When I first read this week’s prompt, I thought back to last week when I read an article in the BBC on the individuals and families who continue to live in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, despite the extreme danger and lack of amenities and opportunities.

Arriving home from my trip to Israel just two days before I moved into Canisius, I did not have much time to process my upcoming summer experience. So, after growing up in Rochester for most of my life, I wasn’t expecting Buffalo to be much different from Rochester. Throughout the past week, however, I have come to learn that my previous view couldn’t be farther from the truth.