>i just want to document the appreciation that i have for my fellow Columbian classmates. I was sitting in the DEES student lounge the other day working on my ridiculously long, hard dynamics homework when my peers began discussing the emotion of the Bulgarian language compared to that of the English language. It occurred to me, that of the 10 or so people in the room, that the Chinese, Farsi, Bulgarian, French, a Nigerian dialect and Spanish languages were all represented. i am so blessed to be amongst such great diversity.

>

Laura has followed and chronicled our summer adventures of living and traveling on the road so poignantly and with such a humorous, realistic voice. I can only hope to write half as beautifully when I guest write on her blog.

I honestly miss reliving my past life every few days through those blog posts. Besides our roadtrip being the opportunity of a lifetime to spend some time together with my best friend, one of the main things Laura and I learned on our trip is the wonderfully beautiful idea that (and im stealing this from Laura’s blog post) the beauty of the States, and our world is not just found in a national park , tropical beach, or historic city, but is lived out everyday —whether it is a 500 mile drive away or right around the corner.

I am a nature girl at heart. I feel most at home when I am barefoot in a field with the mountains as my guardian. This same sentiment is one of the most fundamental things that bond laura and I so closely, as wild girl soul mates if you will. Now I don’t know if you are a loyal reader of camping across America, but if you are then I’m sure you know that I am currently living in Manhattan.

YES MANHATTAN- A CONCRETE JUNGLE !!! Who would have ever though? But I had the great opportunity to get my masters in Climate and Society at Columbia (still staying true to my nature girl instincts). I am learning all about the climate, greenhouse gases, clouds, earth resources, etc. Hey, a girl’s got to learn about it to protect it, right? Anyways. When I first arrived in Manhattan I was unsure of how I would possibly manage to survive in the craziest city on Earth coming from Stonehill’s 375 acre wooded campus. If anyone knows anything about me it’s that I like my trees, my grass, my big sky, my flowers, my trails and my animals. That and that I love to paint landscapes. In fact, the second week of laura and my friendship (dating way back to the year 2006) we crept away into the night to paint a masterpiece (ok, maybe not) using our bare feet, sticks and leaves. Yes, I kid you not. (Laura, btw where is our painting—its gonna go over our fire place whenever we get the chance to live together).

BUT how can I complain about Manhattan? My block is beautiful; on one corner I have the famous Seinfeld restaurant TOM’S and at the other end is the biggest catholic cathedral in the word (unfinished, but still). Riverside Park is a mere three blocks away. The subway station, my 24 hour grocery store, my 24 hour Duane Reade, a post office, Columbia’s campus, a plethora of shops, restaurants, and bars are literally a skip away (a skip being 4 blocks max—my post office is 10 feet to the left of my door).

I am taking the lesson that laura and I so humbly learned on the road—that beauty and adventure is everywhere. And I am lucky with my busy grad student schedule that beauty and adventure are right around the corner.

>Thursday’s are the one day I have off from both jobs, so I try to find a genuine balance between productivity and vegging out. This Thursday was no exception, as I found myself both relaxing and getting some stuff done. For instance,

>Sorry that it has been a little while-I swear I am trying my best to keep up with this. I have really been looking forward to writing another post, yet I have been so swamped and exhausted lately that I haven’t had a moment to breathe. Which leads me to realization #1: I actually want a 9-5 job. Now, this is not to say that I want a mindless paper-pushing cubicle job where I sit in my business casual for eight hours minus the lunch break and the staff meetings. Rather, I simply yearn for the ability to be home by dinner time and to have my weekends off. Currently, my schedule is kind of insane. I’ll walk you through it.

>
So, I decided I might try to keep this going. I think I got over my initial fear of blogs–just as long as I refrain from telling you about mundane, daily nuances, or start showing you pictures of my children on their first day of school (kidding). Those blogs are the WORST. In any case, I’ll try my best to be witty. Maybe informative. Imaginative. Who knows! For now though, I miss writing for an audience, and a blog seems to be a good way to fulfill this need.

