Ok so on to food-- Cheerwine and Sundrop, Bojangles, Sweet Tea, East vs West NC BBQ. hushpuppies, fried okra, did I miss anything?
The south didn’t do too badly in this ranking:
https://colleges.niche.com/rankings/best-campus-food/
^ Collard kraut, turnip greens with vinegar, chicken and dumplings, biscuits and gravy, blackberry cobbler, pecan pie.
Fried catfish, corn bread, po-boys, BBQ ribs.
Contrary to popular belief, there were never any slaves sold at the market in downtown Charleston. Other areas in the area, but not the market .
@BatesParent2019 - You must’ve had a bad tour guide. Some of those companies hire people with no knowledge of history who make up stuff as they go along. I’ve heard some outrageous things come out of the mouths of tour guides. Also, some try to be too “entertaining and light hearted” , and in the process, don’t convey the proper attitude toward certain places.
Pinto beans with chow-chow. And black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day (one day of good luck that year for every black-eyed pea that you eat).
OP, our D was raised in New York and then in the Midwest for the past 5 years. She looked at colleges mostly in the north, but then really connected on a visit to Sewanee in rural Tennessee (where she will start in the fall).
Spending time on campus during the course of several visits really reassured her that it was the right choice. She talked with a biology professor from the north who had studied at Kenyon. A psychology professor grew up overseas. A student tourguide was from California. Her overnight host was from the Midwest, and she recently met a student who lives just a few miles from us for coffee. It is a national school. During an overnight some students borrowed a car and took her out to look at the stars. She was impressed by the friendliness of everyone.
I am taken aback by some of the prejudice expressed toward the south on CC and elsewhere. We have spent time in Nashville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Jacksonville and Austin, and find them to be progressive, dynamic cities in large part. Savannah, for example, which is particularly steeped in southern culture and atmosphere, is an exciting, welcoming city. (And SCAD is a major part of the arts scene there.)
D’s GC’s were very supportive of southern schools, and classmates of hers are going to Wofford, Vanderbilt, High Point, U of Kentucky, Auburn, Davidson, Emory, Elon, Washington & Lee, SMU and Rice. Some of these students have relatives in the area, or lived nearby previously, and already had some level of comfort with the region. Others will be completely new to the south. There are tremendous opportunities for students at southern schools, and those in the NE who let anachronistic attitudes stand in the way, really miss out.
@Pennylane2011 Well, I sure do love me some BBQ!!! I’d be more than happy to make that trade-off! 
Another mom from the Northeast here, whose California-born son is happy attending school in the South (albeit at one with a huge number of OOS students). My kid is an ethnic Jew who attended Quaker schools and has extended family members of many faiths and political persuasions, so he’s incredibly tolerant of people of all faiths, or none.
I think the one thing that’s been a little surprising to him is how eager everyone is to take him to church. I’m not sure if they’d do that if he were an observant Jew (and his school, the University of Alabama, has a nice, active Hillel on campus), but the assumption is that everyone should go to church and a “good” one at that. (Whatever that means, LOL.) He’s attended some but has no desire to become “born again” or give up his healthy agnosticism.
I think the assumption in the South is that you are Christian, and likely Protestant. Aside from that, and the occasional use of the phrase “Jew him down” (which I’ve heard up here too), we haven’t witnessed any antisemitism.
The religion thing is probably what worries my daughter the most. We went on a road trip down south in April and the number of churches and religious oriented signs and billboards was very noticeable.
We are nominally catholic. D has been baptized but never had first communion or confirmation, and is pretty much agnostic. She has no desire to be part of anyone’s church. She has heard that in the south people are constantly inviting you to go to church with them, asking if you are saved, etc. In MA, where we live, people generally keep their religion to themselves and that is what she is comfortable with. She is somewhat concerned that there will be too much emphasis on religion and going to church at southern schools. Is this true or just the stereotype?
Also, as an aside, I have never heard the phrase “Jew him down” before. I had to google it to find out what it meant.
