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KSR Around the SEC

A German soccer fan’s road trip is the best part of the World Cup so far

Tyler-Thompson
Tyler Thompson@MrsTylerKSR
1mo
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© Mike Hensdill/THE GASTON GAZETTE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The World Cup kicks off later this week, with 48 national teams competing in 12 groups across 16 host cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In the U.S., the action on the pitch may be rivaled only by the culture clash off of it as fans from around the world experience American culture. We’re already getting some awesome examples in Georgia, where a German fan arrived early and is seeing the country as our founding fathers intended: a road trip. It didn’t take long for his tweets to go viral, as the internet enjoys the American South through a European’s eyes.

FreddyLA7 and his friends arrived in Atlanta on Friday and spent the weekend touring the city — mostly by car after some scary experiences on the MARTA. They visited the Martin Luther King National Historical Park, some places where “Stranger Things” was filmed, and Stone Mountain, amazed by the monument’s size.

Twitter also quickly informed Freddy that Atlanta’s nickname is “City in a Forest” when he tweeted that it seemed like the city was inside a forest.

As Freddy’s tweets picked up steam, more and more people kept recommending he check out some of Atlanta’s adult-only establishments. Surely, they just wanted him to try Magic City’s famous lemon pepper wings, right?

From there, Freddy and his pals headed north to the mountains, marveling at the mansions in Gainesville, Georgia. En route, they had their first Southern experience: a late-night meal at Waffle House.

How much would you pay to go back in time and experience Waffle House for the first time? I’m just sad they didn’t get to witness a fight.

Today, the group visited Helena, Georgia, a small German village in the mountains, where they felt right at home. They rode an Alpine roller coaster, tubed down the Chattahoochee River, and feasted on Wendy’s — after being overwhelmed by the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine.

Freddy last tweeted from Tennessee, which suggests they’re probably headed to Wake Forest, where Germany is stationed, but I’d love to see them tour SEC towns across the South. I’ll settle for a Buc-ees.

Chattanooga catches strays as Spain’s home base

Although the games will be played across 16 cities, each national team has a home base where they will train, recover, and spend the majority of their time during the tournament. The Japanese national team is playing in Dallas and Mexico, but staying in Nashville. As mentioned, Germany is in Winston-Salem on Wake Forest’s campus. The Spanish national team is staying at the Baylor School in Chattanooga. The Scenic City caught some strays on social media when the clip of the Spanish national team pulling into town made the rounds, as the internet piled on Tennessee’s fourth-largest city.

As someone who has spent some time in Chattanooga, I think the internet was being too harsh. It may not be Barcelona or Madrid, but as far as Southern cities go, it’s a pretty good one, with a lot of development downtown, outdoor activities, and a fun, hippie vibe. Now, Knoxville, on the other hand? I wouldn’t wish a six-week stay there on America’s worst enemy.

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2026-07-15
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