bloomertravels

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It took me a while, but I managed to finally persuade my host dad to let me drive to North  Dakota to visit my best friend Johnno. I must say I was rather proud of myself for driving all that way, especially when I barely even stopped; it was a 10 hour drive and I actually quite enjoyed the peace. It was his birthday that weekend so we decided to go shooting because I have always wanted to know what it was like to fire a gun and Johnno deserved to be the one to teach me. Lucky for me, he had quite a good gun range, so I got to shoot five different ones (a 22 lr pistol, a 380 pistol, a 9mm pistol, a rifle and a 12 gage shotgun) and our shooting neighbour was even kind enough to let us use his targets to practise; turns out I was quite the natural; I think that’s only because of my archery experience. The shot gun was my favourite; it had so much power and filled me with such adrenaline; this whole experience was so exciting; a real American experience for me and I feel so lucky to have got the chance to do it! It’s kind of funny thought to think that I would enjoy something so much that I was so against though; I’m a pacifist and I really have never been for the idea of the possession of guns. Unfortunately the rest of the weekend wasn’t as eventful; I got to meet his friend and we played cards against humanity in her trailer, we watched a couple of horrors, went to a little museum and played with his doggies; I had been really looking forward to finally meeting them. If I’m being honest, Dickinson as a place sucked, I would not like to live there, but I loved it purely for the fact Johnno is there, and he is such a sweetheart. He made my day so special on my first morning there because he woke me up just to give me a cup of tea. I love him so much.

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Before we leave Minnesota, I have to introduce my Minnesotian best friends. These two made my whole experience that extra bit wonderful and I love them dearly. Jackie I met the day after I met Justin (her boyfriend at the time was Justin's best friend) and we immediately hit it off. Her energy is absolutely contagious and we had the best laughs together. She was my fellow mischief maker as we attempted to pull pranks on our partners and my absolute sanity when things weren't going so well. She definitely brought out a side to me like no other, and sometimes I feel like my relationship with Justin was a million times better just because she was with us.

Joey I met on a random app and we also hit it off immediately. He introduced me to so many wonderful food places and the conversations we had were always so deep and meaningful. Being with Joey was effortless, as we could both equally just sit in silence doing nothing and talk for hours and hours. Having someone who matched my intellect and spiritual wave length so well was an absolute breath of fresh air and I am so incredibly grateful to have met him.

These two were fantastic companions because they were both so open-minded and up for experiencing practically anything I put forward. They will both always have such a special place in my heart and I am devastated to have to leave them behind because I will miss them both dearly.

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My friends Sarah and Ashok (and their two friends) and I decided to volunteer for half a day so we could do a mud run without paying. We were in charge of checking in all the racers at the registration desk all morning. It was a very early start for us but it was so worth it. The morning sped by and the run itself (although we walked most of it) was so exhilarating! There was a lot of uphill walking which I did not appreciate, but the course itself was so much fun. I absolutely loved getting muddy and challenging myself by climbing over ladders, swimming through dirty water, balancing on water blocks, leaping over trenches and fire, dragging my body through thick mud and jumping onto inflatable’s. And of course it wouldn’t be me had I not injured myself during; I tried to be smart as we reached these giant slippery see-saws (the ones you would see on a dog show course) by choosing the one nearest to the edge because it looked less muddy, but I wound up getting to the middle and completely falling off, landing on my butt; I was surprised actually how little it hurt but I guess I was lucky I hit the floor, instead of another wooden plank. You would not believe how much free stuff we got as well; two t-shirts, three crates of flavoured water, a $10 gift card voucher and a free beer; although for me that sucked because I don’t drink, but my companions were especially happy when I won us some more free beer at the end of the run. There was this giant slide with muddy water at the base for the final obstacle, I decided to leap over the wall to get out because I knew it would be a struggle to get over it and I face-planted onto the ground, so then just rolled around in the mud and then decided to coat the rest of the gang when they reached me; the photographer was so entertained he gave us a ton of free beer wristbands. This was definitely the best experience for me in the states and I would definitely do it again! I literally love America for its volunteering opportunities.

