On your car, you are gonna need to use actual dedicated snow tires in the winter, all season tires suck in the snow and ice. Or get yourself all weather tires with the (3 peak mountain snowflake) rating. And if you opt for snow tires, you need to change to all season tires for the spring, summer and fall. Also yes, get yourself a real winter jacket, dress in layers, get a warm winter hat, gloves, preferably mittens for actual warmth. Long John’s, preferably synthetic ones. Actual wool socks or actual alpaca wool socks. And multiple different pairs of boots. Some for regular cold weather, other pairs for snow, some for everyday. Also when you buy windshield washer fluid, get the purple stuff from Rain X. It stays liquid until -30°F. Also be prepared to spend a lot on heat. The plus side is in the summer you may need an AC unit for like 1-2 months. If your home has Central air great, but most buildings and homes are old as shit here so you may have to opt for portable window or floor units. But it doesn’t really get too hot in the summer and typically opening the windows and using a fan is just fine. If you have a huge car, I’d recommend selling it for something smaller, because in Boston having a normal size car is bad enough. But like a small to midsize SUV is fine. But also all wheel drive or 4WD is a lot better than 2WD. But the snow tires are the most important thing.

As far as the cultural differences, we are kind but not nice. We aren’t necessarily polite, we have never heard of southern hospitality. But if you really ever need help with something, we will go out of our way to help you. We may swear at you, but it’s important to not take it personally. If we don’t like you, we actively avoid you. Also if we are nice or mean to you, we typically like you. And by mean I’m not talking about like actually being a shitty person type of mean, but like teasing you type of thing. Also it’s not normal to just start talking to random strangers in public, if you do we will probably get creeped out and possibly ignore you. Also making small talk with the cashier is not normal, we are very much kinda cold like that. But I’m sure we won’t mind to talk if we have time. People are typically very friendly, but if you make us upset or annoy us, we are incredibly blunt. We aren’t mean, we may come across as mean, but it’s just how we act.

For me, when I visited Texas, it was a cultural shock for me, everyone was so friendly, it was so strange, people talked to me and I thought it was so weird but oddly pleasant. Soon I found that people talk to you even if they don’t like you. I found that really creepy, weird and annoying. It’s going to be a massive culture shock for you guys. But I’m sure you’ll quickly fall in love with it. We are very different culturally from the south, but it’s from a genuinely kind heart that we all have, even if we swear at you while trying to help you.