South Carolina. One of the original 13 colonies. The first state to secede from the union when "the confederate states of America" was started. I have to admit, I've lived here my whole life, so I'm sort of biased. First of all, for a state the size of SC, it's not that populated. It's somewhere around 4,000,000 total. The largest city in terms of population is Columbia, with just over 100,000. It kind of irks me that that's not a lot of people. The "town" of Joliet, Illinois has like 113. I live in Bowman, a small town about 15 miles from Orangeburg, a county seat. That's where I spend most of my time when I'm not home, as there is nothing in Bowman, really. There are three dairies and a million chicken houses, but not much else. Orangeburg is where everything is...though it's not much more: one Wal-Mart, one Kmart, one 4 screen theater, two Bi-Lo's, one Reid's (Food Lion Franchisee), a Big Lots, and about 13 Fast Food joints, all of which have locations all over the world, so it's not special, and a mall with the smallest Sears, Belk and JCPenny’s in the world. It's designated as a city, but anyone else would definitely call it a town. The significance of Orangeburg is it's the county seat of Orangeburg County, which was named an All-America City last year. There are two universities (both historically black, one the oldest in the state, the other SC's 1890 land-grant college), Edisto memorial gardens (speaks for itself), and is in cahoots with Calhoun County. The two counties share a community college (Orangeburg-Calhoun Tech), a hospital (The Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties) and many other services that usually belong to one county by itself. I don't know how many people can say this, but I've been just about all over this state. I mostly take trips to Columbia or North Charleston (remember what I said about Orangeburg?), but on rare occasions I've been up to the Pee Dee, The Piedmont (I really thought I was going to die in Lancaster), The Low country, and The Midlands. I've been to Myrtle Beach, I've seen the foothills of the Appalachians, and I've seen the (older) Cooper River Bridge. When I was younger my family used to frequent Hilton Head Island, but not so much anymore. I've been on all the interstate highways that run through here (20,26, 95, 85, 77) and I'd have to say the one that runs from Spartanburg to Charleston is the most scenic, especially traveling from Bowman to Charleston. My mother says she prefers going south because you can tell by looking at the sky you're getting closer to the ocean (and the hills between us and Columbia are a ***** to drive). Most people already know that there are two NCAA I-AA schools in the state: The University of South Carolina and Clemson University (the 1860 land-grant school). But what people don't know is that having only two schools of this size in the entire state splits it right down the middle. There are no two ways about it: either your favorite color is garnet or orange. Gamecocks and Tigers line the flags in front of houses all over. All the girls love their "Carolina Girl" t-shirts with either garnet or orange letters. Except for the black girls, that is. They’re all about South Carolina State, Claflin, Benedict, Allen University, or any of the other HBCU’s that I can’t think of at the moment. Speaking of the girls, they’re so-so around here. However, I can only speak of where I live and Columbia and North Charleston, where I find myself in the malls occasionally. Some really catch your eye, but a good bit make you want to scratch them out. That’s all I really can say. No pro teams, unless you want to talk about the “Carolina” ones, who play up north. As I said before, I guess the cities are too small. But the Colonial Center in Columbia, the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston and the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville draw big name events. In the NCC I saw an episode of WWE Raw live (the one where Bischoff was fired for those in the know). As a pro wrestling fan, it’s a moment I’ll never forget. In Columbia I saw a Nickelback concert. My first concert, in fact. Awesome experience. Won’t forget that, either. All in all, I like it here. It ranks low in a few things where it matters, the Governor’s name is also that of a character in a Law and Order SVU episode who ran a black market baby ring, but it’s still a great place to live in my personal opinion. I just really wish I could get out of Bowman though…