I’m Camille from Columbia, SC and camilleyanair.blogspot.com and I’m here to try to convince you I’m not a hick! J I’ve lived in Columbia my whole life, and now I live here with my New Jersey transplant boyfriend (once you come here, you never wanna leave J) and our crazy dog Lola!
When most people hear of Columbia, SC (if they’ve ever heard of it), they think of backwards, slow speaking, hicks who eat fried chicken for every meal. I’m not gonna lie, our fried chicken is TO DIE FOR.
** (especially at Zesto’s, where they cook the chicken and fries in peanut oil!)
My friends from “up north” say my voice sounds like a banjo, but that’s where the stereotypes end. Columbia is about an hour from the beach, and an hour from the mountains, making it the perfect place to live if you love road trips. You can go hiking or surfing, any weekend, as long as you don’t mind a little drive.
Another great thing about Columbia is all the history that surrounds it. Separating Columbia from the western side of the state are a couple of rivers, which are now used to go tubing down during the incredibly hot summers.
However, during the Civil War, these rivers are what separated Sherman and his northern troops from the heart of Columbia and it’s State House(which they were trying to take over/burn down ). To keep the State House from being destroyed, the Southern troops built protective walls out of the trunks of Palmetto trees (which cannon balls bounced off of). That’s why we’re the “Palmetto State” and why you see Palmetto trees all over everything.
Another awesome thing about Columbia is our size, it’s supposedly a “city” but it’s the smallest city I’ve ever seen. You know someone everywhere you go, it appears waaay bigger than it is. The bridge pictured here is the one going over the river where a big part of the civil war was fought, see the State House dome in the distance? (fun fact: my Dad helped build the two tallest buildings on the skyline)
My absolute favorite thing about Columbia (and something that you’ll never know unless you visit a game or live here) is how football and fashion go hand in hand. Football in the South is right up there with religion, it’s a BIG deal. Every Saturday in the Fall, 85,000 people can be found at Williams-Brice Stadium, watching the USC Gamecocks play football. (To put this in perspective-Columbia’s population is 116,000)
The thing that makes these games so fun is the dresses. It’s a tradition for girls to wear a dress to the game, either garnet or black, no matter what the weather. (It was 29 degrees at the game this weekend, and all the girls wore dresses anyway). I design dresses out of recycled materials and below is a dress from a show I did that would be perfect for a gameday in 100 degree games in September.
Oh, and Danielle, this if for you!
I know Columbia is a lot different from a lot of the places featured on “A Slice Of…” but I appreciate Danielle letting me show a place that’s quite different. Ya’ll please lemme know if you wanna come visit!
Peace, Love, & Grits
Camille
No comments:
Post a Comment