Saturday, June 16, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Bonnaroo
Bonnaroo. I don't even know where to start. It was an even bigger adventure than I ever thought it would be. In that sense it parallels a lot of the experiences I've had abroad, which, for some reason, I've never quite had in the US. Something about being abroad simply made me more flexible, more willing to fall into these kinds of crazy situations. I'm more cautious when I'm home.
In any case, last week on Wednesday morning, I was ready to head out for Manchester, Tennessee with a couple of strangers I met on the internet (not as sketchy as it sounds). After a few hours of waiting, I started becoming a little impatient. Turns out, my ride and I would not be leaving until after 8:00 in the evening (a little mix-up there, because I had assumed morning...it is after all, an eight hour or more drive). So we had a fun little night drive, other than the fact that I was so nervous the guy driving was going to fall asleep at the wheel that I stayed up nearly all night long to keep an eye on him. He held out for a good while but eventually we all took turns at the wheel. I drove the last couple hours and then we were there (at around 8:00 AM - long night!).
I met up with my friend from study abroad, Ellie, getting my stuff situated and then we hit the town. Or centeroo, that is. There was no one I was particularly excited about on Thursday but it was a good chance to get situated and work out where everything was. The stages were humorously named but unnecessarily complicated and the joke got old quickly: This Tent, That Tent, The Other Tent, What Stage, Which Stage. You can probably guess the confusion that developed whenever people asked for directions...
After an exhausting 40 hours of travel and exploration on about two hours of sleep, I collapsed back at the tent I was staying at with Ellie and her friends. Over the course of the next few days, I saw so many amazing bands, some I'd been looking forward to from the second I bought my ticket and others I'd never heard of before. The Kooks were really fun, although they were only given about an hour of stage time. I loved it when the crowd sang along with Seaside. I stumbled across Afrocubanism, Fiest, and Blind Pilot, all of which were really good. Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A. were great. I was surprised to see how shy Gabriela was when she addressed the crowd because she plays with so much passion that it is almost as if the audience knows all her secrets anyway! At one point, she started a song very enthusiastically (jumping around and dancing) but the whole band just stood silently and watched her. Rodrigo walked towards her, gesturing her to stop but it took a few seconds to get her to realize what was going on - she was playing the wrong song. She hid her face away from the crowd in embarrassment and took a few seconds to compose herself before starting again. The crowd was forgiving and they went on, finishing up an amazing set! Small sample of their performance here.
One of the most boisterous (and kind of violent) performances I have ever been to was the Flogging Molly concert. Which, ya know, it would. Anyways, I'm glad I had a small buffer between myself and the people dancing/fighting/pushing each other. There was a lot of crowd surfing too, which was all good and fun, although I was a little worried for the girl with a cast on one arm and a beer in the other. Deciding between Dispatch and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers was painful, although I managed to get some of both. Skrillex was...interesting to see, but I did not really get the point of a concert like that at a festival like Bonnaroo. Or any festival really. Isn't that what clubs are for?
My all time favorite concert was Bon Iver. The reason I even found out about Bonnaroo was because of this song: Blood Bank. I've always liked Bon Iver, but when I saw the youtube videos of Justin Vernon playing at Jazzfest this year (you know, just to catch up on everything I was missing), I knew I had to see Bon Iver playing that song. Bon Iver's live performances are just leagues ahead of their CDS. A little research and I found Bonnaroo, which not only had Bon Iver, but a multitude of other bands I'd been wanting to see. Anyways, I managed to get right close up to the stage by waiting in line for three hours (with the Beach Boys to kill the time). The ground was soggy with water and mud and it reeked so badly I couldn't even identify what the smell could possible be, but it was all worth it! Just. Amazing. I feel like part of me died and came back to life during that concert, which hopefully isn't a too overly dramatic statement.
