We climaxed in Chicago. There, we
reached the peak like a couple just had a climax satisfaction during their “on-bed-thing.”
The previous fiery to see Chicago becomes mediocre. Like that couple starts
wearing their clothes, grabbing other stuffs and packing to go back home after
the long tiring efforts, each of us considered the essential things to make decision
upon, wondering whether to go back home or continue the journey to get another
climax. A lot of desires started popping up. As you might have experienced in
your life, not necessarily traveling experience, you just love to throw things
out. We had so many plans on the table during the discussion whether to continue or terminate. Miami was the next city which we wanted to see next. However, the atmosphere was getting silent, and the noise
was getting down as we close to make the final decision. Each person made his
own calculation. We wondered about our respective imaginary individual to-do-list
schedule. Most essentially, our willingness to pay to travel was just falling
below the equilibrium point. Therefore,
we winded up making decision to scatter in Chicago. My friend Rafael went back
home through the same route; we, two of us, decided to take the different route
heading to Iowa City as we return home.We tried to be open in the discussion in order to make the best decision. We could have gone to Miami if one person forced his wants over the others’ or vice-versa, two persons forced their desires over the one's. We learned that it would be so painful if we do not speak from the bottom or our hearts. Each one finally agreed that we could not afford to travel from the north to the south of the States. Thus, we broke up in Chicago afterwards.
Now, the Iowa State has no distinctive thing for international travelers. If you are randomly asking some international travelers, the first dude would say “do you want to go there to harvest corn and eat them?” That sounds not so interesting for those who come to the US, if this week, to see where Robin Williams is going to be buried or to find out where his favorite restaurants or hangout venues are located in the New York City, DC, Vegas, etc. The Iowa City even has no name in the list of most travelers’ itineraries, I guess. I recall my friend Simão even intimidated me of having that plan to visit the Iowa City. He told me when we were heading to Iowa. He said that the Iowa City is one of the boring cities in the US, according to some travelers. Once I heard that, I was like “oh…don’t mention that otherwise it would kill our desire to visit that place.” I am not that fond of lavish and well-known places or specific objects in my traveling passion. To make you not to suspicion on what I’ve said, I do like the mainstream attractions. However, I do not force myself into what everyone considers “you must visit this one otherwise you are behind.” That is not really me. I would go if I got a chance. I also NEITHER come to see my girlfriend there in Iowa City whom I met a month ago in the utopian land. We bumped right at the stairways of the restroom in a local airport. She slipped and fell down right in front of me. I grabbed her hands, and I saved her live after she fainted because I pumped her mouth giving her air to breathe. Her father then called offering me a one-week-free-stay in his one million worth house located just behind of his private zoo. Those are NOT the “whys” I went to that place which most people do not consider to go.
I was interested to visit the Iowa City due to some personal attachment. I am not implying that Iowa City was in my “must visit place” list here in the US. But, all of this happened coincidentally. I visited this city because, at the time, when we failed to reach another climax in Miami, this city popped up into my mind. The reason was because it is located along the route where I would pass by to go home. Instead of returning back through St. Louis where we became homeless for several hours, I had better to visit that new place about which I personally curious. My interest popped up when I recalled the story from some years back when I applied the scholarship which brought me here. It is similar to your first love story, probably. For instance, it is so hard to forget a person you met and loved first time. It always sticks in your mind. The similar atmosphere or events would, most of the time, bring you back to the memory. This happens to me why I visited Iowa City in lieu of other which would have been more interesting given the story I mentioned before.
It is like your life experience that something which comes first is not always the best, but there, you will learn that first thing in order to become better. The story starts when the University of Iowa’s website popped up on my Google search engine when I was first time searching for three preferred universities for the scholarship application requirement. I made a too-early judgment which I thought Iowa University was the best-suited University in the US for my Prospective Study. As a newbie, I was glued with what I found first. My desktop mouse’s cursor navigated me even deeper into it through the links I clicked. I read lots of information and watched a bunch of videos showing what the campus has to offer. I became fall in love without exploring other options. From that outset, I feel like “I know this university first, so I should go to this school.” But things started to change as I opened up my eyes through the windows that there are many other options I could consider, and the reality spoke differently. The University of Iowa is not the only one and not established for me to study there. I can just visit, see, and communicate with it through certain ways, but it does not belong to me. There was some disappointment for sure because I invested my time and efforts in searching information, but it does not fit my slot; therefore life must go on, and I ended up here where I am currently in.
