Since I’ll soon be packing up from school and leaving New York to go back to my hometown, I figured it is a great time to talk about that town. While York, PA is not the biggest town in Pennsylvania, there are a lot of people. I know that most of us can relate to these York county things.

1. People hear you say “New York” when you say you’re from York

2. Describing where you are from by referencing Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Gettysburg

3. Patiently checking Facebook to see when Snow Palace is opening for the summer

4. Being five minutes away from complete farmland, but also five minutes from the inner city

5. Driving up to the top of York to take a picture and post it with some inspirational quote about living life to the fullest or having the best group of friends

6. Going on drives because there’s absolutely nothing else to do with your friends

7. Never, and I mean never, wanting to drive on Route 30

8. Changing your gym membership from Planet Fitness to Crunch because it’s just the new thing

9. No matter what school district you went to, football Fridays are the only type of Friday’s in the fall

10. Belonging to either Greenvally or Lincolnway pool

11. Having a community that always manages to come together in a time of need

12. Either being an extreme Pitt or Penn State fan…or not caring at all

13. Celebrating the Eagles Superbowl win

14. Taking a lawn chair to the side of the road just to watch old cars drive by for Hot Rod weekend

15. Being upset that 4th of July fireworks are no longer at the York fair

16. Going to the York fair every year just to get the food and see the animals

17. Hearing people actually pronounce “water” as “wuter”

18. Eating gas station made to order food over McDonalds

19. Driving to Kilgore Falls or Inner Harbor for an adventure in the summer

20. Being way too excited that Marcos now has a bigger location, but also sad because you’ll never eat at Alexander’s for breakfast

21. Having to drive all the way to Park City because the Galleria is slowly closing all of the good stores

22. Spending Saturday mornings at the market downtown

23. Making sure to always visit Rocky Ridge for Christmas

24. Visiting the shoe house at least once

25. Driving by what used to be the rainbow house and missing the view of the bright colors

26. Knowing someone with a Harley

27. Banking on any event around town have Bricker’s fries

There are surely a lot of times I have said that I can’t wait to get out of York. However, being away has made me realize how much of my home is in that town—everyone I love and every place I’ve grown up around. There are good and bad things about every town, but your home will always be the place you come back to.