In West Philadelphia born and raised, circa 2005 was me. From preschool to 8th grade my life revolved around West/Southwest Philly. In high school, I moved to the northeast. After spending the first 18 years of my life in the same city, I can say with confidence that I know my hometown well.
I have a lot of pride in my city. We have water ice, cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell, the Eagles, Wawa, and, fun fact: Philadelphia is one of the country’s first cities.
Philly is a cool place to be. There are plenty of ways to get around the city through public transportation, and there are endless things to do. Just go downtown and you’ll find something. You can go to Love Park, Reading Terminal Market, The Gallery, Penn’s Landing, and more.
Now imagine a big city girl like me moving to Dover, Delaware. The Capital city. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Dover is the capital of Delaware, a city with a population of about 40,000 (nowhere near the millions of Philadelphians). More importantly, Dover is home to the illustrious Delaware State University, my school.
To be honest, I had never heard of Dover before applying to college and it did not sound very fun when I applied for school here. After 3 months of living here, I have a few calculated opinions about Dover.
The first major difference for me is the very different types of downtowns. In Philly when you go downtown there are a lot of tall skyscrapers and intricate glass buildings. Center City is a big area that can get exhausting if you attempt to walk all of it. Here in Dover, the downtown area is more quiet and small, with no skyscrapers. I do like the quiet vibe; it is a relaxing change. It does feel a little weird not seeing a high-rise building though.
Another major difference is the houses. Growing up in West Philly, I am used to seeing row homes up and down the block. They are cute, but every house looks the same. I really like the neighborhoods in Dover; all the houses are different and look unique. I could see myself buying a house in Dover for the aesthetics.
Living at a school that is located by a highway is not something I was used to either. Philadelphia is known for being quite a walkable city, so sometimes it is frustrating not being able to walk everywhere. There is public transportation, but I am not too familiar with DART as of right now, but I’m sure it is efficient.
I also don’t hear a lot of Dover pride. In Philadelphia, people rep their city, and in school people from Philly will let you know where they’re from. This is an interesting change to me, but not too surprising considering Dover is much smaller. Since I go to school in Dover now, I have a little school spirit, so if anyone talks about Dover I’ll come to its defense.
As a native Philadelphian, I have a lot of Philly pride and will rep my city wherever I go, but for now, I think Dover is pretty cool.