The south as a whole has heard its share of stereotypes from many people who don’t originate from here. Small southern towns, in particular, have caught some of the heat associated with some of the stereotypes perceived. However those who live in these small southern towns experience life in a unique way unlike any other places on the map. These are some of the distinct characteristics that come with living in the south and a small town.

1. You use road forks and random landmarks to give directions.

Road signs are not necessary for locals. You give directions by telling the number of turns you’ll make and by cow or horse farms.

2. You can count the number of stoplights.

You can just about time the light perfectly when it turns green and after nine o’clock you know all of the stoplights will flash yellow because who needs stop lights when you’re the only one out on the road?

3. Your high school has a long line of generational alumni.

The high school you attend is not just an average school but an evolving piece of history as you walk the halls that some of your grandparents and aunts and uncles did many years before you. You partake in the same school traditions that have been passed down year after year, and you cherish the stories you hear of “back in the day.”

4. Your school’s teachers were also the athletic coaches.

In high school your history coach could only teach so many periods before he had to go help coach the baseball team before the end of the day. Football players knew not to act up in class or else in detention there would await one of the assistant football coaches in charge. #ExtraLaps

5. After church you go to Walmart and end up having fellowship all over again.

You go to Walmart to get groceries for the week and run into half of the church doing the same thing. You can’t get out under an hour without giving hugs to some of the elderly members.

6. News gets out faster than making a Facebook status.

So and so got engaged or is expecting, but of course you already knew that before she announced it over the Internet! Her mom called your neighbor, who told your mom, who told your sister, who told you all under five minutes.

7. Annual community events.

Did you really celebrate the Christmas season if you didn’t go to the annual community Christmas party?

8. The football star of 1957 is still the talk of the town.

Everyone young and old knows the football star that went pro and put the town’s name on the map.

9. Friday nights were dedicated to high school football. High school football is a family affair.

There’s nothing like rooting for your school’s 3 or 4a football team to playoffs while enduring the cold with blankets and hot chocolate.

10. On Saturday the TV is set to SEC football only.

Baylor who? If it’s not SEC turn the channel! There’s just something about the south and its ties to SEC football. You stock up on game day apparel for the season even if you never go to a single game of your favorite team. You still get a little heartache every time the neighbors mention Auburn beating Alabama in the Iron Bowl with one second left on the clock.

11. Sweet tea is like water.

Cold sweet tea. A year round, any time of the day drink that satisfies the soul and makes a party an official party. Who doesn’t love the South? No matter where you go or the things you’ll do the South is always home, and our small towns greet us, never changing, our constant and dependent factor in life’s uncertainty.