Nashville 1- Children's Issues

Greetings From Nashville, TN! 

In just a day, we took Nashville by storm.  Sunday started out with a self-guided tour of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, thanks to Morgan Lees and her former glory days as an Irish dance performer here (2nd picture). The middle of the hotel could be confused with the Costa Rican jungle meets the quaint canals of Venice, but it was quite the site! After the hotel, we visited the Grand Ole Opry and the shopping mall next to it.  Although the Opry was closed for the day, our selfies with the superstars hanging on banners out front made us think we were truly rockin' out.  Up next, we went to Vanderbilt University to say hello to our fellow SEC mates, and were given a tour by an excited freshman studying neural-scienece and Biology from West Virginia. Her roommate even went to her Morgan's high school, small world! Although the campus was beautiful and dining hall food looked delicious, we all agreed that we will always love Mizzou more! 

After Vanderbilt we headed downtown to the Honky Tonks on Broadway.  We ate at Puckett's Grocery, a famous Nashville eatery full of deep-friend everything and some amazing BBQ.  With a trip of 8 girls and 2 boys, we all collectively agreed that our waiter was VERY easy on the eyes. Fighting our food comas, we managed to make a few purchases on Broadway from the candy store (and even some free praline samples). We spotted another MAB trip from Memphis on the street as well.  We even found a Mizzou Student ID on a wall of fake ID's outside of a famous dueling piano bar.  After Broadway, we visited the 12 South District, full of coffee shops, twinkle lights, and a really awesome Nashville mural (pictured below).  After a trip to the Frothing Monkey (coffee shop in the 12 South District) we headed to see the Bluebird Cafe, made famous by the show "Nashville."  The line was out the door, so a picture had to do for Kayla.  

After a seven hour day, we headed back to the Friendship World Outreach, our home for the week. A few MAB'ers went to the church service, and the rest of the night was spent playing card games and Mafia, learning lots about each other's character :) We are excited to start our work with Boys & Girls Club today and serve the Dickson community! More pictures to come!