I faithfully updated this blog through
my year abroad, a roadtrip through Europe, and my thoughts upon
returning to the States. I even plan to continue updating it
indefinitely. But you may (or may not) have noticed a brief hiatus
while I went on yet another month-long roadtrip, this time across the
United States. I will summarize it the best I can, but I felt that
even those who live and breathe words like me need a break every once
in awhile. So this summer I stopped recording things obsessively in
my red notebook. I didn't blog. I didn't even take pictures, although
I am taking advantage of my friends' photos. For once I just lived
life as it came, moment by moment. This summer, for me as for many
graduated seniors, was a YOLO summer.
Yes, I know. YOLO is trite and
overused. YOLO is for frat bros. But YOLO is actually not a bad life
philosophy. You only live once, so you should live it to the fullest.
People seldom regret the experiences they have, but they often regret
the things they didn't do. So living with no regrets – fulfilling
everything on your bucket list, going on adventures, seizing all
opportunities – seems like a pretty good plan to me.
I'm not a good photographer. I have an
appreciation for photography, but I dislike being the one behind the
camera. I always feel like it's preventing you from really
appreciating the moment. I don't want to be taking a picture of how
much fun I'm having with my friends, so that later I can reminisce
about it. I just want to be having fun with my friends. I feel like
taking pictures destroys the integrity of the moment you want to
remember. I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for the
pictures (or lack thereof) on my blog. I have made quite an effort
with pictures while I was in France, mostly because I wanted to win
the CIEE blogging competition. (I didn't.) But that obligation is
over now, and I don't intend to continue the effort. I am well aware
that long text posts are difficult to read and pictures to a lot to
break it up. Tough luck, my dear readers. I am tired of pictures.
Yolo.
(Wow, that's awesome! I can use YOLO to
justify everything I do!)
So, in short, here's my summer: I went
on a 4 week long, 6,000 mile roadtrip with my mom, my French sister,
and my two best friends.
Shoshone Falls, Idaho: we jumped off
cliffs into a lake full of heavily-tattooed Idahoans. The only fun
thing to do in Idaho!
Next stop: Grand Teton and Yellowstone,
Wyoming. Yellowstone was exciting as usual, and while camping in
Grand Teton a BEAR ate my sister and my mothers' shoes. We also had
some great ukelele-strumming around the campfire.
Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and the
Badlands: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse (the Indian monument in
construction) were rather unexciting to me, just because there's
nothing to experience. You go, you see the monument, and you're done.
I suppose it is kind of impressive, but we see pictures of it all the
time so we knew what to expect and I wasn't wow'ed. The Badlands,
however, were a real highlight of the trip. The spooky landscape is
thought-inspiring, less crowded than the Grand Canyon, and (in my
opinion) more beautiful.
We then arrived in Minneapolis, to stay
with my aunt and uncle who live there. We explored the city a little
bit, went to the Mall of America (warning! Highly not recommended for
introverts and those with social anxiety!), and then set off for
their cabin in the woods in the North Woods of Wisconsin, where we
spent a week.
Next stop: La Farge, Wisconsin, where
my great-aunt and great-uncle own a farm. We stayed with their son
who lives across the street and went on some hikes and went to see a
live radio show called Barn Dance (we thought we were going to an
actual barn dance, but it turned out to be a lovely bluegrass
concert). We also went to the farmer's market and were amazed to see
the Amish who were selling their goods there.
Madison is only a 2-3 hour drive from
La Farge, and I then had my orientation and registration. I signed up
for classes, which I'll talk about later once I get around to writing
a post about school. We stayed with my wonderful cousin Ellen who
showed my friends around downtown while I did orientation.
After Madison, we drove 24 hours to the
Grand Canyon, stopping only for 4 hours of sleep in a hotel outside
of Denver. This is not something I recommend to anyone. Fortunately,
there were four of us with driver's licenses, but it was still a long
and trying voyage.
The Grand Canyon was lovely, and two of
my friends and I hiked down the Bright Angel trail only about 3
miles, which took us half the day. It is deceptively difficult, but
lovely and worth it.
After the Grand Canyon, we spent
another painful day driving to Yosemite. We only ended up spending
one day in Yosemite instead of the two we'd planned for, because we
were all eager to get home at that point. But we did have a lovely
hike up Vernal Falls during the day we were there.
The rest of my summer was more
shenanigans in the spirit of YOLO. I showed my sister around the Bay
Area, did lots of touristy things, would go places on a whim just to
see if it was cool, and did a few things that shouldn't be written
about on blogs. And it was wonderful. I love blogging and journaling,
and I don't intend to stop either of them. But just for a summer, it
was nice to live life unrecorded, without pondering too much the
actions and words of the day, just living life in the moment.
