amatters

Have any of you ever moved south from the north? I will be moving to charleston sc in about a month, and am a little worried about the culture change, what differences can I expect? Are people in the south generally more friendly then people in the North? Any help or tips would be appriciated!!!
THANKS

Scarlett

Oh darlin, did I! We moved from NYC to Jacksonville Florida this past January.
I grew up in the South, so it all came back to me, day by day. The Yankee (my husband) had a bit of culture shock..I noticed he started saying "How ya doin" which he had never said in NY!
But he quickly grew to enjoy the slower pace of life. And all the bonuses of Southern living, new foods to taste, great weather all year ( except very hot summers) and the Friendly people.
Even I noticed that everyone is as nice as can be! Chatty, helpful and smiling..just a bit of a change from Manhattan
ACtually, I fit in here a little better than I did in New York.
You might find it takes about a year to settle in, to slow down, to be patient..
Charleston is much much prettier than Jax so I think you might be very happy there~
Good luck Scarlett

tcapp

I live in a suberb of Jacksonville and lived in Atlanta for 15 years prior to that. I love it in the south and would prefer this over any other place.
There is a gentleness and a charm that is not found so much in other places.
I also love the people. Like the above post mentioned, Charleston is a beautiful place and is one of our favorite places to visit. I think you'd have a nice time there.

Scarlett

tcapp, we are neighbors!

amatters

Thanks for the tips!! I am young and will hopefully adjust eaisly, but it will be hard not knowing anyone. Does charleston have alot of younger people arounfmy age 24? Also how are the schools? I dont have kids yet, juts a courious question for the future.
and thanks again

crys

I moved from NY to Wash, DC to Atlanta, then back to Washington over the course of the last 25 years. While some would argue that Atlanta is not really the south, culture-wise, it was plenty southern in many ways. The pace is a little slower, and people a little gentler. Politics are a lot more conservative. Just remember in restaurants, if you ask for tea it will be cold and sweetened. If you want hot tea, say hot tea. If you don't want it sweet, specify that. Also, they will mayonnaise on all sandwiches--even corned beef--unless you tell them otherwise.

bounty

I was in Charleston(1st time) visiting in-laws. It's a lovely city and really quite cosmopolitan. I saw lots of young people while there. The summers are brutal-hot and very humid, but air conditioning is, of course, everywhere. Why don't you try the Charleston Chamber of Commerce website? You may get some helpful info.

girlonthego

I am a Jersey Girl transplanted to Richmond VA. We moved with kids to the suburbs and have found our home. People can be more superficially friendly, but all in all it reminds me of NJ when I was a kid.(a little slower). You will miss the ethnic food! You are the immigrant to the south. So, make sure you have your northern connection for special food items (Pizza being one!)
This was a great move for our family and we live in an area where everyone is from someplace else. So my best friends are from NJ, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, etc... Charleston is supposed to be a great city and you aren't far from the beach.

amatters

what! they dont have pizzain the south???, i hope you were joking!!! I have onlyhad sweet tea once and i hated it. But i love the idea of being near the beach!

Orcas

Have an open mind. Enjoy learning about the history of the south and the complexities of its past and present.

I spend several years in the south, including VA, NC, GA, and a summer in Columbia SC. Be prepared for the celebration of Jefferson Davis Day and perhaps Confederate Memorial Day. It may seem like ancient history to many, but an elderly gentleman who used to turn the jump rope for my Mother when she was a child in Tennessee, had been born a slave.

In SC, you will learn that the Civil War was about a lot more than slavery. The south was devastated by the war and crushed by its aftermath.

Of course the south has changed a lot. I was, frankly, taken aback when a friend of mine from Oregon visited SC for the first time this year and returned with the comment that southerners needed to get over the Civil War. Remember, to many it was not that long ago. Also, remember that the rest of the nation is hardly the bastion of enlightenment that it likes to think it is.

dln

Orcas, you bring up a very good point in mentioning the Civil War, or as it's called in the South, "The War Between the States."

We lived for ten years in Atlanta, having moved from the Boston area. I loved the South and even though we no longer live there, we still visit every year. The South is glorious for all the reasons other posters have mentioned. We were really happy there.

However, having said that, I never could quite get used to the way too many Southerners still "live" the Civil War. It comes out in ordinary conversation that there is the North, and then, there is the South. No other region I've lived in in the US is as fierce in its regional identity as is the South. Sometimes I thought it exhausting. Sometimes it made me feel that although I was graciously welcomed, I would never be one of them, no matter how long I stayed. Born in the wrong place!

That's the only negative I can give you, amatters. I suppose in the scheme of things, given that you are going to be living in one of the most incredibly beautiful cities in the US, it would pay to overlook this little idiocincracy. As Orcas said, the war wasn't so long ago to some Southern familiies. My good friend across the street, for example, was not only Daughter of the Revolution, but Daughter of the Confederacy. Makes for complex bedfellows in one's family tree!

amatters

Thanks for the history!!! Are there still alot of racial tensions in the south? I am very opened minded and have no problems with any race religion or sexual preference, so when my black friends come to visit me ( i am a white female) will i get alot of dirty looks?
Over all i am very excited by this move, Its my first living on my own experience (not counting college, and my parents paid the rent anyway) and Because i am moving away (11 hrs away) I having all these mixed feelings. I hope to find a roomate to help reduce costs and to network and i am SOO excited about not having to shovel snow, or worry about frozen gas lines. And i love the beach.

benj

I have to say that I'm biased being one of the GRITS (girl raised in the South) but the South is where everyone from up North comes to relax. They wouldn't come if we didn't have something that they can't find at home. So welcome & enjoy yourself in Charleston.

