My next grand adventure was a rather spontaneous one, after a long time of talking about how fun it would be to visit my friend Joe in America, we suddenly found cheap plane tickets and decided we should go for it! Having never been to America, I wasn't sure what to expect but I was really excited to be going somewhere entirely new. I was also hoping to catch up with a bunch of my American friends I had made over the years, but unfortunately ran out of time (maybe next time!)
I would be visiting the states of Indiana and Michigan, as Joe went to Notre Dame university and thus lived in the university town of South Bend, a few hours from Chicago. The university grounds and buildings were beautiful and I found myself a bit in awe at how fancy they were.
To my absolute delight, I also discovered that squirrels ran freely around the campus! I got super close to this one for a photo, before deciding it might run up my leg and bite me, and backed off a little.
I wandered the university a few times, going for runs a bit while everyone was at class, and enjoying the beautiful buildings.
Staying in a student house was a cool experience, and I often felt like I was in the movies, with games of beer pong and red solo cups! The contents of the fridge were also amusingly student-like, and one of my first ports of call was to the supermarket to get some ingredients for cooking. The amount of packaged and processed food was something I had expected, but there were still things I found bizarre, like the cleaning of raw eggs which stripped the outside protective layer off (turning the shells white) and then spraying them with a chemical sanitizer before selling them on the shelves. To me the idea was strange, unnatural and a waste of time and money, but I suppose some would argue it made them more hygienic? It was interesting to think about.
I found out of everything I missed the fresh produce of Europe when I was in America - though that isn't to say one couldn't make healthy food if you knew to make informed decisions on the produce.
Thursday nights all the people from the flats' old dorm would come over and much beer pong and singing along to music would occur, which was always fun. I also got to experience BBQ wings on a cheap student night, Trivia night at the local bar (and proved quite useless as all the questions were aimed at Americans) and attempt beer pong myself (and fail rather miserably).
My first experience of note -aside from the small every-day things - was Thanksgiving.
We had a long drive ahead of us to head into Michigan to visit Joe's parents for the big event, which had all of his extended family there too! I felt slightly awkward tagging along as the random friend, but it actually was really awesome, and everyone was very nice and friendly. Joe's mum even gave me a Michigan t shirt!
I had unfortunately gotten sick and so was battling a bad cold and cough - but one of the numerous relatives gave me a hot toddy which turned out to be honey and strong alcohol and I'm not sure what else but it certainly soothed my throat! The day ended with the kids getting cream pies to the face which was rather entertaining though I had no inclination to join in.
I also tried sweet potato pie (and to be honest I really don't get what the big deal is) and stuffing and homemade cranberry sauce (which I could eat far too much of).
The next interesting trip I took was to Chicago which I was really excited to see, to get a bit of my tourist fix!
Chicago was a big city, full of beggars and people rushing, but I enjoyed it regardless - though by the end of the day I was very ready to leave.
Our first stop was the Field Museum, which had a really interesting collection and I spent far longer in than I expected. The first area we went through was a huge exhibit of taxidermied animals which whilst slightly creepy was also quite interesting as I saw many animals that I had only read about. This sabre-tooth deer was especially interesting (it was also interesting how obvious the age of taxidermied animals were, as they varied in how well they had been done, and how moth-eaten their fur looked).
The most mind-blowing exibition for me was the entire ancient Egyptian temple with two huge chamber rooms that had been literally lifted up and taken from Egypt and transported here, in a time when the taking of such things by the British and Americans was done without the blink of an eye.
I was adamant that a trip to Chicago was not complete without trying deep dish pizza, a phenomenon famous to Chicago alone. More like a pie than a pizza, the toppings are mixed with cheese and tomato sauce in a very thick layer. It was interesting to try, but I could see why it hadn't spread beyond Chicago. The pizza was rich without being particularly satisfying, and didn't have that crunchy cheesy goodness that pizza should have - I'm glad I tried it but in the future I'll stick to the original!
Our next port of call was the Bean (also known rather pretentiously as the 'cloud gate') where I got slightly excited.
Tired of the city and fatigued by the cold, we hopped on the train to head back to South Bend.
As the days passed in my stay, it grew steadily colder until at last the thing I had been hoping for - snow!!!!
I had spent my winter before in Annecy and had hoped for snow then, being in the French Alps, however I was unlucky enough to experience an unusually warm winter and there was barely any snow at all. Here finally, it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, until in some places it was almost as high as my knees!
Excited by the initial snow, we braved the fact that it was still falling to build my first ever snowman - and with all the Doctor Who watching we were doing, we gave him a cool little fez out of a red Solo cup.
Like the nutcases we are, we soon decided a BBQ would be a great plan once there was a break i the snowfall. Huddled around this contraption cooking sausages and drinking beers whilst wrapped in many layers and wearing hats and gloves, we looked ridiculously homeless.
My favourite thing was how we could scoop up snow and shove it into the chilly bin (even just leave the drinks in a snowdrift) to keep our beers nice and icy!
Before I knew it I was already nearing the end of my trip, with only one more weekend before I would be flying back to the UK.
Joe had sneakily come up with the idea of a surprise trip to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a beautiful area around part of Lake Michigan. The drive itself was also really fun, as we passed some lovely landscapes on our way.
It was an icy cold day, and snow scattered the ground. We had the woods to ourselves and it made for a lovely walk. It was strange for me to be in the nature but hear no birdsong, like the world was asleep.
Once we walked down onto the beach I was shocked to realise the sand was frozen in places! It crunched beneath my feet, and there were icicles on the driftwood! I had never seen icicles before, so a picture was needed.
Feeling rather like icicles ourselves after our pleasant but chilly walk along the beach, we decided one last road trip was needed, and headed towards an Amish town!
Amish people are one of those stereotypical things that we think of when we think of America, so I had been quite keen to seem them (at times it felt like I was looking excitedly for a snow leopard or something equally rare, as we stalked them into their natural habitat of the Amish town - it felt rather weird).
It was snowing heavily when we arrived, and also a Sunday, so there wasn't a soul in sight and unfortunately everything was closed. Although disappointing as this meant I didn't get to spot an Amish (A rather culturally insensitive sounding game I had started to accidentally play in my head) wandering the town itself in the falling snow was sort of lovely. I could almost imagine this was the lamp post in the woods in Narnia.
The town itself was called Shipshewana, where quilting seemed to be a big deal (I feel like this sums up the town quite well, as it was lovely, but rather small and just a little quaint).
I did get very excited to discover that the Amish go around in sleighs in the snow! Like Father Christmas! Alas, I did not see one in action, though I was pleased to spot an Amish lady walking along the road as we were driving out of the town. Success!
Overall, my trip to America was awesome, and went by far too fast. It was so interesting to explore somewhere I had seen so much about on TV, and see what it was really like (at least in this geographical area). I would love to return and see more one day!
One of the funniest things for me was how patriotic people were, with American flags in people's gardens and all about the place! Why the flags?
'Because 'merica!' As my friend Joe would say.
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