There seems to be a gap between the people who graduated high school inside Cincinnati and outside of Cincinnati. Personally, I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, so there is an even bigger gap between us. But, learning the ways of Cincinnatians and how to speak to them comes with time. Gradually, like me, you will turn into one of them.

1. No one cares what high school you went to.

For some reason, the people at UC who are from Cincinnati always talk about their high school. The people not from Cincinnati or Ohio are very confused by this because we hear, “what high school did you go to?” more times a day than we blink.

2. It rubs off on you.

Now that you’ve been at UC for almost two years, you’ve started asking people from Cincinnati where they went to high school. Now that you know people from Walnut Hills and St. Ursula, you can see if they all know each other. It doesn’t do anything for you, but at least you have a new conversation topic.

3. Now that you’ve established what high school everyone went to, you hear, “Want to go to Skyline?”

No. No. No. No. I do not. Why would you put that into your body?

4. After you’re dragged to Skyline, you’re told there’s this magical ice cream shop that is so special, unique and delicious.

So, you all go to Graeter’s. After you eat the ice cream and spend an hour there, you realize it is just like Baskin-Robbins.

5. Your first weekend in Cincinnati, you’ll be asked to go to Kentucky.

You’ll gag at first, and then ask “why,” but it’s not that bad of a place. It’ll grow on you.

6. Growing up, you never understood the term “y’all,” and you thought only people in Alabama and Georgia said it.

That is wrong; it is very much a Cincinnati thing. Give it two months and y’all will be saying y’all in every other sentence.

7. You only see people from your graduating class during the summer and winter break.

This can either be very good or very sad, but since you didn’t go to high school in Cincinnati that means a majority of your graduating class went somewhere else.

8. You’ve never walked up and down so many hills.

Cincinnati is the hilliest place on planet Earth, so wherever you grew up was extremely flat compared to here. Leg workouts are accomplished daily.

9. You’ve probably never heard of Oktoberfest or understood what The Queen City meant.

Cincinnati is very German-based, so Oktoberfest a celebration in Germany, also takes place in Cincy. The Queen City is another name for Cincinnati because the city experienced a ton of growth during the first 40 years after its founding. The citizens took a lot of pride in their growing town, and referred to it as The Queen City or The Queen of the West.

10. Is it Cincy or Cinci?

Honestly, no one knows.

11. When you first got here, you gave homeless people money left and right. Now, you don’t give them money, and you know their life story.

The same people keep asking you for money, and tell you the same story about their situation. Each time it becomes more elaborate and desperate, and it’s not like you don’t feel bad for them. You’ve just slowly realize you will need that quarter at some point in your life, so you can't part ways with it.

12. You may have been an Ohio State or Xavier fan before coming to UC, but now you realize you have to be a closet fan.