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I was shocked when I visited Mississippi and the drug store cashier looked at my Canadian quarter like it was an ancient Roman coin or something. It never occurred to me (living near the Canadian border as I do) that people down South might never have seen Canadian money.
I do remember being surprised at such a reaction I had in NJ. Guess we can save them up for the next visit to Tim Hortons. (I got to shock my wife who has spent much time working in Nova Scotia, by driving up to a Tim Hortons in KY. )
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Originally Posted by censusdata
When I went to the Philadelphia area a couple things surprised me
3. All the row homes in the city and older suburbs - I think one architecture designed most of that city
Before I moved to PA the number of row homes in the SMALL TOWNS in eastern PA jolted me, having grown up with a New England-ish settlement pattern.
I live in NW Arkansas and visited D.C. last year for a convention:
- I was shocked to see how many people were walking/jogging/running when I was in D.C. last year. It is very rare to see anyone in the South staying in shape.
- The taxi driver from the Baltimore airport to D.C. scared the hell out of me.
- I was shocked by all of the young unmarried people. Most of the people I know are married before they are old enough to drink.
- I was amazed by all of the blank faces on the subways in D.C. I am sure they are sick of tourists, but they seemed like they were a million miles away.
I was shocked by how many people in the East had no clue as to where the other Washington (always seemed to think I was referring to D.C.) was located on the map.
I was shocked also by the fact that most of the same people thought the whole state of California was urban and full of superficial-types, only.
I was shocked how a family friend I grew up with out West automatically started to behave as if I'd always been back East and in the Deep South with silly comments with southern slang, etc.
I was shocked at how some states in the Midwest seem soooo depressed.
Shocked that Canadians were considered, "big dummies" in the PNW.
I was shocked to learn while in Colorado there were actually poor areas with ugly surroundings.
I live in NW Arkansas and visited D.C. last year for a convention:
- I was shocked to see how many people were walking/jogging/running when I was in D.C. last year. It is very rare to see anyone in the South staying in shape.
It must just be very rare where you live...running is very common all around Metro Atlanta, and in most other places I've visited. The same goes for recreational/community sports, gym memberships, aerobics/yoga/pilates, etc. The annual Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta is the largest 10K in the world, with 59,000 participants; with over 80,000 members, the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA) is the largest recreational community tennis league in the world; there are dozens of cycling clubs, and basketball, rollerblading, volleyball, softball, rugby, soccer, etc. leagues and clubs.
I think recreational sports, including running, are very big in most cities around the county.
visited a small town in long island summer of 04' at a relatives place
-it was extremely hot and humid to me at least
-some kids saw my license plate and were like "hes from cali!" ... it was funny cuz everyone just kept asking me "hows it in cali" and we never refer to it as "cali"
-lotta caucasians(do italians count too?)
-everyone said i talked too proper
I was shocked when I drove north of San Francisco, into Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, how incredibly rural it was. I've never seen so many cows in one place. Northern California, particularly near the coast, is an entirely different world from the remainder of the state. Every California stereotype needs to be discarded once you travel through this area.
The comment was probably an anomaly. Ohio has a very large Italian population, particularly in Cleveland and Youngstown. I'm assuming the issue had to do with the person actually thinking you looked alike and had NOTHING to do with you being Italian.
Even stranger, the cities you listed are majority Catholic.. so I am having some doubts!
This happened to me several times. I don't know much about Youngstown but Cleveland did not seem to have any Italian vibe at all(compared to where I am from). I always thought it was more of a German and Irish city.
I don't know what being catholic has to do with anything, Italians aren't the only ethnic group that is catholic.
Before I moved to PA the number of row homes in the SMALL TOWNS in eastern PA jolted me, having grown up with a New England-ish settlement pattern.
Same here.
Another thing that suprised me about Pennsylvania small towns is how many of the houses are built right next to the road --- there is only a small front lawn or sometimes none at all.
Sometimes there are reasons for this --- like in the northern part of Hawley the houses are squeezed in between the narrow road and a steep hillside. But I also seen plenty of towns where there is plenty of room for the houses to be pushed back but they aren't.
You see this in other states of course, but I noticed it seemed more common in Pennsylvania. I am actually curious because I cannot figure out why people would build their houses like that.
visited a small town in long island summer of 04' at a relatives place
-it was extremely hot and humid to me at least
-some kids saw my license plate and were like "hes from cali!" ... it was funny cuz everyone just kept asking me "hows it in cali" and we never refer to it as "cali"
-lotta caucasians(do italians count too?)
-everyone said i talked too proper
it was pretty cool though
Wow, Nightmare you said something partially postive about a part of New York!
And especially by Long Island standards something partially postive is better than most of the comments we get!
Another thing that suprised me about Pennsylvania small towns is how many of the houses are built right next to the road --- there is only a small front lawn or sometimes none at all.
Sometimes there are reasons for this --- like in the northern part of Hawley the houses are squeezed in between the narrow road and a steep hillside. But I also seen plenty of towns where there is plenty of room for the houses to be pushed back but they aren't.
You see this in other states of course, but I noticed it seemed more common in Pennsylvania. I am actually curious because I cannot figure out why people would build their houses like that.
I've had the same curiosity and did some reading to try to find the answer but can't find anything online right at the moment. This might be worthy of a new thread!
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