that comes with being in a valley. Everywhere you look you can see the mountains, I miss them every time I spend more than a week away from Harrisonburg.
5. Massanutten: Waterpark, snowtubing, skiing, snowboarding, ziplining and climbing all at one resort that’s just roughly 20 minutes away.
6. Billy Jack’s: Chipotle lime wings. Enough said.