Travel.

You know you're in the middle of travel season when:

*You refer to your cozy, budget friendly hotel as "home."

*That guy at your favorite restaurant in the town you've only been in for 5 days starts recognizing your face and remembers your name.

*The first thing you do upon entering your own bedroom on those very few days in which you actually get to sleep in it is take your comforter, fold it up and place it in the corner. You're simply acting as you (or I) do upon entering a hotel room--remove that silky, weird bedspread and place it elsewhere.

*When you're talking to another Simpson admissions counselor on the phone, and you say "I'm sitting on the couch in my hotel room" and she says "What!?! You have a couch?! Ugh!!" Well, it's at that point that you realize there might be a little furniture deprivation happening.

*You can't really remember what your co-workers look like.

*Your bank statement shows that you've purchased a tank of gas at least every two or three days.

*Since you see your roommates an average of 12 hours a week, they forget that you actually live in the same apartment as them. You do stop home occasionally to pay the bills though.

*Even when you are home, you don't bother unpacking and continue to live out of your suitcase--you'll only be home for a day and a half, what's the point?

*You're visiting your sister for a day, and your dad happens to be there, too--when he looks in your car he about passes out on the lawn over how you've just gone and "trashed" it. *I just don't think he quite understands what it is that I do. Sheesh. If he knew that my car was essentially my home for the last month or so, he might realize that it happens to be my bedroom, office, living room, and that little place on the floor of the passenger seat just so happens to be my temporary garbage can--what of it?!

*When you actually do go out for dinner with another person (which is seldom), you automatically pull your book out of your purse and start reading it anyway.

*You can't really recall the last time you did laundry...

*You haven't seen Andy in weeks.

*You have 20x more interaction with people via Facebook or texting than face to face.

*You have, however, seen a ton of awesome kids in only a few short weeks!

Bare Necessities

I have found that life on the road requires several things that in any other situation wouldn't be considered "necessities." Dear friends, you should know that the things I am going to tell you about, well, I'm not sure I would function on the road without them.

First of all: a cell phone. Sometimes the road is long and the sun is blinding and you have been in the car for hours without real human interaction. This is when the cell phone is very handy. Several times I've been right on the line between sane and crazy and have found that a little human conversation goes a long way...I say "human conversation" because talking to the cows and other farm animals as you drive by their farms just doesn't cut it...at least in my book.

Secondly: a map. If you're anything like me, you're easily distracted on the road. You look around only to find that you are on highway 218 when you should be on 52. It is at times like these when that map comes in very handy. Of course, you could just call into the office and nicely ask whomever answers to mapquest you some directions out of there--that would be the easiest option, right? Right. But, when you're out in the middle of nowhere, that cell phone I just spoke of so lovingly won't bother working for you and you'll try to dial in spite of the icon of that little phone with the line through it with no real return.

Thirdly: a camera. When you roll into a town and find something cool, you can waste lots of time by busting out the ole camera. I'm in this phase of messing with the settings and turning the cows into cartoon characters, and turning everything different colors--I find it is a good way to waste a little time when I arrive too early.

Fourthly: a book. Of course, the camera works wonderfully for time wasting, but on those lovely drizzly, gloomy, wet days, time is better spent in the car. For this, I find that reading a book is a great distraction. I just started a book my English-teaching sister recommended called "Chasing Grace," and the author's dry humor is quite entertaining.

Fifthly (is that a word?): music. I have to have music in the car. I would be terribly embarrassed if I was ever put on one of those TV shows that videotapes people while they are driving in their cars because I'm the one that's not only singing at the top of her lungs, but also dancing around in my seat waving my hands in the air. At the beginning of the week I was on my James Blunt kick (his new CD rocks!) and then I moved into some Keith Urban, Counting Crows, Tristan Prettyman, A Fine Frenzy, Damien Rice, and of course, the classic Goo Goo Dolls. After listening to these CDs four times each, though, the mind craves something else. So, I reached into the back seat and grabbed the old CD collection. At the beginning of travel season I put all my CDs in the car--all of them. The really old stuff, I mean, the Lion King Soundtrack is in this CD-folio. Anyway, I always go through and pick out the ones that I haven't listened to in ages--embarrassing music, like the Spice Girls and Hanson, and the classics like Fleetwood Mac and Journey, and then of course, there is the random collection of them Mix CDs that were so cool at the time of their creation. (Believe me, they still are!) A couple colleagues of mine recommend books on tape--I see their point, but I've got a whole lot more "Mmm-bop-ing" to do before I switch to the narrated story telling.

