Welcome to my blog! My name is Ariane. I am a 20-year-old telecommunications broadcast student at the University of Florida. I was born in Togo, (west) Africa and immigrated to Maryland when I was 8 years old and that is where I have lived the majority of my life. I temporarily moved to Gainesville, Florida to attend college. Attending an out-of-state university and one that is 12 hours away from my hometown that is, has been an experience. Some may not consider Maryland to necessarily be a northern state but given that I've been told I speak like a "yankee" I think I can consider myself a Northerner. For the two years (going on to three) that I've been in Gainesville I have noticed some subtle and not so subtle signs that I am no longer up north.
The first things I noticed obviously was the changes in physical environment. We don't have palm trees in Maryland with the exception off the fake ones that can be found in Ocean City. We also don't have rain showers at the same time everyday unlike in Rainesville. Don't even get me started on the humidity. When it's hot in Maryland it's often hot and dry. This is not so in the Swamp. Not everything in Gainesville/ the south is negative from what I've experienced up north. In fact, I can't really say that I have any complaints about the differences. People down south are a lot nicer and more polite. It must be the southern hospitality. Boys hold open the door for ladies, the youth give up their seat for the elderly and young children and people say things like "bless your heart". I can tell that I am going to have a lot of fun with my new blog. Stay tuned as I continue to tell you about my southern experiences.
-Go Gators!
