I have nine months left in my last year of school. I’m counting down the days before I can pack up my stuff and leave the Midwest for a long time. I cannot wait to see, not just the rest of the country, but to see the rest of the world. I think everyone, in a way, resents the region, state, or the area that they’re from. It’s not weird to want to leave but what I’ve recently come to realize, after spending this past year abroad, you have to learn to appreciate your home and being somewhere you may not love because one day you’ll be 4,000 plus miles from home with no easy way back. I’ve learned to cherish the little beauties.

Indiana may not have anything and everything to do but you’ve got to appreciate the slow paced, chill life that is summer in the Midwest.

Being able to spend a chill afternoon on the porch | James Padgett

Spending Indiana’s four million degree weather and humidity in the pool | James Padgett

Sometimes you have to stop and capture the weirdly beautiful Hoosier landscape | James Padgett

Going to Steak N’ Shake at two o’clock in the morning because there’s literally nothing else to do | James Padgett

Seeing the Pixies, the Wombats, and Weezer in concert. Indianapolis either gets really good concerts or they miss us all together and go to Chicago | James Padgett

Joining the bandwagon and going to see the Cubies win | James Padgett

Living in a small town means being on the interstate all the time. Luckily, Indiana has the most amount of interstate in the country | James Padgett

Late night skateboarding around downtown | James Padgett

Having Lake Michigan only three hours away makes living nine hours from the ocean a little more sufferable | James Padgett

The best part of all is being able to share a bottle of red wine on the porch with a friend on a cool summer night | James Padgett