<p>I spent some time in the Northeast and I never really saw the attraction. It was a huge shock coming from Montana/Wyoming to say the least.</p>
<p>It is way too crowded. I get a feeling of very cramped space out there. I asked for a pop and it took them awhile to say ohhh you want a soda? LOL it was like visiting a foreign planet. </p>
<p>I have enjoyed my visits to Boston and New York but they just don't fit my lifestyle. However Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Portland, and Phoenix all are very comfortable cities for me to visit. I cannot really pin down the difference but there is something there.</p>
<p>But treatment varies a lot within regions. I'm from Alabama and go to school in Texas, but have never felt in any way discriminated against for the fact that I'm gay (and also quite liberal on social issues). The summer I spent living in NYC resulted in absolutely no culture shock for me, but I also moved there after a few months in Cairo, so any differences between New York and Houston seemed tiny in comparison.</p>
<p>As to whether having a gay roommate is "obviously an issue," the only time I've ever had a roommate with whom it was an issue was not with my roommates from Texas or Georgia, but the semester I was studying abroad and my roommate was from Stanford. It was never a hostile relationship or anything, but I could definitely tell that he wasn't that comfortable with me. Granted, with all of my roommates in Texas, we either chose to be roommates or were matched based on personality while the roommate from Stanford was a random assignment, so there probably is a self-selection issue.</p>
<p>I used to live in Cambridge, but I moved to the Houston area a long time ago. It's always a bit of a shock to go back east to Massachusetts to visit my relatives and see how different it is over there.</p>
<p>oregonianmom is right with everything feeling different, even grocery stores. The highways feel more crowded and frenzied (then again, maybe it's just the famed Boston driving) and the whole area has a certain indescribable feel to it. It might be the historical aspect, since where I live everything kind of popped up within the last 20-30 years and most of the buildings still look brand new.</p>
<p>"... adaptation does depend mainly on the individual."</p>
<p>I've spent time in every state plus a foreign nation or two, and (gasp!) I've found people to be friendly everywhere. Yes at times I've heard some ugly things said, but these utterings were usually based on ignorance, and at no time did they represent the sentiments of the general population. That said, narrow-mindedness will get you in trouble practically everywhere.</p>
<p>I agree that moving from rural to urban is tough, and warm state to frigid state even tougher. </p>
<p>Collegehopeful, you'll have no trouble making the transition to Pomona because Californians are very accepting. Just keep in mind that the suburb of Claremont is a LONG way from the beach!</p>
<p>I am a high school senior attending school in Southern California and I have live in San Diego my whole life. Among my peers and me, I guess that there was never really a big push to leave CA because of the nice weather and UC system. The only people I know that really considered going to school on the East Coast all had a certain type of personality. This is not to say that East Coasters all have the same kind of personality or that it takes a certain kind of person to live on the East Coast. However, from my experience people who go to the East Coast are definitely driven, Type-A personalities. </p>
<p>In general, I guess people here think of California, and even the West Coast, as more laid-back and accepting. Going to the East Coast usually represents an effort to enter the bustling world of prep school elitists, future entrepreneurs, and people who will cuss you out for walking too slowly (though to be fair there are some people like that here). At the same time, I don't think anyone here is totally opposed to going to the East Coast as it is regarded as more glamorous and exciting.</p>
<p>Personally, I applied to Boston College. Obviously, I wouldn't have applied if i didn't think that I could legitimately adapt to the new environment. But I will miss wearing my Rainbows all year round and having the beach like a half hour away (closer in some cases). My fellow West Coasters understand.</p>
<p>Is it true that southern schools are easier and that Northeastern schools are more challenging? Well in high school at least? One girl at my school who isn't top of the class but not more than 60/320 students moved down to Florida and they asked her to skip two grades...</p>
<p>I don't think this question can be answered using terms as general as "the south" "the northeast" or even "Tennessee". </p>
