Catgirl

Hi everyone,

My husband got a job with a company he's been wanting to work with for a long time. The position is located in Charleston. We're currently in London, have applied for our visas in May (USC husband, the kids and me are British) so we're waiting...
We've visited US several times but never Charleston. We're excited about the big move, minus the 14 year old daughter who is doing everything and anything to make me feel guilty. Any advice on how to cope with a teenager or just describing life in Charleston would be greatly appreciated.

lisa67

Hi Catgirl

sorry but I have never been to Charleston, however it is on my "place I must visit" because I've heard from other friends how beautiful it is.
We moved over here when my kids were small, but we recently moved states with my 13 yr. old son and 11 yr. old daughter.
Ofcourse my 13 yr. old thinks we've ruined his life (!!) but we've tried to explain that we feel the move is the best for the family as a whole and that he will eventually realise that.
Both of my kids travel back to the UK to visit regularly. School life here is very different but there are plenty of activities to get involved in to keep them occupied. If your daughter plays a band instrument then she'll probably enjoy being part of her high school band.
Feel free to pm me if you have specific questions about high school/school in general. Make sure she has the right vaccinations up to date (especially Hep. B) as they will refuse to let her into school if you don't !

RJHayes000

I just wrote a small novel detailing life in Charleston, SC but the stupid bloody thing wiped it all out when I tried the spellcheck. If you have specific questions let me know, as rght now I am busy shouting obscenites at the screen.

cindyabs

Charleston is nice, historic and rated one of the Top Ten Places in the US to Visit by Conde Nast.

RJHayes000

Here's a bit of stuff I remember from last time ....

I've been in Charleston, SC for five years now. I married a USC and came over on a Fiance visa. We made our home in her hometown of Charleston because she didn't like the food or the weather in England.

1)Charleston is a "deep South" state, which means it is full of Confederate flags, Bush Republicans, and what could be called a "slave mentality". South Carolina is a "right to work" state, which means companies have all the rights and can treat you like sh*t. There are few, if any, unions for workers - that's commie talk down here. For example, a local cinema here pays its ushers $6 per hour and tells them to go home if business is slow. And they do.
2)South Carolina ranks consistently 49/50 in terms of educational systems in the US. There is even a joke-- "Thank God for Mississippi" as they say in SC (in the years that SC is 49th instead of 50th). I was a teacher for 10 years in England and did some tutoring when I first moved over here. I would recommend finding a school in the Summerville area (Dorchester District 2) or Berkeley County instead of Charleston County.
3)North Charleston is ranked #2 in terms of violent cities. Personally I've never felt threatened walking around. It's like most places, you wouldn't walk down certain streets unless you're stupid or planning to buy drugs. The city of Charleston may be more violent than statistics show, as the mayor of that city, Mayor Riley, does not include rapes or murders in his violent crime statistics.
4)Southern Charm-- People will be perfectly polite and nice to you, but will never accept you unless you can trace your lineage back to Stonewall Jackson - whoever the h*ll he is. So do not expect to be invited round to coffee. That said, you can always mix with the "Durn Yankees" who are also ostracized because they were born north of the Mason-Dixon line.
5)Mosquitoes and incredibly hot/humid weather--coming from England I had no tolerance for mosquitoes and looked like Rocky Balboa after 10 rounds with Apollo Creed with all of the swelling. Humid/hot (85+ degrees F) for around 9 months of the year. No snow. Have not needed bed covers the entire time I've been here.

All of that sounds terribly bad, but there are some things that are positive about Charleston- lest you start throwing things out of your suitcase.

1)It's a big city within South Carolina. There are lots of sporting events, concerts, and festivals held here. Elton John came here last year and in August Bruce Springsteen will have a concert. So at least you won't be living in "Hillbilly Nowhere".
2)It's quite a young city with lots of students and universities (medical field and law is quite popular).
3)There's a British club, although I've never been there myself, and some British pubs. There's also 2 good Indian restaurants if you like that sort of thing.
4)It's a growing city and it has a sense of history (being over 300 years old). There is a lot of development here and we've recently got an overpriced outlet mall.
5)As my wife would say - "It's not *****ing Arkansas". So there is that.

