Day 20: we the people

Learning Festival in Bowling Green, KY — 0 mi, 0 ft

Before starting this trip, I, for some reason, had this feeling that Bowling Green would be a singular experience. Whether it was from last year’s team hinting at some suspicious activity (I really don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t at me) or going on about the amazing Airbnbs (plural) we got to stay in, I was subconsciously preparing for, well, something.

That something, I’ve discovered, is the intensely wide variety of people that live here, eccentric people with many stories to tell.

Our learning festival was held at the WKU Innovation Campus, a “hub” for entrepreneurship in Kentucky. 

At the beginning of the festival, we played an icebreaker game of rock, paper, scissors, the tournament version. Basically you play with the person next to you until you’re out and until there’s one pairing left. All of us decided to play as well, setting a good example and all. However, since Caroline is apparently the rock, paper, scissors god, we all watched from the sidelines as she crushed every last one of her opponents (eight year olds) as she made her way to the very middle of the circle as one of the last two standing. 

At last it was 1 v. 1.

And then Caroline obliterated the poor girl.

This was our largest learning festival to date, with almost 100 kids. It could have been far more overwhelming if the kids in each group of 25 were on the whole younger, but for this one they ranged from third grade to high school. It was actually really optimal, at least for Aarushi and I. 

Our mindset as a team has been to prioritize the kids having fun over developing a really good grasp on the fundamental concepts we teach. This means that the youngest kids, kindergarten age, love to craft felt monsters but more loosely understand the connection to genetics.

With this older group, they were really getting into the science behind the activity, asking good questions and being more intentional with their choice of traits: blue or brown eyes? Horn or no horn? Triangle or square nose? Which trait is dominant versus recessive? I hadn’t seen this kind of engagement before, and it inspired me to rework our workshop, to see if we can get the even younger ones to ask similar questions.

Additionally, we’ve all noticed that Kentucky kids are a unique breed. For both learning festivals in the state, they were advanced for their grade level and all had some special interest that they loved and devoted a lot of brain power to learning. I figure that something about this environment filters and attracts these kids to their local educational summer camps. Some were so incredibly dedicated that their families drove several hours to these learning festivals. And some even stayed in hotels.

At the end of the festival, we got a picture with our wonderful hosts and admin at WKU who helped make it all happen.

We then went out for our ritual post-LF ice cream, but without Aarushi, who had to pick up her bike from the bike shop. After her crash, all her bike fit measurements were thrown off, and her derailleur had started creaking almost as loudly as our knees. Shout out to Howard’s bike shop, who re-measured and realigned everything on her bike for free!

Half of us left the town square to rot at our beautiful Airbnb, while Tatiana and Aarushi stayed to work on their blogs.

We attempted to play mini Catan, but determined it was too mini to play, before Nate and Nunu took Caroline to the emergency room to get her third (technically eighth) rabies shot. Drew and I stayed back, and decided to make use of our free time by biking to Zaxby’s. Nate and Nunu eventually abandoned Caroline to wait alone, and met up with us.

Nunu and I have always been strong Cane’s supporters. But I had heard from my friend Hillary, who’s from the south, that Zaxby’s is far superior to Cane’s, and so I was willing to test her theory. After having the Zaxby’s equivalent of the Cane’s three finger combo, I can attest, hand to my heart, that Cane’s can never be topped. The chicken is juicer, breading crunchier, the toast thicker, and the sauce more balanced. It’s just peak. Sorry Hillary, and sorry Drew.

Nunu took it to the next level, since after Zaxby’s, her and Nate went to Cane’s directly after to do a taste test. In her words, “the bread is better, the chicken is better, and the sauce is better, the only three ingredients any meal has.” I rest my case.

Drew and I then decided to bike downtown, because what else did we have to do with our time? We still had a glorious several hours to spend before waking up for our biking day tomorrow. We sped back to the town square we were at earlier, went around the perimeter for a bit before we ran into the other half of our team still writing their blogs at a coffee shop. We hung out for a bit before the shop closed and the staff kicked us off the patio. Aarushi still had her bike with her from the bike shop, and so the three of us were about to head back to the Airbnb until we remembered that it was Saturday evening in downtown Bowling Green.

This is apparently when all the fun and funky people of Bowling Green come out of hiding.

I had Drew take a picture to commemorate the moment, and he surpassed all of my expectations. 

I mean it’s so good it should be on the cover of some magazine advertising the city.

Drew and I biked around for a bit before running into one of the kids we taught at our learning festival earlier that day. We were still in our matching shirts, biking all over town, looking like the goofy nerds we are. Maybe they recognized us because of it, but I felt as if I spotted a celebrity in them. It was proof that these kids had lives embedded within these towns we are briefly passing by. It made it surprisingly real.

A few minutes later, after we were coming around for a second lap of the square, I saw a man with what looked like a small dog running around in the middle of the street. As I got closer I realized it was a cockatoo. This man had a bird on a leash and was taking it on walks in the middle of the city.

Naturally, we stopped him to ask about the bird, to which he said it only liked girls, and to which Drew looked at me like I had to be the one to make the sacrifice. The man held the bird out and it slowly climbed on my finger, one talon at a time. With a surprising change of pace it then ran up my arm until it was on my shoulder. 

Armed with amazing photos of me and the cockatoo, Drew and I went to go find Aarushi and Tatiana, who apparently had been talking with this motocross racer. He and some friends were taking their casual bikes out for a ride, and stopped at the square long enough to show us videos of him racing.

Then the bird man came around to where the bikers were, and both Aarushi and Tatiana got to hold the bird. We then discovered it could dance to 2000s music. 

We continued our walk around the square in our matching shirts and with our bikes, to run into a group of teenagers who asked about why we’re all twinning. Someone gave them the “We’re a group of 7 MIT students…” spiel and then they dabbed us up one by one. 

These random encounters all happened within 20 minutes. Bowling Green on a Saturday night is kinda lit.

Sticking to our original intention of exploring the city, Drew, Aarushi, and I biked back but took a scenic route, stopping at whatever we felt like seeing, namely a church and a rainbow fountain. The fountain was especially fun. Water shot up at random intervals, and Drew had the genius idea that we should bike through it and try not to get wet. We were surprisingly successful.

We agreed that we felt like bored teenagers biking around their small hometown, keeping themselves entertained by doing random sidequests, and occasionally being a public nuisance.

In keeping with this slightly chaotic vibe of the night, Aarushi and I decided we were going to bake. So at 10 pm we drove to the nearest store and got ingredients to make brownies. We did, after all, have access to an amazing kitchen that we only had to share with each other. I’d never thought to put fruit in brownies before, but blueberry brownies are honestly gas. The best thing I might have ever eaten. 

Caroline came down from her Airbnb to join our midnight feast. Drew came as well, although only for the Nannies in Ibiza reality show we were watching, not for the food because of course he doesn’t like chocolate.

After the brownie had been picked at for about an hour, and the nannies sufficiently humiliated by their narcissistic, filthy rich bosses, Drew, Aarushi, and I decided that instead of getting good sleep before our 87 mile day tomorrow, we’d stay up for an extra few hours yapping about everything and nothing. It was one of those conversations that you don’t want to end, where you slowly stand up, talk for 10 minutes more, move to the stairs, another 5 minutes, loiter at the top of the stairs, another 10 minutes, and eventually realize how ridiculous you are being.

I, at least, was reluctant to leave our gorgeous Airbnb and give up this rare free time I had over to sleep. It was exactly 2:06 am when we finally did so.

I regret nothing. It was a wonderful night.

Bowling Green, you, and all of your delightfully funky people will be missed.

With love,

Carmen