I don't think that you will find any negative response to having black friends. You will be living in a larger city not the small town. Most people are too busy to stop & scrutinize too closely unless you live in a very tight neighborhood. Where I live there is still a touch of the separation mode but it is slowly getting better.

My advice is to go in with an open mind & don't have too many preconceived notions about what people are like. Remember that there are many transplants to places so you are likely to meet all kinds.

Try reading "Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love" before you go. It is a crazy book & gives you some insight into southern life. This site has a brief audio clip that gives you an idea.
www.lemuriabooks.com/audio/spq.asp

Have fun!

girlonthego

amatters: Of course there is pizza, just not the good pizza from NY!
The civil war is big like the above post said. My kids have spent the entire fourth grade studying it and will study it again in the sixth grade. It is well studied. I know more Virginia history than you could imagine!
You will have fun living on your own! I would think Charleston is a nice small city to start out on your own. You may even meet a nice southern gentleman!!!(If your not already married!)When we moved to Va I told my husband there are alot of mixed marriages in the neighborhood and he replied "really?". I said yes north and south!

illusion321

haha thats great, i am not married, but my boyfirned will be living in pa for the next1 1/2 years to finish school.

Orcas

girlonthego is right. Check out the southern gentleman. I found a Georgia boy over 20 years ago and he remains my wonderful husband today. Interestingly, 1/2 of my roots are southern. The other half are 1st generation American. My husband's grandmother wrote me off as a Yankee when she found out my parents lived in Illinois, the "Land of Lincoln." She'd always try to rile me with her southern chauvenism. I never let on that my ancestors had died alongside hers fighting for the South. I stayed away from her as much as I could!

SFImporter

I married a Southerner (well, not legally yet, but we're hoping things in Boston will show the nation we're ready).

Anyway, I'm a fourth generation Californian and he's a Virginia boy. Now, I have to admit that I never thought of Virginia as "The South" since it's just below D.C. and pretty near half-way down the map (as is the San Francisco Bay Area).

Let's just say that I learned my lesson when visiting my in-laws. I'm a Pepsi man, and they only drink Coca-Cola - as it's headquartered in Atlanta.

It also cracks me up that my man's favorite family quote is, "We had silver, until the Yankees came."

It's all very tongue in cheek - but there's definitely a basis deep in the roots of what it means to be southern.

GoTravel

We are proud of our roots. My mother's favorite saying, "what's yaw famlee nayme?". Translation, "what is your family name/what is your last name and who are your relatives".

It's all about food and people. You'll have a good time but don't ever tell someone, "this is the way we did it back home" or some other such nonsense. We do get tired of hearing that.

You may not be able to find good pizza, heck, I still can't, but you will find other things to eat.

Racial tensions? Probably not between blacks and whites. The crowd we run with is very mixed. In any case, it you will not find any Hollywoodized version of it here.

Charleston has a great young population.

Scarlett

Yes, I was fortunate to have a step father whose family roots could be traced back to French planters who came here before the Revolution and stayed. Although I was born in Az and lived in Ca before we moved to NC, I was able to use his 'credentials" to keep the old biddies from looking down their noses at me
From a mixed marriage also, Scarlett married to a Yankee. What would that make our children? the Pup ? LOL

Diana

GoTravel makes very good points.

When I met my husband-to-be, my Mama asked, "Oh, is he a Charleston Hannah?" My grandmother used to love her Daughters of the Confederacy meetings and riding in the DoC cars during the Azalea Festival Parade with the other "girls." (God rest her soul.)

Oh, PLEASE don't say the dreaded, "that's not how we did it (cooked it, said it, wore it, played it, etc.) up Nawth." That might get you injured (or at least made a social pariah). I actually saw a white work van here that had a bumper sticker on it that said: "I DON'T GIVE A #@!$ HOW YOU DID IT UP NORTH!"

You may get a little unnerved about the fact that EVERYONE wants to chat with you at the grocery store, in line at the movie or the concert or the bathroom, or just about anywhere for that matter. I must confess, if I try to start a conversation and am rebuffed, I normally think, "Yankee." (Probably not very charitable of me.)

True, I've never had pizza remotely as good as that I've had in NY traveling on business, but there's a lot to keep my taste buds happy here!

I've been to every state except Hawaii, and I enjoyed seeing the country, but I would never consider living outside of the South.

Where I live, we still wave to our neighbors and know them (and their kids) all by name.

One of my very favorite things about Spring and Summer is the AME church fried chicken fundraisers and volunteer fire department pig pickins.

No siree! I cannot see living anywhere else but here.

Y'll come visit and stay if you'd like. We'd love to have you - Bless Your Hearts!