If you go to school outside of Texas, the odds that you meet a Texan going to school away from home are very high. It's easy to see them and know who they are; they are very recognizable by how they act. If you don't know for sure if you've encountered a Texan out of state, here are a few things that can help tell you how to spot a Texan.
1. They can’t wait to see Whataburger.
That orange “W” lit up 24 hours just does something for us. It makes us smile, it welcomes us back to the South, and best of all, it means greasy, tasty food.
2. They have a Texas flag somewhere near them (on their clothes or something).
That Lone Star State will never leave us, and the pride of Texas will always be with us because, let’s be honest, we all have a Texas flag, or a resemblance of one, somewhere. Be it a flag, on some clothes, or painted, we aren’t afraid to show it off.
3. They follow various social media accounts to see home.
Texans can’t live without home, and thankfully there are plenty of things on social media that make it seem like we never left. From Twitter to Instagram to Snapchat, we’ll always find a way to see home.
4. Almost every story starts with “back in Texas...”
You can start a story, but it’s almost a guarantee that if you're telling it to a Texan, they’ll think they have a better one, but it happened back home… in Texas. And don’t bother finishing the story; once they have what they want to say in mind, they'll tune you out.
5. If they spot another Texas license plate, they get excited.
Just driving along the road and, BAM, there it is, the letters on the license plate that says Texas. Just something about it makes a Texan feel excited, kind of like an “I'm-not-the-only-one-out-here!” type of feeling.
6. Extreme weather doesn’t surprise them...
Going to school in the Midwest, I get a lot of “Welcome to the Midwest” when I say something about the weather. I then have to explain that the Midwest isn’t the only place with extreme weather. Let’s just say that Texas has faced its fair share of extreme weather. For example, Texas can have all seasons visit in ONE day.
7. Their friends are tired of them talking about Texas.
We bring up Texas every day, and if we don’t, well, I don’t even know what happens, because I haven’t gone a day without mentioning the beautiful homeland. But when it comes to my friends, well, I’ll get a variety of reactions from eye rolling to some choice words I’d rather not repeat…
8. They just miss Texas in general for its beauty.
We just miss Texas overall for what it is: beautiful. You can literally do anything: experience city life in any of the big cities, go to the middle of nowhere find a swimming hole and see the stars at night, heck, you can even take your own safari and visit exotic animals at Fossil Rim. Literally anything you want to do, you can, and that is what makes a Texan miss beautiful Texas.
9. They try to convince everyone that they need to visit.
After we go through our daily Texas spiel, it all ends the same way: “oh, you just have to come see it yourself." To be fair, this is a true statement. It doesn’t matter the subject of the spiel; words just don’t do it justice. You just have to experience Texas for yourself.
They say home is where the heart is; for us, it's Texas. The moment we leave the state, we cannot wait to be back. That is a Texan for you.
