And the Show Goes On

Hi friends!  Sorry to hold you in suspense about the trip. Midterms week hit hard.

Even though I got back last Sunday, I still can’t believe I was here~

Label courtesy of my mother

Here’s the highlights of my trip in list form. Because…I quite like lists.

1. Over-Confident Bus Drivers Part I

We left Thursday morning, bright and early, but the tiredness didn’t last long for those on the bus.  Within 15 minutes of leaving, the bus driver realized he missed the turn, so he reversed on the highway and did a U-turn while a semi-truck was coming towards us. Talk about an adrenline rush! I was wide awake after that.

2.  St. Louis Bread Company (AKA Panera Bread)

Ah, Bread Co, how I missed thee! So much so that my friend and I ate there twice.  Once for lunch and once for second breakfast.

Yes indeed I ate like a hobbit. Do hobbits eat pumpkin bagels and lattes? Probably not, but I was simply not in the mood for lunch food at 10:00 AM, even though it felt like lunchtime after getting up at 5:00 AM. Second breakfast it is!

3.  Family Time

Best part of the trip! We mostly just chatted, though there was some Iron Man 2 watching. I also got to see my sister’s choir singing with my high school orchestra. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t be prouder of my little sis.  <3

4.  Everest Cafe

Dinner Friday night was at a Nepalese restaurant that I’ve been trying to get my family to go for forever, so I suppose my visit was an excuse to go.

The waitress brought this cracker-like flatbread and tomato curry dip for a free appetizer. Thank goodness because I starving!

These are vegetable mo-mo that I insisted on getting to split. And not just because it has the best name ever. They’re filled with veggies and potatoes and the dip is a spicier version of the curry dip for the crackers. Yum yum.

I ordered the full vegetarian Nepalese meal, and it was quite large. No problem, it made a perfect lunch the next day. I’ll admit I don’t know the names for all of it, but everything was quite tasty. Let’s see, in the front was lentil soup and white rice, and in the back starting on the left is some sort of tomato-y curry (my favorite!), vegetables in tarkari sauce and mango achars, which was VERY spicy.

My parents enjoyed their meal too, so maybe I’ll get to go back.

5.  Over-Confident Bus Drivers Part II

Picture a tiny, quaint historic district with cobblestone roads. Now picture a giant tour bus bumping along, filling up the entire road and scrapping past parked cars. Yeah, that was my experience getting to dinner Saturday night before the Kansas Concert. Despite almost taking out a street sign and some tree branches, we made it out alive. Whew.

5.  Kansas Concert

The big event. As you can probably imagine, setting up for a rock concert is quite an ordeal, and when we got there for rehersal, there were wires everywhere, people running around and climbing up onto the stage lighting.

It was pretty exciting and I certainly wasn’t the only one snapping pics.

Note camera on the right.

Before we knew it, concert time arrived.

The lights went out.

And then the band rocked out and we joined them.

It was incredible. So loud that floor shook, lights everywhere, the screams and cheers from the crowd–and being on stage, performing during all of that was unbelievable. My stand partner kept leaning towards me going “Oh my god, oh my god,” haha. One of the graduate students even got to have a violin play-off with one of the band members.

It was a lot of fun, and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to do this!