Cold and Hard Like the Mountains

We all know what it feels like to come to a new area. Unfamiliar places, Unfamiliar faces and all sorts of new things to learn. I'm from North Carolina and have just about stayed in and around "the south" my entire life. It wasn't until I left NC that I realized other states were so different. Where I'm from I was raised to love everyone and treat them like family. I can think of many instances where I walked up to someone on the street, or in a resteraunt and began talking like we'd known each other our entire lives.

One day at Cookout(a local burger chain kinda place). I was waiting for my order when a man, probably in his mid 40s, walked in. He had a cool t-shirt on so I let him know I thought so. We start talking and I find out he's a teacher, but teaching is his second love. His first love is olympic kayaking, his son and him have been all over the world to different rivers risking their lives in plastic shells. His son, at the time, was in Brazil on a particullarly tough river and he couldnt make it because it was the end of school.

On my way out to Utah I was told that not everywhere had Southern Hospitality. Lots of people who have been to Utah told me the people were "cold and hard like the mountains". I arrived with this engrained within my brain. Expecting everyone to be mean, less than out going and not open to meeting new people. At times I've felt this to be true but I've come to realize that people here are just as kind, theyre just not as open to expressing how they feel as the people I've grown up around. It takes a little bit mroe effort and time to get to the core of a person here in Utah but the effort is well worth it.