Getting into the Swing of Things

Swing Dancing has been a refreshing constant in my move out to Michigan. In the summer when classes are still out, it's refreshing to drive into Grand Rapids and walk towards down town, hearing the music off in the distance. The dance community has been very welcoming to me as a newcomer, and I've had a blast discovering a new swing-scene out west!

On the road to Michigan

from my visit to Matamata, NZ in 2015

It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

     I thought about starting with the whole 'road less travelled' quote, except that in my most recent journey I was only interested in taking the road most traveled: aka with speed limits 65mph+. The compromise there is that there's not too much scenery to see. In my voyage through 6 states, the most notable shift over the whole trip was from the expansive stretches of highway in New England to the hilly terrain and black shale outcroppings of southern NY and Pennsylvania to the open fields of Ohio and Michigan. I think the most memorable landmarks I saw were the signs denoting the highest point on I-80 in PA, at 2,250 feet, and the crossings into the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes Watersheds.
     Besides munching and drinking coffee constantly, I found that the best buddies for a road trip are Tom Ashbrook, Jad Abumrad, and Matthew Yglesias, accompanied by their podcasts On Point, Radio Lab, and Vox's: The Weeds. I've been trying to get my fill of these and other podcasts in the last few months, but sometimes it's hard to carve out 50 minutes or so where you're really not doing anything besides listening. 14 hours of time alone in a car is also good for getting some much needed singing out, and for having some time of reflection that in other circumstances might have been replaced with other distractions. I'll have to keep those strategies in mind, since I'll be doing this drive twice more this summer.
     There's a feeling you get from a road trip that you don't get from just flying somewhere. It puts distances in perspective, even though you're just a phone call away from your friends at home. Having been here in East Lansing, MI, two weeks now, I find it amazing how by just driving around my brain has already built a mental map of this new place, and you get a sense of the size of it pretty quickly. What at first seemed like a big city is already looking more familiar.

More updates to follow on adventures in East Lansing!
-Tyler

Commencement

com·mence·ment

kəˈmensmənt

noun

1. 1.

   a beginning or start.

     If there was one thing that surprised me about the University of New Hampshire's 146th Commencement, it was that the ceremony reflected the jovial and celebratory mood I was in that day. My brother even had a hard time convincing his co-workers that he had a good time there. Admittedly, most graduations are fairly dreary and dull; too much pomp. Contrary to the title, many think of the commencement ceremonies as a time to celebrate the achievements of the last four years, reminisce on good times, shrug off bad ones, and hug your friends goodbye. I think that the excited atmosphere, full of six packs hidden under robes and crowd surfing mascots and champagne fountains, reflected the true meaning of the event: a celebration to kick off the beginnings of our next steps in life.

     I felt the same electrifying excitement after returning to UNH last fall, following my study abroad experience in New Zealand, and my summer spent at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in NH. My last year at UNH went exponentially faster than my first, and even faster than my years in high school, which my parents have a hard time registering are long behind me. Even still, this past year was jam packed: with swing dancing, working with first-year students as an RA, the arduous process of applying to graduate schools, traveling to visit those schools, and taking some of the hardest courses I've had yet. My journey didn't stop when I came home from NZ, and if anything my personal journey had just begun. In the year since, I've learned so much more about myself, through both triumph and defeat.

   A good friend shared with me a quote by Seth Godin:

Coming and going matter far more than what happens in the middle.

Opening things.

Closing them.

Tearing off the bandage.

Losing something.

Meeting someone new.

Getting on the airplane, getting off of it.

Being greeted.

Elections.

Ending a feud.

We mistakenly spend most of our time thinking about, working on and measuring the in-between parts, imagining that this is the meat of it, the important work. In fact, humans remember the transitions, because it's moments of change and possibility and trepidation that light us up.

     Thinking back to all that has happened in the last four years, and arriving at UNH with a clean slate, I am hopeful about my ability to find community and friendship wherever I go. See the neon blob of marching band freshmen in our class photo back from August of 2012. Reflecting on my time at UNH, the fond memories of the depths of winter are overshadowed by the strength of my memories of arriving back on campus every year and meeting new friends in marching band camp and RA training. The end of my time at UNH did not come with everything tied up in a neat bow. For those friends with whom I'll stay in touch, no doors were closed. On the contrary, in the last year losing some people from my life was a moving and painful experience. In some ways my time at UNH won't really end, and my reflections on that time will continue for years to come.
      I find myself in the same place as four years ago. At the moment that I'm preparing to make the next big step in life and travel out the Michigan for graduate school, I travel back four years to my arrival at UNH, and think of how intimidating and exciting it all was. When others are asking if I'm nervous for this big move, I'm thrilled about the commencement of this part of my life, and all that it will mean for the future of my career, the breadth of my experience in new places and traveling, and for the opportunity to examine myself at this moment of transition.

More to follow on my road trip to Michigan!
-Tyler

Messages from 2015

SEA Semester/New Zealand Archive

follow S257's official class blog here

(click on photos to access blog post)

SEA Semester: The Global Ocean, NZ

     

       Departure                                Bay of Islands updates

         

    Week 1                                            a KEY to    

                        Auckland to Bay of Islands              lingo aboard the RCS                          

            Week 2                                    A day in the life....

Bay of Islands and at sea                      aboard the RCS      

     

Week 3                                        Week 4
Land Ho! Cook's Straight                  Windy Wellington    

     

Week 5                                              Week 6  

   South We Go!                                The Final Voyage

Other Posts

SEA Semester Photo Album

Kiwi Experience Bus Adventure!

     

Week 6 (cont.)                                  Week 7  
The Adventure Continues...              The Wild West Coast    

     

Week 8                                            Week 9

Farewell South Island                   Kia Ora! North Island

      

   Week 10                                        New Zealand

Return to Auckland                               and Beyond      

Other Posts

     

Kiwi Experience Photo Album               Cruise Track Map          

Cruise Track and NZ Travel

I've put the S-257 cruise track and my Kiwi Experience tour on this map, so you can see that I truly circumnavigated the entire country! Flying to and from NZ was almost 18,500 miles; the S-257 cruise from Auckland to Christchurch was about 2,300 miles, and my bus tour on the South and North Islands was also about 2,300 miles.

Week 10: Return to Auckland

The final leg of my voyage, following the saga of last week, saw the surroundings going by a bit slower, with time to soak it all in, and time for reflection. I spent a leisurely few days making my way from Wellington back to Auckland, where this adventure began and would soon end. But before that, I will continue my narrative per usual.

13-April
Unfinished business in Wellington included a visit to the famed Weta Workshop, the fourth largest special effects and prop design studio in the world (the other top three are in the US). With my friends Luke and Ruth, we gawked at helms, swords, and armor from the Lord of the Rings movies, as well as weapons from District 9 and Avatar.

14-April
A final farewell to Wellington. NZ Route 1 rose from farmland to the Desert Road and the Central Volcanic Plateau, where now the mountains are covered in a blanket of snow. It was a brisk 10 degrees C, at 2,600 feet, before descending to Taupo.

16-April
I've diverted from my planned itinerary and taken a pit-stop in Rotorua, to catch up on the some of the scenery I missed last time! I visited Lake Rotorua and Sulfur Bay, where boiling pools of water and mud are right along the trail. I also managed to get out of town for a visit to the Redwood Forest trails.

17-April
The final leg of my journey, back to the beginning. Our bus pulled into Auckland in the early afternoon. I took time to visit the waterfront and sit on our hostel's penthouse porch on the 8th floor, to soak in the city. Tomorrow I head for the airport to leave NZ behind.