New to Catawba, (Rock Hill) SC Area (Anderson, Fort Mill: relocate, job)

[sweetcheeks83]

Moving from NJ to Catawba, SC Any info? (I think I initially posted this in the wrong forum, so if it looks familiar, I just relisted in the correct York Cty forum...thanks)
Hi Y'all! My family and I are about to make the big move to Catawba,(my husband was relocated to Charlotte) and have some questions. First, I was told by my realtor, that the area we bought our house in, new Ashland Oaks development off So Anderson Road, is considered Rock Hill, that's still confusing to me as our mailing address is Catawba....so do I live in Rock Hill or Catawba?
Also, I have two young adult boys, one (soon to be 18 yrs) was just accepted into the Honors Program at University of South Carolina Upstate (yay!) so any inside info about the school or campus would be greatly appreciated! My older son, (22yrs) is graduating from a fine engineering college here in NJ with an architectural degree, so for him, he'll need to start a job search in that field.
Both are so excited about moving down to that area, however they of course have reservations about leaving all their friends here. So another question I have is, what kind of social activities are there for kids their age to meet people? They have already ordered their Carowinds passes so i'm sure they'll spend most of their time there in the summer before school or work starts...They're two cute and nice boys if I must say so myself as a proud Mama,( 6 ft 2, eyes of blue...)hahahso of course they're hoping to meet some nice girls their ages...We're not big Church people, so I hope that doesn't curtail their socializing. It seems that is the only activity I've heard about.
My older son is a MAJOR NY Rangers hockey fan (so he'll prob be rooting for the Charlotte Checkers) and my younger son loves acting and movies, etc. He's been in all of his high school plays and his favorite Broadway play is Spring Awakening. We've seen it twice already, haha.
I'm a freelance illustrator and would perhaps like to check out returning to work in the advertising/media field but I'm not sure what opportunities there are for that either.
My husband has been living there already and working on the house and yard, while I sell our home here and await both boys graduations in May/June before we can join him.
He said the neighbors are all wonderful and friendly so I'm looking foward to being there already! I spent the month of January down there with him in Charlotte while we found the house and am so impressed with your hospitality and laid back approach to life rather than the (expensive) rat race we live in up here!
I also have a brother who just bought property in Cherryville, NC. He thinks I'm not going to be happy in SC for some reason. But I preferred SC to the original Gastonia area we looked at. We like the idea of having more property, less people haha and everything we need seems to be right up 77 at exit 79 or so (altho my husband has yet to find a liquor store, haha)
I really appreciate any insight on any of these questions you can give me. Thanks.

[groove1]

I don't know much about Catawba itself, whether it's Rock Hill, etc. The Checkers may or may not be affiliated with the NYR organization next season (though I hope they are). This is a great area for acting, even to break into films as an actor. I have already been in Talladega Nights and went to a casting call on Friday for extras. Leatherheads was also filmed mostly around here. The website for the casting company for the movie coming up is Home

[lovethecarolinas]

well hey there!

I was going to offer you some suggestions for your son that likes to act.

Fort Mill Community Playhouse:
The Fort Mill Community Playhouse
Clover Community Theater:
Clover Community Theatre - Clover, SC
Narroway Production:
NarroWay Productions
Pineville Dinner Theater:
The Pineville Dinner Theater
Rock Hill Community Theater:
Welcome to the home of great theatre: Rock Hill Community Theatre

...and lastly there's a theatrical troupe in Rock Hill that is always looking for volunteers. They are called Merry Pranksters which provides people with disabilities the opportunity to perform on stage:

Official Website of the City of Rock Hill, South Carolina (SC)

Hope that helps some.

[sweetcheeks83]

Thank you all for the acting info (we're going to save that for him to look into) and my other son and husband went to a Checkers game up in Charlotte in Jan and had the best time ever! (for only $10 a ticket yet!) They said it was so nice and 'personal' like a high school home game or something versus when they go to the Garden up here in NY (besides having to sit in nosebleed section and paying $75 a ticket!) and that's when you're lucky enough to even get a ticket, haha...He's really looking foward to going to more games or getting a season pass for them so hopefully they stay in town, ha..

[groove1]

I love the Checkers too..best thing to do is get a parial season flex pass when you can use the vouchers for most games. And I actually like that they play in a good arena. They will definitely stay in town, but I think there were problems this past year with the NYR organization, but that's somewhat long and requires some knowledge of minor league sports and how they operate. Also, go to North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Home and sign up for their email list. They often send out offers for 2 for 1 tickets. This is a good resource too:

CharlotteCultureGuide.com: Two for Twenty