I grew up in a tourist attraction.
For most of my life, I lived in Hershey, Pa—home to the Hershey’s brand, Hersheypark, Chocolate World, the Giant Center and many more attractions. A place that has the smell of chocolate and peanuts as you drive down the street and large bushes that spell out “Hershey Cocoa”. All it is missing is a chocolate river.
Throughout my childhood, I always wanted to leave the town, and imaged this place as a giant bus stop to wait at until I was old enough to see the world. I craved for my parents to take my family out of the town and see more. I became un-phased by the Hershey Kisses’ lights that line the chocolate-themed streets. Places called “Chocolate World” and “Cocoa Castle” no longer seemed fantastical or exciting as they once did. It was just a temporary town for me to launch off from.
I had the taste of travelling and the real world and I strongly preferred it to the taste of chocolate. My urge took me to places like China, Venezuela, France, Belize and many more, and gave me material to write about. Returning home, I can recall the times that I complained about how everything was closed by 10 p.m. and only for tourists (hence, too much for a young professional to afford).
I spread my wings a few times and left the area for jobs and school, but I felt like I was always sucked back into the Chocolate Bubble that is Hershey. My first few professional jobs took me back to Hershey and I began to resent this place; especially when my high school friends started to fly off for jobs in Seattle, New York City and Los Angeles. All while I was stuck in my own personal Groundhog’s day with surprise "check-ins” from my parents… Not exactly what dreams are made of.
However, I decided to change my perception. If thousands of people make the trip to visit my hometown every year, am I missing something? It was not until I started interacting with people that were not from Hershey that I started to appreciate my town. For the first time, I felt a sense of pride to know fun facts about Milton Snavely Hershey and what is the quickest way to the Tanger Outlets. As I started talking more and more about this town and all of its achievements, I began to see what it had to offer and the appeal.
I started a new job and worked under a woman that was new to the town. As part of a team building exercise to observe the customer engagement and satisfaction, she decided to take us to many of the attractions. Starting out at our local museum, we followed the story of Milton Hershey as he failed and struggled to build a successful confectionery business. Although I knew an unnatural amount of facts about Hershey (the town and person), the exhibit told a story of the gains and losses of the town and the life the worker’s. As I rounded the corner of the museum, I felt a twinge of excitement when I saw my high school teacher in an advertisement for the museum and, in one of the exhibits about Hershey Today, a large picture of a play I was in at the local Hershey Area Playhouse. My heart swelled to realize how much I relate to my hometown, and suddenly, it seemed as if it was as much a part of my story as I was a part of its.
The rest of the day, my team went to many major landmarks, like lunch at the Hotel Hershey and the free ride at Chocolate World. We sampled “shots” of chocolate from around the world at a chocolate tasting and learned about the process of refining the cocoa. By the end of the day, I got my full fill of the Hershey culture and re-discovered my pride in Hershey.
Although having the opportunity to travel is amazing and you have experiences that are unlike any other in the world, you should take the time to focus and explore your hometown. See it all through fresh eyes and imagine you are a tourist. You may discover a new place, meet someone new and reconnect with who you are. Travelling is all about self-discovery. Sometimes it means going back to your roots and visiting your life.
