Whether you're going to college, you've moved, or you're temporarily away, you have certainly noticed some changes between your current home and your real home in West Texas. Here are 10:

1. You can get to another city in under 30 minutes.

If you're from West Texas, you know that driving to any (significant) different town means that you'll be in the car for at least an hour. How is it that, now, you can't tell where different cities end and others begin?! When your friends or family suggest y'all all go to one of the surrounding cities, you have to remind yourself it's just a short drive.

2. Cell service!

If you're like me, you have to prepare for your trip back home to West Texas by making sure your phone is fully charged, your maps are already loaded, and you've got plenty of downloaded music playlists. You also hope you don't have to contact anyone on that stretch of highway where there is literally *no* service.

3. Do they have stars here?

One of the best parts about living in West Texas is seeing the hundreds of bright stars scattered across the sky. Now, there are so many lights from buildings, streetlights, and cars that overpower the starlight. Sometimes I want to go back just to see all the stars again!

4. A terrible shortage of pickup trucks

Back at home, if you don't drive a truck, you might be in the minority. But here, you might be surprised to see more than three or four trucks in the same parking lot-- and even those are shiny and clean, not like the dirty, muddy ones from back home.

5. People actually recognize where you're from.

You've gotten used to the hesitant "Oh, cool" response when you tell people where you're from, and you know full well they have no idea where your hometown is. Austin, San Antonio, or Dallas is much more recognizable, and telling people you're living or going to school in one of these places might make other people feel like you're not an alien.

6. Is this rain...?

Yes, it might just be.

7. You don't get the two-finger steering wheel wave.

You know, when someone drives by you and gives you the polite yet brief finger raise from the top of their steering wheel. The trick is to notice it soon enough to return the wave before you both drive by each other. It only happens in West Texas!

8. Ladies' jewelry just doesn't seem quite up to par.

None of these ladies seem to have enough turquoise or oversized beads. And don't even get me started on how flat everyone's hair is!

9. What do you mean, you've never been two-stepping?

It's not that every Texan loves two-stepping or jacks up the radio every night for a quick spin around the living room before bedtime, but if you're from West Texas, chances are you've got some friends here who haven't ever been dancing. It's your obligation to fix those uncultured friends.

10. A longing to go home

Wherever you are now is great, I'm sure, but we all know it's not West Texas. There's no place like home.