Anyways, when it ended I'm pretty sure I was in shock. Ellie dragged me along with her to the Civil Wars concert, which took me a little bit of time to transition into because I was still dazed from Bon Iver. It was good concert though and Joy Williams was so pregnant that their roadies were taking bets on whether or not she would go into labor while on stage. Soon after, we went back to the campsite. Ellie and her group were heading off to spend the night at a town a ways outside of Manchester while I had to gather my stuff. I wasn't meeting with the zimride guys until around midnight, after the Phish concert - the last concert of Bonnaroo - so I sat down amongst the crowd with all my stuff, snuggled into my sleeping bag because it was cold, and set up my umbrella because of the rain. It was a nice setup but I was a little paranoid about falling asleep - what if I didn't wake up until long after the concert had ended, and everyone left without me? However, despite some troubles, I managed to find the zimride guys and, after catching some sleep, we set off the next morning. Alabama, Mississippi, and home!
UPDATE
One of my new favorite websites: Music Festival Junkies
In any case, last week on Wednesday morning, I was ready to head out for Manchester, Tennessee with a couple of strangers I met on the internet (not as sketchy as it sounds). After a few hours of waiting, I started becoming a little impatient. Turns out, my ride and I would not be leaving until after 8:00 in the evening (a little mix-up there, because I had assumed morning...it is after all, an eight hour or more drive). So we had a fun little night drive, other than the fact that I was so nervous the guy driving was going to fall asleep at the wheel that I stayed up nearly all night long to keep an eye on him. He held out for a good while but eventually we all took turns at the wheel. I drove the last couple hours and then we were there (at around 8:00 AM - long night!).
I met up with my friend from study abroad, Ellie, getting my stuff situated and then we hit the town. Or centeroo, that is. There was no one I was particularly excited about on Thursday but it was a good chance to get situated and work out where everything was. The stages were humorously named but unnecessarily complicated and the joke got old quickly: This Tent, That Tent, The Other Tent, What Stage, Which Stage. You can probably guess the confusion that developed whenever people asked for directions...
After an exhausting 40 hours of travel and exploration on about two hours of sleep, I collapsed back at the tent I was staying at with Ellie and her friends. Over the course of the next few days, I saw so many amazing bands, some I'd been looking forward to from the second I bought my ticket and others I'd never heard of before. The Kooks were really fun, although they were only given about an hour of stage time. I loved it when the crowd sang along with Seaside. I stumbled across Afrocubanism, Fiest, and Blind Pilot, all of which were really good. Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A. were great. I was surprised to see how shy Gabriela was when she addressed the crowd because she plays with so much passion that it is almost as if the audience knows all her secrets anyway! At one point, she started a song very enthusiastically (jumping around and dancing) but the whole band just stood silently and watched her. Rodrigo walked towards her, gesturing her to stop but it took a few seconds to get her to realize what was going on - she was playing the wrong song. She hid her face away from the crowd in embarrassment and took a few seconds to compose herself before starting again. The crowd was forgiving and they went on, finishing up an amazing set! Small sample of their performance here.
One of the most boisterous (and kind of violent) performances I have ever been to was the Flogging Molly concert. Which, ya know, it would. Anyways, I'm glad I had a small buffer between myself and the people dancing/fighting/pushing each other. There was a lot of crowd surfing too, which was all good and fun, although I was a little worried for the girl with a cast on one arm and a beer in the other. Deciding between Dispatch and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers was painful, although I managed to get some of both. Skrillex was...interesting to see, but I did not really get the point of a concert like that at a festival like Bonnaroo. Or any festival really. Isn't that what clubs are for?
My all time favorite concert was Bon Iver. The reason I even found out about Bonnaroo was because of this song: Blood Bank. I've always liked Bon Iver, but when I saw the youtube videos of Justin Vernon playing at Jazzfest this year (you know, just to catch up on everything I was missing), I knew I had to see Bon Iver playing that song. Bon Iver's live performances are just leagues ahead of their CDS. A little research and I found Bonnaroo, which not only had Bon Iver, but a multitude of other bands I'd been wanting to see. Anyways, I managed to get right close up to the stage by waiting in line for three hours (with the Beach Boys to kill the time). The ground was soggy with water and mud and it reeked so badly I couldn't even identify what the smell could possible be, but it was all worth it! Just. Amazing. I feel like part of me died and came back to life during that concert, which hopefully isn't a too overly dramatic statement.
