5 Thoughts I Had About Portland When I First Moved Here

It's hard to believe it's been more than two and a half months since I moved from Tampa, Florida to Portland, Maine. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It's been a difficult transition. These are a few of the thoughts I remember having when I first arrived.

(1) What is the difference between moose, elk, deer, and caribou? I had to google this question, and I'm still confused.

(2) What is this archaic-looking fixture in my apartment? We definitely don't have any of these in Florida.

(3) What is L.L. Bean and why do people keep telling me to go there? Every day for the first two weeks I was here, my coworkers would point at me and say "L.L. Bean." I had never heard of it before moving here. Bean is not a thing in Florida.

(4) What are these strange duck shoes everyone is wearing? A woman I work with laughed at my cute UGG boots and told me point blank, "Those aren't going to work in Maine. You need a pair of the shoes I'm wearing." Where do I buy them? See #3.

(5) I just got here and it was already snowing. It looked like heavy snow to a Floridian, but I was told that it was a light dusting. And while we're on the topic, what is the difference between snow, sleet, flurries, and graupel? It all looks the same to me.