Nashville, Tennessee

Get ready for some pictures because they tell a thousand words :)

I recently went to Nashville for 6 days to compete in the American Dental Hygienists' Association's Table Clinic contest.  Table clinics are research projects that we actually did while in school... it was kind of like a big senior project.  My partner and I were selected to compete here and also at the California competition. 

Well, to start the trip Tuesday morning I had to do my least favorite thing... fly.  Thanks to a little lorazepam (ok, a lot of lorazepam) and some supportive friends I made it there!! I don't remember the rest of the day, but I made it!

That night we went to the most amazing homemade ice cream shop ever... I don't know how I could not remember this place but we would go another 2 times and I certainly remember those!

The next day, Wednesday, we got up and went to the Pancake Pantry for some amazing breakfast.... their pancakes and syrups were heaven.

Then in the afternoon we had to present our 6 minute, fully memorized, speech and table clinics to multiple judges for two hours... it was a long, stressful two hours

For dinner we went to the most awesome place!  It was just darling from the outside too!  Monell's is family style dinner... which I thought they meant like PF Changs where you all try all the dishes.  This was a little more intimate.  We actually sat at a large family style dinner table with people we didn't know and passed the food to the left like a real family dinner.  I was a little weirded out by the strangers at my table at first but this place was a gem.  Best southern home cookin I'd ever experienced!  I've never heard of squash casserole before, but it is my new favorite dish!

Then we went into downtown Nashville to enjoy the nightlife and let off some steam after the stressful table clinic day.  Melissa and I danced like we were drunk, which we weren't save some lingering lorazepam.  It was fun knowing we would never see these people again :)

Thursday morning we went to a breakfast awards ceremony and Jenn and I found out we won 4th place in our category.  We were pretty happy considering this is a national competition.  Two other girls from our class, Jackie and Joni, took 1st place in another category so our school did really well.  Following the breakfast we had to stand by our boards for about 3 hours while hygienists walked around asking us presenters about our information.

On Thursday night we went to a dueling piano bar and buffet put on especially for dental hygiene students.  We also had a dinner planned with our professors the same night so I ate two dinners... Nashville was hard on my stomach.

At the dinner our professors took us to there was a dance floor and a line dance teacher so we had some fun doing that and trying to burn off a few calories.  Melissa and I tried to learn to two-step, a big southern dance style that is supposed to be simple but I'm still not sure I got it.

Friday we went to another hidden gem for lunch called Arnold's.  This is a real local's place.  It was southern cooking at it's finest with a cafeteria style serving line.  Some of the best food I've ever tasted with amazing chicken and dumplings, mac n' cheese, and fried green tomatoes... and you can't forget their famous chocolate pie-- to die for!

That night we went to the ADHA Hoe Down for some more free food and dancing.  We stayed up quite late this night just talking and doing what girls do.

Saturday was an early morning awards ceremony where our Professor was being honored for Dental Hygiene Educator of the Year.  We nominated her for this and she won out of all 50 states so it was a big deal.  Taylor Hicks was also there, lol, and he sang a bit... it was kind of like a lullaby and had this effect on me:

I also got my badge signed by Esther Wilkins, the ninety-something year old who wrote the dental hygiene bible.  She was adorable.

Then we headed out to see the Heritage Hotel.  It is famous and beautiful. 

 Our next stop was the Grand Ole Opry tour.  This was awesome.  If you heard about the Nashville flood in 2010 you may have heard that this place was really badly hit and had to be completely gutted and remodeled.  One thing they did save was some of the original stage that all the country music legonds have sung on... it was crazy old and we got to stand on it!

Then we set off to walk to the Gaylord Hotel around the corner, I know, awesome name.  But the hotel really was awesome.  It had an indoor atrium that was huge and even had it's own river.  I took pics but they didn't do it justice :(

Our last day there we enjoyed Mike's Ice cream again and some delicious Pita Pit!  We then took a walk onto this giant walking bridge and got some cool pictures of the city.  Nashville was great, I would definitely go back and see more.  Aside from the southern food giving me my first taste of heartburn that lasted for days, it was a wonderful trip.