Our Fair City

Minneapolis from the eyes of a newcomer

By Isabella Azzaro

Minneapolis is an interesting city, and all it’s natives know that. But what do out of state students think? One freshman coming in from Pennsylvania, Catherine Perakslis, shared her thoughts. Having lived in a grand total of five other cities in Texas, Indiana, South Dakota, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, she has a wide range of cities to compare to Minneapolis, and thankfully, she has nothing but good comments for us! 

Catherine noticed the variety of green spaces. She has access to so many of them, and they are all relatively close by. Her favorite space so far is the park off of Pleasant St. SE, but she is excited to explore all of them. She mentioned that in Dallas, Texas, there was nothing like that. Sure, there were parks, but Dallas is so big, and there was so much traffic that she felt isolated in her own community. There, she had a regular park she would visit, but she was never able to go anywhere but that one place on a regular basis. Catherine then started talking about the restaurants in the city and around campus. At one point, she admitted that there was a greater diversity of food options in Dinkytown alone than in the entirety of Columbus, Georgia. I was doubtful, but she assured me it was true. As of right now, her favorite is Annie’s Parlour. 

Another thing she mentioned was that a positive relationship between the city and the campus community is more rare than we might think. Catherine said that in some cities she’s lived in, the two hardly acknowledged each other at best, and other cities had an outright bias against the students. We got to talking about opportunities for involvement in the local community, and she added that she is already involved as a tutor in a local school as part of a volunteer program. The fact that it was so easy to get involved in the city as a college student is valuable to her. However, she also said, “I can always find things to do in a city, but it's the vibe that sells me. It just feels right.” Overall, she rates Minneapolis as a solid 4.75 stars out of five, only detracting points because of the weather. In comparison with the many other cities she’s lived in, that is an impressive score, and one we can be proud of!