Arizona is a beautiful and interesting place to live. It is especially interesting when you attend Notre Dame and everyone and their mother is from the midwest, east coast, or california...basically anywhere but Arizona. In this way, it is understandable that people wouldn't be familiar with what Zona is about. Here are the 10 most commonly asked questions I have received and I'm sure other Arizonans have been victims of. **Warning that some ND goers are pretty dense**

1. Is this the first time you've ever seen snow??

This is the question I received most often during my freshman winter and caused me to briefly be referred to as "Arizona" by my friends until I shut that sh*t down. The answer is probably no for most Arizonans. Believe it or not, northern Arizona is a winter wonderland.

2. How hot does it get there?

Being from Phoenix, it gets up to 120 degrees if the summer is particularly hellish. The nice thing is that it is a "dry heat" which means that it feels like your whole body has been thrown into an oven instead of the sticky heat South Bend supplies. I call Phoenix "Satan's summer home". Once again, up north the summer isn't so bad and a lot of people seek refuge there or in #SoCal.

3. So is it all just dirt and desert?

Yes.

4. Do you go to the Grand Canyon a lot?

People don't just hang out near the Grand Canyon unless they're hiking or tourists. I've only been there twice and it's almost 4 hours from my house. It's a natural wonder of the world, not a place to do stupid things with friends.

5. Do you miss the Mexican food?

YES. I remember the first time I saw the "mexican" food in SDH and almost cried. Tacos are forever.

6. Wouldn't you rather live in California?

Arizona is basically California without the beach. It's a lot cheaper to live in Arizona and we can go there pretty easily.

7. Do you have a pool?

Yes, but a lot of people don't. The sad thing is that in the summer you have to use your pool before noon or else the water will become lukewarm. I'm not mad I'm just disappointed. I've heard of people buying those giant ice blocks and putting them in their pools for parties, etc.

8. Why are you going to school in the Midwest?

I ask myself this question a lot in January. When I remember that I almost went to school in Philly I cry a little on the inside. It was nice to experience all the seasons since they don't happen in southern Arizona. I think I would be sad to live in a place without the four seasons now that I've lived through them at Notre Dame.

9. So do you use cactuses instead of pine trees for Christmas?

The best part of this question was that a really dumb person asked it. First, the plural of cactus is cacti. Second, the answer is no because we're not morons. The forests of northern AZ supply us with our christmas trees and even though the coldest it gets is around 40 people love to dress as if it's -5.

10. Do people wear cowboy hats?

I think I saw my grandpa wear one once as a joke. But no, this isn't Texas.