If you have any specific questions, post them and I'll try to get back to you.

Manc

a pack of fags are pretty cheap.

RJHayes000

Yep, cheapest cigarette tax in the nation. I think it's 37 cents or something. Good job we have all those hospitals.

Catgirl

Thank you RJHayes for the detailed description a few more transplants won't hurt the nation I'm sure.
I wanted to ask about my 14 year old. She's just finished Year 9 with a 7B in English and 7A in Maths. What is that equivalent to in the states and will she have to repeat Year 9 because of her age, she turns 15 in February. We are looking to buy in Mount Pleasant, meaning she will attend Wando High School. Is Wando in the recommended list? Also, a question about our youngest who turned 10 in May and just finished her Year 5. Will she be too young compared to the kids in the same year, is it a better idea that she stays in Grade 5 for the next school year?
Sorry for all the questions, just really worried about the kids having to start a new school.
Thank you.

scbrit

Hi Catgirl
I spent 12 years in Conway about 90 miles north of Charleston, and visited the city alot, its a beautiful city, close to beaches, history, good shops, one of my favourite places to go visit (obviously there are negatives too like everywhere). Mount Pleasant seems to keep growing, seems like a nice area, I don't know about the schools but these websites might help www.greatschools.net/ http://www.publicschoolreview.com/ I'm sure any move is traumatic to a teenager, (if they are not used to moving around), hopefully they'll fall in love with the beach, and after the first crush on someone it'll be easy !!. What kind of things are they interested in? We moved back to the UK in Feb 07 but are now planning our move back, I really enjoyed living in SC, friendly people, I loved the hot humid weather, got use to the bugs! nice pace of life.. Good Luck..

robin1234

I've visited Charleston once, for a conference so my view is obviously superficial.. but (from my relatively limited experience) it is by far the most interesting & historical city in the US. There are art galleries, museums, many superbly-maintained 18th & early 19th century houses to visit. There is a very interesting 18th century synagogue, still with an active congregation. Several absolutely superb very old chuches & interesting graveyards.

I agree about the slavery mentality & "Daughters of the American Revolution" -type mentality which is obviously very common here among middle-class white people. A couple of normal-looking people I talked to in the heritage-interpretation field told me with a straight face that the slaves in Charleston were very well looked after, in fact the slave owners treated them like their own children & the worst thing that happened to the slaves was emancipation.

As you would expect in this type of city there are plenty of really excellent restaurants as well as some mediocre touristy ones. For instance, I went to a brew-pub that was well reviewed. The beer was absolutely awful (I tried their taster, small glasses of 8 different brews. Not one of them was drinkable.) The food was mediocre too.

RJHayes000

Wando, from what I recall is pretty good.

I'm afraid there is no easy answer for what year your child should go into when she gets there - it is something you will probably have to discuss with the school itself. Obviously, she will be further ahead in some areas (most likely Maths, French) but not in others (American history, probably Art) for example. You might want to try and talk to the school district to see what, if anything they think or can do to make the transition easier.

Wando has about 2000 kids who come mainly from affluent families. There is a lot of peer pressure (apparently) going on with the kids there but a lot of the other stuff I have heard about it is hearesay, so I probably shouldn't go into that.

cov-canuck

My parents emigrated to Charleston about 6 years ago. They live in North Charleston, right off Dorchester road. One of the biggest things that they have noticed, and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned, is that Charleston is one of the biggest divides between the haves and have-nots.

My parents place is a big house on a golf course, but immediately behind their back fence and 50ft of trees are low-income housing. Their area is gated and very safe, around the corner there are burglaries, assaults and murders on a daily basis.

We just got back from a 2 week vacation there, and came to the conclusion that given the opportunity (which we were), we're glad we decided NOT to settle there....lots of reasons, but we prefer where we are in Ontario to where we were in England, and prefer it to SC as well (we're a family of immigrants - 3 different countries!)

Catgirl

London is pretty much the same. There are multi-million houses in Hampstead next to the council homes but I don't think there are murders on a daily bases up there. However, all we hear on the radio, driving on the way to school each morning is another teenage stabbing
We're hoping to buy a house in Mount Pleasant so hopefully we'll be a bit further from the assaults and murders.