Personal Narrative: My Life In Southern Indiana

Moving from the South to the Midwest was a huge change in my life. For my whole life I grew up to the southern hospitality and the tang of salt in the air since the beach was always less than 5 minutes away wherever I lived. Now I moved to a place where they flip you off to say hi, and the closest thing to an ocean is a sea of grass that seems to go on forever. Although I am now adapted to the change for the most part, it took me awhile to break in to the social norms of an average Midwest kids.

Though I spent my entire life living in North Carolina I never thought of myself as a Southerner. My understanding of the Southern lifestyle was quite limited; there is an emphasis on family solidarity, and self-sufficiency with an agricultural backdrop that is part of their essence. The South is not simply a location, manners or customs it is a way of life. Hearing the childhood details of a favorite professor allowed me to envision a picture perfect life under the shade of a magnolia tree and little southern girl who grew up to be a Sandhills Community College professor, Mrs. Cole.

Well the week of our trip to Memphis Tennessee had finally arrived ! My colleagues Beverly,

It was a small town in Cornersville, Ohio. Nothing much ever happened in this small town until one day. A new family moved in one afternoon. Everyone was surprised because no one even noticed the house being built. Everyone was still delighted that they moved in because the couple, Bob and Nancy, were very friendly. Bob and Nancy helped with all the activities in town and were very generous. A couple of weeks after they moved in, a lot of strange things began. Money started disappearing, the lights in the town went out every night except for Bob and Nancy's lights, even people's pets went missing. One night, everyone's lights went out at 11:30 as usual, except there was an extremely loud noise. The neighbors went outside to see where all the

Being from rural Mississippi, people from other states assume that we know very little about what goes on outside our state let alone our own town. In a way, I can see why, but glad I am one of the ones who, thanks to my family, have an idea of a world larger than my town. I am from a family of six consisting of my mother, father, step-mother, brother, and identical twin sister. We did a lot of traveling when growing up normally traveling out of state even if just for weekends. My interest in other cultures and languages came from my family, especially on my mother’s side where I members who traveled out of country for work and would bring us back clothes, books, or other souvenirs. My dad did not do as much traveling as my mom and had not

In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held

On October 5, 2010, my mom made the permanent decision to move to Iowa from Indiana. I was very nervous. I knew I had to switch schools, I had spent three years at that school getting to know everyone and getting used to the school, but now it was time to leave not only the school but also the state. While on the road, I couldn’t concentrate. We’ve been to Iowa numerous times so I knew the drive quite well. I ended up going to sleep by worrying myself so much.

I remember that i was five and my parents decided it was time for a change. They had decided that we were moving to Indiana with my dads family. They told use it was going to be a good change for all of us. My three brothers Jose, Monico,Luis and I didn't want to move. But since we were kids we had too. The hole way their i was crying,because i didn't want to leave. I was going to miss my family and the church people.

I stayed there for a yr and I didn't like it, I wanted to go home after one week of me being

Started off with me having to move back to Indiana. First, my mom was nowhere to be found, so I wasn’t able to say good bye and that I loved her. I really wanted to be able to hug her one last time. She did the same thing when I was a kid. It made me feel unwanted all over again, so I got on the bus with nothing but 3 bags and no money.

I never thought a white woman from North Carolina could make a change. Back then, everywhere I went I can feel the town's eyes follow. You don't grow up thinking that your beliefs could/would change. Hell, you grow up thinking much of nothing down here. In North Carolina, the only thing you have time for is making money. So you can buy more time.

“Why are you qualified to be my Southern Region Vice President?”, asked an intrepid FBLA member as he gazed at my board, full of parallels of business to architecture, as my program at A-Tech was Architecture. Smiling, I came to the member and shook has hand, and spoke, “ Your eyes are as bright as the stars above, for each has the potential that is out of this world. Potential like that has to be nurtured and supported, and the fact of the matter is the system currently does not support that”. Within the vicinity, not just a couple feet away was my opponent for the position talking to his colleagues and sending them out to fetch voters. My eyes never left the member before me, but I could hear my opponent. Veiled smiles we traded from time to time, as we’d have to stay in the campaigning

I can’t remember moving to South Carolina at only five years old. Previous to this move, my family had lived in almost every corner of the country. It all started in my birthplace of Colorado Springs, Colorado. After only a short time in Colorado, the Army moved us to Phenix City, Alabama. Thankfully, the third move was the last one; I still believe that there was no better place for us to move than right here in the heart of the Midlands. While in South Carolina, I have been able achieve and reach goals that I may not have been able to if I were living in some other area. Columbia is a hotbed of diversity and culture, and I am thankful to be surrounded by such a wonderful atmosphere that constantly and continually supports community outreach.

There is one thing I would like to point out on a rest stop we went to. There was another RV there who was on their trip to the Midwest (I think they said . We were talking with them and Charlye who has a kind heart asked them if they would like our left over food. We explained we were headed home to Sacramento and would love for them to take the cans with them. They were more than happy to take what ever we could give them. Tommy and I were boxing up the food for them and discovered some sausages (3 packages) in the freezer that never was used and a quart of unopened ice cream. We decided to give it to them. We asked if we could pray for them for a safe trip (they were happy to know we are Christians). They left with smiles on their faces.

I am from a small town in Western Kentucky. It’s a nice town, where most of the people are friendly, and generally know who you are. At the start of last summer I really started thinking about where I wanted to go to college. Most of my friends were staying close to home, attending small colleges, that don’t offer many opportunities for the future. I seriously considered sticking with them and just choosing the "easy" way. Then I started thinking about what I wanted to do with my life. I don’t really want to stay around the region I live in now, there's not anything wrong with it, it's just not for me.