Who are you?

“The City Girl”

Hey!, I’m Victoria, Victoria Parker, I’m 16 years old and I go to Woodstock High School, since I’ve lived in Woodstock, Vermont, pretty much my entire life, meaning that for me it has always been the same city, same house, same people, same school, etc. Through the years in this town, I’ve seen a lot of people trying to be someone, well could you blame them? 

We live in a world full of stereotypes, if you’re skinny then you’ll be called anorexic, if your not anorexic you’ll be called fat, if you’re quiet then you are weird, if you’re an extrovert then you’re a loud person just looking for attention and the list goes on and on. So there is a social pressure that causes these people to try to just not be themselves which is obviously wrong. Anyways, the thing is I met this girl her name was Jessica Adams, she used to live in NYC or so she made everyone believe, I mean these days you don’t even know who’s who?, right ? 

Jessica was beautiful and of course, as soon as she arrived

everyone was dying to be friends with her, “The city girl”. Please, acknowledge that we live in a tiny town and this life of ours is way different to the city life. Living in a town is just a bit calmer, more quiet and nicer... ugh, who I’m I kidding? Living in a town is way too calm and way too quiet... being honest, it is actually so boring. There’s just nothing new, like ever it is always the same, nothing ever changes. 

Meanwhile, the city life is ever evolving in every way: fashion, technology, architecture, medicine. I’ve never lived in a big city, but I’ve been to New York and London and the multiculturalism you can find is fantastic, I’m actually planning to move to New York and go to NYU to study film making. So far, I think you can tell I’m excited to get out of this tiny town and go to a place where nobody knows me and I know nobody. 

By 2017, the population in Woodstock was about 2.932 people while New York’s was almost 9 million people. How in the world! So yeah, I’m looking forward to leaving this place, but don’t get me wrong, I love Woodstock and its people and I’m thankful with my parents for raising me in such a beautiful and calm place. Living in a town has many perks, but I’m really eager to go out there and explore the world: the noise, the crowded places, Broadway shows, the traffic, basically I’m really moved to live in "the city that never sleeps".

Okay back to Jessica, remember all the talk about the stereotypes and stuff, well she was really annoying, she was always talking about how big her apartment in The upper west side with sights of Central Park was and of how much she missed her private school and her Cadillac Escalade, which she was forced to live behind in NYC. Whenever something wasn’t just as she wanted it to be, she would throw a tantrum, what a brat! Everyone thought she was a misunderstood spoiled girl from NYC, but a year later her dad ended his own life because of the stress, fear and regret he had due to impressively huge debts he was yet to pay.

Everyone was shocked, the rich girl! was not  her really rich? She was trying to live up to a life she couldn’t have and so were her parents. Their lives were full of stress and her dad couldn’t handle it any more, he started suffering from anxiety before they decided to move here. Remember the Cadillac Jessica would talk nonstop about? They sold it because they couldn’t even afford the gas anymore, the upper west side apartment she had was under a huge mortgage and her parents had been trying to sell it, but they hadn’t been able to find a buyer, all of her expensive clothes and designer bags were paid with a credit card which remains unpaid till this day.

She would spend money all the time, she would buy her friends expensive gifts, she would buy herself whatever she wanted, as if her parents weren’t choking on bills. Naturally, no one could believe the truth, but it is so sad to think that it is so hard to remain being yourself in a world that is constantly trying to change you. 

Jessica was trying to live up to everyone’s expectations and well, she made it, she fooled everyone, she even fooled herself, everyone had a misconception of who she was and Jess is just an example of how we believe everything we’re told, everything we see without digging further into things, we tend to interpret things in the wrong way and we must know that not everyone is who they say they are.

By Natalia Del Castillo, Step 10