Rachel and the South

Hi. I'm a Northern, born and raised in Michigan!

My relationship with the South is, in a sense, just beginning. Having been raised in the North, I was firstly (and obviously) not truly aware of culture because I was, well....not there. Secondly, my information about the South has been up to this point the generalized notions that have been perpetuated by the South. Some of those generalizations include;
1. Southern Hospitality
2. Southern food=greasy, filled butter and an overabundance of sugar in any drink
3. Overbearing Christianity (Bible Belt)
4. Southern dialect aka southern twang
5. Rural lifestyle
5. Conservative viewpoints
6. Slower paced and simpler lifestyle
With all of generalizations, my friends from home had no idea why I would want to go to a school in a state with a culture so completely different from the one I was so used to. I suppose a part of me has always found the South an interesting entity. While the North has its own set of generalizations, they aren't as interesting as the generalizations and stereotypes placed upon the South. Also, I never could understand some of the perspectives seen by Southerners, so I suppose some part of me was interested in finding out just where these perspectives came from. With an opportunity to leave and immerse myself in a culture that has always intrigued me, I took it an ran with it. Hello South, here I come!-was my attitude.

My first experience I want to talk about is the o so popular southern twang...

I must admit when I first arrived I was not prepared for what I experienced. I had always had my notions about the Southern culture, but to experience it is completely different. I can remember many of the first conversations with people, I almost could not believe what I heard. Some of the accents I heard were almost complete replicas of every stereotypical southern accent I had heard while at home. Sometimes I felt as though I was speaking a different language because I literally could not understand what they were saying or did not know what in the world they were talking about. Food Lion? Hush puppies? Southern colloqualisms and phrases.....huh? It made me feel slow sometimes. I was also not used to having an accent. However, at times when people told me I had an accent, I wanted to say....right...listen to yourself talk, but that isn't the nicest thing. One thing I did realize though was that the southern twang is not universal. It really does depend on what area in the state you are from. Some inhabitants of North Carolina have essentially no twang.