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Cameron Smith / Her Campus
WSU | Life > Experiences

THINGS IN THE PNW THAT ARE WEIRD TO ME (as a girl from Texas)

Updated Published
Annie Reyes Student Contributor, Washington State University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WSU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

There are a lot of things that I have been taken aback by since being in the PNW that my friends have been shocked by! Here they are.

LOTUS & RED BULLS

We have energy drinks in Texas, but I had never heard of a lotus until I came to Washington! We also do have Red Bulls, but no one really drinks them. They are not the energy drink of choice in Texas like they are here. You definitely don’t put syrups in them and blend them in Texas. That was crazy.

THE TREES

The trees here are crazy! They’re so beautiful and huge. We have a lot of oak trees in Texas, almost never pine trees so I’m constantly in awe of the trees here. The trees also just started changing colors! They don’t really change colors in Texas minus a select few. My friends keep laughing at me because I can’t stop taking photos! So pretty!

DUTCH BROS

Maybe this is just a me thing. Everyone is obsessed with Dutch Bros here! We have a couple in Austin, but they’re few and far between, and definitely not adored like they are here.

COFFEE STANDS

Coffee shops exist in Texas. We aren’t that far behind. However, they’re all walk-in and sit-down places. Some will have a drive-through but almost all of them have a walk-in option with a seating area. The amount of small drive through only coffee stands here is crazy and I kind of love it!

PIBB SODA

I’m sure you can buy Pibb somewhere in Texas, but I didn’t know what Pibb was until I got here. Now it’s everywhere! As a Dr Pepper lover, it’s pretty good.

SWING DANCING

This may totally be a me thing, but I had never swing danced until I got to Washington! There’s a huge swing dancing culture here, and a lot of people have assumed I know how since I’m from Texas, but I have no clue. It’s not big in Austin at least! However, line dancing is a big thing.

NO QUESO

The lack of Tex-Mex in Washington is sad. No one even knows what Tex-Mex is here. I can’t go to a restaurant and order queso the same way I can in Texas. I’ve resorted to eating chipotle queso which I’ve deemed horrible in the past. I miss queso and bean and cheese tacos.

Annie Reyes

WSU '28

Annie is a writer at the Her Campus WSU chapter. She’s always enjoyed writing and is excited for a new way to be creative with a team.

Annie is from Austin, Texas and is currently a freshman at WSU majoring in human nutrition and food systems. She has always enjoyed writing in classes and for competitions but this will be her first time working on a team for a magazine! Back in Austin, Annie worked on a vegetable farm harvesting veggies and selling fresh produce at farmers markets. Over the past summer she also worked as a Camp Counselor at an overnight outdoors camp for kids.

In her free time, Annie enjoys gardening, reading romance novels, listening to true crime podcasts, and shopping. Annie also enjoys music and loves to try out new instruments. (though more often than not, she doesn’t get very far.) Some of her favorite artists are Taylor Swift and Noah Kahn and she will often try to learn a new instrument to be able to play a song by them. Annie is passionate about agriculture, our food system, and food inequity, and plans to explore these fields in her career in the future.