Regional things a student should know

[jaylynn]

For the Vermont-bound girl: keep the faith during mud season. It really is awful but it really will end. And then it will be gorgeous. Also-- be careful if you live somewhere (once you go off campus) with woodstove heat, which a lot of people use. Several people succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning every winter. Ventilation!!

For those going south: learn patience. When I moved from the upper Midwest to Cincinnati/northern Kentucky for residency I had to rein in my impatience til I learned to wait for people to finish talking. I looked like a jerk til I did. And use "y'all". It's the best general pronoun EVER.

[bucasmom]

A down coat (covering the hips) with a snorkel hood will get anyone through the winter, and insulated hiking boots (with room for heavy socks) handle 90% of the winter weather, with a set of gaiters for deep snow. You don’t need packs unless you are doing ice fishing, snowmobiling, or outdoor camping. Vermont is warmer than North Dakota! Many Vermonters love the LL Bean rubber bottomed boots, especially for mud season but the socks must be really absorbent so feet don't sweat and get cold for winter use. Dress in layers, because you will be warm from walking to class, then depending on the class room, cold to hot! Corduroy jeans are warmer than denim jeans, but you can put light weight wind pants over either and be even warmer. For the rare days when it is icy and she has to get around anyway, there are stretch-on steel studded grippers she can put on over any boot or shoe. Fleece layers and a roomy rain parka take anyone through most of the rest of the year. After my first November at UVM, I told my parents the only thing I wanted for Christmas was a hooded down coat!

[bajamm]

I think just teaching about any weather that is different than where you live is a good thing. I should have discussed hurricanes more with my midwestern D before she went to New Orleans last fall. And, I know that D's friends parents never figured they would need to talk about earthquakes with their Washington, DC bound daughter, but she experienced one her first week at college.

Nothing except experience will prepare anyone 100%, but discussing emergency plans can help

[MommaJ]

On a lighter note, when your college kid is dying for a sandwich of cold cuts and cheese on a long roll, in order to avoid ridicule and achieve the desired result, it's important to determine whether the local lingo calls it a hoagie, sub, torpedo, hero, wedge or grinder.

[jaylynn]

^^ love it!! So true!!

Also: only in Wisconsin do we call a drinking fountain a "bubbler".

[MommaJ]

In Massachusetts it's also a "bubbler"! (Take note, ye Harvard bound.) I got a lot of odd looks the first few weeks of college, and never used the term again. If Wikipedia is to be believed, it was a water fountain brand name that just stuck in some places (same process that made my grandmother call every refrigerator "the Frigidaire".)

Once the long sandwich has been properly requested, it may be necessary to work on regional terms for a carbonated beverage to wash it down--there's soda, pop, and , in some places, the word "coke" means any flavor of the stuff (yeah, I don't get that either). No wonder our college kids sleep past noon when they come home on break--it's exhausting just to figure out how to order lunch.

[PackMom]

If your kid comes south..talking below Mason-Dixon line here.....it is key to know that barbecue is a noun not a verb
.Barbecue is sacred here. Barbecue is something we eat. It is a specific food. It is NOT something we do on the grill in the backyard. No child of the south would ever say "have a bbq" or "bbq some steaks" in reference to cooking food on the grill. We eat BBQ.

[Mom2M]

In California, it's "THE" 5 Freeway, not interstate 5. (And avoid it if possible).
It rains in California every once in a while. The roads are very slick...build up on the roads from car exhaust, etc doesn't get washed off in the rain all that often, so the first rains of the season make the roads very slick. Slow down a little (not that many Californian's do, but it's safer). And turn the car headlights on (recent change in the law).

If anyone smokes, you cannot smoke in any buildings. You cannot smoke in an area leading to the doorway of a building. Many places have designated smoking areas (saw one at Disneyland, had to figure out why all those people were standing in that spot). It does make it easy for non-smokers to avoid the area (love that!)

