Line-dancing in the USA's Bible belt

At a 'reorientation' for returning exchange students boasting stamps in their passports from nations including Finland, Mexico and Canada, Jo Gilfillan talked Tennessee with Kate Harkins

8 August 2006: Deep in the Bible belt and the warmth of southern hospitality, Kate Harkins would recommend Knoxville to anybody.

As Mizzuna Café rang with travellers' tales told by excited students newly-returned from semesters on exchange, I had the opportunity to chat with Kate about her semester at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Kate Harkins has a go at line-dancing - Knoxville's night out of choice

She talked about the area's long history. Tennessee is the home of Jack Daniel's whiskey and Dollywood, it was the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, it was the state in which Martin Luther King was shot and it contains Memphis - the home of Elvis.

The University's population is about 15 per cent African American and yet underlying tensions still have whites sitting on one side of the classroom and blacks on the other.

"My friends would go out and get absolutely drunk on Friday and Saturday night and then go to church on Sunday and repent," said Kate.

"If I asked anybody what their favourite book was, they'd tell me it was the Bible," she explained.  

Getting drunk on Friday night often involved the biggest nightclub in town - a line-dancing club.

Kate was amazed by the sporting spirit:

"The basketball team have their own blimp!"

The football team were local heroes. The stadium in town seated more than 100,000 people and was full for every football game. Every one at the university wore the school colours (orange and white) every day.

In the short four month semester, she developed many deep friendships with both International Students as well as with locals. She said that a semester in Tennessee was an amazing experience.