"We're all family now!" exclaimed one of the members of the Ephesian Primitive Baptist Church during our visit on a sunny Wednesday evening, mere days after our arrival to the big, bustling city that seemed (initially) completely foreign, yet strikingly similar to our 'very rural' hometowns in Northern Ireland.
My first trip to the United States (and first departure from European soil) has been characterised by a series of Nashville-wide excursions and friendly faces. From 10,000 feet, the city is a a sprawling picture of urbanity, punctuated by glittering high-rises and a succession of ongoing construction projects. Armed with my preconceived notions of cowboy hats and country songs (and paying $19 for an overpriced sandwich and oversized coffee at Newark airport), I felt, upon my jet-lagged departure, I could predict the outcome of my three weeks in 'Music City': try to get a tan and complete the Belmont University curated Summer School programme carefully compiled by staff to educate my 24 peers and I on this new world we found ourselves in. The reality was extremely different.
My first trip Downtown changed everything.
A hub of never-empty Honky Tonks, and featuring a mismatched series of chain stores, both traditional and international food restaurants, as well as borderline cheesy souvenir shops, Downtown Nashville is a sight to behold: as well as experience. Exciting and almost-otherworldly, I felt that I was not just across the globe from home, but on another planet. With the aroma of hot chicken wafting up the street from Hattie B's mingling with the sounds of live music spilling from the open windows of the bars, the air was still and hot. It was exhilarating. In the evening we spent a few hours in a bar, listening to a band preforming a plethora of songs ranging from Blink-182 to Carrie Underwood on a stage lit up by neon fairy lights. I made my mark here, writing my name on a dollar and pinning it to a wall covered in thousands like it, filled with the names of people from all over the world, from all walks of life, so different from me and yet similar in their shared experience of this lively, ever-evolving city. There was a sense of community, a home away from homes. Coming home with a belly full of sushi (very conventionally American, I know), a much lighter purse, a pair of diamond-studded cowboy boots and a few stories to tell, my nerves were buzzing with anticipation at what the next few weeks had in store for us.
Later in the week, our evening at Dr Joe Fitzgerald's Church helped to bring to life my expectations of Southern hospitality. The quiet, serene atmosphere in the church was quickly interrupted by the beautiful, powerful voices of the choir members who had me on the edge of my seat the entire 60 minutes of their riveting performance which detailed the evolution of African American music from 1619 to the present day. Their talent and lifted our spirits: it was like nothing I have experienced before. Happy and uplifted, our entrance into the church kitchen was punctuated by the smells of home-cooked food and the caring voices of the congregation members who welcomed us like we were their own. Being called 'family' by a group of compassionate and warm people from the opposite side of the world who had been complete strangers the mere hour before was a strange yet touching and heartfelt experience: it felt fitting, it felt like home.
Similarly, but in somewhere that felt like another world, not just mere miles away, the following evening we attended the Provost's house for dinner. He and his family, in their generosity and through opening their hearts and home to us, warm smiles on their faces, repeated the actions taken by Ephesian Baptist Church the previous day. Having a real Southern BBQ (food so different from our own at home, yet so comforting) on the outdoor patio of the gorgeous house, on white plastic table cloths, in our best clothes and with the sun splitting the evening sky, I felt incredibly at peace. Although, while the night before had been loud, bustling and exciting, full of music, at the Provost's, tranquil and laid-back, with its authentic, homely 'American' atmosphere, I felt strikingly similar. Again. I was able to feel welcomed and at home so far away from my own home.
'Nashville is such a fantastic city, with this great creative music energy, then there's that Southern hospitality, you can't beat that.' -Sam Palladio
The phrase 'Southern hospitality' is widely-known, but little did I know how much it would impact this trip. From the kindness of the Belmont staff, to the attentiveness of cashiers at shops and the friendliness of strangers even on the street, this trip has proved to me, most importantly, how much people make a place and how you can find a home away from home, even if you feel like the place that you are travelling to couldn't be more unlike the place you're from. In my case, I discovered that Southern values aligned with the warmer, more pleasant aspects of life at home, in Northern Ireland, that of our own openness and eagerness to make people feel welcome and at home, no matter where they come from.
I decided that this would be the purpose of my website, to help people to see that we are not very different from others at all, and to grab every opportunity as it is offered to you, that the unexpected is what makes travelling worthwhile. Nothing is ever as it seems. Despite, only three weeks ago, setting off knowing only one person within the group from University, I feel as though I have met people that I otherwise wouldn't. This is another highlight of my journey, sharing these opportunities and experiences with them.
Looking back on this experience even before it ends, I. know what it is that I will remember: the people. As someone with a particularly poor memory, trips like the three listed above will be the ones I will remember the most and I wanted to use this website to immortalise them and the people who helped make these three weeks some of the most impactful, worthwhile and life-changing of my life. With its ups and downs, highs and lows, quiet days and jam-packed ones, even if I did not get a tan and I'm worried that my suitcase will be too heavy to make it through check-in, this experience has taught me so much about myself, Nashville and the people in the world around me.