[saintfan]

Ha! I can always tell Seattle transplants when they start talking about "The 520" or "The 405" For Seattle/Portland people its just 520, 405, or 90 (sometimes I-90) I-5 is usually called I-5 rather than just 5 and NEVER "The I-5" or "The 5".

In use it might sound like this, "There's a Mariner's game at 1:00 so I think I'll take 520 instead of 90 to go over."

[college_query]

Some places a shopping cart is a buggy.

We moved from Wisconsin when S was just starting kindergarten. He asked to use the bubbler exactly once.

In the south, if you don't want sugar in your iced tea, you have to specifically request it that way. Because the default is sweet tea.

[saintfan]

MommaJ: On hoagies/subs/grinders . . . It's funny yesterday I heard a blurb about one of the campaigning politicians talking about going to Wawa's which I guess is a no no as it's just "We are going to Wawa." No possessive. I don't know this first hand, of course, because I already had to ask on CC what the H is Wawa?! So, if you go to Wawa, what is the proper name for the sandwich that you might order?

[megpmom]

Another note on ordering "tea": Here in the south, if you say "tea" you get iced tea automatically (after being asked sweet or unsweet). If you want hot tea, you have to say "hot tea." And we drink iced tea all year round. I tried to order iced tea in MN in January one time and got a really funny look. They brought me hot tea and a glass of ice!

And, yes, "coke" is the generic name for all soft drinks. When asked "Do you want a coke?" the proper answer is "What kind?" (and don't say Pepsi - it's only Coke or Dr. Pepper in Texas!)

And BBQ is food (beef here in TX), not an event. If we are preparing hamburgers in the backyard, it is called grilling, or cooking out, not BBQing. And please, in Texas, no sauce on the BBQ!

[Booklady]

Wawa is a regional chain of convenience stores. You order hoagies there (and they're not half bad for convenience store food.) Wawa

[saintfan]

thx Booklady - I got the send that calling Wawa "Wawa's" was akin to calling IHOP "IHOP's" Here in the great PNW we eat subs and the term "hoagie" is usually used in reference to the kind of roll rather than the whole sandwich e.g. "Do you want that on 7 grain bread, wheat or a hoagie roll?"

[fogfog]

In South

Outgoing and friendly is not an act, it is a common way of life.

Yes Mam, Yes Sir is not fake, it is polite and a sign of respect..goes a long way with faculty, shop keepers, coach etc.

Stay hydrated --though humid, the heat will affect you faster than you will expect.

Grits are common- great with butter, or cheese/crumbled bacon. Grits are also used for the "starch' with shrimp and grits (dinner meal) for example.

Sweet tea (cold) is often too sweet and asking for half and half is more common now (thankfully) than 25 yrs ago...

Ordering "Arnold Palmer" half tea and half lemonade is great.

Boiled peanuts are an acquired taste--give them a try--great with a cold beer...

Chicken-fried steak is -uh--an acquired taste and for the life of me I don't know why people eat it..haha--breaded fried mystery meat--I suppose it is aregional adaption of "schnitzel"...though the smothering with white gravy makes it heavy.

Humidty=more hair product

Humidty=fewer facial wrinkles

In the South they call skiing--the sport done on water and specify Snow skiing--as compared to where I grew up in the NE where we specified water skiing vs skiiing...

Sometimes you will hear the college kids laugh about how their town has only one stop light, or two--and it is likely true as so many towns and crossroads in very rural areas. That surprised me (coming from suburbia outside of NYC)

If your kid comes south..talking below Mason-Dixon line here.....it is key to know that barbecue is a noun not a verb
.Barbecue is sacred here. Barbecue is something we eat. It is a specific food. It is NOT something we do on the grill in the backyard. No child of the south would ever say "have a bbq" or "bbq some steaks" in reference to cooking food on the grill. We eat BBQ

AMEN
And whether you put slaw on your pulled pork sandwich or not, and whether you use a mustard based sauce vs a tomato based sauce is very regional...