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So being a foodie, I can't not write about my food experiences in Minnesota. I had some mighty weird and wonderful dishes during my time here. The first day of arrival, I got to have tater tots (which for those who are unfamiliar are basically fried cubes of potato hash browns) and they are divine! A traditional American staple I had to try was the corn dog, which I was lucky enough to find a vegetarian version of, but for me, it wasn't to my taste. Like it was alright, a bit weird, but I wouldn't rave about it or have it again for that matter. As we are on the subject of disappointment, my experience of going to White Castle was also not something I can recommend. Perhaps I got unlucky because the food was bland, boring and undercooked, but I never went again. Judging from the amount of times I have seen and heard of people going to this place, I was incredibly surprised. Wendy's on the other hand, although the only thing I could eat was the fries: totally friggin’ awesome, especially when dipped in vanilla milkshake. This is something I learnt from my mother, and it turns out it's a totally normal thing to do here which is cool. Last but not least, we move on to desserts. My go to place here was Dairy Queen: like I couldn't even count the number of times I went here ha. I have to say though my all time favourite food experience was at home when my host Mom, Willa randomly asked me if I wanted to eat dirt. As a joke I said yes, and she pulled out a bowl of mouse covered in like chocolate crumbs, topped with gummy worms. I could not stop laughing and it was so delicious!

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Today I went to the Renaissance festival. I have been super excited to attend since the moment I found out about it because I have always had a secret obsession for medieval times! It was larger than I anticipated. We got to walk around this themed village where there were all kinds of food stands, stores and live actors all about the place; there was even a man going through the trash cans and eating the food he found! There were stages spread about showing many different shows throughout the day such as fire dancing, bands and dangerous stunts. It’s a wonder we didn’t get more lost. There were also mini themed areas within the grounds such as fairies, mermaids, game of thrones and dragons too. Of course we got to explore a pop up castle also. It blows my mind at just how many different kinds of festivals there are in the USA! Literally they are everywhere, about anything; but this is easily the best one.

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I first met Justin at the Arboretum in Chanhassen on 3rd July. We had been speaking for a while on a dating app beforehand and we wound up having a great laugh splashing each other with fountain water and exploring the grounds for our first date. Minnesota landscape arboretum was a beautiful environmental conservation park filled with rare plants and quirky elements, such as a bird house tree house. It became a favourite of Claire and I and we visited it often. Justin and I shared many experiences that summer together:

In July we went to an Aquatennial water ski show which was fantastic. It's so incredible the kind of things that humans can do. What made that day particularly special for me was that Justin joined me in Earthing (which is where you connect to the earth through being barefoot). The little things count. I was fortunate enough to experience multiple joy rides on a boat too as Justin's parents lived beside a lake. There's just something so magical about lounging on a boat whilst it traces over the water.

In August I discovered the Fringe Festival, which I have to say was probably one of my all time favourite experiences. For three days, we hopped around the twin cities to witness a variety of different shows, from dance, to musical numbers, to comedy and it was bloody fantastic. This festival is really big in the states and it runs I believe in every state. I would 1000% recommend it and will definitely be going back. We also went to a student event called 'Sound for Silents' which was a silent movie held on an inflatable screen on the walker hillside, which was also right next to an art museum. I can't say I enjoyed that much if I'm totally honest, but it was an experience worth doing. The final highlight of this month was going to the Carver County Fair. I was basically just expecting it to be a fun fair, but it also had lots of farm animals to pet in a tent. This was the first time I officially met an alpaca and oh my gosh, they are just the sweetest animals ever. So placid I could even wrap my arms around their neck and give them a big hug. They are so beautifully soft!

