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Day 1: Oberlin

aaaaaaaaand we're off!

We had a great start to the trip in my opinion. The scenery was beautiful; there were a couple of barns we passed that said "Chew ___(brand name here)___ tobacco! You won't regret it!" Which I found kind of funny, then also the fact that a whole bunch of firework store advertisements popped up on the border of Pennsylvania was fairly entertaining. I will have pictures, but I don't have the time or resources to do that now. We are currently staying with friends of my parents when my dad used to teach at Oberlin College.

Country Accent

So far nothing striking, but I have noticed a couple more people with a country accent, but not too many. At a rest stop I realized that there is a slight resemblance of Ebonics in a country accent. Not in how it is pronounced but in grammar, and word choice, such as "where is he at?" And I wonder if that is a coincidence or not. The other thing I noticed is that people here are much more willing to talk. My example is that as I was buying some cran-grape juice (not my top choice, but the best they had that wasn't sold by MacDonald's) the cashier said "Oh hold on I may need to get some change, I might not have enough." This may not seem striking, but it's such an innocent thing to say that I wouldn't expect for the cashier to just tell me this information.

Empty Hands

No hand gestures yet, but I'm not holding my breath. I understand that it's hard to realize that you do a weird hand gesture that isn't done in the rest of the country, but I will keep my ears and eyes open.

... well, I'll keep my eyes open for hand gestures, it's hard to hear them... Unless it's like a handshake or something which may have regional aspects to them or something... I'll keep my ears open for accents!

End of Day 1

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Comments

[Wes]

Man...
I love that trip. Up through PA and Ohio, Of course, we continue on into Michigan, but man, do I know that route well. Good times, good times.

[Tracy]

I grew up in Berks, and Clint (who grew up in Philly and went o provate school) makes fun of my colloquialisms all the time. "Are you coming with?" "Where is that at?" "The grass needs cut." "The milk is all." My grandmother spoke PA Dutch, so my mother and her siblings are even worse. "Outten the light."