I’ve been super busy so have been very lazy with my blog, but I am determined to update!
After fall break we had a pretty lazy week or so, but we went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show and had Halloween to look forward to. It’s cool as its considered a much bigger deal here and everyone gets really excited. We went on a “proper” night out which was fun to do, feels like so long since I’ve been out, it was definitely relaxing. Everyone was dressed up in really cool outfits, but I spent half the night trying to sneakily get a picture with a random guy dressed as Tim Tebow! (First is us just before Rocky Horror and the others are from Halloween)
As is becoming normal, the few weeks were very sport filled! Firstly, we went to our first basketball game. My friend Shannon loves it so much she decided we must get there over 3 hours early, although, of course, nobody else joined the queue for another 2 hours. We WERE very early but we had fun waiting around and it was still really warm outside. The game was awesome! We won (unlike in our football) and I just really enjoyed watching such a fast-paced game!
The next day was the football game against Missouri which was crazy and so much fun. As hinted we’ve been doing pretty badly recently (actually since this game the Coach Dooley has been fired), but they’re still so enjoyable to watch. I know I say this every time but this one was probably my favourite. It ended on a draw and went into four overtimes (!) until finally, we lost. It really is sad when we lose, especially when its so close as everyone takes it so badly. Athletics is such a huge deal here and theres so much pressure, I truly do feel sorry for the die-hard fans and the coaches/players!
This past Thursday we went to a Barn Dance which was SO much fun. Jade had met a few girls who went on exchange last semester to Swansea, so they arranged for us all to get together and go dance! It was so cool, everyone was dressed up and the music was ‘real country’ and you had to do 'real country’ dancing! My stomach hurt from laughing so much and the girls were so lovely and friendly.
Literally about 15 minutes before we were leaving for the Barn Dance I went over to Lauren, Michaela and Shannon’s apartment and they had a spontaneous idea to go to Chicago the next day! Lauren and Annabelle had, at the last minute, been invited to a conference of Religious Studies in Chicago but assumed they would be unable to go. Shannon and Michaela decided we should all go - they go to the conference and the three of us sightsee - and make a roadtrip out of it! We set off on Friday night (its a 9 hour journey), and drove overnight. We got there at about 8am and, as luck would have it, our hotel upgraded us AND let us check in straight away! After a few hours of sleep we set off to shop and get lunch, and then to visit “the Bean” which is SO cool (you can see the whole skyline in it) and have a walk around the city.
After a few hours we went back to the hotel for a “10 minute siesta” and found ourselves waking up three hours later! But we went and watched the Festival of Lights Parade which we were super lucky to be in town for, although we couldn’t see too much and lots of women kept fighting in the crowds!
After this we were SO tired so got Starbucks and went back to watch the next football game in bed (you can take the girls out of Tennessee, but you can’t take the Tennessee out of the girls!). Guess what? We lost, and then the coach was fired the next day! Sad times. The next day we were leaving at around 3pm, so we got up late had lunch and made our way over to Lake Michigan, which is absolutely beautiful. It was a perfect sunny-winters day, so the sky was lovely and its so true that the lake is the most amazing colour.
We then did a little souvenir shopping and went to go and reunite with Lauren and Annabelle and set off home. The journey was long again, and we did get a little lost in Kentucky but we managed to stumble across an Abraham Lincoln memorial and we got home in the end! Singing Rocky Top those last few miles, of course!
Also, heres me 'Tebowing’ outside a Mobile Chapel at a service station in Indiana… Never though I would type those words!
