I was lying in a ditch outside Kates gymnasium covered in dirt. 

To quote those late night infomercials for Life Alert, I had fallen and I couldn’t get up. 

“Great,” I thought to myself. “I’m the first person to tear their ACL getting Arby’s.”

A few weeks ago I had finished calling an Ashland volleyball match for our campus radio station, WRDL. I am superstitious person, and I never eat before a broadcast. Since it was a Friday night, when the match was over my only option for food was going off campus.

I walked to Arby’s, ordered a steak sandwich and started walking back to campus. As I was walking I took a shortcut next to Kates. That is when I stepped into what felt like a 20-foot hole. Since it was dark and I was walking quickly to get back to my dorm and eat some delicious Arby’s, when I stepped in the ditch I fell over like a redwood tree being taken down by a lumberjack. 

I laid on the ground covered in dirt, deeply in pain and embarrassed. I imagined going to the emergency room and explaining of the cause of my injury was an Angus three cheese and bacon sandwich from Arby’s. 

Finally I decided that I was hungrier than I was injured and needed to get back to my dorm to eat, no matter the cost to my body. I got on my feet, looking like a baby calf, unsure of how to walk.

As I limped towards my dorm, a female student opened the back door to Myers Hall and walked past me. As she walked past she saw me struggling to carry what was left of my food and laptop while limping as if I was on the Walking Dead.

She could have easily kept walking and went on with her Friday night. Instead however she turned around asked me if I needed help, opened the door and asked me if I was alright. 

That simple gesture meant the world to me. She helped me in a time when I really needed some help. And that is what makes Ashland special to me. 

Being from New York, a lot of times people ask me why I am came to Ashland. They can’t understand someone wanting to leave “the greatest city in the world” to come to Amish country.

And while I love New York, I certainly don’t miss some of the people.  Everyone is in a rush, people are rude and everyone is looking out only for himself or herself. New York is called the city that doesn’t sleep and the people living their act live they haven’t slept in weeks. I could limp for weeks without anyone noticing or caring.

It feels as if the people in Ashland care about you. Everyone I meet here is friendly and kind, always willing to try and help me. 

Ashland has certainly faced a lot of challenges the past few years. But as new President Carlos Campo pointed out, the biggest thing AU has going for it, is the people here. 

AU has that great midwestern charm, that as an outsider I can appreciate. People here hold doors open, ask you how you are and are simply kind.

The City of Ashland bills itself “The World Headquarters of Nice People” and AU is a big reason why. Despite the trying times on campus people continue to have an upbeat attitude and a smile. 

My first day on campus I was walking with my parents, my roommate, and his parent’s to the mailroom. At the time they were the only people I knew in the city of Ashland. Yet during that five-minute walk, four different people waved to me. The wave was a foreign motion; I was so confused I didn’t know how to react.

Fourteen months later waving is now well within my repertoire. And I hope that the kindness and friendless of the Ashland’s people are rubbing off on me. 

I didn’t get the female student’s name but I want to thank her. Her small act of kindness is so common in the Ashland community, but often can mean so much.