Monday, November 06, 2006

the first trip back (word count: 9492)

Of all amazing things, I actually spent my weekend in Grand Rapids! Or, more accurately, driving to and from Grand Rapids. We only had two nights and one day there, which was a bit less than the grand tour I had envisioned earlier this year. Still… we packed a lot in!


Isn’t this a trip? Me, Laura, and Colonel Brandon, before the play.

So yes, we were able to see Sense and Sensibility. I heard last spring that it was going to be their fall play, and Mom and I started making our plans then. I was hoping for three days in Grand Rapids, but between NaNoWriMo and the other work here, my pilgrimage shrunk to just Friday night and Saturday. We left early Sunday morning.

But, in that time we managed to meet up with Laura, one of my apartment-mates from last fall. So good to see her again! And I was able to catch up with the rest of her pictures from Spain and from this fall. We also made it to Noodle & Co twice, a favorite restaurant (penne rosa or thai curry soup… how to decide??). Mom studied in Beaners on Saturday morning, glad to have a new coffeeshop to visit. (Our area here is shockingly devoid of coffeeshops. I was so spoiled with all my options in Grand Rapids!) Laura and I hung out during the afternoon, and then met up again for the play in the evening.

And it was such a great play! I caught Emma when they performed it a few years back, and I absolutely loved it. I was hoping that they would do Sense and Sensibility in the same way—a fun, light, comedic style. And they did! Everyone performed brilliantly. We had front row seats, and I had to keep my feet tucked under my chair so that I wouldn’t trip the actors when they came close, as they certainly did throughout the evening.

Though it was late, I was still able to catch up with another friend—another Laura! (Some of the best people in the world are named Laura, I’ve found.) I saw a few other people after the play, and then Laura and I met at Steak and Shake. We hadn’t seen each other since May, so it was especially nice to see her again. We were suitemates freshman year… so, so long ago!

Friends had been warning me about my first trip back to Calvin—I had heard repeatedly that it felt strange to come back. And it was, but not in the way I was expecting. I guess I was prepared for a weird, sort of out-of-body experience. Maybe, for instance, I would feel compelled to turn in a paper or study at the library… I don’t really know what I was prepared for, actually. But I think the strange thing was very simple: I missed seeing a handful of my closest friends. Calvin isn’t the same without Kim (in London), Amanda (in D.C.), Sarah (in Africa), Maria (in India), Karen (who’s here in St. Louis) another Laura (in Canada) or Jen (in Hungary). And while I loved seeing my Lauras, I missed seeing the rest of my girls, and I missed the way that Calvin was our own.

So this weekend was a little strange in that way. Perhaps, if I had more time it would have been less strange. I could have met up with some professors (which I really had wanted to do!) and more friends. Maybe could have grabbed a mocha in the Fishhouse. Now that would have made it like old times!—jl

Note: my novel is up to 9492 words!! Despite all my fears and my terrible lack of scenery…

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 11/06 at 10:04 AM
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