Just a New York girl in a Massachusetts world

The weirdest things that I have experienced while living in Massachusetts for the past year….

• Jimmies are actually Sprinkles...
• Starbucks and McDonalds are not common hang outs… But the commons of towns are????
• Malls in Massachusetts are TINY!!!!
• Walmart is everyone’s best friend in Massachusetts.
• People in Massachusetts are SO POLITE, it’s scary.

So, the first week I lived in Massachusetts I ran downstairs to the ice cream shop and asked to have a Sunday with chocolate sprinkles…. The girl then proceeded to look at me so confused and asked me “ Ma’am what are sprinkles?” Now, I thought sprinkles was a universal word, it’s just a simple toping on ice cream… I guess not.

Now, as many people know Starbucks and McDonalds are EXTREMELY popular in New York, they are so common that they are almost on every corner. Those were the hang out places, where all of the high schoolers went to hang out after class, or skip class. So, I thought that they were just common in every town in the United States… I finally made a few friends in my town and asked them “ Hey, where do you guys hang out? There are no McDonalds or Starbucks around here.” My friends proceeded to reply with laughter saying, “We hang out in the common and play Frisbee or go sledding.” I looked so confused and asked myself what a common area of a town was, and how was that the area where everyone hung out? I never even knew that I lived in the center of the common area above a small strip mall, which was confusing as all heck.

In New York, the smallest malls are only 2 stories, holding somewhere around 50- 60 stores. In Massachusetts, the smallest mall is the Mall at Whitney Field, which has maybe 10 to 15 stores and doesn’t even have a full food court. When I first moved, I decided I was going to buy myself some new clothes with my graduation money and was looking around for malls. I came across this mall and assumed that I was going to go into journeys, and Victoria Secret, but apparently the mall didn’t get the heads up. After being interrogated by police officers because a lady swore that I hit her with my car we entered the mall and were sorely depressed. There was maybe a sears and some off brand name stores that I had never heard of. So me and my boyfriend left and scooted our way over to Walmart to purchase some jeans.

In New York, there are Walmart stores in various locations, mostly in smaller towns upstate, nowhere near the city. I thought that Walmart was a chain store that only sold groceries, well I was quickly proven wrong. Walmart sells jeans, shirts, detergent, groceries, cultural foods and above all has some of the best free samples I have ever seen. Also, it is very easy to spend over $100 in Walmart at any given moment, but try to hold yourselves back because the deals will get you. I used to spend almost $300+ a week at Walmart until I realized that most of the stuff I was buying was useless and I was just sinking myself into the amazing deals.

The day that I moved into my apartment, the neighbors greeted me and my boyfriend with so many gifts, flowers, candies, cookies you name it. We were actually very scared, for a few nights we started locking the doors and putting chairs and bells around so that we would hear if someone came into our apartment. We thought all of our neighbors were trying to get us like in a horror film, filling us up with junk food and then trying to eat our carcasses. Apparently, that is the normal in Massachusetts, everyone gets greeted in small towns and word spreads fast. In New York if your neighbors brought over gifts, you would debate checking them for poisons, and insects.

I learned in this past year of living in Massachusetts, that life is completely different from life in a big city like New York. Also, roman noodles are a great snack for a winter night when the roads are covered with snow!