^^^Re that phrase, I think it’s similar to referring to someone being “gypped” (derived from “gypsy”) or to “Welsh on the deal” or “the bet.”
The folks I know who’ve used those phrases didn’t mean any offense, I don’t think, but I always cringe when I hear that sort of thing.
I’ve never heard that time until I was in the military and heard some people use it.
@me29034 – RE: #129 – " She has heard that in the south people are constantly inviting you to go to church with them, asking if you are saved, etc. In MA, where we live, people generally keep their religion to themselves and that is what she is comfortable with. She is somewhat concerned that there will be too much emphasis on religion and going to church at southern schools. Is this true or just the stereotype?"
I can only speak from my personal experience, but… I am from New England, and have been living in VA, teaching at a state university here since 2006. I do find that more people have invited me to go to church with them (particularly when I was new), than in New England. I have never felt pressured, nor have I perceived anyone to be offended when I respectfully declined.
More of the students I teach down here go to church on a regular basis/ participate in faith based groups and activities, however, I also have students who do not, and it does not seem to be a problem. That being said… where I teach has more kids who come “down” from Northern VA, MD, DC, PA, CT, NY, NJ, than come up from other southern states, so the vibe is a bit more mid-Atlantic. There are also kids up come “over” from the west, students from Alaska, international students, etc…
Ultimately, if this is a concern you may want to make sure to visit the specific schools in which you are interested if possible, and talk with current students at schools. Every school has its own vibe, regardless of where it is located.
We just finished a visit to the University of Mississippi. S liked it well enough that he’s going to apply. He’s lived almost all his life in the DC suburbs. He’s very active in church, albeit one that most folks in the Bible Belt know little about (Unitarian Universalist). It probably is a positive that there’s a campus UU group and a church nearby. That isn’t true in a lot of smaller southern cities (and most places outside New England and the Baltimore/DC area.
@mstomper Glad your ds liked Ole Miss! It made my ds’s short list and displaced our own in-state flagship since the merit money at Ole Miss was just as generous and either would have been full-rides. Best tailgating in the SEC!
You can get real boiled bagels at Bruegger’s in your area. Very good!
There is no one mineral content that characterizes north or south. It varies greatly by location within each region.
http://www.mgwater.com/mgrank.shtml#ordered
In addition, science cannot find notable variations in pizza crust quality based on mineral content of water:
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/01/does-nyc-water-make-a-difference-in-pizza-quality.html
Good pizza requires “know how” to make, and a lot more people up north know how to make it.
I’ve lived in different areas of the US including the south. I’ve also heard references to “Jewing down” and similar comments in the south and also from someone in California. It’s a stereotype assumption that these things are only found in the south- they are everywhere ( unfortunately)
Being Jewish in areas where there are mostly Christians, people make the assumption that I am Christian too. Why wouldn’t they assume this?- as most people they meet are. Church in the south is both spiritual and a social community. Being invited to church is an act of hospitality. If someone new moves in the area, they are invited to join the communities there. So at college, another student might ask a new friend to church as a way to make friends.
Once I explain that I am Jewish, most people are respectful of that. It has been rare that someone is not- and even in those cases, it is mostly misinformation, unawareness, or curiosity, not hostility.
However, I think you have to be willing to accept that some things are cultural wherever you live. People have customs. That can include saying “Merry Christmas” to you and, Christmas tree in a public place. I have heard the term “Christian” as an adjective to describe a good. ethical person. So one might hear " He’s a good Christian" but is isn’t an attempt to be exclusive, but a term that has been used for generations. I don’t take any offense at that because I understand the context of how it is being used.
In many communities the churches are the largest buildings and so, other events take place in there, such as meetings and music performances, so it is possible a student may be in a church for one of these events.
If this is something one is uncomfortable with, then some southern colleges are probably not a good fit. However, avoiding the south is not a guarantee that one will avoid hostility or insensitive comments.