a Big Mess of Weird Stuff

April 2019

'The world is full of single people who are too afraid to make the first move.'

- Tony Lip in Green Book

The 11th of April, Thursday

19.54

What a miserable day. 

What a miserable week.

I have an activities week with school, but there were no activities planned for me. So, yeah. It is sort of a vacation. But I am so bored...

It is my own fault. Today, I could've hung with my friends, but I had to study for my philosophy exam.

The 28th of April, Sunday

21.46

I am in Natchez, Mississippi!!

We started our trip in Atlanta, a big city where the Super Bowl took place this year and Coca Cola comes from😉 After that we drove to the Smoky Mountains, Cherokee, Asheville, Pigeon Forge and then to Nashville. 

Hihi. It was fun in Nashville. We were there on the 24th of April, one day before the NFL draft (I don't know if there are any American Football fans are out there?) and we didn't exactly know when that event was there and what it even was. We are a Dutch family who never watches sports. It was so crowded in Broadway, especially in the night. The street was full of cameras and a big stage at the end where the next day the players would be presented.

Broadway is basically a long street full of bars and cafes with live music, almost every bar has a live band playing country or other familiar songs. It is awesome and overwhelming with all the neon signs flickering and casting colourfull lights, music coming from everywhere and two cameras riding cables which are strung over the whole street (not the whole street actually because the bars are ending at the crossover with 5th Avenue where the Bridgestone Arena is located).

Oh yeah, the first day we were in Nashville, we went to the Grand Ole Opry. For Dutch people who know nothing about country, it is weird to sit there in the beginning, but the music was really great to listen to and watch all the differences between the American and the Dutch culture. For example, there was an artist, Craig Morgan, who began talking about soldiers and the army and asking veterans and soldiers to stand up and the music artist made a beautiful speech about his time serving and the importance of the work, which is a great sentiment, but we, as Europeans and specifically Dutch, are not used this and I found it interesting that the army is so important in America. 

Of course, that is not the only difference between these cultures, but it is interesting to notice that sentiment and importance.

After Nashville, we went to Memphis, the place where Justin Timberlake is born! And where Elvis Presley lived😉

But first we made a stop in Tupelo, 'cause yes, my parents like Elvis Presley and I do too.

When I was around 8 or 9 years old, I made a music playlist with songs that we had on iTunes and for some reason, I almost put the whole hit album of Elvis in that playlist.

In Memphis, my parents and I visited Beale Street (ofc) (two times), Graceland, Stax Records, and the Sun Studio of Sun Records. Damn. I already have seen a lot on this trip.

Beale Street is again a long street with bars with music stages, but here they don't play country, they play soul and blues. Bouncers are strict on Fridays, not on Thursdays for some reason. On Friday I couldn't go into almost any bar, because you have to be 21 or older and I am seventeen... 

But, I could still enjoy the music. All the doors and windows are open because it was a hot day. Hihi. 

After Memphis, we went to Natchez, but first, we had a stop in Clarksdale and in Rosedale for the Crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to play guitar.

Natchez is a tiny bit boring, but we are staying in an old mansion, the Monmouth, so that is pretty cool. Today, we went to a swamp and Jackson.Tomorrow we go to a cotton plantation where a long time ago slaves worked. So it will be vehement.

After Natchez, we are going to New Orleans!!

----

The quote at the beginning of this chapter is from the movie Greenbook which I watched on the airplane back home. It is a beautiful story and the quote of Tony Lip got me thinking, so that is the reason why I put it there.

My holiday was awesome. I've heard so much music and met many different people, even though these people were most of the time serving us when we talked to them.

I also learned a lot about America and the origin of different kinds of music. Country has some ancestry from the Irish Folklore and blues was played around the now 'Mississippi Blues Trail'. Also, I know now that there was a civil war in the USA and what slaves had to endure.

New Orleans was almost like it is depicted in the Princess and the Frogg, but stinkier, definitely stinkier. It smelled like Carnaval in the Netherlands. The mixture of beer, sweat, and piss. But there was also a street full of bars with again live music playing, this street was Bourbon St. Here they played jazz of course, but also a lot of popular music.

I also ate beignets and they are delicious!! MMMMMMmmm... 

We also had a ghost tour in New Orleans, so I can tell you all about the couple living above a voodoo shop in 2005. The dude went crazy and killed his girlfriend and after that he killed himself. If you want to know more details look up: Zack and Addie.