Here is the entrance. Not quite burglar proof.

>

— Bill Bryson

>Final Days: the last picture of us not taken in New York…

>Entering the Eastern Time Zone: Feels Too Close to Home

>

The Loveless Cafe: Certainly Not Devoid of Love

Since we had such a late night, Nic and I did not find ourselves eager to get out of bed with the sunrise. Plus, there were no mountains to climb in Nashville, so we let ourselves sleep in and let our appetites do the climbing instead. By around 11am, we were ready to indulge in southern comfort food, so we browsed the interwebs for some of Nashville’s best kept secrets.

We stumbled upon this place online: The Loveless Cafe. It wasn’t until I saw Loveless featured on the Travel Channel two months later did I realize how famous it was; still, whether featured on television or not, it only took one meal for Nic and I to realize this restaurant was the real deal. Just humor me and check out the menu. And then drool along with me. MENU!

We had a breakfast feast that included homemade biscuits with jam and butter, french toast, eggs, grits, and mimosas. The biscuits were absolutely incredible, and I must say I am grit’s newest fan. If I go back–when I go back–I definitely need to try some fried chicken.

After we ate, we went into the cafe store, Hams and Jams. We perused the aisles, checking out an assortment of books (see above), some bacon-scented air fresheners, and biscuit mixes.

After our lovely brunch, we headed back into the heart of Nashville. We soon learned how expensive cowboy boots could be, and that people are out drinking whiskey and playing live music no matter what time of the day. We also encountered a fair amount of Elvis paraphernalia, seeing as Memphis is only two hours west.

After walking around for a few hours to digest all those damn biscuits, we got back into the car and went searching for the Grand Ol Opry. We finally found it, but due to the harsh flooding that occurred about a month back, the venue was still closed. We drove back to check out the Country Music Hall of Fame instead, but it was unfortunately closing soon for the day. We loitered in the museum store for thirty minutes, and decided to call it a day.

>

A Splendid Coincidence

After our stomachs were filled with Sonic fast-food, we said goodbye to both Little Rock and Knipper and got back in the car. Where to next? 400 miles east to Nashville, Tennessee!

Nicole’s good friend Devin and a few other Stonehill kids were also driving around the US; they rented an RV and were going on tour to promote a new CD. Nic decided to call Devin to ask him if he had passed through Nashville yet, and if so, to recommend some places to check out. Turns out they were ALSO headed to Nashville, and had two shows that evening! We were really excited to see some familiar faces, hear good music, and explore a new city with friends (that were under the age of 40, might I add).

The first bar we went to had an open-mic; four performers would sit on stage and then they’d go down the line and back, singing their little country hearts our and strummin on their guitars. I soon learned that people are TALENTED in Nashville, and while country music may not be my thing, I did appreciate their musicality. Also, almost all of them had a little story to tell before their song, which always went something like this: “hey ya’ll, I’m from a small town in Alabama (or Tennessee, Mississippi, or Arkansas), and this here song is bout tryin to make it in the big city.” Most songs also had to do with love, God, southern food, or county fairs.

After Devin and his friends performed, we went to another bar that lured a younger crowd-looots of southern sweet hearts with cowboy hats, really tight jeans, and really big butts. We listened to more live music, marveled at the fact you can smoke cigarettes inside, and slowly fell in love with this unique city.

We drove home at around 3am (way past our bedtime) and I got pulled over for the first time EVER right on Broadway downtown. I forgot to put my lights on…my bad. What can I say, the city lights were just so bright! During the whole ordeal, Nic was pretty inebriated in the passengers seat, so she was laughing and gladly offering to pay for the ticket. Which I didn’t even get. Hooza!

More about our following day in Nashville soon, which included biscuits and grits, whiskey saloons, and the grand ol opry.