Emma Aldridge

My name is Emma and after spending the first eighteen years of my life in Massachusetts, I just moved to Georgia. This has undoubtedly been an extremely drastic change for my cold weather loving and sweet tea hating self. In the winter I would usually spend a lot of time snowmobiling, ice-skating, or snowboarding, but I will obviously have to switch these activities with more southern friendly sports when winter arrives. I also never realized how legitimate and common southern hospitality is. I am not the type of person who will start random conversations with people on the street, but people in Georgia apparently do this all the time so I will have to adjust my concept of what is socially acceptable. I also do not consider myself a rude person, but in the South I feel as though everybody else is on a whole new level of politeness. Now I feel like I am a horrible person if I do not smile at people when I walk down the street, hold the door open for somebody multiple feet away, or say thank you to every little thing somebody does for me. I do not think that I will ever be able to get used to saying “y’all” or enjoy the taste of sweet tea and boiled peanuts, but living in the South will definitely start to have an impact on me eventually. Even when the South starts to change me, I will never stop being proud to say I am truly a New Englander.