North Carolina

A chill week in North Carolina has come to an end. I wanted to do all the really “American” things so it was filled with stores and fast food places, but some southern things as well. A big thank you to Morgan and her family for having me!

I stayed with my friend Morgan in Winston-Salem and since she is a college student, I had the chance to have a look around Salem College as soon as I arrived. I walked around the college campus while she was in class and then we went on to Two-Step Tuesday. I thought two-step would be like line dancing, but it was indeed not. Actually it has more in common with swing dancing.

We went grocery shopping the next day, starting with Lido (to make me feel more at home), moving up to Walmart and Target. The true sights to see in the US. I think Walmart amazed me the most, because you can really buy anything you can think of there. Need food? Go to Walmart. Need a vacuum cleaner? Go to Walmart. Need clothes? Go to Walmart. Need a gun? Go to Walmart.

I feel like out of the places I’ve been and am going to, North Carolina looks the most like Estonia. Although the weather has been mostly nice which is not common in Estonia. The culture, however, is quite different.

For example in Chick-Fil-A, there were police officers at the table next to us. I didn’t realize they were police at first, since they were not in uniform, however I definitely noticed their guns. Now, I feel pretty comfortable with guns since I have been taught how to use them, but I am not used to eating next to them, so that made me a little nervous. I would also like to note the lack of cowboy hats in the streets. I was told it’s because of winter.

I also met up with my friend Holly, who I hadn’t seen in four or five years. It was so much fun catching up and I loved the more serious conversations we had about politics. We got dinner from Bojangles, which is famous for chicken and biscuits. Now I have to say – biscuits are not cookies! We had a good laugh about that one since I knew they had chicken and waffles and didn’t think it was that much of a stretch. Biscuits, however, are salty, round, and soft pastries. Nothing like cookies.

Winston-Salem itself gave me kind of an artsy vibe, mostly because of all the red brick buildings. I especially loved Design Archives, a vintage store with local handcraft. There were modern art installations and parks scattered about, but also more historical buildings. It is a fairly old city by American standards and it was interesting to see the differences between old and new.

Friday night we went to a hockey game – North Carolina Thunderbirds vs Delaware Thunder. I really enjoyed it, even though it was a little chilly. I’ve never been much for sports so I haven’t been to any games before, but I was surprised by how enthralling it was. The game rarely stops and the players move with impressive speed.

I tend to be a pacifist, so the violence made me wince at first, but I got used to it. The first time someone got put into the penalty box the crowd booed and I said to Morgan, “Why are they booing? That guy looks like he really got hurt.” I mean, their head was bleeding!

There was a guy sitting behind us with a thick southern accent, giving commentary on everything happening in the game. I also got to witness a military homecoming, where a man, who had been stationed in Eastern Europe, was reunited with his family. It was very cute. And they were throwing free T-shirts into the crowd so I got one!

Saturday happened to be the one day that was raining and that was of course the day we had decided to go hiking in the mountains. We didn’t end up going hiking, but we did drive up to Boone and walked around in the rain. We had talked about culture shock and I think it finally hit when we went into a western wear shop. You see, cowboy boots and hats etc are not a part of European culture and there were so. many. cowboy boots. What amazed me even more was that people were shopping there in all seriousness.

We had a bite to eat, Savannah showed us around for a bit and we saw some really cute shops. There was a lot of emphasis on buying local goods, which I thought was really cool. We also walked around the college campus and almost got lost. Never underestimate small towns.

Sunday we went to Old Salem on a museum tour that turned out to be very interesting. They don’t teach us that much about American history so it was fascinating to learn about the cultural differences in the same time period. It’s mind-blowing to compare how short American history is compared to Europe and I also felt that in Arizona.

We went by a gunsmith’s workshop, where a man was actually making these kinds of rifles. He does commission work so we could see the different stages of building them. I also held one and it was almost as tall as me and when I asked about it, he said there are several theories but no good answers for why the barrel is so long.

We also went by a tavern, a joinery and a bakery. The man in the joinery was in the process of making a violin and a banjo that we could try. I also got to use one of the machines for shaving(?) wood off bedposts. You know, to make the nice patterns.

We also visited the spot where the first official 4th of July celebration reportedly took place in 1783 with George Washington in attendance. It’s in the park right in front of Salem College, which Morgan gave me a short tour and history lesson on.

We went by Krispy Kreme, where the red sign indicates that they have hot and ready donuts. You can watch the process of the donuts being made, cooked and glazed and eat them fresh (delicious!). Morgan said I should also get the Krispy Kreme hat so I did.

There are some things North Carolina and Winston-Salem are known for. One of them is Krispy Kreme, but they also have Pepsi and Camel cigarettes. An intriguing south-specific fast food place is Waffle House, that I didn’t end up going to, but heard a lot of interesting stories about. I also had a corn dog from Sonic! Lots of firsts and fun memories to take with me from North Carolina.