Friday night with a Floridian grammy

An evening at Cracker Barrell with a grandma from Florida. That's how I spent my Friday night.
Michaela's 'grammy' Sandy and aunt Shelly came over to visit from Florida, so we all went out for a meal (along with her mum, Wendy and brother, Caleb) It was so nice and slightly crazy that they had travelled so far just so they could meet us before some of us leave at Christmas.


Grammy, Shelly & Wendy visiting from Florida

I think I wrote about Cracker Barrel in one of my previous blogs. It's a country restaurant where you can order anything, the menu is huuuuge and it takes a good 10 minutes to decide what to get, but all the food is great so don't think you can go wrong.


Cracker Barrel round 2

After we headed downtown where it was 'First Friday'. I think we've managed to make all of them since being here now; every first Friday of the month the art galleries, museums, cafes and shops stay open until midnight and they have street entertainers. It's a really nice atmosphere and I love seeing the local singers on the streets (this month there were fire throwers too!)

On Saturday morning, me and Annabelle got up early to go and make history at the homecoming parade by witnessing the slicing of the World's largest moonpie, with the added bonus of getting a slice too (Moonpie is kind of like a wagon wheel - sooo good). I'm still not 100% sure what 'Homecoming' is, but I think the general idea is that alumni come back to the University and they try to relive their college days. This included ex-cheerleaders and ex-band members leading the current ones in a parade, it was really great to see, I love that they do that here. I think it's something really good that English Universities are missing out on.

World's largest moonpie from Chattanooga bakery

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet, because everybody has essays and mid-terms this week and next. It was nice to just chill out on Sunday and catch up with people from home. I got to Skype Luke and Catherine in Manchester and I spoke to Rosie too. Not sure if it's because it's been quiet, or because I'm starting to make plans for when I'm back, or because I'm a little bit jealous of everyone celebrating Bonfire night ... but I've missed home this weekend.

Skyping Luke and Lizzie!

Still loving it here and I'll be sad to leave, but I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again too!

Tomorrow is election day so sure it will be crazy around campus!
I also spoke to Kelsey today, a girl from one of my lectures. She invited me and Annabelle to hers for Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago (which I really wanted to go to) but then we haven't spoke about it since so I wasn't sure if it was going to happen. But, she said she's told her family we're coming now and they're busy planning stuff for us! So ... I'm going to Nashville for Thanksgiving! Wohooo! Really looking forward to that in 2 and a bit weeks.