Meet Macke:

Macke-Mac, a Music Business and Accounting major at Belmont University, an avid singer, a Virgo, a wine snob, and a coffee addict. From Stockholm to London, we have had so many adventures so far from home but with each other, it never felt like we far. Let me tell you something about Macke when she tells a story, she tells you the WHOLE story. She is one of the best storytellers I've met! She's got grand hand gestures and she'll act it out for you, it's from all of the years in theater and show choir. And the way she describes people just makes you feel like you know them in person already. She'll usually start out her stories by saying, "Okay, so..." and she rolls her eyes and does an unnecessarily large hand gesture. Then, if she is talking about someone in her life, she'll say, "This is one of my favorite people in the world, you HAVE to meet them..." and she'll delve into an animated memory she has with that person, but only after telling you that person's life story in detail. I joke with her and say that when I meet her family I won't even introduce myself because I feel like I've known them my whole life!

Picking a single memory with Macke took me sooooo long, but I finally picked one that took place in London. Macke found a detective theme bar in London, so we went. We arrived at a quite neighborhood and stood to face what looked like a residential building. We nervously rang the doorbell and from a voicebox, we heard a deep smooth voice that asked if we had an appointment. At this point my hands were sweaty, we glanced at each other and Macke leaned in and said no, it was more of a question than a statement though. We were told to wait outside for two minutes, someone would come get us. Right when we were about to give up and leave an older couple struck a conversation with us. They assured us that it would be worth the wait and that we got lucky that we found the bar in the first place!

About a minute after we started talking to the couple behind us a man appeared at the door. He was tall and pale and wore a tweed suit with a fedora, very 1920s detective of him. He signaled us to come in, we went down a set of stairs into a dark baseman that was turned into an office space. There was a small desk with a typewriter and the walls had been converted to bookshelves. He had one of us, Macke because she's brave, sit in front of him and he began to question us. We started to play along and proceeded to explain our case. We told him that we had lost our buzz and that we came looking for his help to find it. Finally, the detective was satisfied with our case and said, "I'll have to look further into it and talk to a few colleagues, but for now...", he walked towards one of the walls lined with books, "please come into our waiting room." Then, THIS MAN OPENED THE BOOKSHELF TO REVILE A SECRET DOOR. Behind the walls, there was a full bar/restaurant in the 1920s prohibition period in the United States. He handed us our menus that were inside yellow manila folders and were stamped TOP SECRET. There, we ate and drank, and met the bartenders wearing bow ties and suspenders, and had one of the best nights I've ever had.

Macke, thanks for being my friend and my home away from home. Love you tons.