Hi everyone, hope you’ve all been keeping well and have been avoiding the weather over in England. Exam season is over! With the end of exam season comes the end of my time in Columbia, SC. I have had a great semester here in regards to classes, I had a class in which I conducted my own research and produced a dissertation length paper which was a pretty rewarding experience, the professors here are so great, they guided me well with this, I even spoke to the South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham for his input on my project, a pretty cool way to end my studies.
A fair lot of things happened in the Carolinas since my last blog, namely the Gamecocks won the college women’s basketball national championships beating out Iowa. While our football wasn’t the desired result in fall, we absolutely dominated women’s basketball, and the day we won was one to remember. After the game, everyone on campus sprinted from their dorms to the massive fountain outside the library and jumped in. My friends and I managed to get there early enough to make it into the fountain before it got too rammed, there were speakers blaring music and what seemed like a sea of garnet and black. My friend’s and I ended up making it on national television, as we were interviewed by Fox News, something I never expected when I arrived here back in August last year.
I have had a great semester here in regards to classes, I had a class in which I conducted my own research and produced a dissertation length paper which was a pretty rewarding experience, the professors here are so great, they guided me well with this, I even spoke to the South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham for his input on my project, a pretty cool way to end my studies.
My friends and I went on a trip to North Carolina again, this time going to the small mountain town of Franklin. Franklin was great, we had a cabin up in the woods, we had a fire, made smores, grilled burgers and checked out the surrounding area, the nature was great, and the town itself was one of those “one horse towns” that had a real nice community feel. I highly recommend the mountains in NC, only 3 hours car ride from Columbia, places like Maggie Valley, Boone, Banner Elk and Grandfather mountain are hard to beat for the nature. We also made a beach trip to Myrtle Beach, which was a pretty sweet deal, I had the best burger I’ve ever eaten at a place called River City Café, don’t miss up on their Carolina Chili Cheeseburger, it was something else. The beach itself is real nice too, a fair bit warmer than what you’d get on the southern coast of England.
USC’s basketball arena often hosts concerts and comedy shows as well as sporting events and rodeos, with many of the students being able to see massive performers they’d otherwise have to travel to see. I was lucky enough to see Lynyrd Skynyrd live, they just so happened to be performing and the tickets were only around £60. Skynyrd are my favourite band and have been for quite some time, it’d be wrong not to go see their show. It was pretty damn good, Simple Man, Free Bird and That Smell were better live than I imagined, even though the band members aren’t the originals from back in the day. It’ll be a day I’ll tell my grandkids about when I’m playing Sweet Home Alabama at the family barbecue in 50 years time I’m sure.
Spring break was a great time too, with many of the USC students making the yearly pilgrimage to Florida to Miami, Fort Lauderdale and New Orleans. The international exchange student community at USC is rather well connected on Whatsapp, so if you plan to come to USC and need people to travel with you will always have people who want to come join you and group trips. My spring break was a little different as I instead went to Texas to see my friend and former Richmond student, Allison. It was a busy trip, we went to Dallas and Houston. Texas sure is a world different to South Carolina, it was sure great. We went to the rodeo, went sightseeing in Dallas, had some of the best brisket I’ve had in my life and went to Buc-ee’s. For those who don’t know, Buc-ee’s is the largest gas station in the US with the store having almost anything you can imagine, they have barbecue prepared right in front of you, a wall of different flavours of beef jerky, clothes, toys, whole grill setup’s, fishing equipment, you name it, it’s there. Be sure to have their beaver nuggets, they’re the best.
Well I’m sure sad to say goodbye to Columbia, but I’ll be back in 2026, thanks for the memories and good times with friends, for now I’m enjoying some well deserved rest in the Upstate region before I go home. For the last time in SC, goodbye for now.
