First day of fall and a weekend away

This weekend has been full of firsts...

Sunday was officially the first day of fall. The weather here is beginning to cool off a little and the days are slowly getting shorter. On Saturday it was grey and rainy and for the first time in weeks if you squinted a bit at the very american-looking houses and ignored the accent of everyone around you it felt quite a lot like England. Usually I can't stand rain and overcast days but this time it just felt comfortingly familiar. 

We spent the weekend with our friend Paige at her home in Greenville, about an hour or so away from usc, so it was also our first time there. Greenville is a really pretty town with a downtown area full of restaurants, shops and a beautiful waterfall. It was very different to Columbia because the town centre was really compact and bustling, whereas here everything is much more spread out.

Another first was seeing Hallowe'en decorations out on someone's house even though its not even October yet! Hallowe'en things have been in shops here for a while now and I think in general the lead up to it and the night itself are much bigger here than at home. Still, I think the people we saw were just super keen, although we have been told that as soon as hallowe'en is over, as in the very next day, Christmas stuff goes up so maybe that's just how it is here!

I think the weirdest first of the weekend was the food we tried for sunday lunch - alligator! We went for food at an amazing Cajun restaurant and shared some 'gator bites' at the start...so good! They were kind of like calamari. Food ended up being a major theme of the weekend involving chickfila, multiple cookies, a delicious home cooked shepherds pie, bagels and toaster strudels which was effectively apple pie with icing for breakfast, why not.

I also felt that for the first time we really got to see what the surrounding area was like as we didnt spend the whole time on the motorways which was so interesting. We drove through alot of countryside and I realised how beautiful South Carolina is! Lots of rolling hills and open grass fields with little woods and pretty wooden cottages dotted around, all of them with porches and swinging chairs. It looked like something out of a film and was such a nice change to the built up area around Columbia. 

We also visited a World food shop which was pretty fun as it had shelves of European food, including marmite, chocolate fingers, bisto gravy granules and a packet mix for scones! However it unfortunately lacked real dairy milk which was a bit of a disappointment. And my quest to find a bottle of squash in this country continues, I have no idea how that isn't a thing here? Seems like everyone just drinks juice or Gatorade but right now I would kill for some robinsons apple and blackcurrant!

All in all it was such a lovely weekend, mainly because we were lucky enough to stay with Paige's family, including an array of legendary pets which made it feel really homely and a proper break from campus and uni work. The only downside being that I now have a mountain of reading to crack on with so I will leave it there with this post!

xxxxx