Differences

You know you’re in Texas when:1) You find a lizard in your room,2) You wake up before sunrise to take a walk before it gets too hot,3) There is a separate section in Walmart for the University of Texas merchandise,4) You narrowly avoid stepping on a tarantula on your pre-dawn walk5) Just walking across the parking lot makes you gasp from the heat,6) Like a man in a waterless desert, you exclaim with delight upon discovering a natural foods store,7) Your aunt picks up a piece of string on the carpet and it turns out to be a scorpion,8) Rhinestones feature heavily in the jewelry case at Kohl's,9) You pass two Chick-fil-a restaurants on the way to Starbucks.The things I notice about Texas are only the things that are different from New Jersey and California. To the people who live in Texas a U of T section is the most natural thing in the world. What would my Texan friends notice if they visited New Jersey, that I never think twice about?I’m looking forward to the mental challenge of a new culture, the opportunity to notice what Lithuanians take for granted, and ask, Why do they do it this way, and what does it say about them?