About 2 months ago, my 18-year-old self moved 400 miles into the southern part of the United States to attend Arkansas State University. Being from northern Illinois, I was told countless times that I would return with a southern accent and a hick of a boyfriend. Although I have neither, I will admit that "y'all" has been added to my everyday vocabulary. Here are a few differences and interesting things that I have noticed within my first few months here in the bible belt.
The accents are real.
Prior to moving to Arkansas, the only southern accents I heard came from my dad when he would attempt to sound like Forrest Gump. Although I can proudly say I haven't exactly started to talk with an accent, I definitely get made fun of for the way I pronounce my vowels.
People look at you like you're crazy when you call it "pop" instead of "soda".
Before I moved to the south, I knew this was a huge difference between the North and the South. My favorite part about this difference is always the Yankee comments that are made after I ask for a "pop".
Chivalry isn't dead.
Although there are some very nice people in the North, the number of times I've had the door opened for me, and other small things like that, are way more abundant while I've been here in the south.
The food really is better.
The number of new restaurants I have been able to try is absolutely crazy. There are far more fast food chain restaurants in the South than there are the North. Such as Schlotsky's, and Zaxby's.
People start wearing sweatshirts once the temperature falls below 75 degrees.
This one makes me laugh the most. Considering I'm from Illinois, when the temperature finally falls below 90 degrees, I rejoice. However, people begin to wear sweatshirts and jeans as if 70 degrees is chilly fall weather.
The pace of everyday life is much slower.
At first, I thought this was quite annoying when I wanted to speed walk to everywhere I went and people kept getting in my way. On the flip side, it made me realize I stress far too much about doing so many things every single day.
The number of lifted trucks per square mile has to be insanely high.
Although I'm from a small town in Illinois where regular and lifted trucks are definitely present, I've seen more trucks in one square mile here than I have in my entire town.
Some southerners are just...strange.
OK I know what you're thinking, people in the North can be weird too. I agree completely, but if I told you I saw a man riding around with a live raccoon just chilling on his back, maybe you'd understand where I'm coming from.
People either dress down or really dress up.
The biggest change for me personally was the clothing style. I knew coming into this new experience what some of the southern trends were. Some include chacos, any southern brand t-shirt, and monograms. However, I had no idea that this is what most people (at least girls my age) wore every single day. When my roommate told me to just dress casual, I put on some jean shorts and a simple top.
I was the only one not wearing a t-shirt with a large southern brand logo on the back and athletic shorts. Don't get me wrong, everyone looks cute in this style, it's just not something I'm used to.
On the flip side, when people in the South dress up, they dress up. For example, when I would attend a football game in the North, I would wear my team's sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. For football games in the south, girls wear skirts/dresses/heels etc. It was very interesting to me that this specific event is completely different in the North and South.
Living in the South has taught me a lot about myself. I admire small yet kind gestures, I'll always have a love for the changes of seasons in the North, and when someone asks for you to get them a coke, be sure they actually mean coke. Also, to anyone from the North who ventures into the South, don't even try to attempt having a southern accent. You'll sound more Australian than Southern.
