After reaching the beginning of adulthood, some of us find ourselves in a brand new location in the world that we often refer to as our "home away from home." You may grow accustomed to a different way of living in addition to living on your own. You meet new people and you learn to love your new home. Although this is a great change in your life, there will still never be any other state like your own! This past weekend I ventured back to my home in order to reintroduce myself to the beauties that make New Jersey truly great!
Living in upstate New York is fine and dandy, but there are some things that do not measure up to Jersey standards. One of those things is what people from the South Jersey and the Philadelphia area like to call "water ice." The first time I asked someone in Rochester where I could buy water ice, they looked at me as if I had two heads. After explaining to them that I was referring to Italian ice, they still did not understand why it was called water ice back home. When trying to explain what Italian ice actually was, some people did not understand that there are differences between an icy, slushy, and "water ice". Whenever I get to this point in the conversation I just assume the following - People up here don't understand simply because it's a Jersey thing.
Water ice is a home favorite that I cannot forget, but I also must acknowledge the fact that coming home means an abundant amount of WaWa's everywhere! It's basically like Oprah giving out cars to audience members. Being able to make a quick stop during Hoagiefest made my six-to-seven hour travel back to Jersey all worth it.
Getting back to my normal lingo and local chain stores was great, but one of the main reasons for traveling back to New Jersey was for the shore. People have seen the idiotic show, "Jersey Shore" and assume that everyone in New Jersey wears a crap-ton of makeup, has heavy accents, gets spray tans to Donald Trump's standards and is super buff. I am sure there are some people who live that lifestyle in South Jersey, but after being raised there all my life I can assure you that most people do not fit into that category.
The real Jersey Shore on the South side is made up of a number of beaches such as Stone Harbor, Sea Isle, Avalon, Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood and much more! These places are family friendly and a great day or overnight trip! There are a million shops and attractions for you to visit. If you miss one earlier in the travel down the boardwalk, there is surely another store with that same exact item possibly selling at a cheaper price. You can also experience basically fried anything ranging from funnel cake to fried Oreos to fried ice cream!
I visited both Ocean City and Wildwood again and it felt great to lay out, laugh and reminisce with my closest friends as well as walking the boardwalk again like old times. All of these things reminded me as to why I love New Jersey and the people so much. I wouldn't change it for the world!
