Johnstown, Pennsylvania, also known as “The Flood City” is the place I consider home. I lived in Johnstown my entire life up until I moved to Pittsburgh for college. Johnstown used to be a thriving city because of its coal and steel mines.By the early 1980’s most of the steel mines had closed down. On May 31, 1889, Johnstown encountered one of the most well known floods that destroy thousands of homes and families. And to follow a few years later were two more floods which gave the city the name “Flood City”. Even with all its historically information and tourist attractions like our Incline Plane, which is considered the steepest in the world, Johnstown is still a poor and depressing area. Not many people live in the area so it is hard to keep any kind of shops or entertainment in business. The closest public stores, movie theatres, and even my high school were a good twenty minutes away. Growing up I was bored and only wanted to get out and go somewhere. I figured staying in Johnstown wouldn’t get me anywhere in life. So when I decided to move to Pittsburgh I was extremely excited.
I figured being downtown there would be plenty to do. I would never get bored because of all the commotion. But within two months the excitement left. I realized after growing up in such a small town where it was a little more rural of an area, I did not like the city. There was no grass, no stars, and no place to go to think in peace and quiet. Do not get me wrong there are some good points of Pittsburgh. While shooting on the streets I have gotten plenty of business cards and meet some interesting people like a U.S House Representative. If I was home I would never have gotten to experience the things I have. But being here just makes me miss home a little more. I cannot say I would like to live back in Johnstown but I would definitely rather be there than here. I come to terms that I am a country girl at heart and being in the city where it is loud and noisy just isn’t a place I can call home.
