NorCal to Nashville

I’m going to start this simply – everyone needs to go to Nashville. The fact that I was there to celebrate my 22nd birthday was merely a bonus, because the city is just amazing! Me and my bestie Maryska packed up and met in Tennessee to begin my birthday adventure.

We got there late on a Friday night and were immediately taken by the neon lights of Broadway. Nashville buzzes at nighttime and it’s just a massive party with alcohol, cowboy hats, and so much music. There’s a different artist on in every bar, which means walking up and down the streets feels like a lot having your iPod on shuffle as you switch from song to song. Once our eyes adjusted to the delightfully debauched strip, we found a place to eat and with a window seat so we could indulge in our people watching.

And so, I was woken up on Saturday morning to Maryska singing 22 (the Taylor Swift song) to me. She got me the coolest gift! We both dedicate at least an hour a week to watching the hilarious YouTube videos of MirandaSings. If you’ve never watched her stuff, then I strongly suggest you give her a quick Google. She always wears these red sweatpants that say ‘HATERS BACK OFF’ across the tush, and Maryska got me a pair! They’re my pride and joy.

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Mirfanda 4 lyf.

Then came yet another reason to love Nashville. Everyone likes a drink; so on the morning of my birthday, I enjoyed a lovely breakfast Bellini. I also tried grits for the first time ever, which is ground corn kernels that have been boiled with water or milk. No matter how much hot sauce you splash on it, it doesn’t taste any better. We then made our way to the principal reason for our visit to Nashville, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Now I’ve visited a lot of museums in both England and America, but none could top this one. We saw Taylor Swift’s guitar, Grammies won by Kenny Rogers, and outfits that had been worn by the female embodiment of God Herself – Dolly Parton. We also took part in all of the activities (which I think were meant for children), which entailed guessing correct song lyrics and recording ourselves singing in a studio. We’ve got the recording, it will never be publicized.

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I am never embarrassing in public situations.

Afterwards, we went to do a little cowgirl shopping in the hope of getting Maryska some authentic cowgirl boots. It turns out that they hike up the prices of boots in stores so they’re between $170 and $400! Nevertheless we tried on lots of Stetsons and laughed at one another until we realized how stupid we looked.

Nashville on a Saturday night is packed. If you’ve haven’t booked a table somewhere, you’ve got at the very least an hour wait until you can get one. We found a really nice restaurant called The Southern Steak & Oyster, where I spent a horrific amount of money on steak, oysters, and a bottle of wine. But how many times do you turn 22? You might as well treat yourself. Another food-related question that shall be taken from this trip is ‘really, what is the point in oysters?’ I mean they were an experience, but it was just like swallowing slimy seawater. My steak was tons better and the wine was just incredible.

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Maryska and I; post-oysters, pre-wine.

I’m not going to lie; I usually hate the day after my birthday. It just seems like such an insult. However, this October 19th was pretty special. Firstly, we got up and went to church. A megachurch. Now that I think about it, this was the first time I actually went to church for a regular Sunday service in about 10 years. It was actually an amazing experience; the church itself was huge! It was like walking into Wembley for a gig except with free tea and coffee and friendly people rather than underpaid stewards. Afterwards, we went for brunch at a place called The Listening Room. We had bottomless Mimosas (a fancy name for Bucks Fizz) and ate some good southern food. Nashville is awesome because of its country culture, which essentially means that they love music, God, and drinking. I was having such a good time there, I decided to mark the occasion and get a tattoo. I don’t really know if there’s any meaning behind my tattoo, it just reminds me of the good times in Nashville.

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Tattoos on the bone hurt.

So hobbling on, we made our way to the Tennessee State Capitol, which is a gorgeous building. Most of the federal buildings in Nashville used Grecian architecture, which may look a little out of place, but is beautiful nonetheless. I have to hand it to you Americans, you do have a tendency to adopt other cultures and traditions, but you do it really well. We walked and walked and my ankle throbbed and throbbed and eventually we made it to dinner (which I had a reservation for this time) at BB King’s Blues Club. I ate some good Southern Ribs and we watched a (questionably talented) band play whilst the 49ers lost miserably on the TV screen behind them. So I guess it wasn’t totally perfect.

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Tennessee State Capitol looking fine.

So on Monday morning, Maryska headed back to North Carolina whist I slept across three seats in Nashville airport due a lengthy two-hour delay. When my flight to Detroit did actually touch down, I had to jog through terminal A of that airport (which is a mile long) to make my flight to San Francisco. Needless to say, my travels are never quite straightforward.

Newly inked and penniless,

Lucie

Lucie Hudson
luciehudson4@gmail.com
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