Americans Are Revealing The "Culture Shock" Moments They Had While Traveling To Another State, And I'm Picking My Jaw Off The Floor
The United States is a huge place, so it should be no surprise that each state has its own cultural differences and ways of life. Recently, the Americans of the BuzzFeed Community shared the "culture shock" moments they experienced while traveling through or visiting a different state, and some of these are wild:
1."I was born and raised in Virginia but moved to Missouri for my husband's work. One thing we still haven't adjusted to — even 20 years later — is the marinara sauce and pizza. The pizza here is square and flat, and the crust tastes like a cracker. The marinara sauce on pizza and in pasta is SWEET — like, full-on sugary. Bleh!"
2."I was a homegrown NYC person visiting San Antonio, Texas for a work meeting. I got in late and went to a popular chain diner to order dinner for takeout. The waitress was so polite and was checking in on me so much that I got super uncomfortable while waiting for my food. She asked me multiple times: 'Would you like some water? Are you sure?' 'It's a lovely night, isn't it?' 'Are you hungry?' I thought someone must've been waiting for me outside to rob me or something."
—Anonymous
3."I'm from Minnesota, and it's so weird visiting other states and not seeing a bunch of water. It made me not want to move anywhere else because I find all the rivers, lakes, and ponds comforting."
4."I grew up in New Hampshire and still live here. Just after graduating high school, I went to California for the summer. Mid-June in NH is usually very sunny and green, dotted with brightly colored flowers. Imagine my surprise when I landed in Southern California and everything was just...brown. The following summer, my California friend came to visit in New Hampshire, and the rampant green almost hurt her eyes!"
—Anonymous
5."When I moved from New York to South Florida in the late '90s, I saw a bait/worm vending machine outside a Walmart next to the soda machines."
6."I'm from outside Boston, and most billboards are advertisements for different helplines. I took a road trip down to Georgia and back, and I was taken aback and appalled by how many anti-abortion billboards there were along the highway. Every 20 miles or so were anti-abortion or pro-Christianity signs. That served as yet another example of why I'm grateful to live in my state."
7."We were going through New Jersey and needed gas. We were four grown women very capable of pumping our own gas, but the gas station attendants wouldn't let us. It was so weird. We ended up tipping a guy for pumping our gas even though we didn't want him to."
—Anonymous
8."Growing up in Rhode Island, you learn that anything that requires more than 30 minutes of driving is considered 'long distance.' I moved to just outside of Philadelphia for my first real job. Within a year of moving, my dad called me and asked if he could stay with me while he visited the state for an upcoming work trip. When I asked him where the work trip would be, he told me a town on the other side of the state near Pittsburgh — four hours away from where I lived. When I told my dad this, he said, 'Oh...Philadelphia is a big state.' I quickly got used to doing an hour commute or driving 30 minutes just to do something around the county. Now, I live in Connecticut, which is about an hour and a half away from my family, but they never want to come out and visit because they think it's 'too far of a drive.'"
9."I moved to Texas from California seven years ago, and I was just like, 'I CAN BUY BEER AT SELF-CHECKOUT?!' It was amazing!"
10."I moved from California to Georgia in the early '00s. One thing that really stuck out to me was that if a cashier and a customer were different races, any change given back to the customer would be slid across the counter. But the money would be handed over if the cashier and the customer were the same race. After noticing that, I started noticing several other small, racist oddities. I'm glad to be back in California now."
11."I moved from Connecticut to California in the Bay Area. I was totally grossed out by how they put cheddar cheese on pizza. I eventually found a spot that made NY-style pizza. It was an hour drive round-trip, but I regularly made the drive."
12."I grew up in New Jersey. While visiting a friend in North Carolina, I stopped at a store for a few things. In a heavy southern drawl, the clerk said, 'Would you like a sack with that?' I said, 'Excuse me?' Apparently, he was offering me a plastic bag for my items. I'd never heard anyone say that before."
—Anonymous
13."I lived in Seattle and went to Omaha, Nebraska, to check out a job opportunity. It was strange how quiet the downtown area was at 11 a.m. on a weekday. It felt like a Sunday. The restaurants also have huge servings for breakfast. When I finished, the server asked if I wanted dessert, and even though I was stuffed, I tried the apple pie. The slice they gave me was 1/4 of the pie! I was immediately full just after looking at it. A big breakfast with a dessert chaser? I could never eat like that every day."
—Anonymous
14."I grew up in Pennsylvania, where liquor is sold at state stores. Now, I live in New Orleans, where we have drive-thru daiquiri stands. It's an entirely different world here. I love it!"
15."My husband and I visited Arizona one January. It was 65 degrees. We walked around in t-shirts while everyone else was freezing in their scarves, winter coats, and gloves. One shop worker asked us how we weren't cold, and we had told them we're from Pennsylvania."
16."I drove into Wyoming, the state where I was born, for the first time in decades. At the first rest stop, there was a sign above the urinals that said, 'Please do not spit your chewing tobacco into the urinals, toilets, or sinks.'"
—Matt, 40, Colorado
17."I'm from California and visited some family in Texas. I couldn't believe how flat it was. There were no mountain ranges in sight and the beaches were...ew."
18."My hubby and I are from Colorado. We are used to snowy roads in the winter. So when we visited friends in Georgia in early December and a 'snowstorm' rolled in and the whole city shut down, I was flabbergasted. The snow wasn't even sticking to the roads; it was wet and a bit slushy in some spots where drainage was, sure, but nowhere near enough to shut down the whole city. I mean, the weather was in the high 30s at the coldest, but what in the actual hell? Schools were let out early, grocery stores were closing early, and radio stations were announcing other closures like it was doomsday. It was wild."
—Jen, Colorado
19."I live in Pennsylvania, which has pretty strict liquor laws. I went to New York for the first time when I was around 18, and I remember being SHOCKED that there was a huge display of alcohol at the entrance of the grocery store. It was so weird to me that you could buy alcohol, particularly hard liquor, at a supermarket."
20."When I moved from the Virginia mountains to central Illinois, I couldn't stop staring at the open landscape. I had never been able to see so far."
21.Lastly: "The wildest difference I noticed when moving to Pennsylvania from New Jersey is that most cemeteries don't really have borders. I was used to driving past stone walls, fences, and gates surrounding cemeteries, but so many of them in PA have nothing, and no one else I mention this too find it weird."
OK, I have to defend California for a sec because I've never seen anyone here put cheddar cheese on PIZZA! Granted, I don't know much about what goes on in the Bay, but still. Have you ever had a "culture shock" moment while visiting another state? Let me know in the comments, or you can anonymously submit your story using this form!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
