Goodbye At-Plant-A

We forgot sunscreen but managed
to avoid terrible sunburns.

The first half of the day was devoted to traveling from sunny, green and gorgeous Atlanta, Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee. Instead of traveling by plane, we took a four hour bus ride. I have never taken a bus ride that was more than 30 minutes before. (At least while in America, I have taken a bus ride from Lahore to Peshawar during my time in Pakistan) I wanted to talk to the people around me, since I figured that they would have some amazing stories to tell. I feel like you find the most interesting people in the strangest of places. However, nobody seemed to want to talk, so I slept instead. I woke up while we were in Chattanooga and Arnold and I switched seats so that I could have a different view. I sat by Jenny until we arrived in Nashville. An interesting thing about the route from Atlanta to Nashville was that after you reach Chattanooga, Tennessee, the highway takes you back into Georgia for about half an hour, and then the rest of the hour brings you into Nashville. It was kind of surprising how similar parts of Tennessee and California look, and I appreciated the little taste of home.

I felt fairly proud of my photography skills here. 

The weather here in Tennessee is quite similar to the weather in Atlanta, but the breeze here is a little cooler. At 91 degrees Fahrenheit, this is actually supposed to be the coldest day of the week. INSERT Since we were feeling well rested, we decided to take a trip a few blocks down the street. On the bus, Jenny and I had decided that we were going to go to the Parthenon, which is a perfect replica of the one in Greece, with an art gallery inside. We thought it closed around 5:30 so we got there at like 4:45, but it turns out that it closed about 15 minutes before we arrived there. I think that we are just going to go there again tomorrow before we go to campus and check in.

Since we couldn't do what we planned to, we trekked back to the hotel. Jenny suggested that we pick out our souvenir sweatshirts for the trip. There was an entire floor of options, and anyone who knows me at all knows how long I take to decide when I go shopping. Even though it was over 90 degrees, we braved the heat and posed by the sign with our sweatshirts on. 

The highlight of the day, and possibly the week so far (aside from the campus visits) was the dancing. Around 7 PM we walked to a covered pavilion behind the Parthenon in Centennial Park where a band called Merchants Of Cool. The experience is a little hard to describe since so many people were dancing in very unique ways, but I'll do my best.  There were toddlers dancing with their parents, teenagers meeting new people, and elderly couples holding each other close. When we arrived, we were feeling a little thirsty so we stopped for some shaved ice. I got lemonade and orange cream and went to stand in the shade near the pavilion. By the time we all finished our shaved ice, the songs were slowing down, so we felt a little reluctant to go out onto the dance floor. But when a Stevie Wonder song came on, I was the first from our cohort to join the throng. Gwennie and Katherine utilized their badminton footwork skills to blend into the dancers, while Arnold and I took turns spinning (and I'm only speaking for myself here, Arnold is actually really graceful) trying not to trip while keeping up with the fast paced beat. By the time Jenny joined us we were standing in an approximation of a circle, attempting to teach the others some dance moves. Arnold was showing us a dance style called Quebradita, and I was trying to show everyone how to swing dance. (While I could do it,  I don't think I really have any sort of future as a dance teacher.)  We stayed fairly late, so the sun had set by the time we left the park, and fireflies were everywhere! We picked up a fabulous dinner, and made our way back to the hotel, planning to sleep in for once.

Lanterns and fairy lights were carefully stretched
across  the ceiling.

I have been so excited to see Vanderbilt for months and now the time has finally come.

My heart will go on for you, little firefly.