1. You realize that everyone moves slightly more slowly. Which means slow walkers are EVERYWHERE.
2. If you’re bringing a car, you’re kinda scared and hesitant to learn how to pump your own gas.
3. Giving your exit number is no longer an acceptable response to the “where are you from?” question.
4. But again, when people ask where you’re from, no matter where you say, it’s pretty much guaranteed that the follow up question will be “is that near where they filmed Jersey Shore?”
5. And you realize that the ‘Jersey Shore’ questions will never end… Even when the show ended years ago and no one from NJ ever really fist pumped.
6. The pizza and bagels at the dining halls are probably an insult to pizza and bagels everywhere regardless, but to a native New Jerseyian it’s that much more offensive.
7. Speaking of pizza… the local pizza joint in your college town that everyone else raves about simply doesn’t cut it for you. This situation gets even worse when there is no local pizza joint and people think that fast food chain pizza is acceptable.
8. No, really, you miss NJ pizza and bagels so bad and no one understands.
9. Ordering your staple taylor ham, egg and cheese bagel on a Saturday morning is a thing of the past and probably one of the number one things you look forward to going home.
10. You have to say goodbye to TP-ing houses the night before Halloween because mischief night isn’t a thing anywhere else.
11. The closest Wawa is hours away and you find new places to end up at 2 am on a Saturday.
12. You realize that you probably do have at least somewhat of an accent.
13. When you casually talk about going to NYC, people will act like you live near some magical place, but you know that it’s just the city that’s essentially your backyard.
14. Your new friends will say they go to the beach (or even worse, the lake), rather than “the shore.”
15. You’ll probably miss 24-hour diners because they’re simply not as common out of state, unless you’re lucky.
16. People just don't understand your loyalty to Bruce Springsteen.
17. You probably develop a stronger sense of pride for your state, maybe as a result of the combination of being commonly referred to as the “armpit of America” and being a classic stubborn New Jerseyian, but nevertheless deep down you know that Dirty Jerz is pretty great.
