Hello there,
I’ve decided that the coolest thing about my trip thus far is that I now have a really strong desire to see America. I’ve always wanted to travel within the US, but never as badly as I’ve wanted to go abroad. Last year, I was planning on going to the east coast a couple of times and I was really excited about it, but they fell through in various parts of the plan. I’ve had friends that also went on road trips to Canada, California, etc. and I’ve always been way jealous.
Anyway, after speaking with so many Europeans who have been not only to NYC, but Chicago, California, Florida, etc, I’m really very serious about travelling within the US very soon. On the bright side, for once, there could not be a better time for me to want to take a trip. I’ll be done with school this spring, and I’ll have a whole year to just work and get ready for grad school. I can’t think of a better way to break up the monotony than to travel!
I already planned on coming back to Europe or something eventually before
grad school, but maybe instead of one big trip, I’ll embark on many small trips. My friend Christina is actually engaging in a THREE MONTH road trip across the US in February, and after talking with her so much, I realize exactly how awesome that would be and also how important it would be. I mean, as much I think it’s important to experience other cultures, I’ve realized it’s also important to go to important places in the US. As I said before, it’s very easy to argue that we are in ‘The American Age’ right now…and places like New York, Washington and LA have unprecedented effects on the world culturally and politically. In addition, many places in the US (Hawaii, the south, for example) do have their own distinct cultural tendencies, so it’s not like travelling to them would be that culturally deplete. Furthermore, travelling to places like New Orleans or Detroit could be eye-opening in so many unexpected ways.
In a dream scenario, I would lease a car and start in Iowa, and move my way north and west, through Montana (hitting up Yellowstone & Mount Rushmore) to Seattle. I’d then perhaps go to Canada for a day just to add another country to my list, then go south, all the way to San Diego (stopping in San Franciscso, Los Angeles and some college towns like Berkeley, of course). Perhaps I’d also head to Tiajuana for a little while, before then heading east, through Arizona (Grant Canyon!), to Vegas, Colorado (there’s so much I’d want to see here), then further west through Texas (Austin, Dallas) to New Orleans, then head to Florida (checking out Miami and who knows what else), then up north through the coastal south (perhaps Atlanta?) and finally through Washington, New York, Boston, Cape Cod, then Maine. I’d then drive back to Iowa through Philadelphia and stop in various places along the way in the Rust Belt.
This will probably never happen…but I honestly can’t think of anything more fun than random excursions throughout the US in the next 2 years that would add up to this itinerary in some form or another. Christmas Break trip to Hawaii anyone? Spring Break vacation to Miami? Summer road trip? If anything, I’m just motivated to get out of Iowa. Throughout the stressful summer and upon my emotional arrival in Europe, I kind of got into this mode where I was semi-ok with living in Iowa City until grad school. Thoughts would go through my head like ‘Ya know, if nothing else, it wouldn’t be that bad to just live in Iowa City for a year…I could hang out with Jess, and it’d be cheap, and I could go abroad here and there, and blah blah blah blah’ and I know that that was all nerves talking. Now that I’ve gotten over the initial shock of being in a foreign country and (kind of) alone, I realize just how important it is to just get the fuck out.
Because Iowa City isn’t a real place to live. It’s just this…bubble, where everything’s close and everyone knows everyone and all anyone cares about is alcohol and football, and guys are ass holes but girls don’t care, and it’s probably typical of any college town out there, but I know that I want more for my life than that. A year from now, I better not still be avoiding the ped mall if I walk home from the Java House at night. I better not be buying everything at Coral Ridge Mall!
Even in high school, I wanted to get OUT. But, for a few different reasons, I decided to go to Iowa. I mean, obviously, Iowa was and is the best school in Iowa, hands down. For that reason, I didn't look at UNI or Ames really, because they weren't as big and they weren't as good, and it seemed dumb to pay the same but get an education that wasn't as good. And I definitely didn't want to go to some shitty private school in Iowa that only had like 40 majors. Then Iowa offered me $40,000...add to that some personal stuff I now wish I could forget (ie me chickening out and settling), and Iowa was really the best option for me.
On the one hand, I'm semi-glad I settled and decided not to pursue Northwestern or UIC or Texas, because I couldn't have afforded them, even if I didn't realize it then. I most likely would have ended up transferring after a year and that would have been terrible, plus I would have paid so much more to go to Iowa as a transfer student. I'm also glad I didn't go to UNI or Ames because I feel I would hate them 10x more than Iowa City...but at least they'd be farther from Tipton, if only in distance, as opposed to anything else. But in the end, I was still really excited to get out of Tipton and into Iowa City. I guess I thought in some ways it would be different, and I guess it was, but hardly. The initial euphoria of college lasted about a year and a half. By the second semester oof my sophomore year, I was already making spreadsheets about the best grad schools to go to...and dreaming about something better. And it's pretty much been that way ever since.
But when I was on my way out of Iowa City a few weeks ago, I became less sure about how much I disliked where I live. However, I kept telling myself the same thing, over and over again, even though I was so nervous to leave, because I knew it was true: “ I deserve better than Iowa City. This is not what I want for my life.” Because I do deserve better! Living in Iowa City getting trashed every weekend at the same bars (or constantly dealing with those who do) and eating at the same marginal restaurants and only experiencing the flat plains of Iowa, something I’ve known my entire life, is not what I want for my life! Now or in the future! And now that I’ve gotten over the initial shock of being abroad once again, I’m ready to embrace what I know is true.
And I’m really excited for it. For like the whole last 4 months, I've been feeling really good about this year (2010-2011). It's just...glowing with possibility, I guess. There is so much to do and see and experience and I have so many options, that it's really, truly exciting. I fully realize now that college was not the beginning of the rest of my life, as I thought for so long, but really a transition. And I'm ready for a change!
I’ve proven that I can make things happen and that I’m not afraid to take chances, so I know that I can get out of Iowa City ASAP and see and experience and live in bigger and better places. And I can't wait.
And I still want to go to Costa Rica!
- Josh A
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