Growing up in a city of 80,000-plus had always made me believe that I wasn’t a sheltered person. Sure, Sioux City is a fair-sized city – it has a baseball team, a hockey team, arena football teams and an airport. The traffic is usually bustling, and we have our fair share of crime and so-called “ghettos.” But we must keep in mind that we’re talking about a city in Iowa.

During the past week, I’ve had some pretty intoxicating experiences by seeing some things I’ve never seen before. It’s amazing how giddy one can get from the little things in life.

Some friends and I decided to jet off to Palm Coast, Fla. last weekend because one of them had a summer home in the area. Traveling there was pretty uneventful until we hit the state line between Georgia and Florida. The sight I saw was dumbfounding, but it made me incredibly excited … and led to lots of jokes aimed at myself.

Never in my life have I ever seen actual palm trees.

And there they were, lining Interstate 95. Palm trees, like I’ve seen on television or in the movies.

Later that night I was slapped in the face with another revelation. While we were relaxing in this very nice, white summer beach house set on a lake (where there are sometimes alligators, mind you), I saw big, round objects on some trees outside the house. I asked the girl who lived there what kind of tree that was, and she said it was an orange tree.

Again, the Iowa girl freaks out, runs outside, picks an orange, scrambles inside, and jumps around exclaiming “I just picked an orange from an actual orange tree!”

Again, more comments and laughter about the sheltered Iowa girl.

For a good period that night, I was floating on air. Here I was in Florida, chilling next to orange and palm trees. And I knew that the ocean was less than a mile away. What a wonderful feeling.

Fast forward to the next day.

People here on the East Coast have no idea just how lucky they are to live next to the Atlantic Ocean. Whenever I get remotely close to the ocean, I go nuts. That weekend I got to swim in the ocean for the second time in my life. Just seeing that water is enough to make a person from Iowa strip down to their bathing suit and sprint into the crashing waves.

My friends and I made the best of the trip to Florida, despite it being a large retirement neighborhood.

It was mesmerizing just driving around and seeing all the beach houses.

But I don’t know how I’d feel about living in them, since they’re all on stilts.

On the long trip back to Athens, we drove through St. Augustine, the oldest city in North America, and saw the ruins of the old forts built. We also drove through Savannah, Ga., which reminded me that I really need to read “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” All of these old houses, huge trees with overhanging branches, cobblestone streets and River Road lining the Savannah River were breathtaking.

The southeast United States is an entirely different world than the Midwest. People talk differently, they’re more laid back, and they definitely show more skin, considering the 80-degree weather we’re still enjoying.

I think I could definitely get used to all this, especially all these palm and orange trees.

Amber Billings is a junior in journalism and mass communication. She is at the University of Georgia through the National Student Exchange program.