‘Now, say you're a bird.’ ‘If you're a bird, I'm a bird’.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a huge Nicholas Sparks fan. I get super soppy over any kind of romance so The Notebook and Dear John go down as two of my favourite films. Any film with Rachel McAdams or Amanda Seyfried in it has got to be good; girls want to be them, guys want to date them. And don’t get me started on the god that is Channing Tatum! Apart from the fact that I love a good chick flick, these films have a slight downside because they have forever skewed my vision on what the perfect man should be like, giving myself and every other girl unrealistic hopes since 2004. I am led to believe that true love will probably start at first sight, almost certainly in the middle of summer at the beach or a fair or even a book store. This man will know I’m ‘the one’ and will go to every effort to get to know me and pursue me persistently. There will always be a romantic soundtrack playing in the background at every important moment in our relationship and at some point I will be kissed in the rain, danced with in the middle of the street and written 365 letters. High expectations? Nah!

The fairy tales that Nicholas Sparks and Disney have provided for every girl searching for her Prince Charming have left me wondering where my Ryan Gosling is? Perhaps he’s still building the house of my dreams fitted with blue shutters and a veranda that surrounds the outside…. When I first found out that I would be studying at The University of South Carolina last December I was very quick to discover that a majority of Nicholas Sparks’ films were set in South Carolina, and ever since I have been longing to visit Charleston. Charleston is a city on the east coast, about an hour and a half drive away from Columbia, full to the brim with history, both charming and beautiful. This weekend I finally got round to taking a road trip to the coast, and I was not disappointed!

Despite a slight hiccup with transport issues and not getting much sleep in the hostel, my weekend consisted of exploring the city, visiting museums, eating way too much food, going on a ghost tour, and even tanning on the beach! The weather was perfect; blue skies and glorious sunshine. The beaches that appear in the film Dear John are all filmed around Charleston; John (Channing Tatum) and Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) first meet on the Isle of Palms fishing pier, and Folly Beach and Sullivans Island are also used for various beach scenes. I was in my element! Not to mention the fact that the main street in Charleston, Kings Street, is where Noah and Allie in The Notebook lie watching the traffic lights change colour, but it’s also where the historic American Theatre is located where Allie and Noah watch a film, and where The William Aiken House is situated which was used for the wedding dress fitting scene.

I will definitely be taking a trip back to Charleston soon as there were so many places I wanted to visit but didn’t have time, including the old plantation houses and the slave market. Charleston is full of rich American History, apparently around one third of African American slaves came through Charleston, SC, during the slave trade and original slave houses still stand at Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant (which is the plantation used in The Notebook as Allie’s house). My year abroad so far is proving to be very insightful, opening my eyes to many different perspectives. Now all I need is to open my eyes to a Channing Tatum look alike and everything will be perfect!