Anyways, when it ended I'm pretty sure I was in shock. Ellie dragged me along with her to the Civil Wars concert, which took me a little bit of time to transition into because I was still dazed from Bon Iver. It was good concert though and Joy Williams was so pregnant that their roadies were taking bets on whether or not she would go into labor while on stage. Soon after, we went back to the campsite. Ellie and her group were heading off to spend the night at a town a ways outside of Manchester while I had to gather my stuff. I wasn't meeting with the zimride guys until around midnight, after the Phish concert - the last concert of Bonnaroo - so I sat down amongst the crowd with all my stuff, snuggled into my sleeping bag because it was cold, and set up my umbrella because of the rain. It was a nice setup but I was a little paranoid about falling asleep - what if I didn't wake up until long after the concert had ended, and everyone left without me? However, despite some troubles, I managed to find the zimride guys and, after catching some sleep, we set off the next morning. Alabama, Mississippi, and home!
UPDATE
One of my new favorite websites: Music Festival Junkies
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Post-Graduation
I'm back in New Orleans, recovering from the emotional rollercoaster of senior week and graduation. It's still difficult for me to envision not ever living on the Wheaton campus again. For four years (okay, three) it was a place I called home. I'll really miss the place, the classes, but most, importantly, the people.
Thankfully, I have many homes.
In order to stop just bumming around and missing Wheaton, I'm looking to the future. In fact, the day after I got back I started working on all my Fulbright medical forms. I tried to tackle them in Massachusetts and failed miserably...three different appointments for a physical and they all fell through. The universe was sending me a message to wait until I got back to New Orleans. Thankfully, everything is working out a lot better here, although I'm going through more medical tests than I ever thought could possibly be necessary.
I'm also making plans for the summer - like Bonnaroo! I haven't been to a music festival since I left New Orleans in '08, which is, honestly, very sad. So I'll be driving up to Tennessee (or paying for a ride there using zimride) to see Bon Iver, the Kooks, Rodrigo y Gabriela and so many more. Then in July, it's off to France, followed by San Francisco, and, finally, Taiwan in August.
In the meantime, I also need to figure out what I'll be doing after the Fulbright in Taiwan. Some of the paperwork I have to fill out demands to know around when I'd like to fly back to the US from Taiwan. Umm, no idea really. I don't know yet if I'll need to be back earlier (early June?) or later (late July?) for whatever I'll be doing the year after that. What will I be doing? I have some ideas (I always do) but I'll get back to that later...
Thankfully, I have many homes.
In order to stop just bumming around and missing Wheaton, I'm looking to the future. In fact, the day after I got back I started working on all my Fulbright medical forms. I tried to tackle them in Massachusetts and failed miserably...three different appointments for a physical and they all fell through. The universe was sending me a message to wait until I got back to New Orleans. Thankfully, everything is working out a lot better here, although I'm going through more medical tests than I ever thought could possibly be necessary.
I'm also making plans for the summer - like Bonnaroo! I haven't been to a music festival since I left New Orleans in '08, which is, honestly, very sad. So I'll be driving up to Tennessee (or paying for a ride there using zimride) to see Bon Iver, the Kooks, Rodrigo y Gabriela and so many more. Then in July, it's off to France, followed by San Francisco, and, finally, Taiwan in August.
In the meantime, I also need to figure out what I'll be doing after the Fulbright in Taiwan. Some of the paperwork I have to fill out demands to know around when I'd like to fly back to the US from Taiwan. Umm, no idea really. I don't know yet if I'll need to be back earlier (early June?) or later (late July?) for whatever I'll be doing the year after that. What will I be doing? I have some ideas (I always do) but I'll get back to that later...
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Fort Lauderdale (or Hollywood, rather?)
