A Travelling experience: Going to Tennessee 

I thought I’d hate going south but what I found there couldn't have changed my mind more.

Last summer I took a trip to Tennessee with a summer program I was in for a week and honesty I thought I’d hate it. I’m not into country, long bus rides, or 110 degree weather, but what I found down there was quite the contrary. 

I started my trip with a 12 hour bus ride to get down to Knoxville where my group and I stayed in a rather sketchy hotel to say the least (one person even had mold in their shower). But we kept on and went white water rafting the next day and it was an experience I’d highly recommend. We then 

continued to trek on into the heart of tenseness, Nashville.

Nashville was quite the experience, there was music coming out of the street corners and crowded sidewalks of bustling people, big city life is quite different for sure. There we went to the country hall of fame and like I said I’m not particularly fond of country music, but once again Tennessee surprised me with its vintage Gibson guitars and other random neat musical instrument that where not only cool to look at but interesting to learn about their history and who used them. I even found a little hole in the wall coffee shop that I could get my daily dose of caffeinated goodness. Once we were done their we visited some of the local collages to get a feel for what I would be like to go out of state for school and they were rather beautiful schools, but not my style. After that we headed out once again to our last stop before coming back home, Memphis.

Now I didn't even know Memphis existed until I went down and I still don’t understand how. From they’re intense blues and jazz culture, to the Gibson factor, Memphis should have been on my radar year ago but for some reason it wasn't and I’ll never forget what I saw down there. We went to the civil rights museum first which was located were Martin Luther King Jr. got assassinated and it was both moving and powerful with a lot of interesting historical context that can really teach people how the civil rights movement accomplished their goals for equality. After that we visited Beale Street, a walk only, shopping street with a whole mess of interesting stores and people. From the street performers doing flips and cartwheels over on another, to the open performances in every restaurant. I could walk down the street and go from listening to old delta blues to a Johnny Cash cover all on the same street and as a music enthusiast this was truly breath taking.

After that we headed straight home only stopping for breaks every now and then and made it back in Duluth within a day. Overall my experience down south was all positives as everything was enjoyable, from the white water rafting to Beale Street everything was different but familiar and I could always find something to enjoy.