Having that virtual experience with the University of Iowa, I found it interesting to visit in person. It’s convenient to my return trip after all. After arriving there, approximately at mid night, we found out that the city has some cheaper hostels that we afford. Therefore, once we got off the bus, we went to a backpacker hostel and stayed there for one night. The expedition started at the morning. At this time, I have to agree partly with the people who do not see a big difference among the American cities. But, when I came closer to the inner city, I realized that I have not seen that place before in my life, and it has no twin. Therefore, it is always worth to explore.
The plan was just to roam around the campus area. However, the city transit along with the campus bus services were running, so we were lucky enough to see a large part of that city because otherwise it would have been so painful as it is typically in any college town, the city bus runs less frequent because all the campus bus drivers are resting at home on Sundays. This city might be different though, but I based on what I saw in Lawrence so far. Without studying the bus routes, we applied the tip-to-tip tour and no-get-off strategy along the each route in order to see more places as quickly as possible. We just did sightseeing and took some photos in both the on-campus routes as well as off-campus routes. That’s how we satisfied ourselves to offset the money and energy we have invested. It sounds like not so exciting, right? But, try this experience once if you want to prove it.
The sightseeing activity finished late
at the launch hour. We searched Asian restaurants around the downtown area
which adjoined to the campus area. I recall a story from another friend of mine; he ever
traveled to the Washington DC area; his friend desperately looked for rice to
eat when they were touring. That guy told his entourage’s responsible person
that “we must find an Asian restaurant to eat rice. Why is it a must? Because if
I don’t eat rice I will die.” Ours was not that extreme though, but we were desperately
looking for a restaurant which has rice on its menu list. Eating rice will make the
gut stays in harmony with the mind so that it keeps the journey exciting as
well. That was our traveling philosophy at the time. We found a suitable Chinese
restaurant, eventually. We were not familiar with most of the menus’ names, but
we just wanted to spot ‘rice’, no matter what comes with it. We ordered plenty
of food. We were accompanied by the Mandarin pop music which I just recognized ‘Wo
Ai Ni’ in one song, and then nothing more.
After finished eating, we started yawning as our lack of sleep effect has kicked in. My friend decided to lay his back on a seamless bench right under a well-shaded clean and beautiful lawn, whereas I decided to roam around the campus to find out the department building in which I would have been, and not the Marvin Hall, University of Kansas which currently I am in. I walked around and recognized that there is not much difference in the campus area site. The alleys, buildings, landscape, etc. were planned and built orderly, and they are classical looking buildings. I snapped lots of pictures. In addition, not to miss the square of the campus, I went to the main library building. There, I felt like I were a robber who was walking in to a place in which somebody was about say “ hey stranger who are you and where are you going.” That feeling crossed my mind because that place does not belong to me, and I just did not get the feeling. I believed that there was no body noticed that a stranger was walking around them. That’s actually not a problem at all because who cares. It is like I don’t care who is sitting or standing next to me in the Watson Library, my university’s main library building, unless I ask his student card, but that’s just rude if I do it to somebody.
I then came back to the place where my friend was laying for a while. I woke him up, and I said, “Bro, you missed lots of things because I just found so many interesting places, and I went into this campus’ main library.” He became interested to see those places afterwards; I turned out to be his guide. I led him to where I have been before, and he became my model when I snapped some important and beautiful objects around the campus area. Eventually, the sun set from the far down of the western horizon of the Iowa City. The day was getting dark; shops, restaurants started to close. That was the sign for us to go to the bus terminal where the wheels would bring us home, and we were about to end our journey because the normal life as students is waiting us.
That is the end of the whole story.
**Hope this gives you an inspiration
