UNIT 2 draft

 In Unit 1 the class was introduced to the idea of our individual communities. I wrote about my swimming community, having been a swimmer for the past fifteen years of my life, I would consider being a swimmer part of my identity. Though I chose to write about this specific community, my identity is made up of different skills that I have learned in all the different communities I indulged myself in in my hometown. In my hometown is my family, my friends, familiarity, and all my larger communities that shaped my identity. Growing up in Burlington, Vermont, is a community of itself and is the reason I am the way I am. However, I no longer live there, my home is now Syracuse, New York. Living is also a part of my identity, meaning it is also my home. The difference is that Burlington is Familiar; it has all my memories and my childhood home, and Syracuse has nothing that has shaped my identity in the past. The tension is not between my two communities but rather its internally because it's hard to call Syracuse my home because my definition of home doesn't quite fit in with living here in Syracuse. 

My definition of home is family, old friends, familiar people and environment, and living in my personal environment. Growing up in Burlington, Vermont, is very different than growing up somewhere like Los Angeles, California. Vermont is such a small state it feels like one big community, and we all have to live through similar things. This summer, when the valley of Vermont flooded, we all worked together to fix the damage. Every Fall is Vermont appreciation month, and everyone is apple picking, pumpkin picking or hiking. Every winter, everyone fights through the terrible cold together and celebrates the excellent snowfall in the mountains. Then when spring rolls around, everyone suffers through the appalling weather. When that weather finally breaks, it's time for cremes on the waterfront! Everyone gathers for sunset almost every summer night on the waterfront, especially on the Fourth of July. In Vermont, there's bike lanes everywhere and bike paths everywhere. In Vermont, there are unspoken rules/traditions that the whole community follows. I have yet to experience that sense of community in Syracuse, NY. 

Though I have yet to experience what it means to be a apart of the Syracuse community, I still call Syracuse home. Partially because I literally live here but also because I see myself here in the future, sticking with all the new and unfamiliar customs until I am fluent in my community at Syracuse.