Part 2 of our Evacuation from Hurricane Florence: Fairview, Tennessee

On our way to Franklin, the UNCers that joined us on our evacuation trip began researching what was going on in the area during the week. They then came across a local high school American football team, the Fairview Yellow Jackets, who would be playing a game. The UNCers told us that high school football games, particularly in small-town America, were often considered the most important event of each week, that whole towns would gather to watch their team compete.

We didn’t have any plans that night, and many of us agreed that this could be a very interesting, authentic experience, so we decided that we would ‘crash’ this high school game! We arrived at the gate where we bought our tickets, promising them that we would cheer for the home team. It didn’t take long before we were invited to the student section, where we were taught all their songs and chants.

There is no doubt that the residents of Fairview, Tennessee were confused as to why 15 Danish students and a handful of American college students suddenly turned up to their local high school game, waving their Danish flags. However, they were also delighted that we would join them and we definitely all had a great time, sharing experiences, taking lots of photos and running unto the field when the Yellow Jackets won! We like to think that our participation played some part in their win, since the home team was actually losing before we came.

Looking back, this is amongst my favourite memories from my year abroad. I absolutely love that we made a mark on this little town and got to be a part of such a quintessential aspect of American life. A few days later, we came across an article in the Tennessean news that immortalizes this day:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/williamson/fairview/2018/09/17/florence-students-denmark-football-game-fairview-tn/1329397002/