Your culture and home <3

[noveleigh]

I'm from east Tennessee. I love and hate it, and in many ways never want to move away from this particular area. I live in between two college towns, so there is always a variety of people from all kinds of different backgrounds here. You have more things to do on the weekends and at nights, because everyone wants to cater to the college students.

There's also the peaceful aspect of the area. People here really hold to their traditions and heritage. We will have old fashioned craft fairs now and then, celebrations for different seasons (for example, we just had a Fall Festival), more reminders of the area's past than you can shake a stick at, we still have moonshiners; they didn't go away after prohibition, and antique stores around almost every corner. Plus, in the country side, people are pretty friendly. Little old men in their old beat up pick-up trucks will wave to ya as you drive by, and you can see some of them sitting on the front porch (or patio) of a family owned store. It's sort of adorable. There's also a lot of abandoned places (everyone is moving to the cities), so that's great for those who like to go on drives in the countryside and take photos of these abandoned buildings. We also have our share of ghost stories.

About half an hour from here we have two of the states largest tourist attractions. Gatlinburg and Dollywood. It amazes me how many people, from all over the world, have heard about Dollywood and dream to go there (come on people...Dollywood has a tendancy to overdo the redneck'ness of the area). Gatlinburg is fun if you have money. Ripley's has pretty much taken it over, which is fine by me.

As for heritage/ancestry, I'm what my dad calls a Heinz 57. His side is straight Irish, as my grandmother and grandfather both were born from Irish immigrants. On my mothers side, however, I have a mix of German, Scottish, and they lost track after those two. Anyway, the German part was traced back to a hessian soldier in the American Revolution who decided to stay here after it was all said and done. That's kind of cool, anyway.

[Noumi]

I´m dominican.
My country is an island in the caribbean , we have a lot of beaches but I don´t like those things. I live with my parents.They overprotect me and buy me cool stuff XD.
I´m a latina but I don´t dress, live or act like on :/

[Tam Li Hua]

I'd have to say that, when I'm away from home, I miss the old antebellum houses, and the old, beautiful graveyards in my hometown.

Selma has two gorgeous, old cemeteries. One dates back to before the Civil War, and it has all these beautiful tombstones, statues, and trees covered in Spanish moss. It seems more like a Gothic park than a graveyard. The newer one has similar things, but it isn't as old. Still beautiful though.

I also miss the huge antebellum houses. I've always wanted to live in one, just because I think they are so fantastic!

I also miss the food, especially sweet tea! XD Nowhere else in the world is as familiar with sweet tea as the South, and it's one of the things that my roommates and I missed the most while we were in SoCal. [Sure, we could make our own, but it just wasn't quite the same.]

When we were living in SoCal, we also missed the lower housing rates, which was the biggest reason of why we decided to move back to the South. XD

Since moving back, I've found a good job that I'm pretty good at, and met my fiance. All in all, I'd say I'd miss him most if I was away from here by myself for any length of time. ^___^

Yay for Love!! <3

[LiUsAiDh]

I'm from the Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides), and am also part German, but I've lived in Cumbria (Northern England) since I was 2.

I like Lewis, because it gave me my bitchin' name. Germany gives me a bad temper, and Cumbria, ech, is shit. We have grey skies, rain, and beautiful scenery here. Except you can't see it for the clouds.

Doesn't look like this, often -

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/t.woof/...e2493I-txt.jpg

http://www.martinlawrencephotography...-Wastwater.jpg

[noveleigh]

Those pictures are really beautiful, LiUsAiDh. Tam, I'd like to see pictures of that graveyard.

[Tam Li Hua]

Cool! I'll find some and post them later. [I'm at work, so I don't want to save them to my work computer.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by LiUsAiDh

I'm from the Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides), and am also part German, but I've lived in Cumbria (Northern England) since I was 2.

I like Lewis, because it gave me my bitchin' name. Germany gives me a bad temper, and Cumbria, ech, is shit. We have grey skies, rain, and beautiful scenery here. Except you can't see it for the clouds.

Doesn't look like this, often -

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/t.woof/...e2493I-txt.jpg

http://www.martinlawrencephotography...-Wastwater.jpg

A good part of my family is originally from Lewis. I've never been there, but I've been to Mull and Iona many times and they're some of my favourite places on earth. That whole part of Scotland is where most of my ancestors are from, perhaps that's why I feel so at home there.

And those pictures make me very jealous, even if they aren't an accurate depiction of the usual weather. That's the sort of landscape I'd want my castle to be built upon!

[MollyMac]

I was born and raised in rural, rural Southeast Arkansas and spent a lot of time up in Wisconsin, where the bay is cold and the leaves are almost permanantly in autumn. Squeaky Cheese, yay! Go Packers!!! I love my time up there!

As to Arkansas, I miss having 36 first cousins and instant friends, but being related to damn near everyone in my county had its issues though. I miss the thick odd accents of the Arkansans that married into my isolated family's southern-like ish accent with remanants of Ellis Island still in the occaslional Gaelic and Cymric nuances. Little pronounciations and phrases that are heard nowhere else on earth. O Gymru!!

I miss the potato candy and picking beans, cotton and muscadines, cannign food, shucking corn, milking the neighbor's cow. I miss my seven Graet Aunts and Gemma who called me Donnie Belle.

But what is miss is the specific times in those specific places. My farm home is now a strip mall, the great aunts are dead, and most of my family now considers potato candy "poor" and they sound like everyone else.

[Jaye Jang]

Lis, loved the pix. Cool place.

These is are of just one of the wild areas in my home state.

http://www.forwolves.org/ralph/wpages/frank.htm

[Jaye Jang]

Sorry about the above post. Editor nailed me.

Lis, loved the pix. Cool place.

These is just one of the wild areas in my home state.

http://www.forwolves.org/ralph/wpages/frank.htm

Love white water rafting. Totally addictive.

http://www.snakeriveradventures.com/

[Frederik]

I'm Australian born to immigrant parents and am a mix of English, Irish, German & Polish.

Most of my life has been spent in the state of Victoria which means scorching hot summers and freezing cold winters. Summers as a kid were spend at the local swimming pool, the smell of chlorine, the taste of salt n vinegar potato chips and the drone of air conditioner units & fans. I remember traveling on school buses with no cooling & getting that sweaty that our school uniforms would stick to the vinyl bus seats. I remember getting home from school, turning on the tv & watching one of my all time favorite programs - Round the Twist

During winter time we would mostly stay inside & keep ourselves entertained buy watching movies and playing videogames. Afternoons were spent at the video store browsing the shelves for what we were to hire & later watch.

Geographically the area where I grew up & still live is rather isolated with bush and rolling hills as far as the eye can see. There are old abandoned mine shafts everywhere so you have to really watch where you walk. It is a very pretty area but that is all it has to offer these days.

Due to the lack of employment opportunities (amongst many other issues) & never feeling welcome by the locals I am relocating by years end.

[Cicero]

I fucking love Round the Twist =]