Ten from the Top: Savannah Specialties
Ten from the Top is the weekly (or not so much weekly, it’s summer, so sue me) column of the very honest and often snarky thoughts of District’s editor-in-chief.
OK clearly we are not a “college town.” Granted we do have the bars and 24-hour diners for all-nighter pulling students, but when was the last time you heard of a college taking over an old women’s prison and converting it? Yeah, that is what I thought too. SCAD certainly has its quirks, but Savannah itself is just as much to blame for our weirdness before they start pointing fingers at our tattoos and pink hair.
1. The tourists: Oh my God, they are everywhere! Especially in summer or the week to two-week long ordeal known as Saint Patty’s Day.
2. Everything is haunted: and I do mean everyting. Oglethorpe House? Haunted. River Street? Haunted. Heck I had an experience at Turner House before I came as a freshman. Even all our lovely squares are chock full of skeletons from citizens that couldn’t be buried in the graveyards.
3. Rapid changes in social structure via architecture: one block is 100-year-old mansions, next block shacks, next mansion, shack, mansion, shack then mansion… repeat until thoroughly confused and uncomfortable.
4. The parking: or lack thereof. And the meter maids who will ticket you seconds after it expires. Thank you I love paying $20 fines that build up and equal my tuition.
5. Tybee: I love talking with people who get super excited that the beach is right there. I grew up only a couple hours away from one so I’m used to it but it is so cute to watch someone get in the ocean for the first time and freak out that it is nothing like Jaws.
6. The alcohol: Even though SCAD is a dry campus, the rest of Savannah doesn’t really seem to mind (or notice). Especially the closer you get to River Street or to the end of the work week. That is when watching strangers drunkenly stumble on cobblestones becomes a favorite pastime of mine.
7. The water: I don’t know what in the world is in it but it isn’t worth it. Brita filter or bottled all the way.
8. The paper mill: you all smell what I’m talking about, right? At least it isn’t all the time but of course nothing starts off the morning right like having a full fledged assault on your nose.
9. Southern manners: bump into someone in New York and best case scenario you will be ignored. Bump into someone in Savannah though and you will know their name, where they are from, everything you have in common, be invited over for dinner and try to be set up with their cousin.
10. The humidity: I am very, very sorry for everyone who did not grow up where it is 85-100% humidity most of the year because you must be dying. Just start packing extra clothes at all times to change into when you sweat through the first round and brace yourself.
