Charleston

Our weekend to Charleston began with an uneventful greyhound journey followed by a ride in taxi driven by an extreme Anglophile. He’d learnt what ‘shag’ meant from his english ‘online lady friend’, he let us know that if any of our mothers were single then he’d be on the next plane over, and he finished his confession of love to blighty by saying that he would be willing to do just about anything if it meant he got to listen to an english accent. As you can imagine, we all remained quite silent for the rest of the journey.

Having arrived late to the hostel the next task was getting into bed. Not as easy as it sounds when bed means an unmade top bunk in a dark room with two already sleeping strangers in it, one of which is sleeping below you. Needless to say I lost the fight with the fitted sheet but was so tired by this point that I think I would have been able to get to sleep anywhere!

We awoke to a breakfast of bagels, nutella, jam, cream cheese, tea and coffee. What more do you really want in life? After taking full advantage of this, we headed into town where we then spent the following two days wandering around the colourful streets and alleyways of Charleston.

If you go to Charleston and you’re there at the weekend, don’t miss out on the famers market at Marion Square. Endless stalls of food, drink and gifts line the edges of the large park, bordered on one side by the old citadel and home to a massive statue of everyone’s favourite defender of slavery, John C. Calhoun.

We wandered down King Street until we reached the City Market. This was quite touristy but had the odd stall selling nice things, and the building itself is definitely worth seeing. Also they really go all out on free tasters here, something we all took full advantage of in the fudge shop. I also discovered pecan pralines which I think might be my downfall this year, or maybe even in life as they truly are my favourite thing ever. There’s a nut in there, I can count that as healthy.

Ever since we got off the bus we had all been sounding extremely OAP-esque and exclaiming about how we could smell the ‘sea air’, but it really was so nice to see the sea. I think being here is probably the longest I’ve gone in my life without going to the beach so walking down to the front and out along the pier was pretty good. Oh and the fact we saw a dolphin! I think if people hadn’t realised we were British by that point then the hysterical shouts of BLOODY HELL IT’S A DOLPHIN may have given us away.

Further south is the Battery, a park bordered by massive cannons and more statues of confederate soldiers. There was also a particularly good wedding going on; not only was their vehicle of choice a real life Cinderella carriage (which didn’t look tacky at all surrounded by the prettiness of Charleston) but they also appeared to have a dog as the best man.

We saw a lot of beautiful views over the weekend, peered into some of the nicest houses I’ve ever seen, and ate some amazing food (although I think I may soon turn into a shrimp) BUT the highlight of my weekend happened in an unassuming starbucks as I waited for my drink.

Apparently Flo, Frankie and Joey are not common names round these parts and the server asked us if we were from ‘out of town’. I said we were English and he asked whereabouts in England we were from. Usually this is the point in the conversation where I lie and say London. Back at Warwick half the people I know seem to think Norwich is up north somewhere so as you can imagine, I haven’t had much luck over here. However fate must have been watching over me as I decided to say Norwich. Turns out the starbucks man’s dad was from Wroxham. I left starbucks in a state of shock about just what a small world it is. He knew what Roys was! What a guy.

Nearly everyone you talk to here seems to have some connection to England; a daughter studying at university, an old boyfriend, grandchildren and cousins. In Charleston we found ourselves wandering through the overgrown graveyard of the Unitarian Church. The doorkeeper was locking up but showed us inside the church and told us about its history. As a Unitarian church, they accept people of all religions, races and sexualities, which he said wasn’t exactly popular in a place like Charleston. He told us how he’d spent a few years at an RAF base near Chelmsford, and even joked that Helly’s mum might have been one of the girls who visited the night club there. They really go in for the mum jokes over here.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that Americans seem to think that the British are still hung up about the revolution. As far as I’m aware, most people don’t even really know what it was all about. I’m an American History student and I don’t really know what it was all about. People are definitely not still associating it with how we view America, but I think it’s assumed that we all have a rather large chip on our shoulders about losing to the US back in the day. When we went to the Old Exchange, the last government building to be built by the english in the states, the other people on the tour genuinely wanted to let us know that they hoped we had no hard feelings. So strange.

Sunday consisted of the best lunch ever, Huevos Rancheros followed by french toast made with a cinnamon roll, followed by a stroll through the College of Charleston campus which really was something else; it’s English department definitely put the warwick humanities building to shame. It was also the setting for some of Dear John, so combined with seeing the theatre out of the Notebook we had a very Nicholas Sparky weekend.

We headed back to the hostel via the biggest and most dramatic (old railway station, massive chandeliers and a balcony) Urban Outfitters I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting, and stopped off for a quick dinner at an Asian street-food place with free fro-yo tasters for dessert. I really do think I could successfully live off free tasters here.

One weekend in Charleston wasn't really long enough so hopefully we can visit again soon. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a place to eat well, shop to your hearts delight, look round some beautiful houses or just hit the beach.