BECAUSE I AM SO BAD AT DOING THIS IN A TIMELY MANNER. D: And for that I apologize. I also apologize to my poor capitals. Sorry, babies. Sometimes I get a little overexcited. *pats*
Anyway. I left off with going to the hotel, right? Well, at the hotel I hung out wiff ma roomies a bit. We had, like, an hour before lights out or something and they were all taking showers. I'm a mornin' shower person, so I just waited until I could have the bathroom for changing and teeth-brushing. Eventually I did get it and I realized something--I didn't have to mentally flaunt my Spider Man toothbrush at them! :D (This was what I was planning on doing if I got stuck with some snooty girls or somethin'.) There was TV watching and a little reading on my part, then time for bed. For some reason the heater kept kicking on--I know it's the UP, but three times in the span of maybe five minutes? Really?--and the other girls kept texting and stuff, lighting parts of the room with their phones. It was really, really warm in the room and I ended up sleeping almost on the covers.
THEN WABAM ALARM GOING OFF IT'S MORNING. I'd set my alarm for 6:50, figuring I could get my showering and stuff done before the other girls, but I was also really. really. really tired, so I didn't get up right away. I thought it'd be okay. Instead, they all start moving, getting dressed, doin' their hurr, and I'm last in the bathroom. What. Fun. But it was okay--they didn't even make fun of my tangly wet white person hair when I came out of the bathroom! :D (There should be commas there somewhere but I don't feel like fixing it...I'm sorry, fellow Grammar/Punctuation Nazis. I have failed you. ._.) There was breakfast of Froot Loops and a danish thingy or something and I read in the breakfast room some more. It made it easier to sit off by myself. Then I went back to the room and read some more because my stuff was already packed up. Sooner than I would've liked, it was time to go, and off to Northern Michigan we went. Before we went there, though, we got to stop by the lake and I got some cool pictures of the mini ice burgs. :3 (Will show later.) At NMU, we got a tour of the art department and then I went off with the Media people because I was more interested in that than business or nursing. After all that we got food at the other NMU cafeteria (more ice creams!) and loaded up on the bus.
First time across the bridge, I was on the left side, so I didn't get to see squat. This time around I made sure I was on the right so I could see if crossing was scarier when you could see over the edge. (It wasn't, or at least not for me.) The head of WMCAT, Ms. Luisa, told us a little about Michigan, like of the red dwarf and stuff (can't remember most of the story, sorry DX). And we watched the Count of Monte Cristo. I liked it and feel like I should read the book now. *nodnod* There was a lot of sitting and doing nothing on the bus, watching Shrek the Third, and reading, and Pokemon-ing...and then we stopped for dinner in Gaylord.
Oh. My. Stars.
We stopped at a place called BJ's Restaurant. People were giggling at the name and I was surprised no one made the connection between "Gaylord" and it--the only jokes that were made were separate. Anywho, I figured a buffet would be easy. Pick out all the stuff I would eat, like I'd done at NMU and the hotel.
BJ's was...special.
Here's the website, but it doesn't help give you an idea at all. It's the complete, complete opposite. At first we got off the bus to go right in, but then they had us go around to the back, where their event area was. (It was not, however, like one person described it as: "...like we were black." It's simply easier to send a big group of people to the back if that's where they'll be eating. asedfasdflaskdjfljka people.) Anyway, that back event room? Filled. With. Dead. Animals. I swear, the owner MUST be a taxidermist or something. And it wasn't just deer. There were boars, coyotes, rabbits, a squirrel, and a mountain lion. Staring at us. While we ate. It was so, so creepy.
And...the food. It was a buffet, sort of, like they said it would be. Smaller, but still a buffet. And it was fish. Fish. And more. freaking. fish. That was probably fine for anyone that liked fish. I, however, do not. At all. Fish are friends, not food, etc. (Although it might have something more to do with having fish for pets so often--those tanks get NASTY. ><) I carefully looked over the food, picking out corn, mashed potatoes...I think I found some chicken...and a little roast beef or something. I almost got a lump of white meat I thought might be chicken, but upon closer inspection I saw it was too pale. And thus fish. There were also these little breaded things that looked like they might be chicken, too, but I didn't trust it. What if it was some other type of fish? I didn't want to take away from someone who might actually enjoy it, either, so I just scuttled back to my table, plate full of corn and taters and a skimpy portion of meat. I nomnomed contentedly and listened a little to the conversations around me. Marica and her friend, whose name I forget, talked a little, though it was mostly about the fish and stuff, I think. Then some sort of news gets around....those little breaded things? FROG LEGS. They served frog legs. I was suddenly very, very glad I hadn't taken any. Marica's friend tried one she'd gotten and said it tasted like swamp. I trusted her and left it at that. There was a little more conversation here and there and ice cream was eaten (I think everywhere in the UP has an ice cream machine, honestly). And then, somewhat abruptly, we left. Later I discovered that people had actually been upchucking. We all piled back on the bus, a little queasier than before. It was then decided we would stop at a park and let everyone's stomach settle. And stop at a park we did. With. Swings. I was very, very, very, very, very happy. I hadn't been on swings in forever, mostly because the nearest ones to my house are overgrown and usually bug infested. (Though that fact that I usually don't get home until after four or five doesn't help, either.) There was much enjoyment from the swings, but, alas, we still had a few hours until home. So we got back on the bus once more. There wasn't really much on the way home. We drove and drove and drove and everyone would squeal when some major landmark would show up, signalling our near-arrival back home. Then we got back to WMCAT and my parents pulled in right behind us. I grabbed my backpack and scurried over there, glad to be home. And that's that. The UP was absolutely beautiful and NMU pretty cool--I only feel bad because they don't really have the sort of program I'm looking for. :c Partly because the people were so nice and mostly because their tuition is, like, second cheapest in the state.
And, also, the pretty picture I promised.
And this picture is sort of hilarious. These two would get on, I think.