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Of course being in America, it was apparent I needed to celebrate the 4th of July and it just so happened that my host family were heavily involved in a parade which they had made a float for. I had hoped to get involved in creating that but it was already done, so I missed that opportunity unfortunately, but it was a blast getting to sit on the float with all the kiddos waving at passers by. Everyone in the neighbourhood was so lovely and they absolutely loved my outfit: so fitting for the occasion and it wasn’t even planned :P - it was such a simple event, but very enjoyable. I sure do love the simple life.

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Claire and I have a shared love of books, so we often take a trip to the library. I've come to learn it is also a great resource to discover what local events occur. Today we visited Chaska Library and were surprised by a performance. I can't even begin to express how blown away I was at the tricks formulated with a yo-yo, so I will just let you witness it for yourself...

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I found a website called meetup.com which was first recommended to me by someone from back home and I finally decided to give it a go here. It is filled with groups of people who enjoy like-minded activities; the ideal place to build new friendships. I was not expecting much to be honest, which I think is why I had been avoiding it, but to my great surprise, it was bombarded with different groups. I mean, of course it would be, America is MASSIVE in comparison to England. I eventually decided upon a sports group as it was an activity I had never heard of before; spikeball. It was in Kenwood Park, in the city which I must admit I was kind of terrified to drive to, but I decided to risk it. The area it was in was like a maze. Who knew regular parks could be so huge! It took me ages to figure out where I was going because the roads were so weird as well. Eventually I spotted a large group of people in a courtyard. That must be it, so I approached them. I was greeted by a guy called Matt, who then introduced me to Chico and Adam; these three guys had the warmest and biggest characters. The welcome I received was outstanding. I swear, if people were as friendly as they are here, in the UK, people would be SO much happier.  By this point I had forgotten what the sport was called so I just asked them if they were a meetup group, which they were. My gosh, I have never seen such a confusing sport in all my life. It was like dodgeball, crossed with rounders, crossed with kickball. When I stood at the side-lines watching, it literally just looked like a big old mess and I had no idea what was going on. And so I quickly dived in; I knew it would be the only way I would figure it out and it was definitely simpler than it looked. There were a lot of rules, I knew it would take me ages to understand them all, but it didn't matter because everyone was genuinely playing just for fun and everyone around me was so helpful. Best of all, it had been an awful long time since I ever did any kind of sport so I was not in the slightest bit fit, but everyone was so encouraging and accepting that literally no-one even cared that I was slow and out of breath fast. It was the most fun I think I have ever had playing a sport. I decided then and there that this would be my jam. There were four teams, so we took turns playing each round with a break in between each game and there was free Gatorade (at first I had literally no idea what that was, but man the lemon & lime flavour was so delicious and refreshing!).  Once I returned home, the funniest thing happened. I realized I went to the wrong meetup event! It turned out what I had just been playing was call mojo kickball: that was literally the best mistake I have ever made. - Fast forward to the future, without fail, I attended almost every week to play, yes, even in the snow, the wind and the rain. I adored it, and I adored the company. I met new people every week, I got good at it, I became really fit and eventually I joined my new friends for a delicious burger after each game; I had definitely found my people here and a lot of them were involved in theatre too, which I loved. I will add that it probably took me a good few weeks before I understood all the rules and honestly, there are probably still some I don't know. My love of sport grew so strong with this discovery and I am so grateful. 

Here is a video so you can check out the madness I’m talking about: https://vimeo.com/222721779?fbclid=IwAR3V8qQf3TdXzubWE_RVuq0PikKo8pH-93wJqahQdhb-79NDO8lDBgy_11I

Seriously though, if you ever visit Minneapolis, go join them: https://www.mojokickball.com/

