Let me preface this by saying that going to Kutztown University was not my first time to this state of Pennsylvania, commonly referred to as the “Keystone State” for some reason. Before moving here, I wouldn’t say I went here super frequently, but it was a place I visited on occasion. It is not a foreign place to me. Totally. At least.
I have been to Lancaster, Pa. the most probably. My Uncle Paul, or Uncle Puppy as I called him at the time because he worked for FedEx, took me here on a surprise trip to see my favorite artist at the time when I was a young kid. Scotty Mcreery. At the time I was obsessed with Scotty McCreery and American Idol. I picked him out of all of the contestants. It was a special trip because I got to meet him. Now I no longer care or actually enjoy country music outside of nostalgia, but the trip was still special to me to Get. That. Photo.
Another time I went to this state was for my Girl Scouts’ troop. I was at the “Brownie” age, and I joined the Girl Scouts because my mother told me all kinds of cool, exciting stories about her time as a Girl Scout. She went to summer camp, got to go on an insane biking trip, had all kinds of cool camping trips and activities. It sounded awesome. However, it was not that awesome to me.
Apparently the Girl Scouts became lame over the years. Maybe it was too much focused on cookie selling. Who knows.
Well anyway, my troop only really went on one camping trip, and it was to Lancaster, Pa next to the theme park Dutch Wonderland. Riveting.
My mother came here with me and we kinda stayed a little off to ourselves more that day and night of camping. There wasn’t really good food options for me on the camping trip because of my restrictive eating disorder—that at the time it was ARFID— so I am pretty sure we went off to eat at the Cracker Barrel by ourselves and I think we also took the opportunity to shop at my favorite store at the time, Justice.
I don’t remember too much about the trip, except for the fact we did, in fact, get to go into Dutch Wonderland—where my group of girls rode the monorail and then one of us got lost because they refused to ride it back so we can actually be with our parents again—and the fact that my mother and I left early because the cots we had for the tent were unbearably comfortable.
I also went to Hershey Park as a day trip twice before, and I will be honest when I say I rate it higher than the Dutch Wonderland experience. I went once around Kindergarten during the time period my family went on a lot of cool trips like to Roanoke VA and Hershey Park for the first time. That time we participated in the water park at Hershey as well and we went into the store to buy Hershey themed stuffed toys. That time was probably the most fun, even though a pirate ship type ride almost took me out that day. I also went to Hershey when I was older with my friend in high school, Carmen, and we went around goofing around while trying to talk in Spanish and also about Minecraft on the rides. It was an experience.
Since I established that this land is not entirely new to me, I need to also preface this by saying as well that Virginia isn’t that different from Pennsylvania in some ways. I live only about 3 hours away, and an east coast state is an east coast state. There are It still has a lot of the same vibes, especially of the farming, small town variety, however, there are some key differences.
1. Sweet Tea
Sweet Tea is the drink of my home place as well as my childhood, and it is always a guarantee to have in Virginia. While this is a struggle in any state going up further North, Pennsylvania still has this problem. Sweet tea needs to become more cross-country, and the RIGHT way too.
The Dinner Detective Show I saw on campus had catering, and they labelled a container to say it had “Sweet Tea” and my mother and I got excited. We took a sip and it was disgusting, and a disgrace to call the drink such a thing like that. I would have rather had the other kind of fake sweet tea where it just isn’t sugared enough. No this, this was downright offensive.
Up here you can get sweet tea from the grocery store, but it is usually never offered on the restaurant menus I frequent like they have in Virginia. I have to get Fruit Punch, or Apple Juice, or Chocolate Milk instead as I have never and will never be able to handle most sodas.
I wish I could get sweet tea at my school’s dining halls, especially South Dining Hall. It’s just so good to drink and they don’t allow outside drinks so if I wanted it I’d have to smuggle it in like it’s alcohol.
Maybe it’s behind why I have more caffeine headaches around here.
2. Butter
I didn’t really start eating meat until later—because of the ARFID—so the small trips I have taken to Lancaster or Hershey never involved a trip to the Outback Steakhouse. Outback eventually became my favorite restaurant and I went there all the time with my mom for the bread and the butter and the Alice Springs Chicken and fries. This was pretty good in Virginia.
But holy shit!
The butter at Pennsylvania Outbacks are so much better, and we have been to three different ones. It is softer, sweeter, creamier, saltier, and it just all around tastes better. It almost makes me emotional. I even wrote a whole poem about how the butter is just so much better in Pa. and I have no idea why it is. Amish? Maybe?
Love?
Witchcraft?
3. Amish
Of course, Amish are more of a prime example for this part of PA, but I have yet to go to Pittsburgh or any areas like that. The Amish is probably the biggest difference. I have seen Amish on my trips to PA previously, but living near the Amish is a little bit different. It is more common to see them going down the road. When I was in my older dorm room I could hear the sounds of hooves in the street clamoring down the road with the buggies. Virginia has more Mennonites than Amish, as I don’t think there’s any Amish where I am at.
4. Towns
Pennsylvania towns are really confusing to me, and more specifically “boroughs” and “townships.” It does not make any sense to me as Virginia is more straight forward: there are no civil townships. The fact townships up here exist really confuses me.
What do you mean I actually live in Maxatawny Township and not Kutztown?
Doesn’t make any sense.
And what the hell is up with your town or county names? Some of them seem so much more complicated than town or county names in Virginia. I’ll take my precious Shenandoah County over some of the other names I can’t figure out how to say around here.
5. Architecture
I have to say it. The architecture is better I have noticed in Pa. Everything in Virginia looks pretty basic outside of a few old houses, but every town I have been to in Pa has more unique architecture. Like the row houses for example. Row houses alone have so much more character than the average duplex or town house in Virginia.
It is more interesting to look at the buildings in this area.
Adventures of Jessi Walker 