On to a New Adventure

Welcome to my brand-spankin new blog! My brother Quinn has not one, but two blogs and asked me a few weeks ago when I was going to start my own. I figured now is as good a time as any.

As you may know, (if you are not a stranger to me), I spent last semester studying Art in Cortona, Italy. I learned a lot about people, myself, my art, and the relationships between the three. It was the greatest adventure and the time of my life. However, I am now back to US dollars, gigantic cars and everything American. Thus begins my new adventure.

I have recently become a student at the U of M and a resident of Minneapolis, MN: The Midwest's "Big Apple." I arrived Thursday and have absurd amounts of free time since classes begin Tuesday. I don't know anyone on campus here, so I have been happily painting, writing, reading and watching crappy tv shows on Hulu (i.e. Gilmore Girls...). I'm taking babysteps in the process of "venturing in the city." Yesterday I wandered around campus and got lost for a little while. I don't know how many times I would be walking along, realize I was going the wrong way, and suddenly stop, make some motion to suggest I had "just remembered something" and turn back in the direction I came in order to avoid bystanders knowing I was lost (you know you've done that before).

Today I decided that since I found my way back to my dorm yesterday, I could take on the city Metro system. I even planned ahead and wrote down which routes to take and how to get to them. I shared the bus stop with two French-speaking people and a singing boy who had a cartoon monkey on every article of his clothing. I'm still learning how to people watch without staring too much. I successfully made it to Target in the Nicollet mall! On my way back, I wasted close to an hour waiting for the bus that the Metro Transit website told me to take. Then, after pushing through crowds of post-game Vikings fans (Go Vikes!) I put on a desperate face and befriended a bus driver who irritably told me which bus to take. And on top of that, I was dropped off at a stop much closer than the one I had planned on! And now my spirits are high, my stomach is full of Chicken Tortilla soup, and I'm looking forward to exploring campus tomorrow without getting lost!

That's all for now.