<p>What would you have to say to a northern girl about attending the University of South Carolina?</p>
<p>Not a problem.Contrary to popular belief, we southerners do not hate northerners.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’ll be treated hostilely either. In fact, our Southern Hospitality might turn you into a southern belle!!!</p>
<p>You’d be one of many.</p>
<p>USC has a large out of state population and I have friends from:
*New Jersey
*New York
*California
*Ohio
*Maryland
*Virginia
*Massachusetts
*Pennsylvania</p>
<p>And some others.</p>
<p>I love meeting people from other places. It makes for a diverse community of people.</p>
<p>But seriously. There are so many out-of-state kids here, that you really will not be the only girl from up north. Basically about 1 out of every 2 people you meet will be from out-of-state. And from my own experiences, I think you’re much more likely to find people from up north as out-of-state students than people from Georgia (Their scholarships makes most kids stay in-state) and NC.</p>
<p>Fran, I would say, "Lucky you!’ My son couldn’t believe how friendly people in Texas were, compared to the northeast. Everyone went out of their way to make him feel welcome. Have fun!</p>
<p>We are from Connecticut and my D is a very happy “Yankee” at college in South Carolina.(not USC). She loves the culture, the people, traditions, etc. She could not be happier. Her best friend attends University of South Carolina and absolutely loves it. Good luck</p>
<p>I don’t know what kind of south you people are talking about, but I used to reside in South Carolina, and the experience was less than positive. </p>
<p>Undoubtedly, southerners are going to criticize me for my post as I have already learned from experience. But to the OP, I too was a northerner who moved to South Carolina. This was 6-7 years ago though.</p>
<p>I’m Asian, and people where I lived were extremely racist. Sometimes I’d be walking home and there would be literally an entire bus full of school children yelling racial slurs at me. </p>
<p>The general ethos is rather conservative, and if you’re not a hardcore Christian, it may be hard to fit in (at least the area where I lived). </p>
<p>The people I attended school with were, for the most part, extremely lazy and not the brightest. </p>
<p>When my family and I went to Columbia for excursions, we were walking through local malls and literally people would stare at us like we were animals. </p>
<p>Also, if you’re from the north and accustomed to big lights, etc. the environment might just not be for you.</p>
<p>Positives: the non-racist, educated people were indeed quite friendly.
Everything is really cheap! Cost of living is really affordable!
FRIED CHICKEN! 
</p>
<p>Ok, now that this is over, critique away at my post! I know many of you will be offended, and I mean no offense, but I think it’s good for the OP to hear differing viewpoints. Not everyone loves the south, and it’s certainly not a fit for everyone either.</p>
<p>Well, I moved to the South from FL and one side of my family has roots here, so I don’t know how a Northerner would see it, but in my experience:</p>
<p>People in general are extremely friendly. Kids are raised to value respect, so you are much less likely to get “sauce” from people in everyday interactions. Unfortunately, people also tend to be rather uneducated. It has become a running joke in my family that the locals here may be utterly unable to calculate basic elements of a restaurant order, but they will fix it with a charming apology if you point it out, leaving you feeling positive about the whole experience.</p>
<p>Much as I’d like to, I won’t contradict HonorsCentaur. There is still a lot of prejudice against Asians and especially Hispanics (“speak English or go home” is by no means a rare sentiment to hear, unfortunately). Other people groups are pretty rare here, but the several Muslims I have spoken to could only come up with a couple cases of prejudice between them. As far as Black-White relations, it pretty much depends on socieconomic status. The educated Whites get along well with the educated Blacks, but the inner city gangs still duke it out and the dirt-farming hicks still use the N-word rather freely. The middle to working class class Blacks and Whites tend to treat members of the other race that they don’t know personally with rather stiff politeness, because both groups are afraid of offending the other.</p>
<p>EDIT: I do have one bone to pick with HonorsCentaur. Fried chicken, nonsense. Barbecued hog is where it’s at!</p>
<p>I’ve never really had a problem in the south as a outwardly “black” person except when it came to fathers and their daughters. 
</p>
<p>That’s a different issue though. </p>
<p>Seriously though, the main thing is try to assimilate at least a little. It buys all sorts of good will and makes you a more rounded person which can’t hurt.</p>
<p>Though YM is wrong… Barbecued beef > hog… :)</p>
<p>As to the northerner thing. I regularly tease my Yankee friends. I even tease my fellow Virginians who while technically southern aren’t southern enough for a Texas boy like me.</p>
<p>YonderMountain: Thank you for your thoughtful post! And my apologies, haven’t had some barbequed hog in quite some time! XD</p>
<p>
Except Texas isn’t the South, to a real southerner. It’s the West. Y’all did secede, but that’s about as Southern as you get.</p>
<p>I’d like to know where HonorsCentaur lived–that kind of experience would be very unusual most places in the South. It’s probably true that in very small towns you will find people with little experience of other cultures.</p>
<p>^^^I lived in a pretty small town in South Carolina, about an hour away from, and with frequent trips to, Columbia, where my experiences were also very similar.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that in the city it is much different than it is in a small town.</p>
<p>I have a northern client whose kid teaches at the University of Mississippi, and the family does not like Mississippi at all. On the other hand, I have another northern client whose kid went to Wake Forest, and liked it. So I am not sure you can generalize about an area called “the South”.</p>
<p>I suspect you fill do just fine, and find your own nitche at the school. I suspect that the kids at the University will not be as “red neck” as some other areas of Columbia. Given the distressing post by HonorsCentaur, however, you might want to visit the school before committing, if you haven’t already. It is sad that such things still go on in America. </p>
<p>I presume with a name like Fran Levin, you are jewish (so am I). There are indeed jews in South Carolina, and they have long been prominent in Charleston, and no doubt some of their kids will be attending the University of South Carolina. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I lived in Atlanta, and did not like the people there that much. Ditto for Houston. They are indeed different than New Yorkers (which has its pros and cons). And when I go to Gainesville, Florida on business, it is strange to see people having lunch at Wendy’s holding hands and saying grace. </p>
<p>But all in all, I don’t think it is a concern. </p>
<p>I once had a girlfriend in New York (jewish), who told me that she went out with a non-jew, who asked to see her horns (as in the horns in her head). He was serious, she said. And that was in New York. </p>
<p>So I suspect you will have no problems. Just don’t bring home to your mother a boyfriend named Billie Bob or Bubba !!!</p>
<p>
I think she was pulling your leg, unless maybe this happened in the Middle Ages.</p>
<p>^^um given personal experience, I believe floridadad’s girlfriend’s experience was not necessarily a joke…</p>
<p>Are you claiming to know somebody who actually thought Jews have horns? I find it very difficult to believe, even given the astounding ignorance and stupidity that abound.</p>
<p>^^Hunt, I was asked repeatedly where my horns were when I started working in NYC in 1985…not kidding here</p>
<p>certainly took me by surprise since I had grown up there…</p>
<p>
By who? If I’m not mistaken, there were quite a few hornless Jews in NYC in 1985.</p>
<p>I will private message…</p>
<p>No one will care if you are from the north. I would be more worried about the fact that you chose a school with a chicken for a mascot.</p>