Former senior North Harford student Ross Buraszeski moved to Anchorage, Alaska alone in a “spur of the moment” decision at the end of this summer. He says, “I came here on vacation a couple of times and thought it was cool, and while we were here, we explored a bunch of stuff. My brother and I rented these bikes and we just went biking through the city and I found West Anchorage High School and the building was huge.”
He continues, “later that day, I googled the school and found out it was, like, the best high school around.” He then went around and talked to locals and went to look at the school.
Buraszeski planned to move in just three weeks. He found an apartment to rent online and went without a plan. He says it’s his “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He got a year lease on his apartment, so after he graduates, he can come back to Maryland or stay there if he chooses to.
The biggest struggle for him was buying a car. Once he arrived in Alaska, he had no car and had to walk or uber everywhere he went which he said was “painful.”
While Alaska is known for its cold weather, Buraszeski isn’t worried about the weather at all. “I have a heated garage, so I just have to make it from my front door to the garage door and then I’m good. I have a huge Carhartt jacket that will keep me warm.”
Buraszeski says it’s different there; he says the state is “pure freedom in every way,” not only because he is living alone, but because “there’s not a lot of police and no one is strict on the laws because there’s really no crime, and people up [there] just like don’t care as much.”
He hasn’t had any second-guessing, even though his mom kept asking him why he was so calm and not nervous about moving; he just told her that whatever happens, he will figure something out as it goes. He is just “winging it.”
Although he likes living in Alaska, he still misses Maryland a lot. He says, “I miss not having this many bills, because I still have all my Maryland bills plus my up-here bills, and it’s too much.”
He continues, “and I miss my house and having a whole house that’s mine, and I miss all my friends, family, and my truck,” but he really likes how there isn’t any income or sales tax there.