By “Rocky Top you’ll always be home sweet home to me” This is Tennessee to me. When I listen to this song it puts me right back in my happy place Tennessee. Yes, it does flow better when sung out loud by The Osborne Brothers, Dolly P – or me, than when just read silently right here. So here you go, for anyone who needs a country/Tennessee fix.
It has been 25 years since I first arrived in Tennessee, as a 16 year old exchange student who thought they knew everything, but pretty quickly realised that Tennessee is a world very far from Denmark. I came to love Tennessee as my second home, even got a pretty hefty southern accent, and made friends for life. One year in a teenage girl’s life is pretty defining, and during my year in the US I graduated from high school, but most importantly I met a different culture and had to immerse myself in this experience for the first (definitely not last) time in my life. I had already travelled quite a lot with my parents, but had never been exposed to culture in this way before. I found out that some of what I had been watching on Beverly Hills 90210 was absolutely right, but there is so much more to it. Since living in the US, I have gone to also live in Spain, South Korea and Australia, and I think my adaptability to different cultures was defined back in the US, although to this day, 4 years after arriving in Australia I still learn about, and need to adapt to, subtle cultural differences, often things I stumble into without realising it at first.
In Tennessee I found my second family in my best friend from high school, her parents and her grandmother. They took me on as a second daughter and I am so grateful to have this bond. I’ve now got a home in Denmark (always have, always will), in Tennessee and of course in my current home, Australia. I love these connections, and despite probably making me a bit rootless I would not be without it. The world is meant to be explored and our lives are meant to be made the most of! My kids are third culture kids, and I think it makes us all richer.
But back to Tennessee because that is what this post is all about – this year we got to go back to see my American ‘family’ after not being together for 5 years. Last time Gustav was there he was 4 months old and Carla was nearly 3. Little did I know that next time we would come back, our kids would be English native speakers, providing a whole new level to meeting my Tennessee.
The highlight of our trip was just spending time with the people I love. Reuniting with the whole family, and not least meeting little Tyler for the first time in person. The kids connected immediately, and had so much fun during our time together.
Terah and I spent more or less every evening outside on the porch chatting until late. I absolutely love the smell of humid hot Southern summers in Tennessee, and this was the perfect setting – except for the night when a spider was in my iced tea and we were discussing whether or not a spider can release venom in a drink to kill its prey. I was fairly sure I could feel my mouth dry out and clearly being impacted by spider venom…? But I got through the night without any issues, and we could continue our chats (the rest of this night, we went inside though)!
Our trip was really all about friends and family, and on top of that we did just about everything we love to do in Tennessee, from shopping, strolling Jonesborough (where I used to live), eating fast food – and awesome desserts.
One of the things I had been looking forward to was a bit silly, but something I’ve got a very vivid memory of from when I first arrived in Tennessee. I remember my host family took me to Walmart, which in itself was OTT for a young Danish girl back then. They then took me to the cereal aisle and asked me to pick my favourite cereal. For someone who at this time really only knew about cornflakes this was a very overwhelming task. I ended up with cinnamon toast crunch as my absolute favourite.
Now every weekend the kids get cereal mixed in with their oats, and it’s their weekend morning treat. So, as we started talking about our holiday to the US, I told them that I’d take them to see a bigger cereal selection than they could ever imagine. By the time we got there I was afraid I had completely oversold the experience, but just the opposite happened. The kids had the same kind of overwhelming feeling that I did back in the day. They got to choose one box each and they were over the moon!
We also made a trip to the Great Smoky National park to spend some time in Dollywood and the national park itself. We had rented a cabin close to the park where we could all stay together, and from there we went exploring.
The first day we spent in Dollywood, which is Dolly Parton’s amusement park. We have been several times, but this was the first time the kids could go on actual rides. And they absolutely loved it! Especially Carla loved the adrenaline and couldn’t get enough.
Dollywood also has some pretty awesome shows throughout the day, and we watched the Gazillion Bubbles show, a musical and the goodnight show with fireworks and drones.
The Great Smoky Mountains are absolutely beautiful and we went up to a viewpoint called Clingmans Dome to enjoy the magnificent views. We also spent a day in Gatlinburg exploring all the shops and eating deep fried Snickers…?
Around the area in East Tennessee are a few stables that we always do when we visit, including spending time in Kingsport, Johnson City and the last couple of times with kids, the Hands on Museum. When we went to the museum this time around we randomly met a Danish/American family. This is not on a typical tourist trail, and meeting another Danish family must be very rare. However, I guess Danish people do love to travel and you can find us in the weirdest places of the world 😉 Carla also got to take the stage at a magician show at the Kingsport library. She was SO proud, and the magician was pretty awesome and very funny.
Finally, we went to my old high school and were allowed to take a walk around. I explained that I was a previous exchange student from Denmark, who now lives in Australia and that’s why the kids speak a different language to us – I still think we must be the weirdest family with kids that respond in a different language than what their parents speak to them…
My time at David Crockett High School was life changing, so many good memories were made at this school, and it was great to show it to the kids.
To my American family – I love y’all so very much! Until next time ❤
GoCargus 