I have recently moved to the small college town of Vermillion, South Dakota. If you had told me a year ago that this is where I'd be spending the next 2 to 4 years (4 being the most likely), a shudder well might have tickled up my spine, ending in a grimace contorting my normally composed expression.

But, I think, this is why our futures are so wisely hidden from us. How many of us would rail against them, not knowing how wonderfully they might turn out? South Dakota? Tucked between the dreaded never-ending Nebraska (containing the longest, dullest stretch of I-80 to cut through the country) and No-Man's Land (read: North Dakota)? Why would anyone in their right temperate-weather-loving mind choose it?

And yet, here I am. Already, I am charmed. To me, there is nothing more beautiful and serene than a river. Not far from my very modest apartment, a slice of the long stretch of Missouri River laps noiselessly its banks, carving out the border between South Dakota and Nebraska.

The South Dakota side is prettier.

I can make this home.