Small Town Girl

Unlike my co-bloggers, I am from a small town in extreme south Georgia called Leesburg. To get to my house, I must pass cotton, corn, sunflower and peanut fields all relatively on the same road. Downtown Leesburg is a victim of sprawl with its one small strip mall containing Moma's Pizza, Subway, Natural Nails. The one street in Downtown Leesburg, which only has two traffic lights, is pedestrian friendly in a way, but it is not golf cart friendly as Katy mentioned Peachtree is. The sidewalks were built at least thirty years ago with all the cracks and holes exposed. The sidewalk is mainly used by low-income citizens, who live in the heart of Leesburg, an area referred to as Cat's Alley. Leesburg is a very safe community with the biggest problem coming from Cat's Alley. This is located behind the cementary which is accross the street from the one and only high school in the county. I never realized that only having one high was an oddity. But my co-bloggers, being from Texas, China, and close to Atlanta, most likely had multiple. I have heard since being at Tech that some schools were located just five miles from each other. I think it would be safe to assume that sprawl is the main agent for that.



My house is located on six acres of land with an island in the back. An island may sound odd, but I live on the Kichafoonee Creek. The creek has a mind of its own, and it decided to have some of the water run off to make the island. The run-off is referred to as the Little Creek but is usually pretty dry during the summer months besides some just standing water that is four feet deep. During the winter, I love to listen to the rapids on the creek because it is so calming and neat. While listening to the water, my family and I would star-gaze. It is so wierd not being able to see the stars here at Tech. During the summer or whenever my brother, friends and I got bored, we would go to the rope swing at the creek, kayak/canoe down the creek, or go exploring. My brother and I loved to do this when we were younger. We got in some pretty sticky situations sometimes though. For example, I have stepped on a very dangerous rattlesnake and a water moccasin. William and I found out in the woods where a sinkhole that a house from the 1950's had sunk into it. Also, we found the indian graves and a log cabin that had old books and papers from the 1800's.

My neighborhood kind of fits the definition for sprawl, but it is out in the country. Everyone must drive to get anywhere. This anywhere is usually Albany, a town of about 120,000 people and is where all the teenagers go to have fun- the movies, restuarants. To get to Albany from my house is about a thirty minute drive. I can make it in twenty minutes by taking the dirt road which hardly ever was dry except during a drought. I drove a Z-71 truck, so muddy roads were not a problem for me. Trucks are not uncommon back home because they are needed for hunting, towing and many other tasks. Yes, I hunt. I used to hunt in my backyard before we had neighbors, so I understand the term NOT IN MY BACKYARD. My yard and house are completely different from my neighbors, but the majority of the homes are two-story with a fairly lengthy driveway. My neighborhood has no "cookie-cutter" shaped homes, and we are racial diverse. Now with that being said, each race associated itself more with their own kind. It wasn't an overly friendly neighborhood. Everyone "watched" you and knew your business, but no one would come over to help to do something. It was kind of a lengthy walk from house to house, but it was attainable.

Like Katy, everyone knew everything about all the students at my high school. I knew everyone's name, and there were no such things as secrets at my school. This will be the biggest adjustment to Tech. Another adjustment is the noise from all the traffic. Back home, there was so such thing as traffic compared to Atlanta and Charlotte, NC.


"Just a small town girl" - Journey
Nicole