I love NC... we go to the mountains there regularly (looking to build a little vacation cabin of our own one day).
As a Spanish girl raised in the South, I have to say that you may encounter a bit of prejudice but it shouldn't be too bad. My biggest problem was that a lot of the Protestants down here look down upon Catholics, so that kind of puts a lot of Spanish, Italian, and Irish people in a bad position. You definitely can get categorized depending on the church you go to. If you don't go to church, that can get you talked about, too! Not sure if it is like that up North, but that's how it is here. Some people are worse about it than others... you just learn to blow it off.
For example: The son of a pastor has a MAJOR crush on my daughter but his mother found out she goes to a Catholic youth group with her Italian cousin, so she won't let him see her. He calls every chance he gets, hmmmm....
One of my sisters-in-law found out that I let my daughter go to the Catholic church and she about had a fit! "Well, I guess SOME Catholics go to heaven" is what she said, LOL! Cwazy people, my in laws... We don't go to the Catholic church because my husband would get grief. It doesn't really matter to me, so when we do go(rarely!), it's non-denominational.
Other than that, I love being a Southern girl. As soon as we can, we will sell our house and move to the country, and I will have my own little farm... really. It's The Plan.