9 Things Only East Coast Canadians Can Understand & Will Totally Bond Over

You're craving donair sauce daily

If you're a Maritimer, you're probably holding back tears reading this.

I didn't realize that this was not a thing elsewhere until I arrived in Ottawa, for my first week of university, and tried to order some delicious garlic fingers.

Do you know what came with those garlic fingers, on that dreadful day? MARINARA SAUCE.

Need I say more?

You miss recognizing everyone you walk by

I have to admit, this can get annoying when you're home. Every one of my friends can relate to the sheer anger we felt as kids going to the store with our parents because every five seconds we would have to stop and wait while they got chatted up by someone they knew.

Even in our "big cities" like Halifax, you won't make it a block without being recognized. While it's not so great on the bad hair days, I do miss that sense of community.

You're from towns no one has even heard of

​People often ask me where I grew up, and I say "mostly Halifax."

I actually grew up moving between Musquodoboit Harbour, Halifax to Saint Margarets Bay, and Rothesay, New Brunswick.

There are not a ton of cities on the East Coast, so most of us have lived in remote towns that no one outside of our areas has heard of. We like it that way though because then they're our own little pieces of paradise. 

You're annoyed that people aren't as nice everywhere else

The number one complaint I hear from any East Coaster living away is basically how much people suck, in comparison that is.

It's not that everyone is rude elsewhere, it's just that people on the East Coast are SO nice. I can't count the number of stories I hear about people going above and beyond to help their neighbours back home.

You just don't feel like kinda love anywhere else.

The Atlantic Bubble life

People in Atlantic Canada had a very specific COVID-19 experience because we had the bubble. All of our provinces got together for a period and allowed travel within, without quarantine restrictions.  

While other people were fully locked down, there was some time when we managed to keep the pandemic relatively under control, and were the talk of the town because of it.

I was super lucky because it meant I could visit my family in Newfoundland and in Nova Scotia. 

The accent suddenly comes back

I was chatting to someone the other day, and then we suddenly clicked in we were both from Nova Scotia. I went from speaking perfectly normal to having a full-on Nova Scotian drawl.

Embarrassing? Maybe just a little.

Now, if you bump into a Newfoundlander, there will be no question about what part of Canada they are from.

You know 'Farewell To Nova Scotia' by heart

This one is just for the Nova Scotian friends out there — because my fellow New Brunswickers can't relate.

There's nothing like meeting someone and simultaneously belting out this tune that we were all forced to recite in school, and then being shocked about how dark it actually is. 

You have some serious love for the ocean

Living by the canal in Ottawa did not cut it for me, and I quickly realized how amazing growing up by the ocean was. Being on the West Coast is better, but there's nothing like the Atlantic Ocean breeze.

You probably miss home

There has not been one East Coaster that I've met while travelling or living away that doesn't miss home just a little bit. I guess that's the price you pay for living in one of the most underrated and beautiful regions in the world.