Apr 18, 2007

i heart blacksburg

I think most people that know me, know that I'm Canadian, but I actually consider my hometown to be Blacksburg, where I spent my formidable years from the age of 11 to 22. Shortly after I left for the west coast, my parents and evenually my sister (VT alumni) relocated elsewhere, but blacksburg and its people will always remain close to our hearts.

The great thing about this town is the people and Virginia Tech. I don't think I've ever felt a community quite as strong as Blacksburg's and reading the papers the past few days has quickly reminded me of that. Almost everywhere I look in the papers, there's a person that I recognize as someone that I interracted with through highschool, through the swim team, through VT and community events (like building the Caboose Park or going to the Stepping Our Fair), through running my dad's old restaurant Anchy's.

Virginia Tech had a huge influence on my life. My friends and I studied there on many occasions, making use of the huge hang out areas at Squires, and checking out books at the Newsom Library. I swam at the campus pool, and on occasions with the Tech team. We even held our graduation at Burruss Hall. Every summer during my W&M years, I returned to Blacksburg to work at various offices around Virginia Tech, meeting profs and sitting in on lectures. The research taking place there has always astounded me. Tech has always inspired me to do great things. (cheezy, I know - but very true).

When people ask where I'm from, I always say, 'you know the hokies? you know michael vick?... blue ridge mountains, shenandoah valley, virginia tech... that's where I'm from'. And then I sing the old "New River Valley mall theme song". *grin*

It saddens me to know that people who don't know blacksburg, will now associate it with the events that took place this past week.

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