Adopted Town

In the section "Adopted Town", Melissa Holbrook Pierson is talking about a town that she moved into at the middle of her life. From my understading, this section is all about how she feels this new town of hers has become somewhat of an "adopted" town to her. This just means that this is not the town where she grew up, but it has taken on the role of her hometown, since she can no longer be in the real place. This new town seems strange to Pierson, and she knows it will take some getting used to. She talked about how you could tell who the other "misfits" were because they did not blend in with the rest of the community, but after a while she got to know the traditions and started to blend in more, and more. This is when Melissa Holbrook Peirson realized that an adopted home was better than no home and that it could not replace her childhoood home, but she could feel compfortable in this new adopted town of hers. I can't quite relate to Pierson at this point in my life. I have lived in the same place all my life and I have not had the full experience (not counting college) of living in a foreign place just yet. The final sentence in this section, "Because when I reach my goal at last, I would be filled with hope, that everything was about to change." really made me understand the purpose of this section. Melissa Holbrook Pierson is upset that she has to leave her hometown, but knowing that she has acheived her goal by moving out of her comfort zone, gives me hope that when it comes time for me to move, I will accept the challenge and feel compfortable doing so.
Salem has in a way become my adopted town. I would say this because I spend the majority of my time here trying to break away from my compfort zone and expand as a person. I have spent the past two months away from everything that I know. My hangout spots have changed from the small town of Melrose to the somewhat large city of Salem. I have left my childhood friends since middle school, and been thrown into a community of unfamiliar faces forced to make all new friends. I never want to forget where I came from, but the truth is that I have to make Salem  my new adopted town, in order to make my college experience a full one. Salem State University, I would say is my adopted home because my reality is that I spend 24 hours 5 days a week here, and this is where my new adopted family is. It will take some getting used to, but I have succeeded, and will continue to suceed in breaking out of my compfort zone and making this place my new adopted home.