Bluff City, TN

[I wrote this blog before I realised I had broken a bone in my wrist. Was it worth it? sure!]

The weekend began on Friday night with a free Ben Rector concert in the middle of campus. It was run by the 'Parents Association' so students can invite their parents to it too ... and people actually did! He was really good and spirits were high, even the oldies ;)

Ben Rector on UT Campus

After packing up the two cars with enough gear to stay for a fortnight, Michaela and Shannon drove me, Lauren, Annabelle, Georgia and Rubia to Bluff city - about an hour and half North of Knoxville. We didn't arrive until almost midnight, but Michaela's friends and some of her brothers had stayed up and lit a bonfire by the lake where we made smores (toasted marshmallows sandwiched between two biscuits and dipped in chocolate) BEAUTIFUL. We had a really good laugh, mostly taking the mick out of each others accents as usual, and ended up staying out until really late, we then went to stay at Michaela's house.

Saturday began with French toast (it's what we eat in England, of course) and English breakfast tea that they'd bought especially for us! We drove about 20 minutes away to the 'lake' to go out on the boat. It was so beautiful and massive, with little islands all over it, not what I had in mind for a lake!

Ready to board the boat

After a few trips over to an island in the boat we were all finally there - Michaela's huge family all came, her mum and dad; Wendy and Joe, then her 5 brothers; Joel, Austin, Caleb, Ryan & Seth and her 2 sisters; Carly and Emma. With us, that made a total of a 16 strong party.

Lake, Hickory Tree

They suprised us by bringing surf boards out. We tied them to the back of the boat and got to go in pairs to 'skurf', it was so much fun. I didn't manage to stand up on the board for more than 2 seconds because it was too hard, but loved lying down on it and flying around the lake clinging on for dear life. Apparently my face said it all and was a highlight of the day!

Skurfing

Baywatch

This how it's supposed to look - lessons from Michaela

When we got out of the water, the boys had set up a fire and cooked hotdogs. It was like something from a film, cooking on this little island in the middle of nowhere.

Campfire

Hotdog Dinner

Just in case the adrenaline junkie needs hadn't been fed enough, we then went jumping off rocks, which was fun ... and very safe of course! (yes, that's me on my way down in the picture). It got really cold quickly though so we had to speed that part of the day up.

Rock jumping

Almost 6 hours later after a lot of fun, food and a few patches of sunburn, we headed back to the Marina and made our way back. We were all really tired so decided to have a chilled out evening playing 'Red neck life' - a board game based on the stereotypes of Southerners, it was really funny because we'd seen most of it in action already since we've been here!

Red neck life game

On Sunday, the Gilstrap family wanted to show us what's typical of a Southern family's day out, so we went shooting. We drove out to a nearby forest and had a go at shooting targets with guns and a bow & arrow (these are completely acceptable things to own living down here). The younger kids also wanted to show us their favourite thing to do; put fireworks inside a pumpkin and blow it up so it goes everywhere! It was fun and a change for us, but not really my cup of tea. It was quickly established that us Brits, and Brazilians even more so are not as daring, as excitable or impressed by guns as the Americans are!

Safety lessons

Bullseye

Country life

After a brief trip into Johnson city to see where Shannon lives, we spent the rest of the day chilling out and enjoying being in a comfy house. Our departing meal was more great Southern food - home-made burgers, corn on the cob and sweet potatoes, followed by home-made key lime pie!

I had such a great weekend and got a real taste of American family life, which I'd really wanted the chance to see. There's loads of stuff we didn't get to do because we didn't have the time, but we've been invited back for Thanksgiving, so I think that's going to be the plan for then. I'm so happy I've made a good group of friends to stick with here, they're all great and we have serious jokes.

Girls