This week we’re hearing from Will Schlimgen in Eagle River. Will is originally from California, and is just starting his second year at UAA.
“In Alaska, the whole state’s got kinda that small town mentality, I think. It’s so easy to see people you know everywhere. You go out and you see somebody you know. Eagle River is not that big. And Anchorage, even though people that live in Alaska think it’s big, compared to cities down in lower 48, is not big at all.
Appreciation of the outdoors. I know you can do that in California too but it gets so hot in the summer that I just kinda felt like staying inside all the time. But out here I went hiking almost every day. Like last summer, I been going hiking all the time. Like fishing, just outdoors is huge up here.
Balancing work, school and social life is a huge learning curve, there’s a really steep learning curve but it’s one of the most important things to go into college.
We have some of the worst dressed people, I’d say. Actually I think we were rated as the worst dressed state in the United States.
I think a lot of the stereotypes are somewhat based on facts. Like Alaska is full of outdoorsy people, cause it is. And everybody has a gun, cause there’s a lot of people that own guns in Alaska. Or everybody has a dog. I think all my neighbors have dogs. Like everybody has dogs. So, I think that despite of a lot of misconceptions people have about Alaska, there’s a lot that’s actually based on fact.”
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
