The Voyage of Self-Discovery, Part II

Tuesday afternoon found me in St. Paul, at Louise’s apartment, with nothing to do. The reason for this was not that there was nothing to do, but simply that Louise was at work, and I did not have the energy to go exploring on my own. My time in St. Paul was fun, though it was a shame that Louise had to work as much as she did. I wanted to spend more time with her, but since she is moving to France in the fall to teach English, she needs all the money she can get. I would not force her to ask for time off because of me. In any case, I had a good time. We went to Books and Bars, which is a fantastic idea of a book club combined with alcohol; what could be better?! They read a book each month then meet at a bar to discuss it. It was really fun even though I hadn’t read the book. After that was the mid night show of Harry Potter 6, which I, surprisingly, enjoyed immensely (my opinions on the Harry Potter movies could take up an entire new blog); I especially love seeing all the high schoolers get all dressed up, though it makes me feel really old. Louise showed me Macalester and we got sandwiches to eat by the river. We walked around the Minneapolis Institute of Art and saw the big cherry spoon at the sculpture garden. It was great to hang out with her, since, like Katie, I had rarely seen her since Christmas break. But on Friday, after dinner, I headed out to Mounds View for the final part of my road trip.

The event was fantastic, and if I can manage to go again next year, I will. It was definitely smaller than I was expecting, but I think that made it better, since the teachers were a bit more forced to focus on you. I was incredibly nervous; this was my very first swing event where I didn’t know anyone. In the past, any event I had gone to was also attended by at least two or three other Obies, but here, it was only me. I shouldn’t have worried though, since everyone there was incredibly nice and welcoming. At least two people came up to me on the first night, asking if I was out of town, and oh, where are you from? How did you hear about us? It was great. It was also nicer than expected to go back to an empty hotel room, but myself, after the dances were over. I feel like I was finally as courageous as I’d always imagined myself to be, going to this event alone. And that was definitely a good thing, since a lot of this trip was about finding stuff out about myself.

I drove home on Monday, stopping Monday night in Chicago with Katie. It was uneventful, which was fine by me. I made it home Tuesday without incident, in good time. I guess I did figure some things out on this trip, though they were mainly things that I need to work on, like my patience and my impulse, but I guess it’s a start. I know what I need to work on now, and am doing my best to do so. I hope to be a better, more grounded person when I get to Concord in the fall, so hopefully my time in Thailand is somewhat productive.