Thoughts from the Road PT. 3

So its official: The Trip is now over. I am writing this sitting in my room back at school, back in the dismal reality of New Jersey and College winter. What I would like is some time to reflect on this trip, and what I taught me and showed me. Unfortunately, I spent about a third of the drive doing hw, so that should give you an idea of what my schedule looks like now that I am back. So with the small amount of time that I do have, I’m going to kind of list observations/things I learned, and extrapolate them as time permits.

-Back to my first post on the trip, it is really cool how much smaller the world seems now. I mean, we drove across and back the United States in a week. Not easy, but very fun nonetheless.

-Its interesting that, where most people would have cabin fever from being in a dodge caravan that long, we grew into it. It was our home for 8 days, and we treated it like that (yes, right down to the fact that it was an absolute mess). But we had a routine in the van, it became a nice home away from home for us. We had a sleeping area, food, well, everywhere, a rotation on driving, it was nice. I am almost sad to see it go….almost. Its been a long, strange trip, and I am very happy for the way it played out. We toyed with many variations (number of people, whether or not to take an RV, etc.) but I think we accidentally stumbled upon the best one. Three guys, one van, 6 cities, 6500 miles of road.

-I was thinking the other night, and this in a way is very close to being just as large a culmination of my college career as I could get. Four years ago, driving to Philadelphia would have been taxing, and today, I organized and planned this trip. That’s pretty cool. I had to use a lot of the connections I have made over the years, as well as all of my social competence and ingenuity. Not to say that driving across the country is a laudable achievement, but its kind of cool to think of in the regard of the different skills I used.

-Seeing the evolution of our culture and its roots. Its odd, driving through an area, listening to the radio, etc., you can get a good general feel for an area. Also, if you know the history of an area, you can see how the different regional cultures shaped these cities. Its amazing how every city has such a distinct and unique inherent personality.

- In thinking about my future and where I want to move to, I gradually came to a conclusion as this went on. There is no right answer. I keep looking for the perfect fit and everything, when in reality, I could make any city a perfect fit. I met so many people from so many diverse backgrounds, that it was impossible to not realize that your experience is what you make of it, not what the area makes of it. I met:
-native Chicagoan in san fran
-native LA in san fran
-Native LA in Chicago
-etc.
and all of them were happy. The focus of their happiness wasn’t what their respective new home offered, because they could find what made them happy in any major city. What made them happy was the fact that they were experiencing it all in a new city. I also think that’s what allowed us to get along so well with everyone we hung out with: we shared that same adventurous spirit with them. In all our travels, we may have hung out with 1-3 people that were actually still in the place they grew up. This makes my decision easier (because now there is no pressure to find the perfect place) but harder at the same time (because now its harder to distinguish between which cities I think I will be happier in).

-Over the course of the trip, we hung out with a huge age range of people (19-28). Most of these people were working or going to school in locations that they were not raised in. It was interesting to see how different ages reacted to the shock of being in new areas. One couple we met in Chicago were in their late 20s and had moved there to go to grad school after working in the career world a couple years. They were acclimated so much quicker (it seems) than someone who did it younger. Then again, it could have been because they did the move as a couple, who knows. It was cool to see how different people react to the move that I am planning on doing, and seeing that more than one person goes through the same progression of dealing with it.

-All in all this was an awesomely fun trip. But I didn’t go on this trip to only have fun. I saw this as an amazing learning and maturation experience. I suggest it to anyone. In talking to people on our trip, I realize that I have very slowly and quietly done lots of awesome traveling in the last couple years. I have been to and partied in so many of the biggest cities in America. (LA, SF, Vegas, Memphis, NOLA, Austin, New York, Philly, Boston, Chicago, everywhere in between) and driven through dozens more. I have seen the natural climates and landscapes of deserts, mountains, forests, etc. I have seen the way that the entire country lives. And I am only 22. Granted, much of my experience in these cities is limited, but it is still experience. I believe that it is such an enlightening and enriching experience, I love it. I am hooked to the road. My traveling has given me a much wider window on the world, a stronger sense of confidence in myself to survive once I am independent, plus some really good stories.

- Its amazing the worlds you can travel to in a days time. Entire worlds that exist independently of each other. Each city is a microcosm society. It gives you a feeling the scale of things, that you can be somewhere else in a days time starting over.

