W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Ah, I can see you've been to East Nowhere, NY.
I've lived in this area since 1980, and there is still that "You didn't go to high school here did you?" undercurrent. I mostly ignore it.
The majority of my closest friends are transplants also. It's just the way it is in really small towns.
I know what you mean by the "Where did you go to high school?" situations. It has been that way everywhere I have ever lived, small town or large, though it may be easier to detect in small towns. I have lived in 7 different states (8 if you consider northern and southern California as two different states, which IMO they should be) and in no one state for much longer than others. I think it was worst in Hawaii, though I graduated from high school there so I can "fake it" if I want to.
By moving to follow educational and employment opportunities, transplants sometimes have more exciting lives and better incomes. These choices can be at the expense of being considered an outsider or even a rolling stone by those who are not transplants.
YouTube - Like A Rolling Stone-bob dylan
Here in Louisiana, most of my friends are native to this area and not transplants (though most of my co-workers were transplants). They say that native New Orleanians are an unusually insular bunch and only friendly on the surface to transplants but that has not been my experience.