I've always known I am from a small town and community, but going away to college opened my eyes to actually how small my hometown is. There are people who have graduating classes larger than a lot of towns around me. I have classes with more people in them than live in my actual hometown. This world is a big place, but being from a small town shapes us to take on this world just a little differently than the rest. If you're a small town homie, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Your town parades last like 30 seconds 

No matter what the parade is for, they only are like two streets long and last about the length of one song if we're being honest. From when I was in middle school marching band to being on floats in high school, parades have a lot of hard work put into them to only last what feels like a blink of an eye.

You have random little festivals throughout the year 

There's nothing as special as carnival food, sketchy carnival rides, and festivals that celebrate little pieces of random history about your town. Sometimes you wonder why your town spends money for them, but you also are happy you can walk 10 feet and get some funnel cakes.

Rivalries between neighboring towns are cut throat 

Do you want to cause some serious debate with someone from a small town? Bring up a rival school and how great they are, and you will see claws come out. My local news always covers when these schools go head to head in sports because, in a small town, rivalries run deep between cities and schools.

There is always a group of people who hate on your town 

There seems to be an unwritten rule that there will always be people who will complain and hate about their town day and night. They are the ones who pledge the moment they graduate from high school that they are never coming back. Sometimes that is true, but it seems like most of the time people always come back around.

Yet everyone makes social media posts about living in the middle of no where 

When people do come back to pay a visit, they usually let social media be their outlet of the return. Posting about catching up with people or my personal favorite is when people post about how far away they are from the nearest Starbucks or big city in their little podunk town.

There are families who have lived there for several generations 

When you live in a small town, you know that there are a few families that have lived there for generations, and for some reason, the majority of the family members stay. Usually, they become a big name in a small town and can be known for sports or small town businesses.

Cruising in your car is your entertainment with friends most of the time 

It's a Friday night and you have nothing planned. What do you do? You text your friends telling them you are picking them up, hop in a car, crank up the jams, and grab your much-needed cruising snacks. Then you drive around for hours laughing, talking, and knowing this is one of the best things to do in your town.

You went to a small or consolidated school district 

Coming from a small town either means you went to a very small high school where your graduating class was like 20 people or several towns consolidated to help give students more opportunities. Either way, your school was still probably not that big compared to major city schools, and everyone knew everyone and everything about each other.

Cliques probably ran rampant in the hallways 

Since everyone knew everyone and everything, cliques and groups were probably all over the place. Hopefully it wasn't quite as bad as the movie "Mean Girls," but we all know who hung out with who and how hard it was to break into the groups sometimes.

 Your town has a Facebook group to keep everyone updated on everything 

Grab your popcorn, because get ready for some gossip and tea to occur on these groups. The littlest of things whether it is about chickens or kids walking through people's lawns, it will get brought up on these pages—even when the admin says that the page is for important information occurring in the town.

You have some "famous" people in your hometown 

I'm not talking about actual celebrities, I'm talking about people in your town who are known by everyone, whether for good things or bad things. Different generations have stories about these people. They're famous in a small town, so to them, they are always walking the red carpet like a star.

We may have different zip codes and area codes, but no matter what small town you grew up and lived in, we all experience some of the same things. If you relate to these 11 things, are related to half the people in your town, and you don't think you are from a small town, I hate to break it to you, but welcome to the smallest club of your life.