My hometown, Podgorica, is a place that made me the way I am today, served as an example and a learning experience to me. I am not the type of person to stay at one place my whole life, I don’t condemn that, but I still love my hometown.

I have a great number of memories from Podgorica, each better than the last, and each shaped my life and served as a push to my personality and figure. You could even say that the city was so closely connected that almost everyone knew each other. We would go out every night, greet everyone we saw pass by, have fun around a neighborhood that can’t get old no matter how long you lived there.

The city had no snow whatsoever, at least from the year 2012, the last time I can remember snow. And in the summer, from what I remember, it was said a couple of times that it was the hottest city in Europe. Nonetheless, it is still a beautiful city and holds a special place in my life.

I remember we all were part of the same religion, we all had the same holidays and the same people we were around. All-in-all we knew everyone and had very similar lives. From an outsider's perspective, they might see it as a small capital of a small country; to us, it was a huge city, since we got used to it. Friendships were long-lasting and very close, school was a breeze, lasted six hours and we learned a lot. We didn’t pay too much attention in school; consequently, when it was time for a test, we stayed up until 2 AM  trying to cramp up as much knowledge as we could. Good times.

Throughout first to fourth grade my grandpa would take me to school, he was an active man, for his age, he rode a bicycle in his spare time, which was always. Before school he would tell me interesting stories, facts, history, and many more time-consuming ideas, or just help me with homework. On the way to school, we would see a friend every day, the same person, my grandpa would share facts to the both of us. With him by my side, school was a breeze, as easy as it could get, until I reached fifth grade and he couldn’t take me to school anymore, that hurt.

My hometown has as many memories as there are stars in the sky, all viewable, but a portion of that changed when my grandpa passed away, some of those things never stayed the same, or seemed the same. A big portion of my childhood was never heard from again. It felt like those memories just disappeared into the void. But, I still have many other memories, except the big portions of my life that changed it.

Nonetheless, when you look past the horrible and wonderful parts of my childhood, you see a beautiful city, with cherishable and forgettable memories that you can’t let go of.