The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 4, 1986 - Page 7 Moving to Ann Arbor S'City slickers' adjust to town By MARTIN FRANK Ann Arbor has about 100,000 residents. But for students coming to the University from a big city-like New.Yoirk, Detroit, or Chicago - the city seems small. Like any student coming to campus, "city slickers" must adjust to new surroundings and deal with different changes than students from smaller towns. For instance, students from large cities find Ann Arbor much quieter than their home towns. The pace is much slower than the histle and bustle of cities. LSA junior Joshua Laird, from New York City, finds himself walking much slower than he would back home. "I enjoy taking my time getting to places. It's much more mellow here, which is nice because you get tired of rushing from place to place. Not to mention all the tension in the city," Laird said. City kids must acclimate themselves to walking, for subways do not exist here, he says, and buses are largely necessary to get to class (except, of course, those on North Campus). Laird says he had to get used to walking long distances to get from place to place. He said his feet hurt at first. Culture Shock Another change is meeting new people-an adjustment everyone makes. For the first time, city slickers are in the minority. They are out-numbered by students from the suburbs, small towns, and farms - people city dwellers never meet on a large scale before coming to Ann Arbor. "I underwent culture shock when I first came here," says LSA sophomore Garrick Harshaw, who is from Detroit. "I was seeing people from all walks of life with diverse backgrounds rather than the city person from Detroit. I had never been around these kinds of people before," Harshaw added. Harshaw said he managed to adjust by treating the situation as a challenge to get along in the real world. "I look at this as a test to see how well I'll do in real life because I have to deal with all types (of people) there, so I might as well get used to it now." Other big city kids, however, draw criticism for being arrogant and willing only to talk about the museums and skyscrapers of their home towns. The social life for students coming from the city also requires some adjustment. Outdoor parties as well as fraternity bashes are foreign to those who have been con- fined to apartments and nightclubs. City slickers must also get used to cities that do sleep. "The cultural offerings in Ann Arbor (for example, the University's art museum) are really great, except the whole city closes after 1 a.m." said Jeffrey Borwn, an LSA junior from Washington, D.C. Laird mentioned Greenwich Village in New York where "People are crowding the streets at 5 a.m. In fact, it almost seems like it's rush hour." Despite all the adjustments, city people eventually end up blending with other students, producing the big city in a small town atmosphere of Ann Arbor. "Ann Arbor is the perfect midway point between a rural school and a school located in the big city," Laird says. Daily Photo by CHRIS TWIGG Some students coming to the University from a small town picture Ann Arbor as a booming metropolis with cars and pedestrians streaming by, as on Main Street ... Students adjust to worldly city By JUDY WOLFE Though Ann Arbor is an average-size city, it is as cosmopolitan as a city with millions of people. This can make Ann Arbor intimidating, even to a new student from a similar-sized city. Survivors of the adjustment to Ann Arbor - and almost everyone does survive - say the best way to get to know the city is to explore it. Unlike a small town, you may never get to know every street, but knowing a few makes you feel at home. "I went out and did things like (a) shopping trip, and got lost more than once," said Rachael Knight, a senior from Bay City, Michigan. "But that's the only way to get to know your way around." "I sometimes laugh when I think about how I used to get lost walking a few blocks," Knight said. For example, she recounts one incident when she and a friend went shop- ping on State Street and forgot how to get back to their apartment. "Our road runs right into State Street, so if we had just walked straight, we would have found our apartment in about three minutes. But instead, we decided to cut across campus. Bad idea. It ended up taking us 20 minutes to get home," she said. Larry Maiselman, a junior from Schenectady, New York, also said he had to feel his way around - get in- volved in clubs, get a job, and go to parties - before he felt comfortable. Freshman orientation, he said, was a good opportunity to make the initial adjustment because he met other people who felt lost. "I didn't feel like I was in this strange town all alone," he said. "It's a lot easier to explore Ann Arbor if you do it with someone who is in the same boat as you. Opportunity to grow Despite the fears and anxiety, moving to a larger town is an opportunity to grow. Like meeting other people. "Where I come from, everyone is the same, but when I came to Ann Arbor, I met people from all over the world who had very different backgrounds than I did," said Cindi Parynik, a senior from Riverview, Michigan. "There are people here from the cultural centers of the world, and you can talk to them about so many things. I met most of the people that I know from other countries in class, but you can also meet some people by sitting in the Diag or going to bars," she said. Parynik said that in Riverview she never had the chan- ce to talk to someone from Japan, Africa, or India about their cultures - something she's had the chance to do in Ann Arbor. Through conversations, she said she had a bet- ter idea of the world outside Riverview is like. "If I had stayed in Riverview, I never would have become aware of those other people," she said. "I knew that not everyone had grown up in a white, middle class town, but until I came to Ann Arbor and met these different people, I wasn't aware of how extremely different some cultures are," Parynik said. "It's strange to think that there are still countries where blacks are not given any equality (like South Africa) and others where this is true of women and others where voices come over loud speakers in the middle of the day to give the citizens a psychological boost," Parknik said. "Gaining this kind of knowledge from people in Ann Ar- bor may not help you to get into grad school or get a job, but it can help you see the world from a different perspec- tive." It can also be interesting to be walking home from class one afternoon and run into a rally in the middle of town with someone speaking about nuclear war or see hundreds of people walking down the street protesting African apar- theid. Michael Greyerbiehl, a senior from Hemlock, Michigan, said he was most startled at first by people who came up to talk to him in the street. "I could handle the rallies and marches, but when strangers just started talking to me (about everything from religion to revolution), I just got confused," he said. "Nothing like that happens in Hemlock. Only the people who know you talk to you, and I really don't know what to expect from someone in the streets of Ann Arnor with blue hair who just walked up and started talking to me," he added. "I guess it's just something you get used to after living in Ann Arbor a few years. But when my friends from Hemlock come for a visit, they still get surprised by these people," Greyerbiehl said. Daily Photo by ANDI SCHREIBER . . . but when they come from the big city, students expect to see young entrepreneurs like Keli McLoyd, age 6, selling homemade lemonade on the streets like Golden Street. WELCOME TO ANN ARBOR! First of America Bank-Ann Arbor is the bank for you! We feature: " 17 BRANCHES - ONLY Bank with four campus locations S. University at E. University E. Liberty at Maynard E. Ann at Washtenaw Place (Medical Center) Plymouth Road (near North Campus) " 24-HOUR BANKING - Most locations in town -10 campus area machines (16 total). Member of Magic Line. * FULL RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES - Washtenaw County's largest full service commercial bank. Stop by or call any branch to open an account. Or write for your FREE "Newcomer's Kit" - complete with account information plus a map and guidebook I