'burbs.

I'm sitting in the Mary Graydon center, and as it happens, two girls sitting on the other side of the room are from Miami, and talking very loudly about it to another friend.

Girl 1: I hate people who say they're from Miami when they're not from Miami.
Friend: Where would they be from?
Girl 1: Like (with disgust) Fort Lauderdale.
Girl 2: Yeah, (more disgust) Broward.

I glared at them and they didn't know why. I don't like cursing on this thing but...bitches. I would never say I'm from Miami.

Saying you're from Miami kind of makes you lose some of your identity. There are so many different aspects of Miami that you can't be defined by just saying the metro-area name, which is the opposite of how I see New York. People from New York are from New York, and they're proud to say it, but people from South Beach, Kendall, Hialeah, Coral Gables, and Homestead are all from Miami, and saying Miami says nothing about you, not in the way that saying you're from Fort Lauderdale does. It says more about me to say I'm from Plantation, but in general, there's not much of a difference between Plantation, Davie, Sunrise, et cetera. There is a difference for Coral Springs and Weston, but if I learned anything it's that at UCF, when someone asked where I was from, I'd say Fort Lauderdale, then when they asked what part, I said Plantation. The same with people from Tamarac and Wilton Manors and Hollywood. But people from Coral Springs and Weston - they said they were from Coral Springs and Weston, and then got offended when people asked where those places were.

Though this reminds me of a funny story from winter break. I was riding in Dana's car on I-Drive when someone cut her off, and she yelled, "Don't mess with me; I'm from Miami!" I reminded her that she is from Tamarac. She informed me that she was born in Miami. Knowing this would end funnily, I asked how long she lived in Miami. She sheepishly replied that she was just born in the hospital there, even though her parents lived in Broward at the time, but she thinks that saying she's from Miami makes her sound tough. So maybe these bitchy girls are on to something.

FORT LAUDERDALE IS NOT A SUBURB OF MIAMI.

But that's really all I have to say about that.