I think wanting to establish a connection with someone make sense. I belonged to a national fraternity in college, and that is the whole premise behind it. Locally, the follow up question to 'where you wen grad' is 'do you know ______.' Again, all about establishing some commonality. When someone says they are from the 'mainland' that obviously changes the whole dynamic since you can be pretty sure you don't know anyone in common from your childhood. I don;t hate people that aren't from here. But it is fair to say they don't have a shared experience or the same connection I might have with someone who does.