If you're from Long Island, chances are you consider anything besides the Island and New York City, upstate. Maybe Westchester, too, if you're feeling generous. Whether you're going to college only a few hours away at New Paltz, or as far north as you can get without hitting Canada, you've probably noticed specific things that upstaters do differently.
1. You had no idea people called Long Island “downstate.”
We’re not downstate. You’re upstate. Why? Because we said so.
2. You didn’t realize that most of New York is actually rural.
Where’s all the traffic? Or the cars, in general? All I see are cows and corn.
3. Buildings and houses seem so far apart.
You can take a picture out a car window without getting a building in it. There’s just so much space.
4. People know you’re from Long Island from the minute you open your mouth, and they’ll forever make fun of your accent.
Ha-ribble or hore-able? Crayon or cran? Flah-rida or Floorida? The world may never know.
5. Everyone thinks you know everyone else who lives on Long Island.
"Oh, you're from Long Island? Do you know my eighth cousin's friend's dog's neighbor?"
6. You realize that not everyone in the world has relatives from Brooklyn.
Everyone you know from home might be Italian and/or Jewish from Brooklyn, but good luck finding any of the above upstate.
7. You get unreasonably excited about simple nice gestures.
8. And unreasonably sad when you go back home and attempt the same gesture, only to immediately be shut down.
Well, at least you tried.
9. No one knows where you’re referring to when you talk about “the City.”
You constantly have to remind your friends that no, you’re not talking about Rochester, or Buffalo, or whatever the nearest city might be. Those may be cities, but the City is always Manhattan.
10. You may have to live without pizza until further notice.
We don’t care if this is the best pizzeria in town. It doesn’t even compare to the one around the corner from my house. And the one on the next block. And the one on every other street corner of Long Island and the City, in between all the Chinese food places and delis.
11. But even without your decent pizza and friends who know what you're talking about most of the time and who won't make fun of your accent, you do enjoy living upstate.
It's definitely a nice change from all the craziness of being on Long Island. The constant rush and crowding can get overwhelming after a while.
12. But that doesn't mean you won't want to come home after a few months.
Let's face it; you probably have a giant family all living on the Island dying to see you over the breaks. So after a stressful semester, you'll be ready to ignore the crowds and the traffic and celebrate the things that matter -- like family and good pizza.
