It's a small world...

Living in Ashton is interesting because my American accent gets a lot of attention.  Ashton isn’t the popular tourist destination for those travelling from the United States.  So when I have travelled this year, I get really excited to hear American accents.  I immediately want to know where they’re from and why they’re here.  I realize quickly, when I’m in larger cities, it’s really common to hear American accents.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to travel to Edinburgh with Helen, her sister Susan, and their ‘mum’ June.  It was an amazing day with beautiful weather, lots of kilts, and more American accents than Scottish ones.  Helen and I went to see Edinburgh castle when we first arrived and after about five minutes of our tour, I realized that the majority of the group was American.  It sort of took away from me being so excited. 

That was, until I saw a man wearing a Citadel shirt.  The Citadel is the military university in South Carolina, located in Charleston.  I walked past not sure if that’s what his shirt said, but decided to turn around, go back, and ask.  He had graduated from the Citadel and was from South Carolina.

“Oh, cool, I’m from Greenville,” I said.
“Well I’m from Spartanburg, and he’s from Fountain Inn,” a lady added.
“I’m from Greer,” said the other lady.
“Really?!  I’m from Greer!”  I responded excitedly.
“Well, why did you say Greenville then?”  She joked back.

We talked for a bit when I asked them what they were doing here.  They had been travelling all over Great Britain for the past two weeks and were towards the end of their trip.  I told them I had graduated from Clemson in May and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I had applied to a program that placed me in England for a year of service.

“I’m working in a church as a youth worker in a town in between Manchester and Liverpool.”
“Oh, that’s really great!”

Not the response I was used to getting from people over here in England when I’ve told them what I’m doing, but I could write an entirely separate blog post about that.

I then turned to the lady from Greer and told her I had graduated from Riverside.

“Was there a teacher there named Mrs. Mayberry?”
“Yes!  I had her as a teacher and she is really good friends with my mom.”
“Well my mother taught her at Greer and was one of the reasons Mrs. Mayberry became a teacher.”
“I graduated from Clemson in Secondary Education Math in large part because of Mrs. Mayberry.”
“Well isn’t that just so funny!”

Could the world be any smaller?!  I was just blown away that I met people from South Carolina, let alone from my hometown.  This encounter truly made a great day even better.  The only downside was when Helen commented on how she thinks my southern accent has faded compared to the group we met, but don’t worry, I’ll get that fixed in a few months.