Our Day at Johnson University

Our dorm room has bunk beds but we squoze together on the lower bunk last night—it’s not much narrower than our bed in the RoadTrek anyway. We had a pretty good night’s sleep, except Jack had a nightmare about not being prepared for a nursing school test. Guess the dorm experience awoke some buried fears in his psyche! We awoke to the sun rising over the French Broad River, with a good view through our window. 

We went for a walk, had a light breakfast and did a little bit of computer “stuff” before meeting Matt for an early lunch in the college dining hall. (Lauren had early morning classes and then had to work—she’s an assistant/receptionist for one of the deans. We planned to catch up with her later in the day.) 

Lunch was great—lots of options and healthy food to choose from. We sat with a couple of Matt’s friends who are also freshmen here, and had an engaging and amusing lunch conversation. 

Everyone we’ve met here has been extremely friendly, open and interesting. Many of the students are planning to spend all or part of their summer overseas, often on mission trips or some sort of internship. Seems like this school has an international/intercultural focus, at least that’s the impression we’ve gotten from the students we’ve talked to. We noted the old photos on the wall of the dining hall showing meals in past years, with students dressed in starched collars and black waistcoats, sitting up very prim and proper, at tables covered with spotless white tablecloths. Quite the contrast with today! Reminded Jack of the Coast Guard Academy days…

After lunch we visited Lauren at her office job and came up with a plan for dinner.

I (Carol) offered to make dinner for us, Lauren and Matt, Catherine and another friend Chelsea, in the little kitchen on the ground floor of our dorm. Lauren and her roomie Catherine would bring their banjos—both are aspiring banjo players (this is Tennessee, after all)—and we’d do a little pickin’ and singin’ after supper. Lauren would also invite her friend Chelsea, who is a wonderful singer and majoring in music. Lauren, Chelsea and Catherine have formed an a-cappella trio and have performed at a coffeehouse on campus, to wide acclaim (I watched their YouTube video and the applause sounded pretty loud). I was looking forward to hearing them in person.

I had some food and cooking supplies in the RoadTrek but needed a few more items for a complete meal for six, so I took off in the RoadTrek to buy a few groceries, leaving Jack behind to snooze (he ended up watching a movie instead). This place is really in the country—about a 10- or 15-minute drive to the nearest grocery store. I didn’t get too lost (only had to reverse course twice, which is normal for me) and made it back in time to meet up with Lauren when she got done with her busy day at 4 pm. We had agreed to meet at the pretty pond in the center of campus, and we spotted a tiny turtle sunning itself on a rock at the pond’s edge—the smallest turtle I’ve ever seen, I believe.

We walked to Lauren’s dorm, since I hadn’t seen her room yet. She and Catherine have a spacious and well-laid-out room, with private bath, one of the nicest college rooms I’ve seen. 

Of course, they NEED a big room, with two banjos and Lauren’s unicycle. (Forgot to mention that she rides a unicycle—as do her two triplet siblings Christin and Eric, and older brother Craig.) I also went over to the men’s dorm to see Matt’s room—also spacious and comfy, but not as colorful and decorated as Lauren and Catherine’s. 

After some pleasant visiting, I went back to our dorm to get dinner ready and Jack came down to help me—spaghetti and more of the Italian veggie soup referred to earlier (thanks again, Mariann, for that always delicious recipe), crusty bread, salad, and berry pie/ice cream for dessert (one concession: reduced fat ice cream). Our group showed up on time and we dug in to the food, saving the pie for after the music portion of the evening.

The trio hadn’t sung together in a while, but they picked up on their repertoire songs immediately and sounded fabulous. Click here to listen to a few stanzas of two songs (wait for the pause).

Their voices blend together beautifully! We really hope they continue to sing together next year. We then got out the banjos and did some picking. 

I think both Lauren and Catherine will make good banjo players, as they both have a natural ear and the stick-to-itiveness to make it work. Lots of fun making music with this group! We ended the time together with pie and ice cream. A lovely time!

Tomorrow we’ll be heading out to drive to Texas over the next few days, to visit our granddaughter Jennifer at West Texas A&M. It’s interesting visiting all these colleges in such a short time, to compare and contrast the different educational experiences each of our loved ones is having.

State count: 5 [Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee]

Odometer count:

Surber, VA: 107,435

Knoxville, TN: 108,070 (forgot to check odometer after grocery store drive—will update tomorrow)