The South Carolina State Flag
I arrived into Columbia, SC shortly before 9pm on the Friday night and in a confused and tired state I was driven to Becca’s house on the other side of town. Quickly I was reunited with the sound of country side America. The humming of the interstate somewhere near by, a horn from a passing goods train and very very loud cicadas. Columbia is a busy, student friendly town with a very large and old campus, but more of that later.
After a quick freshen up it was off on part two of the “adjust to US time” plan, stay up late. This was accomplished by going off to an ale bar called SpeakEasy with Becca and one of her friends. Columbia has a fair few bars as you would expect from any University town and the one we went into was a particularly good one. If you live or have been to Leeds, it’s the equivalent of a bigger North Bar, dark(ish), with music and a wide selection of drinks from around the world. Having been treated to a warm reception I offered to get the drinks in and the girls gave me carte blanche from the English beer shelf. Of course being in a foreign land I asked the bar man the question that they either love or hate. “what’s the best local beer you have on tap?” I’ve confused many a Canadian, English and Irish bar person with that one but the guys here were up to the task and a lovely dark ale which I can’t remember the name of was mine for quite a reasonable price! We discussed the plan for the weekend, we were going to try to get me a ticket for the Columbia Gamecocks (no sniggering at the back children) who are the University of South Carolina’s College Football Team (this is American football, played with you hands by the way) Now, ticket touting is illegal in the UK and apparently it is in the USA as well but it is so common that it might as well not be. We thought it would be worth giving it a go. I got to bed well over 24 hours after my journey that day had begun; I felt I had earned my sleep that night.
The next morning we set out early for a bike ride to the university, Becca had hired me out a bike from the University, a rather long framed Specialized Rockhopper. This took a little getting used to after 1000 miles on my rather compact Hardrock back home. One thing that separates Columbia from a lot of the North American towns I have been to is that it is quite hilly. Places like New York, Boston, Ottawa (away from the river at least) and Toronto are for the most part bowling green flat. So we made our way, down, then up to the campus and joined the queue for the shuttle buses. To cut a long story short I couldn’t get a ticket for the game, a big rivalry exists between Columbia and Georgia and tickets were passing for twice face value at one point.
The Gamecocks' Stadium
College football is really peculiar. It’s got some of the largest stadiums in the USA. Columbia’s is the 23rd largest at a staggering 80,250 capacity, to put that into perspective the capacity of the largest stadium in the UK, Wembley is 90,000 and the largest league ground in the UK is Manchester United’s Old Trafford at just shy of 76,000. Coming from a country of singing sports fans the din of a college football match is quite deafening. It’s not particularly coherent but it does wrap you up in what’s going on in the stadium. There is a lot of money in College football and interestingly it is not for the players, this means they play harder and with more passion to try break the big time when they graduate. This I approve of greatly.
One of the other aspects of American Football, at least in the southern states, that I had never experienced before but really enjoyed was tailgating. There are two different kinds of tailgaters, those who get smashed before the match then go into the stadium and the families who drive across the state with their neighbourhood, set up camp in the car parks, unpack the TVs and the radios, have a BBQ and watch the game with the crowd noise in the background. Part of me thinks I would prefer this to actually going to the game.
Columbia's Government House
We headed back from the stadium and decided to go explore the town and the university and catch up properly. The city is one of the older ones in the USA and was one of the homes of the Confederacy in the US civil war. While the game was on was probably the perfect time to explore. Columbia was practically deserted with well over 100,000 in the local area of the stadium and most of the rest of the town in bars watching. Little of the 18th and early 19th Century Columbia remains after Union troops burnt most of the city to the ground during the American Civil War. The 20th century brought mills, textiles and the railways to the city. Interestingly the textiles will have arrived for many of the same reasons as it did to Leeds and Manchester back here in the UK thanks to the moisture heavy climate (except in Columbia it’s humidity rather than rain and fog). Most of the inner city quarter has been re-developed in the last decade or so with shiny new towerblocks. The government building remains from the mid 19th century and is surrounded by statues from wars and struggles over the last 200 years. Poignantly today was September 11th, 2010. Exactly 9 years after the horrific attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. A time for reflection of what has been and those who have gone.
Bike Ride Time!
Day 3 in Columbia was Sunday and it was a gorgeous morning. Clear blue skies and by Columbia standards it was nice and fresh. Time for a bike ride! Cycling the roads of North America can be pretty daunting for a UK cyclist with traffic coming from the other direction, traffic allowed to turn right on red lights (equivalent of them turning left in the UK) and most irritatingly stop signs everywhere! However there seems to be a good network of cycle paths in Columbia to help you get around and we headed down to the riverside boardwalk through the woods. By this time I had gotten used to the bigger bike and enjoyed bombing around the paved woodland paths. Becca, being the local led the way with me trailing behind but on the way back I got into a bit of a touring mode and stretched my legs out. The scenery was stunning, the temperature was hot but easily bearable and I could feel the grogginess of traveling seeping away with the heat!
I paid a visit to Becca’s church, I have never been a huge fan of formal church services but I must admit I enjoyed the service at the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia. It was just the right mix of formality and modern thinking. South Carolina is part of the Bible Belt of America which often comes with its own stereotypes but it was very exciting to be part of such a passionate and American congregation.
The Horseshoe on campus
The afternoon brought a tour around the campus at USC. The university was founded in 1801 and covers over 350 acres. It is huge and grand with a park/green space in the centre called the Horseshoe. Many of the buildings survived the fire during the civil war and are complimented by rapid expansion in the 20th Century. Added to this is a state of the art sports centre and as is the way with many campuses across the western world money is being spent to enable them to compete with the best. Best of all, despite being home to 27,500 students it is still easy enough to find peace and quiet in it’s grounds. We then stopped by the Bookstore and shop and the picture below is genuine, no photoshopping involved, this is what people wear out in Columbia! I cooked for my two hosts that night and we went off to a little bar/cafe in town for a fantastic dessert with sangria. South Carolina is known for it’s peaches (trust me, they are fantastic) and white wine sangria replaces oranges with peaches. Very tasty!
I kid you not...
Monday morning came all too quickly and I was on the 9.30am flight back to Charlotte. Little did I know it was a Dash 8 turbo prop and my head was about 30cm and an aircraft fuselage away from five spinning blades. It truly was a flying washing machine and I was not exactly comfortable!
I was quite sad to leave Columbia, I had a fantastic time and was just what I needed after a non-stop few months at work. I would like to go back and make it to a Gamecocks game at some point and explore more of the Carolinas. Charlotte looks like a great place to go and explore and Charleston has a lot of history through dance and an unique cultural mix. I have no idea where my travels will take me next but I’ve certainly had my interest sparked.
I must say a big thank you to Ann Louise for letting me move in and cause havoc for the weekend and of course to Becca for fitting me into her schedule, for taking the time to make me feel welcome and showing me around the city it was a truly wonderful weekend!
YAY! (and smirk for the “cocks” shirt