Accepted into competitive nursing program in small city, looking for opinions; $

[Healthie]

Hi everyone,

I'm 26, I've spent the last year upgrading to get the pre-requisites to get into nursing school, and I have been accepted to a college in a small city of 10,000 in central British Columbia. I'm worried about some unknowns in going here and would like some opinions and perspectives on moving to a small town.

The pros:
-the nature - a big plus of going to school in the interior is having access to really good ski resorts. troll mountain has $520 ski passes for students, there's hiking, etc.
-I've wanted to try living in a small city - housing in Vancouver is ridiculously expensive and I'm finding the sheer number of people here tiring.
-a possible lack of distraction that comes with a big city
-cheap rent for a larger place

the "cons":
-I don't know anyone in the city and I want to have a social circle

I think that's it, really. I'm concerned about learning something new in a new environment with new people - it's a trifactor of unknowns.

[Rimu05]

School is pretty much the best way to make friends. You are forced to interact with people no matter what.

[meadow lark]

Hopefully you will end up making friends in your program and you will have plenty to talk with them about.  It is definitely the kind of schooling and career people end up bonding over.  And you see a lot of things you need to process, but can't talk about to most people you know.  The humor, alone, ends up not translating to others well. 

Good luck!  I just retired after 17 years of nursing, on Saturday.  It was a good career that helped me achieve my goals in a reasonable time frame.  I spent a lot of time working part-time, which was wonderful for me.  If I had worked full-time I probably could have shortened my career by several years.

[FLBiker]

Sounds awesome!  I agree with Rimu, school is a great place to get a social circle.  You could also join some outdoor activity type clubs.

I'd have no hesitation about moving somewhere new (small or otherwise) w/o a social circle if I was going to school there.

[ChpBstrd]

Go to meetup.com.
Enter your location.
See what's going on near you.
Drop in on an event and introduce yourself.

I even do this while traveling.

[NextTime]

School is pretty much the best way to make friends. You are forced to interact with people no matter what.

Boom!

Once you get out of school, it becomes much more difficult to make new friends.

[bigalsmith101]

My opinion: THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME.

You're going to basically increase your standard of living, and have an opportunity to study a program that you're clearly interested in, while at the same time be surrounded by people that are interested in the same things that you are. It doesn't really get much better.

If you're not completely introverted, you are going to meet new people very quickly, will be invited to study groups, will hang out with people after class, and will generally have a great time.

Enjoy it!