Sixth: a little give in the waistband of your pants. One of the not so wonderful things about being on the road is you have to grab lunch on the run sometimes. When you are in these very small towns, lunch on the run often consists of whatever you can find at the local gas station--not always the easiest way to eat healthy! Well, when what you find is pizza that has clearly been sitting in that display case for at least two hours soaking in a puddle of grease, and two minutes later you are driving down the highway and you suddenly find yourself licking up the river of that orange grease that has now made its way down to your wrist...well...enough said...

On the road again...

Well, travel season is back in full swing for me. After a week in the office last week, I am once again on the road, living in a lovely hotel, driving around the countryside and trying not to get lost in NE Iowa.


I am in Decorah this week, and I am visiting all of the schools in this area. I am getting to know this area a lot better, but the other night, I was trying to get from my hotel to some food downtown...well, I thought I would go around the back way, but the road I was on turned to gravel...I thought for sure it would just run right back in to town--yeah, no, not so much. I ended up driving aimlessly down this winding gravel road for about 10 minutes before I was freaked out enough to turn around--it was dark and raining and creepy!

Yesterday, I was at Crestwood, Decorah, Waukon, and Kee high schools. Kee is in Lansing, Iowa, which sits right on the Mississippi river. After visiting the school, I drove up to an overlook where I should have had an amazing view of the river. Unfortunately, my view was a little less than perfect as it has been raining, cloudy, dreary, grey and gloomy for the last 63 hours! I didn't let that get me down, though, and I took plenty of pictures--but I don't think they'll come out very well.

Today I am visiting several places between Nashua and Decorah. I had a few minutes to spare between schools this morning so I thought I would try to find the world's smallest church. Turns out, it's so small I can't even find it. However, on Thursday, I am taking a route that should take me close to where it's supposed to be again, and I *will* find it.

I stopped for lunch thinking Chinese sounded good, and this lady gave me a sample of the Orange Chicken that was way hotter than I expected. I somehow not only burnt the entire inside of my mouth and the entirety of my throat, but also touched my face with some gooey orange sauce and have a lovely little red burn mark right by my lip. Unsafe. She coulda told me to blow on it. Sheesh.

All in all it has been a great week so far. I have spoken with lots of great kids, and stopped at a few fun places along the way. I'll update you later in the week as to whether I find the tiny church...

"Beneath the Whispering Maples"

This week finds me back at Simpson all week long. On campus today, I found myself reminiscing about my favorite experiences as an undergrad. I was in great classes, had incredible professors, I did a ton of research and got involved in dynamic discussions in class. Those things were great, and along with the classes and the homework are the experiences students have outside of the classroom...so, here are only a select few of the most memorable out-of-the-classroom-experiences that I could find pictures for. Believe me, if I tried to list ALL of the days that stand out as "wonderful" while in college, well, there's no way I could fit that into one blog.

Sledding down the hills by Blank Performing Arts Center on campus is a long standing winter tradition here at SC. My friends and I were going to attempt to go to Aquahbi (the lake that is about 5 miles south of town) one night after a blizzard to walk around and hang out in the snow. After it became very obvious that there was no way we would make it out there since the roads were so bad, we decided to trek across campus and sled down the hills. It remains one of my favorite nights of all time!

There was also that time that time that my friends and I packed up after our finals were over in December and took a trip out of town for a few days! We had spent so much time together during that semester that one would think we would have wanted to get away from each other--not the case!!

Having afternoon tea during my semester in London with friends is also a great memory. The photo on the far left is the entire group out back of Macy House, where we lived for several months. The other photo is me and my friend/co-traveler Becky, and was taken at a tea museum on the day before we left London to come back to the states.

Getting dressed up in completely goofy/dorky costumes with friends before the Intramural Dodgeball Competition will likely go down as one of the most enjoyable Saturday nights of our lives!
After riding donkeys up the hillside and taking in the fantastic views in Greece, we took an overnight ferry to the Island of Rhodes in Greece during my May Term trip to Greece and Turkey. A few of the girls on the trip and myself randomly stopped at a Henna Tattoo stand on the island and got fake tattoos on our feet. We tried to convince everyone that they were real...they washed off in a couple weeks.

Getting a group of people together to put on a production to raise money for a shelter in Warren County took a lot of time--but it ended up being a great experience. We had lots of fun, and it was great to see people come together for such a great cause.

