1. Having to explain you don’t live in Long Island…Rhode Island is not in New York; it is in fact it’s own state, even if it’s really small!
2. Having to tell people that Quahog, Rhode Island from Family Guy is not actually a place that exists (…but Quahogs do exist. They are a type of round clam native to the Rhode Island shoreline.)
3. You get weird looks from people when you ask where the “bubbler” is.
4. Having to explain that “Coffee Milk” isn’t coffee with milk.
5. Using your Alan Shawn Feinstein Junior Scholar Card for a discount at the Providence Children’s Museum.
6. Seeing Pauly D from "Jersey Shore" at the So Fresh & So Clean car wash.
7. When it takes an hour to drive across the state, a 25-minute car ride is considered a road trip.
8. The Cardi Brothers commercials…’nuff said.
9. When “Buddy” Cianci, your former mayor of Providence, had a criminal record, a radio talk show, and a line of tasty tomato sauce.
10. No matter where you are in state, you ALWAYS see someone you know.
11. And whenever you go out of state, someone will ask you if you know someone they know from Rhode Island…nine times out of ten you either know them personally or you know someone who does.
12. The state is geographically small enough to have only one area code. 401 PRIDE!
13. Being on Thayer Street and having to decide between Ben& Jerry’s, Froyo World, or Johnny Rockets.
14. You know Christmas is around the corner when the Big Blue Bug grows antlers and a Rudolf nose.
15. Going to Benny’s or Ocean State Job Lot in a pinch knowing they will have the random thing you need.
16. Awful, Awful Monday's make Mondays less awful.
17. PPAC: the “Broadway” of Rhode Island.
18. ALWAYS enduring the line at Iggy’s no matter what because the dough-boys and clam cakes are ALWAYS worth it.
19. WBRU Free Summer Concert Series = Best Friday nights of the summer.
20. When you realize that the Haven Brothers Diner is just a truck that sells milkshakes and hot dogs.
21. Bristol on 4th of July.
22. Even though most can’t get through the day without an ice coffee from Dunkin, the hipster coffee shop culture is taken VERY seriously.
23. Pretty much everyone has been on a field trip to Slater Mill, the Newport Mansions, or the State House at some point in his or her life.
24. The Mr. Potato Head Statues.
25. Is Allie’s Donuts worth the drive? Yes.
26. If Rhode Island wasn’t already strange enough, the RISD crowd goes and makes it stranger by having a giant penis named “Scrotie” as their mascot.
27. But they make up for it by giving us the RISD museum (Pro-tip: its free Sundays after 4pm.)
28. If you weren’t having bakery pizza at your birthday party chances are no one would come.
29. Everyone recognizes the Block Island Ferry theme song…but does anyone really know the words? (Sail Away on the Block Island Ferry...duh nuh nuh nah nuh nah nah nah...)
30. What even goes on in Woonsocket???
31. The Turn to Ten Weather Channel song gets you fired up.
32. You are either a Narragansett person or a Newport person.
33. Drinking Del’s Lemonade on the beach is the closest thing to heaven on Earth.
34. Getting a brain freeze from a Cumby’s 99-cent Chill Zone Slushie is hell.
35. Summer at Brown students…just stop, please.
36. Going to Providence Flea solely for the food trucks.
37. Free stuff at the Paw Sox games…Freeze pops at the Paw Sox games… FIREWORKS at the Paw Sox games…Paw Sox GAMES!
38. PASTICHÉ.
39. Realizing that Waterfire is basically just people on gondolas lighting baskets in the Providence River on fire while bystanders watch and listen to fancy Italian music.
40. Did you really go to Fort Wetherill if you didn’t take an artsy graffiti picture?
41. Rhode Island has the most unbeatable sunsets, no doubt.
42. No matter how far you go when you leave, Lil Rhody will always be your home.
