They say there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. So the question, "why do we travel?" can't be dumb. However, (and I would bold, italicize and underline that word if possible) there are some answers that are so lacking in intelligence that I find myself staring into the void wondering where we went wrong.
I've been thinking a lot about magic lately.
I spent the flight home from New Orleans cradling my head on a paperback-size excuse for a tray table, feeling vaguely like I should be hospitalized but not knowing for what ailment or for how long.
As we finish up midterms and put the closing touches on our mid-semester essays, it's time to put the books away, let our brains relax and have some fun on Fall Break.
The bunnies dot the grassy lawn atop Pyramid Hill. Some lean back, relaxed, their droopy ears flopping on the ground. Others stand tall on their hind legs, reaching up with their curious noses, sniffing the leaves of the trees. The park is their playground, and they can be spotted across the hill, exploring, enjoying the calm and misty environment.
At just shy of a two-hour drive from Oxford, Indiana's capital city is a great bet if you've been procrastinating on your Fall Break travel plans. If youstay longer than a day, there are plenty activities to fill your weekend, but if your time and money are limited, you can still make a day trip worth your while. Not including gas, this whole itinerary will cost you about $50.
Nestled in the mountainous woods an hour east of Lexington, KY, lies the cozy town of Campton. It's a veritable one-road village, the route 11 Mountain Parkway snaking its way through the terrain, sheer rock faces rising up on either side of the street.
Want to do something over Fall Break, but not willing to travel far? Here are four recommendations for things to do and place to go, all an hour or less from campus:
Podcast - Pod Save America
Video by Chandler Williams
On a cold evening in February, my friend Jack and I took one of our frequent late night walks that are often catalyzed by some emotional trauma. Tonight, however, the walk was to just get out. We sped from Elliott Hall down to Peffer Park, snipped off the end of fresh cigar, took a light to it and caught up. Jack had finally started dating this dynamite chick, Lindsay, and he was over the moon. We eventually made our way Uptown, to meet up with some of my friends at Cellar.
6,594 feet high, standing among wispy, white clouds with the crisp mountain air caressing my cheeks, I looked out and saw nothing but mountains for miles. It was noon, and we had summited Mount LeConte in four hours. Four hours of navigating lush forest, steep sandstone steps and glistening rock faces. Four hours of readjusting the straps on our packs and stopping to chug water and catch our breath as we rapidly gained elevation on our ascent. Four hours of being drenched in sweat despite the shade from the trees and the pleasant summer temperature.
I was exhausted as I made my way across the main floor of Grand Central Terminal, awkwardly pushing through the bustling throng of New Yorkers in my path. Navigating the station's chaotic rush-hour foot traffic had become an annoying, yet necessary, part of my morning routine.
The most striking visuals among the subway platforms and hidden hallways beneath London are not the train cars hurtling miles underground, known affectionately as the Tube, but rather the colorful characters who occupy the winding paths tucked beneath the city.
Trinity College is located in the middle of buzzing Dublin, Ireland, and is semi-regularly swamped with tourists ducking in to see the Book of Kells, or just for a quiet sit. Founded in 1592, the school features Victorian architecture influenced by other institutions such as Oxford (UK) and Cambridge. The grass is cut very low like a golfing green, and the library is the largest in Ireland. In the center of the walled buildings is a campus bar, where students can grab a cider and watch rugby on a massive field. Compared to Miami, where King Library was built in the 1970s, Trinity's campus is a sort of elite utopia without (most of) the snobbery. And the campus life is so nice -- dorms are actually reserved for upperclassmen.
Wanchese is a small fishing village, located on the southern end of Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Roanoke is a curious place -- protected from the Atlantic tides by the Outer Banks, it was home to the first English settlement in 1585. Notoriously, the entire colony vanished without a trace two years later, and many legends circulate as to the fate of the colonists. Today, Roanoke is settled again, with the rather upmarket village of Manteo to the north and the working-class village of Wanchese to the south, where my parents recently purchased a 1910 farmhouse. It was from there I would begin my journey.
HELSINKI, Finland -- I stepped outside in my simple black two piece bathing suit, bare feet and hair tied up. The cold air hit my flushed skin and filled my desperate lungs. I could see my breath cloud in front of me. I walked along the deck, down the steps and to the ladder at the edge.
Just a short 25-minute drive from Miami's campus, metal sculptures dozens of feet tall dot the landscape of the Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park. From the bright orange behemoth that is sculptor Alexander Liberman's abstract "Abracadabra" to the monumental bronze and steel of Michael Dunbar's "Euclid's Cross," a walk through this park makes it hard to believe you're just outside Hamilton, OH.
Michael Braegor Strickley and his friends worked two jobs for over a year, saving up to afford the pre-college trip of their dreams.
Ryan Terhune, Photo Editor