I've lived in the South my whole life. I've grown up living the culture, eating the food, soaking in the sayings and habits, and knowing how things are. I'm beyond excited about living in London for five months to get a good taste of life outside of the US (the South), but I know I'll miss certain things.
The Accents
People who aren't from the South think of Southern accents being really twangy and strong. That, my friends, is a Texas accent, and no one else talks like that. I swear. I should specify that I'm talking about South Carolina accents, and though they are different depending on what region the person is from, South Carolina accents can all be beautiful. SC accents are slow. It takes a while to get the words out, but just listening to someone talk can put you in a daze. My grandma is from Greenwood, SC, and no one will ever have an accent like she does. It's thick and warm. When you listen to her talk you want to sit back in a rocking chair on the front porch with a glass of lemonade.
The Food
Southern food is one of the best things in the whole world. Southern, cooked by you, your mom, and your grandma, southern food. Fried chicken, homemade macaroni (nothing from a box), greens, lima beans, grits. It's times when I think about all the love shared in one kitchen preparing food for the family with my mom, grandma, aunts, and cousins that I feel bad for people out of the South that don't get to have authentic, Southern recipes passed down through the generations. I'm seriously considering bringing like 4 boxes of my own grits with me to London. I have a really hard time thinking I'll be able to find them over there.
The Culture
In the South there are codes. And generally most Southern women know them. "Bless her heart" does not mean a girl is sweet or something good has happened. When something is about to happen, it is "fixin to," not "going to." In South Carolina it is completely appropriate to wear a shirt that says Cocks on it (the University of South Carolina mascot is a Gamecock, after all). The higher the hair, the closer to God. I'm not a big church goer, but I am 100% in the minority. Your neighbors will either be Baptists, Presbyterians, or Methodists, and a lot of the time church is a part of social hour.
Of course, I'm thinking that I would miss those things even if I moved to NYC, not near as far as another country. Home will always be great, and I'm sure at first I'll miss knowing exactly how to get places or know how things just are, but then again that's the fun part about traveling, right?
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