If you had told me at any moment before this year’s fall break that a thirty-dollar cowboy hat, the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum and the better part of two dozen pieces of Texas toast would constitute one of the best weekends of my life, I would have laughed and told you how far from realistic that sounds to a Fairfield University senior who has spent his entire life circling the same eight blocks of a Philadelphia suburb. Despite this, though, you would be correct.
In what has become somewhat of a tradition among Fairfield University seniors, a great migration took place over the University’s long weekend. Hundreds of members of the Class of 2025 booked flights to Nashville to take in the sights and sounds of a city known for its amazing food, storied musical history and, of course, bustling nightlife. Flying out of LaGuardia early Saturday morning, I could not have been more apprehensive. To put it bluntly, I was pressured pretty substantially to book this trip. Despite my deepest desires to rot the weekend away in bed watching football and ordering Colony Grill takeout, the underhanded “It’s our senior year” and “How many more times do we all get to do something like this together” inevitably got to me. Equipped with nothing more than an overflowing backpack, headphones that somehow failed to charge the night before and a glossy yellow crossword puzzle book purchased fifteen minutes before takeoff, I took a deep breath and boarded my flight.
Upon arriving in Nashville, I met up with some friends, was quickly shuttled into an Uber to an Airbnb fifteen minutes outside of the city, then into another Uber to convene with the rest of our group who had already made their way to dinner. After hopelessly roving through a labyrinth of honkey tonks, cowboy boots, celebrity bars and thick plumes of cigarette smoke, I finally found them tucked away in a corner of Assembly Food Hall, a seemingly endless food court with some of the best of what Nashville has to offer. In a moment, smelling loaded pulled pork platters and the twinge of the city’s iconic hot chicken, every apprehension I had was gone. The next three days were heaven for someone who stopped counting calories the second his plane touched down. Whether it was a late lunch at Hattie B’s for hot chicken and waffles with a gooey pimento mac and cheese or greasy dinners at the famous Martin’s BBQ Joint, platters overflowing with smoky brisket, pan-fried cornbread, crispy hushpuppies and short ribs you have to see to believe. It seems like something about the South is just different; like Tennessee hickories spend every moment of some two hundred years in the soil waiting only for their smoke to give the perfect bark to a rack of ribs. It is life-changing.
The nightlife was just as great. Walking down Broadway, the heart of downtown Nashville, you would think that every artist who has the money has scooped up a spot. Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, Morgan Wallen and Luke Bryan, to name a few, all have their own version of a restaurant and bar along the strip. From the street, their glowing neon signs pull passersby inside in droves. On any given weekend, each of their four or five floors is packed from wall to wall with patrons listening to live music and dancing along. If you plan it well (or are willing to wait in an hour-long line on a Friday night), hopping from rooftop to rooftop and soaking in the unique atmospheres is enough to make a weekend on its own. Even without this though, it is impossible to spend even a moment in the city without feeling the rich history that surrounds it. As a center for food and culture, there are countless museums and attractions that make every second worthwhile.
In the end, I could not write up another weekend as fun as what became of this new Fairfield tradition. Whether it be food, sights, music or buy-one-get-two-free cowboy boot deals, this is a trip I am so glad to have been convinced to take. While this tradition of a senior trip is still new, I don’t see it ever falling out of favor. Even though it might drain your bank account a little faster than you’d like at times, it is absolutely worth it.
Leave a Reply