I live in Woodridge. Not Naperville, not Lisle, but Woodridge.

I live in Woodridge, Illinois, more specifically Seven Bridges Estates–the neighborhood off of Hobson and Greene Road, otherwise known as uncharted territory.

I’ve noticed that people are shocked when I tell them, “I live in Woodridge.” Their eyes squint, they lean their head forward, and then to make sure they heard me right, they proceed to ask, “you live in Woodridge?”

If you were to ask me the worst thing about living in Woodridge, I would complain about the drive. Twenty-five minutes to school, 30 minutes to a friend’s house and about 35 minutes to the mall. All these times fluctuate, given the weather and traffic pattern, but if I’m leaving practice in the middle of rush hour during a heavy winter snowfall…forget about it. Woodridge resident and Benet Academy student Maeve O’Sullivan incorporated travel time as a factor in deciding between attending Benet or Naperville North.

“Benet is only about seven minutes away from my house, where North can be anywhere from 18-25 minutes,” O’Sullivan said. “I chose Benet for many reasons, but the travel time played a significant role in my decision.”

Having earned my long-coveted senior privileges, I began my days of off-campus lunch with eagerness. The thrill of enduring the Sonic challenge or being able to get a Starbucks coffee all seemed so exciting to me. But now, all I want to do is drive home and take a nap. However, unless I develop the same driving skills as Vin Diesel in Fast and the Furious, the odds of making it home and back in time are not in my favor.

I can name every street, corner and crevice of Woodridge. I could name every restaurant on every street in order. But when it comes to Naperville, I still need to pull up Google Maps to figure out how to get to Standard Market. Naperville is so foreign to me that I don’t even know who the mayor is.

Although I am still learning the quickest way to school from Woodridge, the trek isn’t all that bad. But no matter how fast I drive, the distance is still the same, because I live in Woodridge.