<p>2 years ago I moved from rural Connecticut (moderate leaning liberal, and not diverse at all) to the suburbs of Cleveland (still liberal but with different breeds of liberalism and conservatism, and extremely diverse). Now I go to Ohio State, which is diverse in different ways (more so than Connecticut, but less than my hometown) and politically pretty moderate with some stronger religious elements than I'm used to.</p>
<p>From my experiences I honestly thing the biggest change is moving from an urban area to a rural one, or vice versa. I think beyond a few superficial differences people tend to be the same everywhere. I don't buy that people in one geographic area of Amercia are nicer or more easy-going. I think we just except them to be. I remember reading about an experiment where a young woman talked to different participants, once in a southern accent and once in a flat "standard" one (like you might find in Pennsylvania or parts of the midwest/northeast). With the southern accent she was perceived as nicer and less intelligent than she was with the flat one.</p>
<p>I'm a New Yorker that is going to school in North Carolina and I love it. It is so nice to meet people who are polite and friendly, and the laid-back atmosphere is such a nice change.</p>
<p>I feel like some Southerners that go to school in the North may be a bit disillusioned when they realize that the people are much less friendly. Everyone in the North seems to be looking after themselves more, where in the South people are always willing to listen and help.</p>
<p>I agree with Heather. I've lived in NJ all my life, and went to college in South Carolina. Big culture change, but I loved it. The funny thing is that I spent 3 weeks in Yorkshire and London England before leaving for school, and I think that experience (however brief) somehow made me more open to change.</p>
<p>Having never experienced the south, I don't really understand this notion of northerners being unfriendly. It would be interesting for me to visit a southern state some day. The only thing: I'm not sure that I'd be able to stand the weather. I think 75 degree New York summers are too hot. I can't imagine living anywhere warmer : P</p>
<p>NYC was voted the friendliest city in the world by polls of international tourists. I don't find northerners cold or unhelpful. I have traveled throughout the country, and yes, there are slightly different customs and protocols in different parts of the country, but there are helpful people everywhere.</p>
<p>My southern mother-in-law was the most outgoing, friendliest person I'd every want to meet, but I was shocked about the things she said about me to my ex-H. She also did not want to bail him out of jail from a political thing (we were just kids at an anti-Vietnam War demonstration) saying that she wasn't sure she could maintain contact because now he had a record. She sure was friendly, though.</p>
<p>I think northerners may be more sarcastic but it's a style.</p>
<p>A dear friend of D's is getting her masters at a school in Chicago and she is surprised at the amount of religious sentiment expressed, and that's the big city, so I would say regional differences may manifest in that way as well. But ultimately, we're all just folks.</p>
<p>I was just reading a back issue of Vanity Fair, and they had a piece on Manhattan private school girls going off to college. (mostly Ivies) The article said that they experienced "culture shock" because "I met some people who couldn't pronounce PRADA!". Give me a break!</p>
<p>Well, I'm 16, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York...attended Stuyvesant High School for a year and then I moved down to Georgia to enroll in an early college program at the University of West Georgia. Um. I can't even imagine what I was thinking. [Omg it's soooo hot down here!] It's a big change either way..but I think that it depends how you look at it. A northerner moving down south has to deal with a lot of people (don't get insulted, I said a lot of people not all of them) that have never been out of their state, or out of the country and are therefore very close-minded. Most of the born/raised southerners that I have come to know are very set on their own beliefs..and they don't compromise or care to try to understand different cultures or beliefs of other people. A southerner moving north I'm sure gets a huge culture shock--I mean moving from a calm, quiet, rural area to the bustling streets of Manhattan or something...but at the same time, New Yorkers [I can't speak for all northerners], are very open to different people, obviously, because of the HUGE amount of diversity we are surrounded by, I mean I remember my 1st grade class, and barely anyone had the same nationality..amazing. Everyone says that we're mean, I don't agree, I'll speak for myself and say that I'm honest...and well, maybe slightly blunt, and very sarcastic. But definitely open to different people. So it's definitely a culture shock for both parties, how much of a culture shock, though, depends on the individual. </p>
