Hey all, hope you have been keeping well! I’m about to share some of my experiences from the end of my first semester abroad in South Carolina. As the first semester entered it’s second half we had our Halloween celebrations in Columbia, the entire campus was in Halloween mode, decorations, students in costumes in class and all. We handed out candy to our neighbours on our hall and went out into the town for the night to celebrate.
In Columbia there are a few hubs for bars and restaurants for students, closest to where I stay is an area called Vista, I recommend going to Monterrey’s Mexican restaurant here, it has margaritas the size of your head and quesadillas for 3 dollars, and Jays bar and grill for your classic bar experience. Jays has a pool table, pong table, dance floor and different themed nights, such as Latin night, Country night and different DJs in for the weekend. The other side of Columbia has an area known as Five Points, which is home to Eddies calzones, which has a near cult following, and bars such as Breakers which has live music on occasion and serves bar food, all in a couple minutes’ walk from the Waffle House for when you call it a night and want some hashbrowns and bacon at 3am.
After Halloween came thanksgiving break and good God I had a great experience for my first thanksgiving. I went with my friend Brandon up to his hometown Gaffney to stay with him and his family for the break. We started off our break by getting some Bass fishing in, going to a party the next town over and then came thanksgiving itself. Brandon’s family had cooked up the thanksgiving classics, Turkey, Green bean casserole, mac and cheese and stuffing. Since its the south we also had a brisket the size of my torso.
From a British perspective, having mac and cheese with a roast dinner is not normal, but hell it was good. If you study abroad in the US having a thanksgiving dinner is a must.
After dinner concluded, we threw a football around until Brandon’s dad said we should go for a ride in his new car, I got the luxury of going out for a ride in a 2023 Chevrolet Corvette, it sure was a step up from my parents 2003 mini cooper back home! When we came back we saw that Brandon’s dad had fired up his helicopter and took us out for a ride above Gaffney, we got to see my friends houses, childhood school, churches and Gaffney’s landmark giant peach from the air. It was a pretty insane way to end the afternoon.
After our helicopter ride, Brandon took me to visit one of his childhood friends, Grayson. Grayson wanted to show me a more country experience for the end of thanksgiving, we went out to his land, had a fire and a few beers with some country music then we went to go see his friends who he called up to set up a surprise for me, instead of taking me back home I met some of his friends who upon meeting me came out and gave me a shotgun saying “Can’t get more American than this”. I let that thing off and it kicked like a mule, a crazy way to end my first southern thanksgiving.
After thanksgiving came the finals, the South Carolina derby game between the Gamecocks and Clemson university (we sadly lost) and heading back home for Christmas, I said goodbye to my friends and went back to see my family.
I couldn’t have had a better first semester, it was all I could have wanted, school was fun, met some amazing friends and my girlfriend Kate.
I actually got to go home for free, let me explain, if you receive student loan payments from student finance England, you can potentially claim back on your travel expenses through the SFE travel grant scheme, if you search for the SFE travel grant form you can claim back on airfare, visa costs, health insurance costs etc, they will pay in part for your expenses or in full depending on their assessment of your costs and background. It made this year away even more affordable for me, on top of the tuition reduction.
That’s all from me for now, I’ll let you know how I’m doing this semester soon!
Take care,
