First Day of Class

The first day of class we have already had a great discussion on what comes to mind when we think of the south. When asked about what came to mind, I wrote about St. Simon’s Island, GA, where my girlfriend grew up. I visited the area with her a few years ago. This was my first real trip to the south, and it gave me many common perspectives of how many people from the class thought of the south. During my trip my two main thoughts of the south were “southern hospitality”, and racism.

Before you ever visit the south you hear the term southern hospitality. In my visit I learned exactly what this term meant. People of this area were much more outgoing and friendly than I felt I had ever experienced in the north. When I entered the local Chick-fil-A, I was greated by multiple people, whom gave me the friendliest greeting I could ever remember entering a fast food restaurant, or any other place of business. I immediately thought of the way that I was generally treated walking into a store or restaurant around Albany, and it didn't even compare to the friendly feeling I got walking into this fast food restaurant.

Racism was the other thing that initially came to mind, but I am still not sure if it was ever really a factor while I was there, or if I was just expecting it to be an issue. The only real racist factor that I felt I encountered were the confederate flags that were on what seemed to be every truck on the highway. I never really saw these around the area I was staying, but I know that when I was driving on I-95 from Jacksonville, Fl to St. Simon’s Island, Ga, every truck stop I encountered was packed full of confederate flags.

Overall these were the two main factors that I thought of from my experience in the south. Some day I would love to move to the south because of the easy going lifestyle people seem to live. Not that life is without stress in the south, but people of the area seemed to enjoy life more, and overall, smile more.