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The best thing ever happened today. So part of the biggest reasons I wanted to come to the USA is because I have always been in awe of how much community compassion seems to occur there. My favourite show growing up was Extreme makeover: home edition and honestly, I had totally forgotten about this part of America. Today Jeremy invited me to come and volunteer for a charity called Feed my starving children; it was a true honour. It has been a life long dream to be a part of a community in this way and I finally got to achieve it. It's a Christian community, but that didn't matter to me. I finally had the opportunity to make a difference to people less fortunate than me and I was so happy to have got to be a part of that. What was also awesome, was the food we helped to pack was vegetarian friendly and actually it was delicious. I remember wondering the whole way through what the food would taste like so I was pleasantly surprised to have gotten to experience that too after all my hard work. Before each packing session began, we were all assigned gloves and a hair net, then we got to choose our stations. We could open bags, fill bags, weigh the bags or pack boxes. I cannot even begin to express how cool it was to be part of something like this. Just being in the same room as so many compassionate selfless people was amazing. Team work really does make the dream work. Our team was the fastest, bonus. It was so exhilarating to try and fill up as many bags as possible knowing it was going towards such a great cause. At the end of our time, people gathered together to say a prayer, but I chose not to partake in this part. And then we all sat in the next room, told how many children in which country we had just helped and were shown a video of all the children and families that had been helped through our contribution. - Fast forward in the future, I made it part of my routine every week to partake in packing rice meals, which would be sent off to third world countries. I mostly went alone, but a fellow au pair (Paz) and her au pair family joined me one time and also a new friend I made (farm boy) too.  Feed my Starving Children was such a special part of my journey in Minnesota and I will forever be grateful to have been a part of it.

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What a day! I met up with a South African au pair today. I was very excited to discover she drove an open top sports car and that thrill became larger than I ever anticipated. As we made our way to a Mayday parade & festival at Powderhorn Park, Minneapolis, we witnessed a cop chase first hand. We had just moved over to turn off the high way when suddenly a car sped from behind us and weaved in front of the car directly in front of us, and the next few cars after that, almost causing a collision. It was shortly followed by a police car. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. By the time we left the junction moments later, that same car was sitting upside down beside us, without a person in sight. We could only assume the driver had made a run for it. Thank goodness no-one else was involved in that crash. It all happened so fast and we were flooded with emotion at what we had just witnessed. My friend and I felt so fortunate to have been protected by the car in front of us, because my friend who was in the drivers seat, wasn't sure she would have remained so calm had it been her.

We were quite relieved once we arrived to our destination after all the commotion. It was a far more relaxed and enjoyable experience there. First we got our faces painted and then we went canoeing; totally didn't expect to see something like that here, but then again America seems to be full of surprises. There were of course lots of stalls, music and groups of people. We were surrounded by so many people, but it didn't feel overwhelming; I think it must have had something to do with the high vibes everyone seemed to be filled with. Just as I thought I had explored the whole festival, as I walked towards a worn down building I heard music. I didn't really expect anything as this side of the park was quiet and barely anyone was over here; it was my curiosity that led me here. As I turned the corner of this building, I spotted a black man dancing amongst a small crowd. He was gradually joined by people from the audience almost like a dance off, which included an old white man and a child. It was such a wonderful experience. Frankly, I was surprised to have witnessed it. I was convinced stuff like this only ever happened in the movies, but here I was, witnessing it in real life. Apparently I have a knack for finding the coolest things. It's unfortunate so many people missed it.

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I meant to meet someone from online, but I got stood up. I didn't let that stop me from continuing my day though; after all, I had driven all this way, so I continued on around the area and found what I thought was a little wooden area. I was surprised to discover such a gem. I wandered about the greenery, taking in every detail surrounding me. It was so beautiful and so peaceful. I don't believe I had ever taken in nature the way I had this day. I soaked up the energy, felt the cool wet grass, hec I even rolled around in the leaves and squeezed into a nearby fallen log on the floor. It got hot, so I inadvertently picked up a sturdy looking stick on my travels, I twisted my fingers around my hair and inserted it. I never expected it to actually hold my hair in place, but it did. Gosh, isn't nature amazing? I gave myself permission to truly let out the inner child within me this afternoon, a part of me that I had hidden for so long. I spotted a large fat tree and climbed it. I felt exhausted, so I lay on my front, admiring the view and fell asleep. I did my best to capture the experience, though of course, no photo I took actually did it justice. What an amazing, spontaneous day.

