Southern hospitality

I was born and raised in Virginia. And I love it. However, I soon came to realize that northern Virginia and the rest of Virginia are two very different places-practically different states. I moved from Leesburg, a once small town, for the “big city”. I was just too bored with my life in suburbia; I couldn’t take it.

I moved to Richmond in the summer of 2007 to start my sophomore year at VCU. I was extremely excited to start a new journey of my life and for a change of scene. I figured the farther south I went, the nicer the people would be. For the most part I was right.

Growing up 40 minutes outside of D.C. – with its hustle and bustle, or dealing with extremely rude people who can’t drive — can get to you. In my town, you could find the occasional acts of kindness, but the bad outweighed the good. It took me nearly an hour and a half to go thirty miles in the morning to get to school. And in those mornings, I had never seen so many angry, aggressive drivers; and I found myself becoming one of them.

I wandered the streets trying to find my way around, upon my move, and even the homeless people were nice. The store owners called me “honey,” and people I’d pass would smile at me.

All those things started to change after living here for a couple of months-the vanity wore off. And my new habitat wasn’t as new and exciting; it was just the normal everyday life. When I started school, I could tell the drivers were more irritated with the new influx of students, the crowded streets and bikers going about their day. I almost got hit by cars everyday walking to class. Even the people who used to call me “honey” had changed, and by that point, the homeless already have seen me enough to realize I wasn’t going to give them any money and they became just like everyone else: cynical and rude.

The people that really got to me were the people I got my food from. I’d get up extra early just so I could snag a salt bagel. But I felt so rushed to even make a decision; I barely got to enjoy my meal. “Next person” was yelled out to student after student and the “I’m just a number not a customer” theory is not really how I’d like to be treated at eight in the morning. They didn’t even smile.

The things I moved away from, I really didn’t escape. You can’t run away from your problems, because they’ll always just catch up with you. Even though everyone thinks that northern Virginia is a different world compared to the rest of Virginia – which in some cases is true – they are the same place, filled with the same people.

Just like you can find the same crowds of people everywhere you go. It’s all in how you deal with them. You can’t beat fire with fire. Even though it burns-so do attitudes and words.