J TERM at Spring Arbor, Part III

Monday came around quickly, and I had told Lulu that Trevor and I would make her and Alyssa dinner at 6:00. At 5:30, Trevor was in the common area working on a project with a classmate and I was setting up in the kitchen. Alyssa came in and handed me a batch of their homemade tofu-like wheat substance called "seitan."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked.

"Maybe just finish cutting up the orange pepper," I replied as I tossed the seitan into one frying pan and our chicken into the other.

"So I guess I know basically nothing about you," Alyssa said by way of opening up a conversation. "Like, what your major is or anything."

"Yeah, haha. Oh, right. Well my major is actually Spanish," I responded, afraid that she might know it and start speaking it.

"Oh, that was originally my minor," she said. Shoot.

"What did you change to?"

"English writing and education," she said. "It's not really what I want to do. But it'll get me through college. Are you going to study abroad soon? I'm doing the Guatemala semester next fall."

"Oh man! I almost did that one but I was too late!"

Alyssa finished with the peppers and turned to make eye contact. I wished that I didn't have to look up to make eye contact with so many girls.

"Darn! I wish you were on it.. because.. there aren't many guys in the group. Are you going to go in the spring then?"

"Well, I don't know. I actually need to find out..well.. how much is it?"

"It's only $2,000 on top of regular costs."

"Yeah.. but I mean, do those costs include the cost of housing and the meal plan? Cause that would actually end up being a lot more money that I thought." With a little pride I added, "I actually pay month by month, so I'd have to save up for that."

"How do you do that?! Do you have a regular job.. or.. what?"

"Well, I mean I admit I don't have nearly as much expense as most people." I usually don't like to brag about scholarship offers, but I also hate steering entirely clear and saying that I get to go to school for free because my mom works at Hillsdale College. So I explained both that I was offered full rides to several colleges due to my PSAT scores, but choose to attend Butler first, then transferred to Spring Arbor through the an exchange program.

"Why didn't you like Butler?"

"Well.. it was just a very secular school. I mean, that's not so bad, but just overall a lot of little things really got on my nerves. Like people smoking right outside my dorm window all the time. And everyone just wanting to party every weekend. I mean, I shouldn't say everyone; there were a lot of good people there and good aspects to the college, but it's just hard to jump in and I felt like it was even harder when only 10% of people were really onboard with the type of lifestyle I was looking for."

"Oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Do you like Spring Arbor? I mean, of course you're not going to like any place perfectly." She thought for a minute and changed the question altogether. "What don't you like here?"

I decided for once to just jump right in and be totally transparent. Usually I tone down my opinions because so many people just seem to be confused or critical.

"I guess, I just don't like the whole college thing in general."

"Why not?"

"Well, I've always just.. been rather adventurous and I don't see myself ever doing anything with my life that will actually require a diploma. Like right now - I'm paying for all of my college expenses by myself, and everything in my life has always worked out like that. I just like to travel and live simply and the way I want to, and not be stuck at college."

"Oh, well of course, I just want to travel and help people… and stuff, with my life," she offered.

Lulu and Trevor arrived in the kitchen. "Oh my, this looks amazing!" exclaimed Lulu.

I laughed, looking at the vegetarian creation simmering in a preliminary saute of soy sauce, brown sugar, and various spices. I decided to steer the conversation further down the road less travelled. "Reminds me of the time Trevor and I were in Canada and someone we stayed with cooked us a delicious vegetarian stir fry."

"You guys were just in Canada… like.. hanging out?" asked Alyssa.

"Yeah," said Trevor. "You know, just staying at random people's houses--" he began as I wondered if I should explain the concept of couchsurfing in more concrete terms.

"Do you couchsurf?!" exclaimed Lulu, breaking out of her quiet character.

"Oh my word!" I responded with a good deal of surprise. "You guys have heard of that? Have you couchsurfed??"

Lulu and Alyssa explained that they had couchsurfed in Toronto with a group of ten, and somewhere else with a host who had had as many as thirty people at his place at once. The conversation continued enthusiastically as the food bubbled into two fantastically aromatic dishes that we dished generously for ourselves.

At Alyssa's invitation I offered a prayer of thanks for food and fellowship, then we continued talking of adventures. "That reminds me," I said at one point, "of the time Tyler and I were hitchhiking in Canada--"

"What, you hitchhike too?!" interjected Alyssa.

"No way.. you've hitchhiked?"

"No, you just… do everything. You know what? I know of something you should really invest in. A --"

"a Hammock."

"hamm-- HOW DID YOU KNOW?!"

This was turning into a spectacularly fun conversation. I grinned widely. "You don't think I've thought of this already??"

"Well, you should think about getting one. Tell me more stories about hitchhiking."

I continued.

"Did you ever have to wait a long time?"

"Oh, yes." I said. "Definitely."

"Well, then you need one of these along with you," she suggested, waving her finger between herself and Lulu.

"Haha -- a girl?"

"A girl and a guy is the best combination for hitchhiking."

"You've researched this."

"Um.. yeah, well no offense, Lulu, but I'd rather go with a guy."

"Yes, definitely" I said. "I couldn't possibly recommend any girl to go hitchhiking. It is something to think seriously about. I don't know what the proper combination of faith and caution is."

"Oh, well I just always throw caution to the wind and it always works out fine!"

"Oh, of course! That's what I do; I just can't feel good about advocating it to other people."

"Alright. Well let me explain why we should go hitchhiking." She expounded upon the importance of doing so.

"I am trying to figure out what I want to do this summer," I mused. "But what I was really wanting to do was go down to Mexico or Central America."

Alyssa dealt me a forceful blow to the shoulder. "SHUT UP!"

I recovered with a grin.

"Would you hitchhike down there?" she asked.

"I don't know about that, considering that I've never been down there before. And busses are really cheap."

"And you could take an American bus to... a border town or something."

"Brownsville, Texas."

"No way! How do you know these things??"

"Same as you -- Google."

When we finally parted ways with the agreement that Trevor and I would meet them the next day for their turn at making dinner, everyone seemed to have been filled with more than just good food. I thought back three days previous, when I wondered how the heck one goes about meeting like-minded people. It's funny how these things work out.