I've been here about two months now and things had just been so hectic, I hadn't had a chance to explore the area beyond Bowling Green. So I decided it was time for me to get a little "city" and go to Nashville!
Maybe it's cause I'm a city girl, maybe it's cause I haven't been in a big city ever since I got here but I was so so excited to go to Nashville! I planned out where I wanted to eat, where I wanted to shop, where I wanted to buy groceries...it was a very elaborate plan in my head.
So I head out of Bowling Green, super stoked, ready for my day in the city...and instantly hit traffic. WHAT?! Traffic...here?! I'm not in LA anymore, what's going on. Let me tell you what was going on...construction. But that's not the main thing, it's that the two lanes of traffic had to merge into one, which if we were in LA wouldn't be a big deal because everyone knows how to efficiently deal with that, but for some reason, it was an issue and it took me thirty minutes longer than it should have to get to Nashville.
But whatever, I wasn't going to let that kill my mood...I found the Korean restaurant I wanted to have lunch at and quickly, I literally ordered as soon as I sat down, sonduboo (I think that's how you spell it?). I've been making Chinese food at my place but I just needed more/different Asian stuff. The banchan (side dishes) came and they were alright, obviously not as good as in Koreatown, but I ate them all.
Then the rice and tofu soup came and omigosh, I miss Korean food. It wasn't as great as what we have in LA but it hit the spot. The flavours...the spice...the chunks of tofu with a surprising amount of seafood...oh man, I ate it up so fast! I was just so content afterward cause I had been craving it for such a long time, it makes me long for the days of easy access to Ktown.
But on to the best part of the day...I FOUND AN ASIAN SUPERMARKET! Omigosh, my heart skipped many beats when I walked inside. There was bok choy, tofu, mabo tofu sauce, curry sauce, ramen (but not the best brand 出前一丁), dumplings, Chinese sauces....it was paradise for me. I was grinning so big it was kinda ridiculous.
At first, I was like, ok calm down Julia, and I just used a basket but after 10 minutes, it was already overflowing with things like enoki mushrooms and a container of bamboo shoots and onion pancakes, I had to get a cart. I felt like a little kid in a candy shop or something because I would walk down an aisle and see "omigosh dumplings!" and run to it...and then "omigosh custard buns!" (and we all know how much I love baos) and grab a bag.
I ended up buying A LOT of stuff there, it was pure bliss :)
Then the rest of my Nashville trip was some shopping...I had to return something at Express and there is no other Express in this region of the country except for one at Green Hills Mall in Nashville. I walked in and it felt SO NICE to just be in a mall with lots of people around (the mall in BG is kinda small) but then I realized I was out of my league when I saw Louis Vitton and Tiffany & Co. Yeah, it was that kind of a mall. Nevertheless, I could really only afford Express so I did an exchange and got out of there.
Next was a stop to Trader Joe's. Oh Trader Joe's. I didn't take advantage of you enough when I was in LA. I forgot how nice it is to buy stuff from a regular normal supermarket and not go shopping for groceries at the Wal-Mart (yeah, that's where I buy my food). I bought some pita bread and hummus (a couple loves of my life) and ravioli and stuff and I had to refrain from clearing out their pastry and bread aisle.
This is when I realized my strange attraction to bread. It was the first aisle I walked by and picked stuff up from...but I found myself going back there again...and again...and again. Not even to pick anything up, just to look! And the same thing has happened to me at the bread and pastry aisle at Wal-Mart and the Kroger. I can't help myself! I just like bread and being around it and considering buying it before I tell myself not to waste too much money on snacks and extra carbohydrates. *SIGH*
Now on to the worst part of the day...driving back to Bowling Green. It's really only like an hour drive between the two places. But on this particular day...I was leaving Nashville and in 2.5 hours, I moved not even 3 miles. The freakin' construction project was backing up traffic for miles! And I'm not one who can handle this type of thing. I could handle LA traffic because it was manageable, there were ways around it and you at least moved. But there was no moving in this traffic. I was so irritated, frustrated, pissed off...I don't do well in these types of situations...I was ready to kill someone because of how ridiculous the situation was.
This was only compounded by the fear that all my groceries were gonna go bad because they would defrost in the car. So I took a risk (a really risky risk) and decided I would create my own detour. I found two other freeways that would take me back to BG (they created a triangle with the freeway I was on) so I was like, screw this and broke free from the traffic jam.
I was cruising along just fine and dandy when I suddenly realized what I had gotten myself into. The freeway suddenly became a two lane road. I had to turn my high beams on. There were things around me but they were the small town kinda things like random gas stations or random houses. If I didn't have my GPS, I would have been screwed. I was nervous even with my GPS because I had no idea where I was and where I was going.
I ended up speeding down the street freeways because at this point, I just wanted to get home. After hours stuck in traffic, I just wanted to get back to my apartment. I wanted to not be in sketch freeways anymore. I didn't want my groceries to go bad. The whole situation was draining me emotionally and kinda messing with me psychologically because there wasn't really many other people on the road. And when I did get back home, I have never been so excited to see my little apartment and never more excited to be in BG. I was just so exhausted by the whole ordeal, I just wanted to veg.
And now I'm a little turned off by going back to Nashville because of what I had to face yesterday. I know it's obviously not (or at least better not) going to happen again but it put a whole damper on what otherwise would have been a great trip into the city. It was still great - I loved seeing a city skyline, being on a five-lane freeway, seeing lots of people and cars around me wherever I went, just BEING in a city - but I think I need a bit of time to recover from this adventure before embarking on another one.
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