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This is my first post here. I'm looking forward to skimming through the topics of various states, since my husband and I are not fully agreed where to live someday.
Anyways, I just would like to tell my experience as someone from Michigan living in South Carolina. It hasn't all been good.
The sceneries are perfect for my photography. The hiking is like non-other and the mild winters can be a plus if snow grows old on you fast.
Employment: Don't count on it if you don't work in a factory like Square D, Duke Power or own your own construction company where you can horde 99% of the money for yourself. In 2005, we experienced both of us spending our turns, 5 months each (a total of 7 months) unemployed. It wasn't our fault, we just weren't needed or the company was discovered as a scam. Sure, you can find a job at the local restaurant maybe or perhaps McDonald's or Home Depot, FOR MINIMUM WAGE.
Social: If you're not from around here, if you act anything different from the locals, you're going to be picked on, ridiculed and made to look to be the stupid one. Each person I work with is a local and they don't get anything I say. Plus, the locals like to refer me as a Yankee. I wouldn't be offended if it didn't sound so racist. The truth is, if you do your research (as simple as dictionary.com) you'll learn that every US Citizen is a Yankee.
Gas may be a bit cheaper, but that doesn't mean everything is within a 15 minute drive. So expect to drive further just to the nearest pizza place.
Houses may be cheaper, but expect every seriously wrong problem to be painted over (it was probably an over priced rental anyway) and no insulation in the walls or ceilings.
And southern hospitality, some have it, some don't. Some are just nice to make themselves look good, but don't get me wrong, there's a few that come by it completely honestly.
I found this site by googling 'south carolina rednecks' and the first link was to a closed topic. Someone got offended that someone else spoke the truth, that South Carolina is full of trailer trash. Yes people could clean up their yards, it'd make them feel better. Just because you're poor doesn't mean you shouldn't keep your house and yard clean. I'm poor, no doubt about that right now but my house is clean!
Yes, there's ghetto no matter where you go. People are proud of Detroit and I think it's scary. It's full of homeless people and druggies. But there still more to Michigan than South Carolina. South Carolina is trying, but it's not meeting my standards anyway.
Well, if some of you are offended, I can understand, but please, if someone could just understand where I'm coming from. It's hard to believe, but yes, the south is a hard place for someone from the north to live. The Civil War ended YEARS ago, lets just put it to rest already.
Well, I came to visit before moving here and what you see isn't what you get. I figured with all the posts of people's experiences, thoughts, feelings and opinions about different areas, someone would like to hear an experience of someone not from around here, if not you, perhaps someone else thank you.
Maybe someone will realize it's not always so easy for an outsider to move into this state.
^^Yeah, it's not easy for an outsider to move into this state. I'm actually not a transplant, so I can speak first hand. Most of the people actually born and raised here don't like all of these transplants coming in from Florida and Ohio. They are starting to ruin the quality of life that is found here.
South Carolina is not FULL of trailer trash. Yes, I can easily agree that there are plenty of rednecks...and believe me, they're just as annoying to me as they are to you (and i'm from here), but when you say "full of trailer trash" you're saying we're all trailer trash. I don't appreciate that, seeing as I don't live in a trailer and I'm definitely not trashy.
Oh, there are rednecks all over the country. Hey, they're even in Canada!
And you probably didn't pick the smoothest transition moving to Oconee County...nobody get me wrong, I love it but it can be a lot different than say, Greenville.
I wasn't the one calling it trailer trash, it was someone else and their topic got closed. But there is lots of trailers all over the place. Some really are clean and neat, while some aren't. I lived in a trailer, and my in-laws took terrible care of it, and yes, it was trash. It was full of mold and dirt, and I kept it as clean as I could, but the dirt just kept coming back quite quickly. :\
As far as scenery like I said, the mountains and waterfalls, GORGEOUS. But living here is very difficult. Actually, a redneck is someone who works in the sun for a living. It's described as a white farmer. The red-neck term comes from the fact that the sun makes the skin very red and leathery. Red-necks are only in the south, even the dictionary recognizes that. There's ghetto people countrywide though. You want Ghetto, check out Detroit lol.
Greenville btw is MUCH better than Oconee County. It's very easy to move into this area, but unless you get that rare high paying job, it's a practically impossible to get out, at least without sacrificing something of your own. I moved out once, should've stayed out, for my own personal sake anyway.
I work in a bank and I see most people have NO money. We have several that walk to the bank because they don't even own a bike, or an inexpensive motor bike.
Sorry I yelled then, lol. But still...the stereotypical "redneck" can be found anywhere. When most people refer to someone as a redneck they aren't calling them a farmer who has been in the sun too long.
Of course not, but the term is related to southerners and no one else. I'll tell ya, I lived in Michigan for 20 years and never heard a person called a redneck. I was taught it's not nice to use such terms anyway. Actually, I learned something new, that the term Yankee has to do with anyone who's a US Citizen, not just northerners. But more specifically to New Englanders. So oddly enough, whether from north, south, east or west, if you're a US Citizen, you're a Yankee. lol
Of course not, but the term is related to southerners and no one else. I'll tell ya, I lived in Michigan for 20 years and never heard a person called a redneck. I was taught it's not nice to use such terms anyway. Actually, I learned something new, that the term Yankee has to do with anyone who's a US Citizen, not just northerners. But more specifically to New Englanders. So oddly enough, whether from north, south, east or west, if you're a US Citizen, you're a Yankee. lol
I agree. I know that it's related to southerner's, but that's not to say that you can't find people elsewhere who fit the description (at least everything except for being from the south).
If you asked most people around here to point out a redneck they wouldn't necessarily point out the farmer...they might point out the guy with half his teeth missing driving the ridiculously large truck. Again, not saying that's right, but that's how people are, we all stereotype whether we want to or not.
^^Yeah, it's not easy for an outsider to move into this state. I'm actually not a transplant, so I can speak first hand. Most of the people actually born and raised here don't like all of these transplants coming in from Florida and Ohio. They are starting to ruin the quality of life that is found here.
Ouch! I'm from Florida and would have to ask you to explain specifically in what way Floridians could be ruining the quality of life there?
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Living in Oconee County