<p>from my own personal experience, it was really really hard for me to move from suburban, south new jersey to rural, bible toting conway, arkansas. i go to a LAC there. im in my third year. i tried transferring after my freshman year and although i got some great offers, i decided to stick it out due to several personal reasons. my biggest problem was that i was always considered loud, forward, "rude", non-religious etc. people always thought i was "easy" or "too much" just because i wasnt the typical, quiet, southern girl who went to church every sunday (a majority of those types go to my school). obviously, i am not any of the things stated, it was just hard since my personality was pretty different from the majority of my classmates. people would always say "you are crazy!" or "of course you would say/think that, you are from jersey"...my heavy accent mixed with jersey slang/some cursing (bad habit) probably didnt help me at all and definitely led people to believe the "northern stereotype". i would lock my doors all the time in my dorm even when i left for 15 minutes since where i live in jersey, we are pretty much told to lock up when you leave your place (my mom would always say something like lock up your laptop is in there!). people looked at me most of the time like i was paranoid or something since most of the southerners are pretty laid back and don't lock doors, windows, etc. in fact half the time people leave their doors open in the dorms in my college. people would love to argue the north vs south thing with me, it would get me pretty heated.....Getting guys to even want to take me on a date was a nightmare since the majority of southern men (from my experience) dont find outgoing "say whats on their mind at any time" northern girls attractive. i love watching nfl football and i can actually argue technical stuff about the game....guys in arkansas found me more like a guy then a girl and sometimes it would get out of hand (i would be wearing an eagles jersey on game day and dallas cowboy fans would be cursing at me like i was one of them...i love sports but i am still a girl and would like to be treated with some respect). guys would assume i was experienced just because i didnt act as "reserved" as southern girls. i like to flirt and im very outgoing. ive never had a guy in jersey or philadelphia think i was "easy" just for having a good conversation where i lead most of the talking. my humor is sometimes sarcastic but a lot of my jersey friends are like that. down south, sarcasm doesnt sit too well. i had problems mixing with the girls since a majority were pretty catty and i was always told "if you have something to say, say it to my face or say nothing at all"....my school has a ton of people from little rock and around arkansas so a lot of people knew each other before coming. it was hard. i guess its a mix of a lot of things, but i have overcome a majority of the problems. i would say its definitely harder for northerners down south since ive been around all sorts of people all my life, but i have met soo many people down south that havent been more north than atlanta! haha ive met quite a number of racist people as well as uber-religious people and it was hard for me to adjust in general. i still love my school but looking back on it, i would have chose a different school if i knew what i knew now...</p>
<p>Being from NJ and living in the Southeast now I can relate to what you're saying about the sarcasm, Valuable. I lived in Manhattan for years, and am what you'd call irreverent. That doesn't really fly here. Its considered "bad", jaded or just plain cuckoo! I was always considered a sort of Pollyanna in the NY area, but here I'm considered an "intellectual" and "iconoclast". Go figure. Never been called an intellectual until we moved here. ( and I don't think they consider it a compliment!) Also, the part about people not travelling outside of their area is true here. I spoke to a woman the other day who said her sister "had to" live in Boston and she practically spit the word out. I said that Boston was a GREAT town and she looked at me as if I had two heads!</p>
<p>"Jsmall, I think that what most non-religious (meaning non-fundamentalist Christian) people fail to truly understand is that most Christian conservatives believe with all their heart that homosexuality IS a choice. They do NOT view homosexuality in the same way as they view being born black or a woman. They believe what the bible appears to be saying about homosexuality: that it is "an abomination" in the sight of God, etc. Until experience, or overwhelming science convinces them that homosexuals are actually born with that preference encoded in their DNA, they will continue to believe that"</p>
<p>Lol the bible appears to be talking about homosexuals? reads these</p>
<p>Leviticus 18:22 this one says clearly not to do it
Roman 1:27
You could argue Sodom.</p>
<p>Tell me what it appears to say. </p>
<p>The arguement about it not being in the New Testament is wrong also.
When does it say in the Bible a man can marry a man?</p>