Summer in Ann Arbor

a reflection on my first summer in Ann Arbor

For the past three months or so, I’ve been immersing myself in my new home.

Ann Arbor, Michigan.

While I’ve been super lucky to travel all over the world, I’ve never lived anywhere else except for North Carolina. There is something special about the South.

But there is something special about the Mid-West as well.

With my grad program, I have about 2 years to get to know this place, but this summer I took the oppurtunity to get a preview.

Walking

Walking. It’s all I’ve been doing this summer.

Fun fact about me: I actually don’t own a car and I’ve never gotten my drivers liscence (a story for another time). What I love about Ann Arbor, is how accessible everything is to me by foot. Downtown is a bridge and a neighborhood away, I’m a 30 minute walk from campus, and everything from farmers markets to coffee shops are close by. I’m even close to a beautiful arboretum.

I guess Ann Arbor is technically considered a college town— makes sense, the campus sprawls all over. But the word town is insenstive to how big it really is. There seems to be life outside of connections to campus— instead of life just being the college. But maybe that will change once school officially starts.

How I will fare walking when it’s cold is beyond me. I’m not ready for a Michigan winter. Let’s pray it’s not as bad as everyone says.

Food

Between farm to table and locally-sourced resturants, pastry shops, and year-long farmers markets, Ann Arbor is checking all the boxes when it comes to food. In fact, I believe AA is the second best place to open a resturant. I’ve also been implementing new daily eating habits this summer- eat more meals with friends, start my morning with a green juice, and end the night with some dark chocolate.

Details:

Growth

Besides working on my blog and reading tons of books, I’ve been lightly prepping for my time at grad school. Days have looked like math refreshers, scanning old syllabi, and mapping out what student orgs I hope to join while at Ford. I have also been keeping track of foreign and social policy updates from our current administration…but that’s nothing new.

I feel like this is the first real summer I’ve had in a while, so I’ve been resting and taking things slow no matter how difficult. Fighting the urge of feeling purposeless is real. But I’ve been schemeing up new projects and planting seeds into the ground, so I’m hopeful that a harvest will come soon.

In the mean time I’m nourishing all around me. Picking up new hobbies (yoga + video editing), journaling, and watching documetaries every chance I get.

I imagine I’ll have my whole life to work hard….it’s important to take advantage of all the rest and all the pauses I can. I hope you are finding room to do the same.

Final Notes

Outside of being born somewhere in Ohio, I have lived in the South all my life. North Carolina to be exact. Somewhere in between the Peidmont region (Charlotte) and the Moutains (Asheville), I took for granted the hospitality, the ever changing weather, and the culture. From city life to hiking to see sunsets, I wish I could go back in time and relive all those moments.

Ok. I’m being dramatic. I’m a nine hour drive away, and even less by plane. But I would be lying if I told you I didn’t miss my home. Who knew I could get homesickness? Before the pandemic, I was always a passport away from another location— Rwanda, China, Ghana, Philidelphia, Richmond, McAllen, D.C— to name a few. Maybe this pandemic showed me the importance of finding roots.

Alas, I am still exctied for this new chapter in my life. Exploring Ann Arbor in snippets these past three months have been fascinating. I am over-the-moon excited with what these next 2 years will bring.

all pictures by me

Travelelina morrisonComment