Ever since I started school out-of-state, 1500+ miles away, I have repeatedly heard one question: “You’re from Colorado? Why did you choose Iona College?”

This, in essence, is a valid question. I can understand why so many people ask this. I can see why someone would wonder how a girl from suburban Colorado found her way to a small private college in New York. However, although my answer becomes more cliche the more I say it (I love small schools, wanted to be near a big city, and they had my major), I am 100% sure that I made the right decision. I am also sure that me being from Colorado has influenced my life in, and perspective of, New York.

Here are just a couple things that I have noticed since moving in.

1. Being an out-of-state student makes you stand out.

Here at Iona, it is expected that most of the students come from the tri-state area (Connecticut, New York or New Jersey) or, at least, somewhere in the Eastern United States. “Out-of-state” is rarely considered to be people like me, who are more than 1,800 miles away from home. It is this long distance that really makes us stand out. The fact that you come from somewhere other than the East makes you sort of an oddity in the eyes of those who can drive home on the weekends.

Being out of state means that you are something different, someone interesting. You have different food, geography, and people. It also makes for a great topic to talk about in the awkward, forced conversations you have when you first meet other students. Once people found out that I was from Colorado many questions were thrown my way, including a few about the mountains or how I found Iona (and no, I do not smoke weed, thank you).

These questions are not bad at all. As an out of state student I like the interest those have in my life back home. I will jump at the chance to talk about my mountain state like any native.

2. I now consider myself an expert on all things North-eastern.

I am absolutely kidding.

While I've enjoyed teaching people about the mystical state of Colorado, it is also true that I have learned just as much about the East by living here and through the people who I meet. For instance, Mac n’ Cheese pizza and Spaghetti pizza both exist. Who knew? Also, people from Boston call water fountains “bubblers.” Both of these are examples of the truly important information that you learn in college.

On a serious note, though, the amount of different things that I have experienced since living in New York is ridiculous. I feel like I am learning so much about another part of the country that I would not have if I did not go to school here.

3. So how am I supposed to tell West from East without the mountains?

It's not that I didn’t realize this beforehand, but the geography is a little different here. Yes, on paper (or I guess a map) we can all tell the differences in geography between Colorado and New York. However, not seeing Pike’s Peak and the other mountains in my daily life has taken some getting used to.

Also, there are beaches here. Obviously the beaches in the northeast are not going to be the white sand of Hawaii, but they also aren’t going to be the “beaches” of Colorado, which are made of the crushed up rock that borders a lake (yes, it hurts as much as it sounds). So, you know what, I am really not complaining.

4. “So I guess that snow doesn’t melt here?”

So Colorado has snow. Colorado has mountains. What we don’t have, however, is an annual period of time that can be mistaken for death. This, my friends, would be the winter of the East. Although this season of windchill and suffering has not yet come upon us, nor have I experienced it full-fledged, I have been in New York during the months of January and March, during which I feel like I got a pretty good feeling of what to expect. Maybe I learned when I could literally feel my bones, or it was the utter lack of feeling in my face where someone could have punched me and I wouldn’t have noticed. Colorado doesn’t have that (at least not as much). Also, Colorado has snow that melts. In Colorado, it can snow in the morning and all of it will be melted by that night. There's none of this "solid walls of snow" crap that seems to frequent the Northeast.

However, while it has its perks in the snow department, Colorado does not have the beautiful leaves and trees that I have experienced here. Yes, the leaves change, but not in the same way. Something just strikes me every time that I pass by the sheer amount of multi-colored trees that surround the schools and neighborhoods.

5. Being 20 miles away from NYC has its perks too.

One of the great things about Iona is the proximity to the city. It's a 45 minute car ride or an hour by train. For a mere $15 round trip ticket (as opposed to the couple hundred I would have to cough up for a plane ticket from Colorado), Iona students have access to one of the biggest metropolises in the world.

Since moving here around 3 months ago I have been to the city about 7 times, whether it was for a concert, a night in Brooklyn, or a museum. Looking at it now I would probably say I am taking advantage of Iona’s location. I never seem to lose that magical feeling that comes with being in New York City, no matter how many times I've been there, whether it is when I look at the city skyline from the highway or every time that I walk into Grand Central's main terminal. I don’t think that feeling will ever go away.

Also, I am not used to trains being a thing. The “trains” of the Metro-Denver area constitute of a light-rail and, I guess, Amtrak if you want to get the scenic view instead of the birds eye to Chicago. Other than that, though, trains aren't really seen a lot--which, for me, makes getting into the city that much more of an experience.

So, those are the five. Sure, there are more, but all of them build up to the fact that, although they are different and similar in certain ways, New York and Colorado are now both my homes. I am willing to bet that my heart will continue to be stuck between the two for the years to come.