How it feels to be a New Yorker at Ohio State

Going to Ohio from New York is quite the drive, 11.5 hours to be exact. After hour eight in the car I was starting to regret picking a school in the midwest.

After finally pulling up to my residence hall I felt an instant sense of excitement. Now, as my freshman year dwindles down, I’m started to reflect on all of the differences between Long Island and Ohio. When I first arrived and had to explain to people that Long Island is in fact a real Island surrounded by water. All the midwestern students didn’t understand what I was saying.

I pronounce “water” like “wooder” and everyone tried to correct me. The pizza and bagels in New York are second to none. They’re as well known as the Kardashians (but without the ego). After eating pizza and bagels from NY my whole life, these midwestern versions are disappointing. The pizzas are cut into squares and not triangle slices!! Ohio became foreign territory in the pizza and bagel realms.

My closest friends from NY and I enjoying the last few days of summer.

Another difference between Ohio and New York is what they actually sell at pizza places here in the midwest. Here they only serve pizza and drinks. This might sound funny because, yes, it is a place to get pizza, but in New York a pizza place brings different options along with it. At a pizza place in New York, you can get pizza and drinks obviously, BUT you can get a ton of other amazing italian based delicacies. Garlic knots (which to people who don’t know what this is, it’s knotted baked bread dough coated in garlic and oil and tastes like a ball of heaven), garlic bread, chicken parm, penne alla vodka, mozzerella sticks, salads, and more. The list goes on for what seems like infinity of foods you can buy at a pizza place in New York.

Now comes the most common change from living in New York to living in Ohio. At Ohio State, the percentage of in-state students is 70 percent while the out of state percentage is 30 percent. After awhile, I just assume everyone I meet is from Ohio until otherwise proven. I know people do the same as they ask which part of Ohio I am from and I say i’m from NY. The look on their faces as those two words fall out of my mouth always ends with a grin or shocked expression. I always think “Do I give off a midwestern vibe? Why do they like NY so much?” Most of the people I have met ask how close to NYC I am to which I reply an hour away.

If someone goes to an OSU football game and didn’t take a picture, did they really go to the game?

It has become second nature to answer questions about NY and the most common question I get is “Why OSU?” I have become the storytelling grandparent and they have become the excited and almost fantasized grandchild taking in my quest to the midwest. My favorite response is when someone says “Oh I have a friend who lives on Long Island! Do you know ________?” I have to explain then that Long Island has almost eight million residents, so no there is a good chance I do not know your old summer camp friend who you haven’t talked to since ’06.

One of the hardest moments i’ve had to deal with in Ohio that would have not been a problem in New York is being landlocked. Yes, a lot of New York is landlocked, but living on Long Island, you’re always surrounded by water. Ohioans brag of Lake Erie, which is the farthest northern point in Ohio. I am grateful for being surrounded by oceans my entire life, and have realized many people in the midwest haven’t been as fortunate as New Yorkers have when it comes to being landlocked. One time in early fall, I smelled for a quick second what seemed like ocean mist and I thought I was near a dock. I was only found to be disappointed when I realized the geographical location of Ohio and that it was impossible. If Ohioans came to NY and sat by the dock or put their feet in the soft sand with waves rolling over their ankles, they would feel a sense of joy and tranquility.

The family flies out to watch OSU take down the Maryland Terrapins.

So yes, New Yorkers at Ohio State have had some warming up to do with new cultures, food, and experiences, but we all know Ohio State is our new found home and we wouldn’t trade it for all the beaches, pizza places, or bagel stores in the Northeast.