Sacred Heart University is my home away from home. The classes are great especially for my major (Graphic Design, if you're wondering), the friends you make are amazing, the food you could get is… good - depends on the days. Anyways, long story short SHU is my second home. It’s no surprise that I'm from Long Island. LI blood runs through my veins … as cliche as that sounds. Last weekend I went home for the first time in a month and it got me thinking… there’s a lot to going home and being a Long Islander at SHU in general... So with that being said, enjoy my article about being an LI student going to a CT school!

1. Planning the times you get to go home!

• This is always so stressful and difficult because you never know when you’re going home next. You don’t know if you’re going to have any obligations that weekend or not. Also when you have a big family like me, you never know what unexpected event comes up… another fact you have to think about.

2. Actually going home!

• This, for me, is F.M.P. draining. Financially, Mentally, and Physically draining. Financially draining because when you’re leaving your dorm room to the ferry, you have to pay for the Uber ride to the ferry then pay for the ferry ticket then do it all over again a couple of days later. Physically draining because it’s a lot of effort, packing which means making sure what I need and don’t need. If you’re anything like me, then you over pack every time even when you don’t mean too. You have to figure out what time your ferry leaves. You have to do all of your work and cleaning before you leave because who wants to come back to doing tons of work and cleaning? Not me. You have to let your mother know what time exactly you’ll be at Port Jeff just so you don’t end up being stuck at night by yourself with two heavy bags. Which requires you going on a back and forth conversation with her on what time you should take the ferry, when you should leave your dorm, and making sure you text her your uber information. Mentally draining because of the ride itself, your main thoughts are “how much longer do I have?” “should I spend $5 on french fries to hold me off until I get food at my house?” “Sir, please stop talking loudly on your phone. Everyone can hear your conversation.” The night before you leave, you check the website 5 times JUST to make sure you don’t mix up the times and miss it. Then you check it 10 times in the morning to make sure as well. If you’re driving home… that’s a whole other article.

3. Asking another Long Islander where they're from and never hearing of that town.

• You don’t know how many times I’ve talked to someone from LI and I’ll ask them where they’re from and they’ll say a town i’ve never heard of. “Where is that exactly?” “Oh it’s right next to (insert known long island town here)” “Ohhhh, got it! So do you know so and so?” “Can’t say I have.” I’ve been on both ends of this conversation. I come from a little-ish town but still… I would like to know where your town is by.

4. 80% of your school is from Long Island or Westchester

• The other 20 percent is from Connecticut, Mass., or New Jersey and then you have that 2% that’s from somewhere other than those states.

5. Going to a restaurant and asking for a Hero but getting a weird look.

• My CT friends are great and all but the first time I asked where I could get a hero… they looked at me like I had two heads or something. “What’s a hero?” “A sandwich with different meats or vegetables. Some options could be Chicken or Meatball Parmigiana.” “Do you mean a grinder?” A grinder??? What? It’s a hero or a sandwich.

6. Seeing your CT friends go home whenever they want...

• It sucks when your friends live in CT and they get to go home whenever. It's a Tuesday afternoon? They're going home. Thursday night for dinner and seeing your dog for an hour? Going home.
• LI students: it's one weekend a month that is free and is a month after you last went home? We're going home. Any break? Going home.

7. Let's talk Italian and Chinese food...

• LI students KNOW anywhere outside of the City/LI area, you can’t get good Italian or Chinese food. If you want a piece of pizza or Chinese food, I guess you’re out of luck with that, friend. Coming from a big Italian family, I just don’t trust Italian food in CT.

8. The City

• People on Long Island call New York City, the City. I don’t know how that came to be but it’s just a given thing. Go outside of New York and talk about the City, no one will know what you’re talking about. They’ll tilt their head and be like “what is the city?”

9. Little Shops

• Most people won’t know what Meat Farms or Ralph’s is. I brought this up to my roommate today and she kind of gave me a blank stare. I stopped mid-sentence asking her, “Do you know what Meat Farms is?” “No.” Well for people who don’t know it’s a produce, deli, and a little supermarket rolled up in one. Everyone and their mothers have gone there at least 10 times in their life. If you’re from Long Island, you know about Ralph’s. For my non-Long Islander, Ralph’s is Ralph’s Italian Ices. They’re usually the hype after Memorial Day to Labor Day. The Peanut Butter Cookie Dough is my obsession. You usually go here when you’re usually with your friends and don’t know what to do on a summer night or date night… yes, Ralph's is considered as a date place.

10. We're actually nice people

• I don’t know why we have a reputation of being mean but we’re actually nice people. Yes, there are some people who have sour personalities, but let’s be honest there’s no place that has smiling and positive people. If you go to a restaurant people will ask you how your day is going and just smile towards you.