Thoughts from the Road PT. 1

In looking at why I love road tripping so much, I think I may have stumbled upon it as we left. It makes the world seem smaller. When people talk about other areas of the country, its often with an air in their voices of them being a world away. And when we can say that we have driven to these places, its almost a power trip of sorts, being able to make this huge country that much smaller, just to us. Its very cool to do this, and see all these different places. Yes, I could have gone to a resort, but I don’t see much value in that. I can party and go to the beach for free in the summer, why spend all this money to go? When, on the flipside, I can spend half the money going to all these awesome places, and seeing what this country has to offer. On this trip alone, we plan to go through 20 states. I am going to get to watch the sun set on the pacific, experience St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago, South by Southwest in Austin, and driving from LA to San Fransisco along the PCH. For us as well, the driving is a huge part of the fun. The freedom of having nothing but open road in front of you, spending time with your bros, it’s a great feeling. To most sane people, that kind of a trip is not fun. But I don’t see this trip as brief periods of fun, with large blocks of boring driving in between. I see it as 9 days of a great time with the bros. I guess that’s where the disconnect is with people who don’t understand the trip. It seems like half don’t understand it, and half are jealous of it. Oh well. Right now its 7:30 (all times eastern) and we are driving on I-76 (the Pennsylvania Turnpike) between Philly and Lancaster. From here, we are driving out to Harrisburg to I-80, then down to Tennessee on that road. Not many stories to tell right now, both because we are only two hours out, and also because this particular stretch of road (Jersey to Tennessee) we have already driven two times before. When we went down to Texas, we drove to Memphis first, then south. And when we went to New Orleans, we drove down to the middle of Tennessee, then South through Alabama. So this is the boring part. In the coming days, as we cross every climate this country has to offer, I am sure there will be more to write. Check back periodically, because as the trip goes on, I will probably be posting 1-3 updates every time I can have internet access.

So it begins....(Pt. 2)

Leaving Tuscaloosa after a couple hours of stretching our legs, we felt energized, ready to tackle the day. Ready, that is, until we realized we had about 10 hours of driving left (This was after driving more or less straight through from 6ish the previous night.) We still had to drive through half of Alabama, a third of Mississippi, and that little bit of Louisiana before New Orleans. So to say that our enthusiasm was tempered would be an understatement. The day dawned very overcast as well, which would later turn into massive rainstorms that would delay us further. It was here that we began to see the climate and landscape differences the most. In Mississippi and Alabama, there are churches EVERYWHERE. Huge, sprawling complexes that are right off the interstate. I was amazed. Coming from a place of very tiny churches by comparison, and combined with the cacophony of preachers coming from our radio that Sunday morning, it was safe to say that the non-gentile in the car was even more surprised than the two Catholics were.

As we headed further south, however, the interstates seemed to more and more try to dodge anything resembling civilization when at all possible. We began to see houses only every couple miles, then every couple dozen miles, then not at all. As we neared the end of Mississippi (yes, that previous paragraph sums up the remainder of our trip through those two states) we saw a sight that rendered us speechless. On our right, as we got off an exit for gas, was a FEMA staging area. Now, for two of us, this was our first exposure to anything storm related, and to say it was chilling was an understatement. On our left as we pulled off the interstate was an enormous fenced in field. In that fenced in field were FEMA trailers lined up like cattle. I mean, thousands upon thousands of trailers packed wall to wall across this field. And behind it, another field full. And next to it, another field. Then, finally, the administration buildings. Now, I can only assume that these were trailers that had since been returned, and one would think that so many such trailers would indicate progress along the gulf coast, right? Not so, my friends, as we would realize in about two hours time.

Presentations

So I was reading this entry on Made to Stick, and it got me to thinking. Our school is supposedly a great business program (and as I move on in my education, I begrudgingly have to admit it is), yet none of our professors encourage this. The presentations we give are not graded at all on creativity or anything. In fact, I would venture to say that, unless a group has established a rapport with the professor and the class as joking around a lot, a light hearted presentation presented the way Made to Stick implies would even receive a lower grade than a nice boring sleepy one. Its odd that at a supposedly Liberal Arts school (though admittedly it's not hugely to the left) would be more progressive with things like this.

Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense to run presentations that way. I mean, the goal of presentations is to hold attention and educate, right? And education is definitely reliant on holding people's attention. So this seems to be common sense. Take a page from the entertainment industry, and actually put an effort into satisfying your captive presentation audience. Looking at it that way, the classroom (or boardroom) as a miniature entertainment field, the presenter holds a monopoly, attention has to be on him regardless, and because of that, people don't make that effort to actually draw the attention to themselves. Just think though, how much more fun work would be if they did?

So it begins....(Pt. 1)

I never expected this trip to New Orleans to affect me as much as it did. I didn’t even realize that things were still bad down there. When Mike suggested to all of us that we go down, my first thought was “sweet, road trip with the bros.” It was icing on the cake, but by no means was it a motivating factor on its own. I figured that as long as I went and did the work, that wasn’t that messed up a thing to say, right? How's that for rationalization?

As the date got closer, I started to get worried though. You know, that anxious knot in your stomach where you just expect something bad to happen. And it was mostly due to my family and friends. From how they told it, New Orleans was a wild west town with murderers on every street corner. After hearing them describe it, I was wondering how there was anyone left in the town alive.

