When I made the decision to go to Fredonia, I knew I was going far from home, six hours to be exact. But still being in New York, I wasn't expecting it to be much different from home.
Boy was I wrong.
Moving to Western New York was more of a culture shock (in my opinion), than going to Florida or visiting my Grandparents in Southern California. Who knew that there were such different communities within one state? Here are 6 reasons why going to college far from home can seem like entering a new world.
1. Weather
First and most obvious, the weather. Fredonia is located right by Lake Erie, so snow and cold temperatures by October are the norm. This year's been a hot winter so far so the snow didn't come until this past weekend. This is not the case for Lower New York (Lower Hudson Valley, Westchester, New York City, Long Island, etc.). We normally don't start getting snow until November or December and even then, the 4-6 inches max of snow we get is nothing compared to the feet of accumulation that Western New York gets.
2. Lingo
Lingo is one of the most surprising, yet obvious, differences that I've noticed. I'm glad I'm home because that means I have a week off from arguing with Buffalo natives over whether soft drinks are called "Pop" or "Soda" (it's Soda honestly). It's little things like that, that are different between the two regions.
3. Food
Food is a big difference too. I'm sorry to all the Western New Yorkers I'm about to offend, but your pizza is not good. I'm not from New York City, but my area has a lot of City transplants, so I'm used to NYC pizza, and WNY pizza doesn't even begin to compare. Also a lot of foods that I'm used to, such as Chinese food, calamari, stromboli, etc. are near impossible to find on campus. Also, Western New York has their own food fads such as Calio's (calzones stuffed with virtually anything) and Garbage Plates (still not fully sure what that is), that I haven't seen anywhere else.
4. Brands
One of the best things about being home was walking into an Associated (or Market Fresh, I think they're called now) and seeing a bunch of Goya products. I guess most of my favorite brands are more local, because when I went food shopping during move-in weekend, I had a hard time finding my favorite brands of foods such as bread, soup, tea, etc.
5. Music
Most of the radio stations in Western New York, or at least the ones that I've heard, are either classic rock or country. When going out to the bars and parties, occasionally you'll hear some hip-hop, but most of the time it's Top 40 hits or throwback songs. And I swear if I hear "Sweet Caroline" or "Wonderwall" one more time, I might lose it, because those seem to be the two songs that every place has to play before the night is over.
6. Places
Of course, the geography is a lot different than what you're used to if you traveled far for college. A lot of time when people tell me where they're from, I have no idea what they're talking about and then they'll reference it to either Rochester, Buffalo or campus so that I know where they are. The same thing happens to me, except it's a lot worse. I usually have to give 3 reference locations and a body of water for people to know where I live, and even then, it's sometimes not enough. Half the time I say I'm from NYC because that's the most recognizable place for people that's near me.
