Having been away from Yow Yow! for several days, I almost contemplated not even coming back for a bit. I can’t tell you how nice it feels to truly “take a vacation.” If you’re a blogger, I’m sure you understand what it feels like when you feel consumed by it. Over spring break (my last spring ever,) I decided in a very last minute decision to take a road trip with my friends Riley and Jeanette to visit our dear friend Samantha in San Francisco.
This was a trip of milestones:
- First road trip
- First college spring break
- First trip with friends
- First time visiting a friend in another state
It was a pretty big deal and I won’t lie to you and say that I wasn’t nervous about it before going on the trip, but I did it and it happened and I feel so much better for just going through with it. I am lucky to have such wonderful friends and to be in their company for my 22nd birthday.
Initially, I went into this trip thinking that I would want to have a birthday project like I did two years ago. On the car ride up, the three of us brainstormed and settled on an idea that would lead us to conversing with strangers and locals about their experiences in San Francisco. How did they get there? Why do they stay? What did San Francisco do for them? We had the Flipcam and planned on documenting every one that we met along the way, but when it came down to it, the project never got done. In fact, it never got started. It’s not because we can’t commit, but it’s because we initially believed that we had wanted to understand other people when really what we wanted was to understand ourselves in a different setting. I can’t speak for the rest of my friends, but this is what I was feeling.
On the way back, Riley and I were reflecting on the trip and he asked me: “You went on this trip and you had a lot of fun. Do you see now that there was nothing to be afraid of? What were you afraid of to start with?”
And my answer to that question was just the unknown. I’d never had an experience like this one before, but in the company of my friends and having a place to stay and having that security, I think deep down I always knew I’d be okay. There’s always going to be that sense of risk, but I think I learned through this experience that there’s a difference between taking a risk and having a great experience because you know that all other factors are going to be safe and just be being plain reckless. These two things aren’t the same.
On a not-so-serious note, I’m 22! I achieved all of the milestones above and I spent three days in a beautiful city.
from top to bottom: Jeanette, Riley, and Samantha
[...] I just realized that my first post about San Francisco was a little bit weak. It was all sorts of reflective-ness and such, but I [...]