Short and sweet story..

[wsuTriDelt]

Originally Posted by awkward1

I quickly regained a semblance of composure and managed to answer the first question...'where are you from?' I was never so thankful to be able to say I was from Alaska because the uniqueness made conversation easy.

i know what you mean, being from alaska saved me. if conversations weren't really flowing or they got a little awkward i just ended up talking about alaska. people act like it's the other side of the globe...but then again a lot of people think we're tiny and next to hawaii because of how we're always shown on maps haha.

[awkward1]

1. Did you need a passport to get here?
2. Do people live in igloo's?
3. Do you have a dog team?
4. Is it cold all year round?
5. Isn't Alaska by Australia?
6. Is Alaska an Island?
7. How long did it take to get here? 12 Hours! What, did you drive?
8. Does it take like, 2 days to drive home?
9. It must be cool to live so close to California.

How can so many people not know where Alaska is? I came to understand that because Alaska is always shown on maps as being an island floating in the Pacific somewhere that people really believe this to be true. Some maps show Alaska to be situated north of Washington, neglecting to show Canada so it looks like it is very close to Washington. I don't get these types of questions much anymore. I think it is the popularity of things like The Discovery Channel etc. give people glimpses into what life in Alaska is really like. But back in the day there just wasn't a lot of exposure to Alaska and what life is like there.

[BetteDavisEyes]

Originally Posted by awkward1

1. Did you need a passport to get here?
2. Do people live in igloo's?
3. Do you have a dog team?
4. Is it cold all year round?
5. Isn't Alaska by Australia?
6. Is Alaska an Island?
7. How long did it take to get here? 12 Hours! What, did you drive?
8. Does it take like, 2 days to drive home?
9. It must be cool to live so close to California.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!
These 2 have got to be my favorite questions EVER!

[twinkle555]

update update update!!! i love this one!!!!!!!

[AK Phi Sig]

Originally Posted by awkward1

1. Did you need a passport to get here?
2. Do people live in igloo's?
3. Do you have a dog team?
4. Is it cold all year round?
5. Isn't Alaska by Australia?
6. Is Alaska an Island?
7. How long did it take to get here? 12 Hours! What, did you drive?
8. Does it take like, 2 days to drive home?
9. It must be cool to live so close to California.

This story is bringing back so many memories for me. The big question I still get all the time is "Isn't it like dark there all winter and light all summer?"
During school my favorite question was "Do you have a pet moose?" because at least for that one I could say "Yes, we had a neighborhood moose. It made getting rid of our Halloween pumpkins so much easier."

I did have one especially ignorant person ask if it was strange for me to see all of the people with different cultural backgrounds in CA (not quite their words, I believe they used the word colors) Um, just because I am blond, blue eyed and Day-glo does not mean that I represent the make up of the entire state, moron. In fact, coming from my HS it was strange for me to not see as many different groups as I was used to.

Great story! I can't wait to see where you end up.

[UGAalum94]

People from New Mexico get a bunch of those questions and comments, so much so that New Mexico magazine has a running feature about it: http://www.nmmagazine.com/50missing.php

My favorite was that during the lead up to the 1996 Olympics, the folks handling ticket sales told people from New Mexico to call their embassy.

[VandalSquirrel]

A woman I know from Alaska went through Rush and cut the top house because when she mentioned where she was from the two girls thought Alaska was an island between California and Hawaii. It offended her that they consistently had top grades and not one, but two of them had no idea where the 49th state was.

I guess that falls under "Funny reasons why you cut a chapter" though we probably all have at least one sister who says something that makes us stop and think "WTF?"

[epchick]

On "are you smarter than a 5th grader," the guy chose U.S. geography for like $200,000 and the question was What is the northern most state?

Both my mom, dad & the guy playing the game said "Maine." I was like WTF? Uhhhhh...its Alaska!

[AOEforme]

Originally Posted by awkward1

How can so many people not know where Alaska is? I came to understand that because Alaska is always shown on maps as being an island floating in the Pacific somewhere that people really believe this to be true. Some maps show Alaska to be situated north of Washington, neglecting to show Canada so it looks like it is very close to Washington. I don't get these types of questions much anymore. I think it is the popularity of things like The Discovery Channel etc. give people glimpses into what life in Alaska is really like. But back in the day there just wasn't a lot of exposure to Alaska and what life is like there.

We always have girls on our campus who can't believe that Chicago isn't a state.