So I'm in Fort Lauderdale with two of my Wheaton friends for spring break! So far, everything's been great. We got here late Friday night on a direct flight from Boston. Then the taxi dropped us off at the hostel but the main office was closed. They had left us a key card and a map to our room in the mail box, but when we tried using the map, we failed. We wandered around for about an hour, people continuously asking us what we were doing simply walking around in circles with all our luggage. We asked for help and no one knew how to read the map...it made no sense! But we found it. Eventually. After I'd spent some time wondering if we were just going to sleep on the beach or what. So we got settled and then went out for drinks at a restaurant on the beach. Then, totally beat, went back and slept.
We spent Saturday on the Hollywood beach. We're apparently in an area called Hollywood, a bit outside of Fort Lauderdale (in the south, so close to Miami). There are a lot of old people. And restaurants and oldies blaring on the radios...it's a funny place, although I'm glad we ended up here. We had Greek food for dinner and then went to the Taco Shack (we'd been there earlier for lunch - they have amazing Korean inspired tacos!). There was a band playing that was great but the tables were all full. A waitress looked up and thought we were with a different group - "six people?" - and when we tried to correct her, people in the other group said we were with them. So that's how we ended up having drinks with two guys from Brazil and a woman from Venezuela. The band actually took a break so that the Brazilian guys could do a capoeira performance for the whole restaurant! It was really cool.
So on Sunday we actually ended up leaving Hollywood beach for a beach in Fort Lauderdale, which basically had a ton of college students on spring break. We went there with several Australians we'd met at our hostel - a couple of them are actually from the same place that Sara went to for study abroad. Also, on our way there, I got a call from Sean, one of my friends from study abroad in Xi'an. He had just dropped off a friend at the Fort Lauderdale airport and so he was in the area. Unfortunately, it took him like an hour to park (there was an insane amount of people there) but he made it and it was so amazing seeing someone from China! We all hung out, and went for a couple swims. The water was so nice, but the waves were really strong! The lifeguards kept blowing their whistles to keep people from going too far. Then Sean gave us a ride back to the hostel, and we got some really good pizza which we ate while watching the boats go by on the canal opposite from the beach. Now I'm back at the hostel, just hanging out at the common room. We have the Hangover playing on the TV. The wind outside is incredibly strong, I think there might be a storm starting. Hopefully it doesn't last too long! I want to maybe go kayaking tomorrow.
We spent Saturday on the Hollywood beach. We're apparently in an area called Hollywood, a bit outside of Fort Lauderdale (in the south, so close to Miami). There are a lot of old people. And restaurants and oldies blaring on the radios...it's a funny place, although I'm glad we ended up here. We had Greek food for dinner and then went to the Taco Shack (we'd been there earlier for lunch - they have amazing Korean inspired tacos!). There was a band playing that was great but the tables were all full. A waitress looked up and thought we were with a different group - "six people?" - and when we tried to correct her, people in the other group said we were with them. So that's how we ended up having drinks with two guys from Brazil and a woman from Venezuela. The band actually took a break so that the Brazilian guys could do a capoeira performance for the whole restaurant! It was really cool.
So on Sunday we actually ended up leaving Hollywood beach for a beach in Fort Lauderdale, which basically had a ton of college students on spring break. We went there with several Australians we'd met at our hostel - a couple of them are actually from the same place that Sara went to for study abroad. Also, on our way there, I got a call from Sean, one of my friends from study abroad in Xi'an. He had just dropped off a friend at the Fort Lauderdale airport and so he was in the area. Unfortunately, it took him like an hour to park (there was an insane amount of people there) but he made it and it was so amazing seeing someone from China! We all hung out, and went for a couple swims. The water was so nice, but the waves were really strong! The lifeguards kept blowing their whistles to keep people from going too far. Then Sean gave us a ride back to the hostel, and we got some really good pizza which we ate while watching the boats go by on the canal opposite from the beach. Now I'm back at the hostel, just hanging out at the common room. We have the Hangover playing on the TV. The wind outside is incredibly strong, I think there might be a storm starting. Hopefully it doesn't last too long! I want to maybe go kayaking tomorrow.
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