I did a great deal of international travel while at Simpson, but the domestic trip I took to Northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters was definitely the most trying. A group of 8 of us went out with four canoes, carried all of our food, clothing, and supplies for a week. We were dropped off by our outfitter, and after we started off on that first lake, civilization was long gone. Physically, mentally, and emotionally, this was the toughest trip I have ever taken, but it was also the most rewarding, and one of the most beautiful!

Many of the best memories of my life are connected to Simpson--the friends I made there, the opportunities I had, the classes I took, people I met, and the person I became while I spent four short years writing my own history "beneath the whispering maples."

Phog.

Week three of traveling has come and gone, and starting tomorrow, I am in the office for one full week. Although I am loving traveling, this week in the office couldn't come at a better time. Last week I was in Wisconsin, and it was quite beautiful. Most of the trees have started to change, and I was constantly gawking at the colors and how different it looked. I also got lost several times, and on my way home at the end of the week I drove down the wrong road for 30 miles before I realized I wasn't where I thought I was.

So, what have I seen along the way? I am sure you are wondering, so I will show you by deeming this a photo blog, my phog, if you will.

The red, gold, orange, and green of Wisconsin in the fall.

This is only one example of the windy, curvy, tree covered highways I have told you about.

Remember that time I told you about when I was following that oversized load on an impassable highway? Well, here's proof.

And here's my speedometer while impatiently following--notice it says 38 mph.

But, if anything can make the drive better, it's a rainbow. It's kindof hard to see...

This is the beauty of driving in the fog early in the morning...

You cannot see anything...

Here's a quaint little church just off the highway outside of Dubuque.

And the Abbey across the road.

And, well, look at this....Sometimes, when she's lucky, I stop by to see my five month old niece Emerson because she's pretty much on my way to most areas of my territory. I know, she's friggen' adorable, isn't she?! Oh, and that's my sister, Autumn, and brother-in-law, Clint.

This week, everyone is out in different places--Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas City, all over Iowa--but, me, I get to stay in I-town. I have a lot of office stuff to catch up on, and haven't done my laundry since I started traveling as life has been so busy, and well, it's about time I do that. So, this week couldn't have come at a better time. Also, a few students I've met along the way are coming to campus for visits, so I am excited to be there to meet with them!!

Hotels.

Well, folks, the last few days in Wisconsin have been pretty exciting--for real! I have found that every road traveled is NEVER straight, and I continue to flourish in the general luck that I won't be lost (except for that one time!). I have been able to share Simpson, as well as my experiences there, with so many students throughout Wisconsin, and thus, this has been a great week so far (and it's only Wednesday!).

All that aside, though, I have to tell you about my hotel experiences. I realize it is only Wednesday and so I have only been on the road for a few days, but really, the hotels I have run into deserve some conversation.

First, I stayed at a hotel on Sunday night, and in the midst of the storms that ran through after their course in Iowa, the hotel thought they had a gas leak. So, they called everyone in their rooms and asked them to head outside until they figured out what was going on--awesome, what else would one want to do aside from walk outside so that the sideways rain can pelt you in the face, and the squad cars can pull up and everyone is staring everyone else down in their jammies?... I didn't have any better plans either. Turns out it was just the pilot light from the hot tub that went out or something...

Then, Monday night, I was in a hotel that I thought was, like, so nice. Turns out that it looks nice, however, one can hear every sound that is going on both in the hallway and in every room ajacent to the one you are staying in--good luck getting to sleep. I thought I had won the battle since I had a suite type room, so I could sleep on the sofa-bed. Well, the sofa bed was ridiculously uncomfortable, and so I could not sleep there either. After an hour or so I made my way back to the real bed hoping the neighbors had turned of the tele and went to bed.

Last night, though...well, let me tell you about yesterday and all of its glory. I left LaCrosse, got lost, and drove an extra 35 minutes out of the way as I wasn't reading directions well. And, mind you, it was DOWNPOURING on me the entire two hours from there to Eau Claire. Once I finally got here to this lovely hotel I seriously considered doing a cheer in the hallway because I was excited to have won one small battle. And, it only got better. As I entered my room, I found my king size bed decked out with 6 full size pillows--duh, heaven! And then, as I examined further, I found the "pillow menu." Yeah, for real!! If you don't like the pillows they have for you here, you call the front desk and they bring you a new kind. Honestly, there are four other options: Firm Synthetic, Medium Down, Firm Down, and a U-Shape neck support pillow. I thoroughly enjoyed the pillows I already had!!

Well, I best be off--another college fair in Eau Claire is calling my name. (Just so you know, it's pronounced "O" Claire, not "U" Claire).