When I moved to good ole' Charleston four whole years ago, I faced a little bit more of a culture shock than I was expecting. I came to find out that everything was different. Everything. A few things stood out the most to me as the absolute biggest changes. Here they are.
First, the pace of life. I mean, being from Philly I'm used to rushing. Rushing at restaurants, at stores, in traffic. Everything is fast-paced, upbeat, and everyone around you is just trying to reach their next destination. Well, as expected, the South is absolutely nothing like that.
In Philly, you could go to a Starbucks, order your double-shot espresso cappuccino with extra foam and two mixer straws and it would be on the counter ready for you before you even handed over your credit card to pay for it. Oh, and the people at the counter talk faster than a conductor of an auction. Then you go to Charleston, and time is nearly standing still.
There are twenty-five people in line and absolutely no urgency and for a while, it is frustrating, but then you get up to the counter, and the person is nice and not angry when you need a second to remember what you wanted.
Traffic is the next difference. Although there is far more traffic in Philadelphia, you do not see the kind of drivers there that you see here. People are passive aggressive here. I come from a place where if you're going two miles under the speed limit, at least three people are honking at you. People drive with urgency, just like they make your Starbucks order. In Charleston, not so much.
Next, my least favorite change. One that I still have not gotten used to in all four years of being here. That is, no Wawa. For those of you who do not know what Wawa is, 1. I feel bad for you and 2. it is arguably the best gas station/restaurant/bakery to grace this Earth with its presence. Wawa was a place I could count on for literally anything.
Soft pretzels, coffee, mac and cheese, and the most bomb hoagies ever are just a few things that Wawa has offered to the Northeastern region. For four years now, its amazing food has been dearly missed by myself and every other person who has come from that region. The saddest part is that the South has nothing that even comes close to Wawa.
Although the South and the North both offer extremely different ways of living, I truly love them both equally. People ask me which I like better, but that's like comparing pizza to a cheeseburger, BOTH AMAZING. Sure, if I could reconstruct the ways of living in both these places, I would speed up the people in the south a tad, but slow down the people in the north, also just a tad. But this is what makes both places unique.
Philadelphia and Charleston both have my heart.