But it was a road trip(and an epic one at that…21 hours), and we all know that I can never turn down the open road. I don’t know what it is really, but it definitely is going to factor into my career choices in the next couple months; I just have the wanderlust. Give me the choice between a week on the road, or a week on a resort, and I take the road every time (actually made that choice for this spring break, but those are stories for the future.) Maybe it has something to do with my upbringing, because it can never really be said that I was ever grounded in one place. I lived in California long enough to get attached, while visiting family in New Jersey, then moved to Jersey and kept going back to California. Compare that to some people who don’t leave their hometown until they are 18, and its no wonder that my imagination has no domestic borders. Just the thrill of being in a new state or city is enough.

Its so interesting to see all the differences, even the little things. For example, last year when we went to Texas, it was like driving through the billboard chart. You could listen and tell what songs were popular in certain areas and which were universally popular by the hours of time you spent listening to the radio in each market (except Sunday morning, then every station became a Christian station). To me, that is just really cool (hearing all the different markets, not the plethora of Sunday Masses).

So this road trip was no different. We drove west through Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and finally Louisiana. That ability to just pull off and just explore is very tempting, and I never thought having something as bland as a map could give such a feeling of freedom. This resulted in two major instances of us exploring and seeing the area. The second, and briefer, was in Louisiana when we pulled off at a NASA installation thinking it would be cool to look around. The very uncool security guard at the gate dissuaded us of that notion, and we turned around as fast as the crappy dodge caravan could(not very fast). The first, and more interesting, was in Tuscaloosa, very early on a Sunday morning, when we decided to look around the University of Alabama. Let me tell you, what a campus. This place was ridiculous. Now, I have seen some large campuses(UNC, U of MD, UDel, UMass) and this one blew them all away. This school did right what ours failed miserably at. They were celebrating their 175th anniversary (our school is on 155), but they actually got the campus to ooze the history. You walk onto that campus, you can feel the history and pride. Keep in mind, this was on a Sunday morning before school started, so we saw a grand total of four people, so all this came from the campus itself. One other point of interest (for now) about the school. Greeks there must be the happiest people in the world. All the houses are these beautiful houses all next to each other, and they are across the street from Bear Bryant Stadium. That is a tailgaters dream come true. On the other side of the houses? A liquor store, deli, and greek embroidery shop. Now, at this point, we are thinking we have died and found our Elysium, but no sooner did we think that than fate slapped us for being so silly; this was the deep south, and on the third side of the houses was a rather large and impressive looking church. Kinda dampens the fun. Then, as we completed the circle, any envy I felt for those Greeks died a very quick death at the site of the campus police station practically on top of the houses. So, they tempt them with huge open porches, a large stadium, and liquor store in spitting distance, then put a church and police on the other side? Talk about mixed messages.

As we left Tuscaloosa, slightly more tired, and mighty disappointed the entire school was asleep/not there, we knew we had lots of road ahead of us (10ish hours, to be exact). What we didn’t know or realize was exactly what waited for us past Lake Pontchartrain.

Introduction

Down in New Orleans, we went to Bourbon Street four times in one week. I mean, how could you not? A bunch of college kids in New Orleans, it seemed only natural. The first night, truthfully I did not know what to expect. The only comparable thing I had ever seen was Beale Street in Memphis, and that only briefly. But, come on, this was Bourbon Street, right? I was ready for anything, but most of all, I was ready to have the time of my life. As we turned off Canal Street and onto Bourbon, my first thought was “wait, this is it?” In front of me stretched about half a block of brick wall(the sides of the buildings facing Canal). The first store on the right was a half-rate White Castle. And the street was empty. Other than us, there were maybe five people, half of them street musicians. Ok, street musicians are cool, maybe this is still good. Then I looked on the other side of the street, saw the Hustler Store, and beyond it, saw neon signs suspended above the street for as far as I could see. That was the final sight that convinced me that it was going to be a great week. It was not to be on this night, though. As that first night wore on, I was sorely disappointed that it never really got crowded. Then I realized it was Monday night and breathed a little sigh of relief. That night, we went with some other people staying at the church, and they took us to this little bar off Bourbon Street that would come to be involved in the rest of our trip, coloring all our Bourbon Street visits afterward. It was a little Irish cop bar, and as soon as I walked in, I knew I loved it. Very simple, very not crowded, very chill. We sat there the first night, and were regaled by the others of the stories they had accumulated in their time in the city. Hearing these stories(ranging from crime to booze to parties to sob stories), it made me realize that there is no easy way to talk about this trip. There is no easy cut and dry way to explain it to people or anything. This city is so different from anything else in our country that you have to tell all these different stories just to even have a chance at grasping the big picture of it. All these stories and emotions are what make up New Orleans now. You can’t just say, “oh the trip was fine” you feel compelled to immerse the person in your trip the way you were immersed in the city. I have found this city very easily to fall in love with, and impossible to fully leave, ever. A part of me will always stay there, in that week, trying to make some kind of a difference.