Everyone knows going off to college is hard and very, very scary…and that’s an understatement.
You’re leaving the comfort of everything you know to live far away from home, in a cramped dorm with a person you’ve only talked to on social media. Most parents tell their kids they can attend a college within a certain amount of miles from their home, or only attend schools within the state they live. My parents were a little different, they told me I could go anywhere I wanted. So, I chose South Carolina.
After living in the suburbs of Boston for 18 years, moving to South Carolina was a drastic change. I was uprooting my entire life to attend a college that no one from my high school had ever applied to, and none of my teachers had even heard of it.
I was pretty sure as soon as I got off the plane I had landed in a different country. The weather, the people, everything about the area was completely upside down.
So for anyone else who thinks people from South Carolina are the ones with the accents, here’s some advice:
1. Saturday is the day for football. College football is far more popular than the NFL (though it’s hard to think of any team that is more important than the New England Patriots).
2. Mudding is a favorite pass time. If you do not know what mudding, it’s obvious you’re a northerner.
3. Chick-fil-A is the most popular place for breakfast, and people are heart broken every Sunday when it’s closed.
4. Every restaurant has sweet tea, and people are happy to argue about which fast food restaurant as the best sweet tea. This drink is something you won’t be able to find in any state above Virginia.
5. If it snows in the south, or even might snow, or even seems too cold, there will be a snow day. On the other hand, it snowed 18 inches in my hometown one day and we still had school because the sidewalks were cleared before classes started.
6. Fireworks are legal all year round, while in Boston the only time you could set them off is New Year’s Eve or Fourth of July. Oh, and you also have to have a permit to set them off.
7. Beach days don’t just end in August, they go well into October. People can go to the beaches in Charleston all during fall and go surfing without fear of freezing up in the water.
8. If you are like me and 60% of your body is made up of Dunkin Donuts coffee, you will be sadly remiss to know that very few are in South Carolina.
9. Everyone has a car at school, contrary to the cities up north that have the subway at the ready for college students.
10. Northern hospitality is non-existent. In South Carolina people hold doors open, mind where they are walking on the sidewalk, and are NOT constantly beeping their horns while driving down the road.