Tucked between the random quotes and shopping lists, my notes app holds my ideas and dreams for my future life.

As I get older and closer to graduating high school, I think more about the future and what my life will be like. When thinking about which college I would want to attend or which city I might live in, the notes app on my phone acts as a companion in helping me make sense of what is to come.

When visiting a college campus or a new city, I’ll write down what I thought about it in an attempt to narrow down what I might like and what I would like to aim for in the future. The type of things I note are observations and feelings I had while in a new place.

Thanks to my notes I know that walkability in a city or campus is something I really value. After spending time in cities like D.C. and Boston that have extensive public transportation systems, I’ve realized that convenience plays a large role in how much I enjoy a place and could see myself living there. I loved how easy it was to take the Metro and explore different neighborhoods with a car. Sprawling, car-dependent places are now less attractive to me.

I also tend to write what I like or dislike about the weather of a place after spending considerable time there. Houston humidity, for example, is something I wrote down as not being a fan of. I tend to prefer states with cooler weather.

Keeping ideas like these in my notes keeps me honest about what I actually like, beyond the initial excitement of visiting a new place.

My hope is that these details from my notes will help me make important decisions when the time comes. When it is time to decide where I want to go to college or where I want to live and I am fortunate enough to have an option, I’ll have these to look back on.