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At the last Au Pair event I basically invited myself to a road trip. I have to admit I had very mixed emotions about this trip. On one end it was awful, but at the same time I’m thankful I got to have the experience. South Dakota was awesome; I got to meet one of my American friends (Steven) and see some amazing places; it’s just kind of a shame about the group of people I ended up going with. I felt very excluded and out of place, but I did my best to make the most out of it regardless of feeling so uncomfortable. It just goes to show, you can’t just travel with anyone. I always thought I was a pretty good judge of character, but I was wrong about this lot. They weren’t horrible or anything, just kind of not very inviting I suppose. What bothered me most was the lack of communication; I spent the majority of the trip in silence because they chose to speak in polish instead of english, even though they could speak english very well. Fortunately one of them could only speak english too, however at lovely as she was, she wasn’t exactly very talkative.

Our journey began at Sioux Falls, which was a pretty cool little area; me and Alexandre enjoyed climbing the rocks. We then headed to Mount Rushmore; a very American experience to see the famous president heads. The area this was located in blew my mind. One road in particular on the way there was just filled with attraction after attraction; I imagine it would be a pretty cool place to live. It’s very much like Colorado here, but overall a better version.

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I got randomly invited to a new friend’s parents house for dinner because I had been feeling homesick lately. This lady (top right) is our house cleaner. Her name is Stephanie and she is such a sweetheart. I felt a little anxious to attend with someone I barely knew, but I cannot express how glad I was to have braved it up. They were such a warm and welcoming family; I felt like I fit right in. We basically just chatted all evening and played cards. It was absolutely wonderful!

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When I first came to the States, I spent weeks searching trying to find a local choir without success. It seems, to be a part of this kind of thing in this country, you have to audition within a certain deadline well ahead of time (which of course I missed) and also pay a large lump sum along with a commitment to attend so many rehearsals. I thought continuing with my love of singing would be a great way to mingle with like-minded people, but it proved far more difficult than expected. I had pretty much given up with this idea, until recently I decided to give the search one more go. Tonight I travelled a ways to St Luke Presbyterian Church to join 'One world community choir'. What an experience that was. It wasn't quite what I was looking for, however I'm glad I went. They were a group of wonderful people of the older generation. Their music taste was what I can only describe as unique, but my goodness for sure they knew how to have good time. From start to finish, the room was filled with such love and joy. That’s Jeenee in the photo: she led the choir.

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I had a spontaneous meet up with some more Au Pair’s today at the Mall of America. I literally can’t believe how big the place was; it was a wonder I even managed to find the Hard Rock Cafe on my own to be honest (I had help from a virtual guide in the end). I didn’t even know the organizer, but I was getting so tired of my lack of a social life and the last au pair meet up went so well, I thought why the hell not take a risk?! Besides, I can’t avoid the mall forever. It was a good decision to have made. These girls were super nice too (perhaps a potential friend). Malls should be like this one everywhere; it has an aquarium, crazy golf, kids play areas, and a theme park bang in the middle, also with a zipline! I expect there’s more, but that’s all I saw. It’s kind of funny to think that of all the things, the worlds biggest mall landed practically at my front door.

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There was a big part of me that was reluctant to attend my first Au pair event because for a start I was crapping my pants about driving, especially in the dark, to somewhere I knew would be busy and the way I have been feeling lately has made me very anxious about meeting these people, but it actually couldn’t have turned out better. I literally don’t know what I was worried about, the girls were absolutely lovely and they all made a big effort to speak to each other which was really nice. I feel like this will be a turning point for me in the sense of adjusting to my American life, especially seeing as I felt no fear in a setting I usually feel so uncomfortable in. I must say this restaurant, Dave & Busters, is incredibly cool; it’s a joint dining experience and arcade; the food was pretty good and the games reasonably priced with a wide range to play. Although I’m not into dating, this place strikes me as somewhere great for a first date. I’m looking forward to getting to know the rest of the girls.