I live in Wisconsin. People outside of my state don’t know much about it besides that we have cheese, beer, and the Packers. Hollywood uses Wisconsin as the place where simple, small town goofy characters are from. Some even have southern accents, which makes no sense (Two Weeks Notice, I’m looking at you)!

It’s true that we have beer and cheese, and we are very proud of that. We have the best beer and the best cheese anywhere. Nowhere else will you find so many high-quality craft brews and microbrews, and people who are eager to try them. I feel very sorry for the states where the only beer choices are Miller and Bud Light, or God forbid – imports! They don’t know what they’re missing. There are also few places where grocery stores have a dedicated Cheese aisle. We have the best cheese. That makes food with cheese that much better. So we have the best cheeseburgers, pizza, mac and cheese, etc.! We also have brats. We like brats so much that we have Bratfest every year, the largest brat festival in the country. I don’t think I could live in another state for very long, simply because I would miss Wisconsin food!

Another stereotype about Wisconsin is that it’s all farmland and it’s always cold. That’s just not true. Because there used to be a glacier on top of Wisconsin, our landscape is very varied. There are high bluffs and cliffs, deep valleys, beautiful forests, and more. Not to mention the beaches along Lake Michigan…Wisconsin actually has more lakes than Minnesota! We do have cold winters, but we also have hot summers. The winters are hard, but we can handle them. Without the winter, we wouldn’t appreciate the summer as much. We also have a reputation for “Midwestern hospitality” but I’m not so sure about that. People aren’t unfriendly, they just mind their own business and respect each other’s boundaries.

I went to college in Minnesota, and my college friends often ask me if I’ll move back there someday. When I first graduated, I thought I would like to live in Minnesota. It is a wonderful state. But the longer I live in Wisconsin, the more I want to stay here. My family is here, and my husband’s family is here. Both my parents are not from Wisconsin originally, so growing up I never had family nearby. Being near my family is important to me. I love visiting other states and countries, and I plan to visit more of them in the future. But when it comes to settling down, I think I’ll stay right here.