Who Knew?

Jaime McFarlin

The last eight months came and went ridiculously fast, and now May too is flying by. June is a week away, seniors will graduate and the rest of us will take a likely needed respite from the Lawrence campus for the summer.
For me, this means returning to California, working and finally hiking Mt. Whitney as I’ve been intending for quite some time. Similar to myself, I am guessing that most Lawrence students will be working a job, an internship, traveling, or some sort of combination of the three for the summer.
For those who find themselves locked in an unbelievably boring job or internship, here are some good tactics for entertainment. Crossword puzzles – you’ll look like you are busy and you will be helping yourself avoid Alzheimer’s. E-mailing your friends – everybody wins when you play that game (I’m sure they want to hear every detail of your summer). Or give Wikipedia races a try – it’ll look like you are researching.
If you are uncertain what your main pastime of choice will be, summer will regardless offer opportunity for a wide variety of fun events. Aside from watermelon, cookouts and (if you are staying in the states) July 4 celebration – complete with the traditional cookout and its usual array of watermelon and hot dogs – this summer, there are over 215 music festivals taking place all across the country.
Like most summers, the Midwest will host Warped Tour, Bonnaroo, Lilith Fair, Summerfest (where Anna Hainze will be working security) and Lollapalooza (interesting side note, Lollapalooza is defined in the Encarta Dictionary as “wonderful thing; somebody or something that is wonderful or a particularly remarkable example of its kind”). If these are old news to you, or like me, you live no where near any of the events, you can view a listing of summer music festivals at this link: http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Events/Concerts/Festivals/?b=0 and find the one for you.
An exciting and unfortunately underused mode of travel is by train. Another great summertime experience is taking a cross-country train – perhaps to a desired music festival. With gas prices as they are, it makes sense to let some one else worry about the directions and ride the train.
Amtrak provides multiple, scenic, cross-country routes designed for sightseeing and enjoyment that are surprisingly affordable. For outdoorsmen interested in a long-term summertime commitment, an almost four-month hiatus from studies is ample time to hike some of the Pacific Crest Trail or Appalachian Trail.
At any rate, however you spend your summer, I hope that it is wonderful. Likely June, July and August will be finished too soon.