I was born and raised in Northern Virginia. I went through the Prince William County school system (and survived) and I grew up in this super fast paced environment. Here are things that you know to be true if you are from Northern Virginia.
1. Traffic
The term "rush hour" does not really exist in Northern Virginia. There is a designated time where people usually get out of work and traffic is terrible, but the rest of the time the traffic is just bad. Always give yourself enough of a buffer time when you are trying to get anywhere.
2. Speed limits
People just take speed limits as a suggestion. No matter where you go you will always see people that are going way above the speed limit - especially if you are on I-95. If you are going the speed limit posted, the people behind you will honk impatiently.
3. Everyone is in a hurry all the time.
I have experienced this firsthand by working at a grocery store. If the line isn't moving super quickly then they get impatient and then take it out on the cashier working. People don't usually want to slow down and take a second with you to have a conversation they would rather just get what they needed for the week and then go.
4. People hear the word "snow" and they freak out.
I have known this to be true my entire life. When people in Northern Virginia hear the word snow they need to rush out and get everything that they would possibly need to survive an apocalypse. The same is true of the public school system. We have had a couple of days where we got the day off from school and it didn't even snow that day. There was also a day that we got off just because of cold weather. But hey, I wasn't complaining since I got to stay home in bed.
5. You give yourself about an hour to get to where you need to go.
There is no other way to guarantee that you will get to where you need to go in time if you don't give yourself about an hour. There will inevitably be an accident or construction going on that will cause a very long delay for everyone else.
These are just some of the things you know to be true if you are from NoVa. Let me know down in the comment section below if there are things that I missed!
