State before Country? - Born and Raised in the Place where Everything is Always Bigger

This is one half of a two part series with writers Arnav Patel and Zachary Alfaro. Both Arnav and Zach are members of Kappa Sigma and have become great friends throughout their time at MIT.  They wanted to share the details of a fun “state” rivalry they have with each other - their own stories about where they come from and where home really is.

I love getting to know where people are from. I think it’s a nice beginning point to see who someone is, whether they’ve adopted their homeland’s most common qualities or completely rejected them. I also love getting to know about other places, even if only through other people. In Kappa Sigma, there are people from so many different areas across the US and the world and it’s great to learn about where they came from, although always Texas will be the best. 

I met my boy Arnav Patel in my first year here on campus. I knew him peripherally for a while but then we had one bonding moment and from then on we just got closer and closer. Nowadays, he’s someone I can go to whenever I need something or if I just need someone to talk to. Although, there is one thing that just keeps from being as close as possible and that is our love for our home states. With me being from Texas and him being from California, a rivalry naturally grew between us and we have tried many times over to show how our respective state is the best (or at least better than the other). Arnav and I both know that Texas is better than California although I’ll be the only one to admit it.

Being from Texas, I feel the immense pride for the state and it’s hard not to. Ever since I was a little kid going through the public school system, we would say the Texas Pledge every morning after the Pledge of Allegiance (though one could argue the Texas Pledge should come first :o). Does California say their state pledge? Do they have one??? Do you truly feel pride for your state Arnav??¿¿ Texans can immediately bond over their love of Texas, evident within the KS brothers of whom are from Texas. We can immediately just profess our love for Texas.

I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, along the Gulf Coast. I lived in Premont, Texas, a tiny town of now less than two thousand people south of Corpus for about four years until moving to my last residence before MIT, the Rio Grande Valley. The RGV is not one city but rather four counties in the true South Texas (sorry San Antonio and apparently Houston??), three of which border Mexico. My own house was merely 17 miles from the US-Mexico border, a greater distance than a majority of RGV residents. Within these 4 counties are a multitude of towns and cities. The one I resided in was Edinburg, Texas.

This was taken at my uncle’s house in Premont, Texas. I would visit my family in Premont very often as they only lived an hour and a half north of me. The ranch they live on with my grandparents is dear to me.

I spent 14 of my first 18 years in Edinburg and so I regard it as my true hometown. Yeah, you’re probably thinking “Isn’t Edinburg in Scotland?” First of all, it’s spelled Edinburgh in Scotland. Second of all, Edinburg is a real city in South Texas. Some story about a super charitable Scottish guy and the people of the RGV wanted to name a city after him. However, Edinburg is decidedly NOT Scottish in culture. Growing up, I had all the Mexican food, and I mean all of it. And that’s the only food I knew. I heard a lot of Spanish growing up. Holidays like Cinco de Mayo and Dia de Los Muertos were commonly celebrated in Edinburg and the RGV as a whole. Mexican flags are prevalent.

Throughout my schooling life, I always tended to be interested in math and science. I just kind of understood what was going on most of the time and tended to do very well (although if you saw my middle school grades, you may be convinced otherwise; while I was taking pre-algebra, I could not for the life of me understand what x was, like how to find x; and now I’m at MIT). I’m grateful that I was able to attend some really good public schools back home (my mother made sure of that, I mean she is a public school teacher) all through elementary to high school. I also had some amazing teachers. Actually, my favorite teacher ever Mr. Maldonado, who was my 9th grade geometry teacher, attended MIT. We always kind of wondered why someone who went to such a great school so far away would ever come back to the RGV to be a geometry teacher. I first found out about MIT through him.

My friend Sarah and I were getting honored with some award (I forget what award). We both participated in UIL, basically academic competitions amongst public schools in Texas.

Sometime during my sophomore year in high school, I kind of just decided that MIT was going to be my dream school. It was going to be the school I would aim for. There was no one else at my high school even aiming to leave Texas for college. I only knew of one person before me from my high school to come to MIT (to be fair, my high school had only been a high school since 2012) and I knew he was smarter than me. I even heard some time during my junior year that arguably the smartest student at my high school did not get into MIT (wow did that make me nervous). Amongst the general population at my high school, there was just really no talk about going to any “prestigious universities.” It just didn’t seem like people from my area went to MIT. 

I started to look into requirements for admissions and sort of mapping out what I needed to do and when I would do everything. I needed the classic standardized tests and then SAT subject tests; now that was a new thing to me. I think I was the only person I knew taking any SAT subject tests. I started trying to join clubs at my high school to make myself look like a better applicant. I even applied to the Weekend Immersion in Science and Engineering (WISE) program (highly recommend). As all this was getting underway, it just seemed more and more like maybe MIT and Massachusetts were far off places (almost 2000 miles away) and far off dreams. I was just some kid from South Texas. Texas was my home and all I knew (when I turned 18, I had only ever been to Texas, Tennessee, and Massachusetts; I had never even traveled to Mexico!). I had yet to even explore all of Texas.

Coming to MIT was almost like a shock. I mean I always knew that the world was full of unique people but seeing it firsthand on campus was surprising. No longer was I in the bubble of South Texas. MIT and the Boston area was a whole ‘nother beast. They don’t even have Whataburger over here. What’s up with that? In my first days on campus, as a way to scope out the Mexican food in the area, my mother, my brother and I went to Naco Taco. Spoiler alert: not authentic at all. My grandma definitely makes WAY better chorizo and egg tacos. It really took me a while to get used to the food options here in the Northeast.

Navigating through campus and meeting new people was a fun time. I definitely think that the time before you begin classes at MIT is the most fun time. All you do is meet people and join way too many clubs and join Greek Life. And it’s also AMAZING to meet other Texans here on campus. For some reason, I just kept running into people from Texas and, of course, bonds were formed. Then I mention how I’m from the RGV and the other Texans just look confused. Looks like the RGV isn’t as well known as I expected. 

Even in Kappa Sigma, I found Texans. It wasn’t even something I really paid attention to as I was joining KS but it was something that I was happy to be a part of. The topic of Texas just weaved its way into many conversations when I was with my fellow Texans at KS. And of course, we definitely made fun of Arnav and California (I feel like it’s almost obligatory at this point). Although, really to my fellow Texans, y’all gotta learn about the RGV, we exist too.

Before I came to MIT, I decided that this was the chapter of my life where I was going to leave Texas behind. I had been there for 18 years and I wanted to experience new things and new places. I decided early on that I wouldn’t return to Texas after I graduated. It would be graduation from MIT and graduation from Texas. However, as time has gone on, especially during quarantine back in Texas, I realized that there is no getting rid of Texas. No graduating from Texas. Texas stays with me and it will always have a place in my heart.

Arnav, I know you love California. Honestly bro, I have nothing against California. I totally want to visit some day. But of course, I have to say that Texas is better. And unfortunately for you, I don’t think my mind is going to change. With that being said, let us declare that the rivalry between us about Texas and California is over. We are KS brothers now and that is something that bonds us more than the state rivalry can separate.

SIKE. TEXAS IS BETTER.