It’s true that everyone has a conflicted relationship with the place they grew up, and in my experience, that means you feel like there’s nothing to do in your hometown.

This was a problem over the Thanksgiving break when I went home to Bloomington and looked for things to entertain my friends and me.

When I think about Bloomington, I don’t think there’s anything to do – but, really, there is.

I realized how different my image of Bloomington is than others’ when I was chatting in class one day about how boring Bloomington is.

When one of my classmates heard that, he wondered, “What’s wrong with Bloomington? Bloomington is awesome.”

He’s not from Bloomington – only a visitor – but he enjoyed his time however long he spent there.

However, over break I confirmed that it isn’t just me who thinks Bloomington is boring.

Friends of mine were clueless when wondering what to do.

Going to bars downtown is a clear option, but after that, it doesn’t seem like there’s much to do.

Even choosing a restaurant to eat at is a challenge.

The reason for this, I think, is because you’ve already done everything there is to do in your hometown growing up; at least, you think you have.

My girlfriend and I were looking for a place to go to dinner, but none of the places in town jumped out at us because we’d eaten there so many times.

The same goes for finding entertainment – probably because there’s not a lot that changes in your town.

Sure, we could see a movie because those change all the time (which we did), but maybe there’s something more active for us to do.

Nope, I guess not.

When you grow up in Bloomington, or wherever your hometown is, there’s no tour guide brochure waiting for you on your bed when you get home.

You’re just supposed to know what to do – and you think you will know, until you actually get home and realize three days later all you’ve done is sit on the couch and watch reruns of “How I Met Your Mother.”

Granted, watching reruns makes me a bit of a hypocrite because I won’t go somewhere I’ve been too many times before, but I’ll watch Barney pick up women over and over and over again.

If I’m not watching reruns, I’ll regress to my typical activity – picking up a TV show I’ve never seen and watching the entire first season online.

We all have qualms about the place we grew up, no matter the size of the town.

Bloomington is around 75,000 people, so I can’t imagine being someone from Charleston or any other rural town.

Heck, I interned in Robinson and I can’t imagine being a 12-year-old looking for something to do in that town… no, village… eh, plot of land.

Nevertheless, we survive even if that means being lazy on the couch for a week.

Alex McNamee is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].