What it’s like to be from Williamsburg and go to William & Mary

“So, where are you from?”

At W&M, and pretty much any college, this question is a classic icebreaker. It’s not too personal or invasive, and it could lead to an interesting convo if you either went to high school abroad or are from NoVA talking to another person from NoVA. However, I am, wait for it, a townie. I grew up in Williamsburg and live ten minutes away from campus. For me, “Where are you from?” quickly leads to one of the three follow up questions:

“Do you live at home?” No.

“Why would you do that?” Because I liked W&M, same reason as you.

“Oh my god, do you actually go here?” Nah. I just like to hang out on campus and steal bikes in my spare time. Now off to Brickhouse!

Being both from Williamsburg and a William and Mary student has shown me things that I didn’t know about both Williamsburg and the students that go here. Because my parents both went here, I grew up with W&M: I went to football games, basketball camps, and even crossed the Crim Dell by myself when I was nine (the reason why I will inevitably die alone. Thanks, Mom and Dad!).

During freshman orientation, some girls on my hall assumed I knew where every academic building was located. They were sadly mistaken: the only buildings I could point out were W&M Hall, Zable Stadium, and the Wren Building (where my parents got married). Like every other freshman, I made the typical mistakes of not knowing where pretty much any lecture hall was and thinking that McLoughlin-Street was, in fact, a street.

I also made the freshman mistake of allowing this photo to be taken

The thing that I personally found to be the most surprising was my own view of students vs. students’ own views of the Williamsburg population. In high school, I just saw students as students who, although a bit nerdy, were nice and smart. (shout out to the math major who tutored me in precalc in what is now Swemaromas every Sunday).

Conversely, most William and Mary students don’t view townies as people who happen to live in Williamsburg. We see them as either old people, colonial interpreters, or creepy guys who hang out at the bars. Based on their experience with the latter, a lot of students think of townies as either weird, uneducated, or a combination of the two (shout out to the girl I talked to during recruitment who commented that she was impressed I had a full set of teeth).

further proof from my freshman year that I have all of my teeth

Yes, those guys who catcall you as you walk past College on a Friday are annoying, but not everyone from Williamsburg fits in to one of these categories. Although small, the town is a lot bigger than the people who hang out along Richmond Road. Most students don’t venture past a three-mile radius of campus, so they don’t get to see past “downtown” Williamsburg.

As someone from the ‘burg, I complain about it as much and probably more than your average twamp. There isn’t much to do here – I get it. But to judge a whole town just because of one encounter with a rando at a bar is a little harsh. And to judge me for not leaving my hometown is also unwarranted. I liked W&M regardless of its location, and I don’t plan on sticking around after graduation. I’ve spent enough of my life here.

As much as I like to complain about Williamsburg and not leaving it, going to school in my hometown has its perks. Move-in day isn’t stressful because I can go back and pick up whatever I forgot (usually my damn laptop charger). I do laundry for free and never have to worry about someone taking my clothes out of the dryer. I get to go back and have a homecooked meal whenever I feel like it. And, most importantly, I am only a ten-minute drive away from seeing my dogs.

I’ll take that over being from NoVA any day.

These guys are worth the townie jokes