Montana Nights

So, the past two days have been pretty eventful, as I have been trying to keep busy and also still explore. I think the exploring aspect of my semester will continue well into the spring months, as there is so much to get to know around here! I'll let you know what I've been doing for the past couple days, but hold on to your seats folks, it'll be exciting!

Thursday night, we attended Downtown ToNight at Caras Park in Missoula. There was live (very good) music, a beergarden, and great food. Unlike Wisconsin, the beergarden does not exactly equal tons of people trying to get wasted! It was really refreshing. We had some amazing Mexican food that was unfinishable but delicious. It was a bit smoky for the entire night, and ashes kept finding their ways into our beer to disintegrate. Oh well - good roughage. The night was also very windy, which definitely helped the wildfires to have their worst night yet! The flames right now are visible from Missoula at night - one whole horizon of a mountain is lit up bright orange. It is crazy! And let me tell you, the live music brought out some "interesting" people. There was one couple who was apparently also present at Out to Lunch on Wednesday who were some sort of interpretive dancers. Or at least that's what I think they were doing. They were definitely on drugs, and it was not normal. This morning, I asked my roommate (who I just met) about these people. She knew exactly who I was talking about with hardly any description! All it took to be on the same page was a, "Was the man wearing cut-off shorts?". "Yep - that's him!". Anyways, she says that these two people are apparently multi-millionaires. I asked, "Holy man, what do they do?" The answer, I guess, is what I was expecting - "Drugs". Ohhhhh, okay - don't worry people-who-care-about-me, I will steer clear of the interpretive dancing in the park.

Friday morning, I had to take Mom to the bus station, where she was grabbing a bus to Whitefish, which is just outside of Glacier National Park, where she stayed for Friday night before jumping on an Amtrak to come home on Saturday. It was so sad! I shed about three tears because it is always hard to say good-bye, and let's be honest, I am going to miss her! (Thanks, Mom, for road-tripping with me and putting up with me while I moved!) After I left, I definitely got messed up on the roads (darn one-ways) but found my way home eventually.

I had about 45 minutes before I had to leave for orientation, and honestly, my stomach was in KNOTS! I was sooooo nervous. So many questions were running through my head. What if they don't like me? What if I don't do well? What if my courseload is too hard? What if I am not a good TA? What if....what if....what if....?????? I was definitely shaking in my flip-flops, and I almost threw up. Thank goodness I didn't! Mom took a picture of me on my first day of school before she left, so it was sort of like kindergarten again. I arrived at orientation a little too early (imagine that...it doesn't run in the family or anything) but when the other students showed up, I met them. Orientation started, and one of the students never showed up, so there were only 8 of us. It is a nice group. Throughout the day, we all got to know each other a little better, and everyone seems so wonderful! Honestly, too, it is a very intimidating group - well-traveled, intelligent, experienced, amazing work/volunteer histories, articulate, etc. Hopefully it will be a very collaborative group where each of our individual experiences and specialties can be used to help each other learn. There is a couple students that have backgrounds in creative arts (theatre, photojournalism, art education, etc.), so hopefully their creativity can be transferred to me! All-in-all, it seems like a great group to work with for the next year. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics work out.

Last night, four of us met to have a few drinks at Kettlehouse, which is a brewery in town. Since I live about two miles from campus, I did the whole debate - "Do I walk or do I bike? If I walk, it's a long walk later. If I bike, I do not want to bike home after a few drinks. That is unsafe. If I walk, I can talk on the cellphone on the way. If I drive my car - uhhhh, Lynn, don't even think about driving! This is a pedestrian-friendly city! Dumb thought...walk or bike, walk or bike, walk or bike....uhhh this is a tough decision....uhhh okay, I'll walk...that way, I don't have to bike home later." Exhausting! Such decisions to make. Anyways, when I got there, I literally thought I was walking into a warehouse - wait, that's what it was - a warehouse. But, inside there was a brewery. Actually, it reminded me of a country bar in Wisconsin where someone just put a bar into a shed or a garage. It was awesome! They had tons of interesting beers, but I decided to try "Fresh Bong Water" - daring, but mmmmm, delicious! Apparently, the "Old Bong Water" is not good. Note for later. After a couple drinks, we went to my friend Erin's house in order to drive to her boyfriend's house, which is in the South Hills of Missoula. I definitely went to put our beer in the back of his truck, and screamed, "Holy crap! There are antlers back here!" Yes, there were antlers in the back of his truck. Ummm....okay.....oh, Montana. Another gal, Kendra, is from Seattle, and antlers are not a normal thing for her either! It was fun...we laughed it off and just thought, "Ohhh, Montana." We better get used to it! Anyways, we we went to Erin's boyfriend's house and these guys are apparently world-class grillers. Erin says they grill out every night. And I'm not talking "throw some brats and hamburgers on the grill" grilling. It's more like "mush all the meat together, throw in onions and spices, and make 2-inch thick burgers" grilling. It was a sight to see. The choices of the night were, "Would you like beef or elk?" Elk...something new! Hmm, well I stuck with my spinach caeser salad but tried a bite of Julia's elk burger. Honestly, it was very tasty and savory. Yum. Anyways, I stuck with just the one bite but it was very good. The night ended with a very fun game of Scattergories before we all headed home. Shwoo - I was tired.

This morning, I made a point of not turning my alarm clock in and slept to the late hour of 8:30...then slept again to the late hour of 9:15. Wandering around in my pajamas in the kitchen, I met my roommate! She came home yesterday from Great Falls (where she is from) and was just also in New York interviewing for internships for the spring. Very cool and very nice gal! I think we will get along well. She offered really great advice about the city, the school, the people around here, etc. I also had intentions of going to the farmer's market this morning, but my cramped shins (from climbing the mountain the other day) really inhibited my motivation. So, hence, I am writing in my blog and will probably do some studying for Monday (we were supposed to have 2 books read before orientation even began!). It is also birthday-day for two girls in my program today, so I think we'll get together for dinner and/or drinks later. One of the girls just moved here from Ohio, so I can imagine it would be tough to be in a new town on your birthday! We'll try to make her feel at home.

Anyways...peace, love, and happiness everyone!