oh, hey. so yeah. i'm back in the states. been back for a couple weeks actually. one of my first impressions on the drive from the airport was how many goddamn lawns there are. i'm still not used to it. i knew they were wasteful before, but after being somewhere were there are no lawns (most random patches of land are either just fallow or planted with vegetables), it's a more visceral reaction. and of course it's weird in other ways.
i've been going on short trips around-- chicago, madison, etc. chicago was completely awesome, as far as i'm concerned, but it may have had more to do with the people i met up with than the city itself-- though the art institute, field museum, oriental institute, garfield park conservatory, architecture, etc. were pretty great. i couchsurfed at this place with 12 (variously artsy) people living in an old ballroom. slept on the roof when the weather was nice. they had a couple performances at their place. also got some busking in, before my bridge broke-- my goal was to at least break even for the trip, which i still managed to do. plus a cute girl dropped some flowers in my case as she passed. also had the opportunity to go birdwatching (with an avian neurobiologist, no less) which i haven't really done for ages.
and around milwaukee, i haven't been up to terribly much. just eating, drinking good beer, carousing, saw bad plus play in the park the other day, rented a paddleboat for the hell of it, etc. but it's just nice to be out and being social, after the semi-isolation and limited social circle that goes with living in a small city in china. my mom gave me the tour of her work-- she works for the american geographical society at one of the largest map libraries in north america. I got to see the rare room, which included original ptolemy maps, giant volumes from captain cook's journeys with beautiful illustrations of all the flora and fauna they encountered, a buckminster fuller globe, and a whole lot else.
anyways. i'm leaving for the wilderness school, which i've mentioned previously, on the 11th, so i'll be almost completely cut off from the inside world for a couple months. if you want to send me a letter, i'd be happy to send you the address, just PM me.
i've been going on short trips around-- chicago, madison, etc. chicago was completely awesome, as far as i'm concerned, but it may have had more to do with the people i met up with than the city itself-- though the art institute, field museum, oriental institute, garfield park conservatory, architecture, etc. were pretty great. i couchsurfed at this place with 12 (variously artsy) people living in an old ballroom. slept on the roof when the weather was nice. they had a couple performances at their place. also got some busking in, before my bridge broke-- my goal was to at least break even for the trip, which i still managed to do. plus a cute girl dropped some flowers in my case as she passed. also had the opportunity to go birdwatching (with an avian neurobiologist, no less) which i haven't really done for ages.
and around milwaukee, i haven't been up to terribly much. just eating, drinking good beer, carousing, saw bad plus play in the park the other day, rented a paddleboat for the hell of it, etc. but it's just nice to be out and being social, after the semi-isolation and limited social circle that goes with living in a small city in china. my mom gave me the tour of her work-- she works for the american geographical society at one of the largest map libraries in north america. I got to see the rare room, which included original ptolemy maps, giant volumes from captain cook's journeys with beautiful illustrations of all the flora and fauna they encountered, a buckminster fuller globe, and a whole lot else.
anyways. i'm leaving for the wilderness school, which i've mentioned previously, on the 11th, so i'll be almost completely cut off from the inside world for a couple months. if you want to send me a letter, i'd be happy to send you the address, just PM me.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
lemonkid:
Your bridge broke? Balllls.
toothpickmoe:
Taking advantage of being stateside, I see. I'm quite jealous of the rare maps room visit.