What do people DO in North Dakota?

This is a question that I have asked a variety of people. It is also a question that people from back home have asked me. Being surrounded by fields, I would assume people have to get creative. Grand Fork, ND, home to the University of North Dakota is 75 miles north of Fargo, and is located right on the eastern boarder, next to Minnesota. It's a small college town, but it has a lot to offer (more so than Waynesburg that is). Whenever I get a chance to talk to locals, I asked them what they do for fun. Here are some of the responses I have gotten:

• Sleep
• Watch movies
• Catfish noodling
• Drink
• Frisbee golf
• Go to Fargo
• Go to Canada
• Go to Minnesota

Since this list was a little boring, we decided to look into local events. These are the options we were given for this weekend:

• School bus races
• Art festival
• Stargazing
• Movie theater
• Bowling
• Laser tag
• Annual rhubarb festival

Of all these suggestions, we chose to attend the Art Festival. They had hundreds of booths set up with a wide variety of art from local artists. There was ceramics, paintings, photography, basket weaving, wood works, jewelry, clothing, and all sorts of food and even some live music. It was the perfect day for an outdoor festival. After a cold week with the temperatures not reaching above 60, it finally was sunny and 70! I have been freezing all week long, so this was wonderful. It was 35 degrees when I walked to work Wednesday morning! I am so glad I brought two blankets that I didn't think I would need. Let's just say we haven't had to turn on the air conditioning at all yet. I really hope it will not be like this all summer. Boy am I glad that I am here in the summer instead of winter. They said it gets down to negative 40 degrees here!!! I can't even imagine. 

Hopefully we won't run out of things to do here. I am thankful I have a car, and I am able to get off campus whenever I need to. So far I have used it to go to Walmart (for and ICEE), Target, the movie theater, and church. I pretty much walk if I am going some place on campus. The school of medicine, where I work, is about a 15 minute walk from my dorm. I have walked every day because I didn't get my parking pass until the end of the week. I will probably start driving though, so I can sleep in, and so that I don't waste 30 minutes of my lunch break walking to the dinning center and back. 

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures.