Since you obviously attend the University of Alabama, you’ve probably already noticed that there are a ridiculous number of kids from Texas. And with that ridiculous number of Texas kids comes an equally ridiculous number of big Texas egos. And with those egos comes a little confusion to others on what is so great about Texas.

I am here to set the record straight for all those Texas haters out there, from one Texan to a non-Texan. I want to inform you and answer all your questions about all that semi-obnoxious Texas pride you see all over the University of Alabama campus.

First and foremost, “Why do Texans have two license plates on their cars — one in the front and one in the back? Are they seriously that proud of their state that they have to put it on their cars twice?”

Okay, lets be real — It’s the law in Texas to have two license plates. Honestly, that Texan whose car is parked in the West Commuter Lot probably didn’t think anything about the fact that they had two license plates until they saw that one of your car’s license plates says “BaMa gUrL” in red and silver rhinestones.

Next, “Why did you even come to school at Alabama if you are so proud of Texas?”

My response to that question is: Rude. You do realize that the president of the University is from Texas too, right?

All sassiness aside, I actually do have a legitimate answer to that question for you. In Texas, they have a rule where if you are in the top nine percent of your high school’s graduating class (it will be eight percent next year), then you automatically get accepted to any state school. Schools fill up with students from the top nine/eight percent and don’t have the room to accept many other students who weren’t in the top eight. Hence, it becomes extremely difficult to get into the state school of your choice, which for most kids is UT or A&M.

In my case, my graduating class was 776 kids, I was in the top 18 percent, and I had never been a die-hard Aggie or Longhorn fan. I knew from the beginning that I was going to end up at an out-of-state school. I didn’t even apply to any Texas schools because it wasn’t worth my time or the forests of trees they killed from the paper for all their rejection letters.

I applied to three SEC schools, and Alabama just seemed to be the best fit. Long story short, Texans really do want to be here. They love the school, and they love the campus; however, they are still allowed to be proud of their home state.

Finally, “But Texas isn’t even really the South… Shouldn’t it be at least be considered the Midwest or the South’s favorite cousin?”

Seriously y’all? Texas is geographically farther south than half of the states that claim the South like Tennessee or Arkansas. I’m not going to fight that battle, though. To answer the question and to appease all the readers of this article, Texans and southerners, I will say, ‘No, Texas isn’t the South, but it isn’t the Midwest, nor is it the South’s favorite cousin either.’

Texas is like its own country. We are bigger and better than the other states that we don’t need to directionally associate ourselves with because we know where we are located and that is all that matters.

You may ask, “Well if Texans feel that way, then why don’t you just have your own time zone or something?” Funny you ask that, because any Texan’s response to “What time is it in Texas right now?” will be “Texas time.” Once a few of my fellow Texas comrades on a road trip tried to convince a kid in the car from New York that when he crossed the state line from Louisiana to Texas, he needed to change the time on his watch forward an hour.

Sadly, it took him a good five minutes before realizing we were joking.

Its kind of like Mountain Brook kids specifying that they are from Mountain Brook when they could just as easily say they were from Birmingham. We may give them a hard time sometimes, but we accept it because they are just proud of where they are from. Think again before you hate on the Texans – they are just proud of where they are from – just like those “Brookies.”

Lexi Carter is a sophomore majoring in advertising.