By making the decision to attend Temple University to further my education past high school, I took the initiative to introduce myself to life in a new city. Throughout my freshman year at Temple University, I have loved living in Philadelphia.

However, temporarily migrating from the Big Apple to the City of Brotherly Love has been an experience to say the least.

During my time here in Philly, many people have mentioned that they could immediately tell that I am not from Pennsylvania. Being from the suburbs of such a close, but different city has made it very interesting for me to compare and contrast the two cities. Additionally, I have figured out how to pick out a New Yorker in a crowd of Philadelphians.

The first, and probably most obvious thing that makes a New Yorker stand out is their accent. Whether it be one of the infamous stereotypical New York accents, or even a Long Island accent, they all can be picked out within a large crowd of people.

While I do not hear my accent nor do I believe that I have one, during my time here at Temple, I was told that I had a slight accent which people recognized and further used to categorize me as a New Yorker.

Another thing that puts New Yorkers in the spotlight among a crowd of Philadelphia natives is by how fast they walk. If you see someone who is walking quickly past the rest of the crowd and appears to be in a hurry, they are either a New Yorker or somebody who is in a rush.

The fact that the speed at which a New Yorker walks is the speed that people in other places jog is hysterical. Due to the fact that I walk particularly fast, I always have to slow down and wait for my friends, especially now that I am in Philadelphia.

Besides moving quickly, an interesting fact about New Yorkers is that you will rarely find them eating a piece of pizza or a bagel in any other vicinity besides the New York area.

Personally, I take pride in being able to go home to a warm, toasted New York, or Long Island bagel with cream cheese and lox, or even a hot, cheesy slice of New York pizza. Due to my extreme bias towards these favorites, I cannot get myself to eat pizza or bagels at school, which has also given light to my “New Yorker” roots.

I must say, coming from New York to Philadelphia has definitely been a culture shock. Though I do often miss "the city that never sleeps," Philadelphia has become my home away from home. It has the perfect skyscraper-to-home-feel ratio.

Despite my "New Yorker" tendencies which people have picked out, I can still see myself living in Philly for quite some time in the future.