It’s a strange place up here, friend. If you haven't been here before or in a while, it seems like you're coming to a strange planet. Moving from one state to another, I have found that, in Wisconsin,...

You develop an accent.

It’s the one thing you thought was so funny about being up here the first time, between the “bag-ue” “tag-ue” and “bubbler”. Wisconsinites like to share everything-- even the way they talk. My mom almost sent me back to Wisconsin when I visited home for the first time after moving up North.

Everyone is so NICE.

It must be something in the air, because natives and townies will always try to start conversations with you. But it helps when you feel a little alone. It makes you feel welcome and important. People like to get to know you and that can seem strange at first.

Football isn’t a sport. It’s religion.

And it's terrifying. It seems like every time a Badger game (or worse, a Packer game) comes on, the entire state of Wisconsin just shuts down for the day or evening. Restaurants, stores, and the streets are deserted when game time rolls around. If you’re out and about, people look at you funny. They know you’re not from here. They can sense it.

The weather is absolutely atrocious.

I literally don’t understand how people even get up in the morning when they have to face that. why the weather is so confusing all of the time. Here in central Wisco, it changes from 65°F and sunny to -15°F below 0°F and snowy to 85°F and windy all within the course of a morning. The winter months seem to start in early October (sometimes September if you’re super unlucky that year). The weather never seems to break, giving you no break.

Skipping the cheese as a topping on anything is a sin.

They don’t care if you’re actually lactose intolerant. They will persecute you.

You also don’t get the obsession with beer and cheese.

Or even beer and cheese soup, for that matter.

The snow is actually ridiculous.

It just seems to keep coming out of nowhere and it gets really cold and it sucks and then it melts a little but refreezes and then gets dangerous outside and you never want to leave your room (and it keeps going).

Wisconsinites seem to have a larger sense of pride.

No matter the season (fall, football, hunting…), there seems to be an overarching sense of happiness and belonging. And that makes you feel pretty important, too.