As a city kid, coming to college in North Dakota made me realize how different it is moving from one place to another. I miss only living 30 minutes away from the Mall of America and being able to go to a MN Wild game at the Xcel on a school night. Now that I live in ND, going to things like that involve planning a whole weekend, including the 10 hours I will spend in the car.
Living in Grand Forks, ND is the total opposite of my life in the cities and that’s ok. I’ll tell you one thing though, this definitely took some getting used to.
1. There really isn’t much to do here
Hockey and drinking. That’s about it. Don't get me wrong, I love hockey and drinking can be fun, but there has to be more to do than just that.
2. Harvest is a HUGE deal
As a city kid, this is a new thing to me. Even though my allergies become unbearable, props to all the farmers out there. Go you.
3. There are taxes on clothes
That is not a thing in Minnesota. Like I shouldn’t have to pay extra to stay warm in this fricken cold place.
4. Stores don’t open until noon on Sundays
I definitely respect this. It just took some getting used to that’s all.
5. There is a good chance you will meet someone from a town you’ve never even heard of before
Half of the cities in North Dakota I had never even heard of before moving here. Oops.
6. Snow days don’t exist
As someone from the cities, we hardly had snow days too but we had cold days when it was too cold for kids to go to the bus stop. That definitely isn’t a thing here.
7. They sand the roads and sidewalks, which is way different than salting
In case you didn’t know, salt is bad for farmland so North Dakotans use sand. I mean it helps a little but yet you still see kids slipping on ice like they are baby deer learning to walk.
8. You will always run into someone you know
I can’t go to target without knowing someone. I definitely wouldn’t have this problem if I still lived in the cities.
9. They say “duck, duck, goose”
I will forever say “duck, duck, grey duck.” You can bet that my children will learn it that way too.
10. Floods
Flooding in the cities is nothing compared to the flooding here. Here, they prepare for that. Plus, it’s 10 times worse here. Probably because most of eastern ND is flat.
11. The wind makes winter 10 times worse
There is nothing here to block the wind. No hills. No trees. Just flat land. I get wind burn just on my walk to class.
12. The weather changes daily... Hourly sometimes
One day it is 60 and sunny. The next day it’s snowing. The weather is more indecisive than your girl trying to pick a place for dinner.
13. “Downtown” isn’t much of a downtown
Downtown GF is nothing like downtown in the cities.
14. Speeding tickets are cheaper here
Speeding tickets here are maybe $20 compared to the $150 speeding ticket in MN. You could say most people really don’t care if they get caught speeding here.
