I love exploring. I explore food, books, and even academic majors (I’m secretly an engineer). I also spend a lot of time exploring the world around me. London was a great opportunity because it was miles kilometres of uncharted territory for me to explore and I truly enjoyed being immersed in the culture. Every night was an exploration as I attended classes and walked the city by day and retired to my flat by night to talk to my regionally diverse Norwegian and American friends.
Rest assured that I have also explored Lafayette. One particular highlight was a visit to an abandoned railroad bridge. For those who are unfamiliar with the state, Pennsylvania is one of the coal capitals of the world. The coal companies own most of the power and built many miles of railroads. If you listen closely at night you can still hear the friendly horns of coal trains and if you look around you’ll find that the coal companies weren’t particularly good about cleaning up. As Bethlehem Steel was once a major center for steel, a lot of coal came into the Lehigh Valley. I would wager that the bridge I saw was closed up and abandoned at the same time as the steel plant. It was beautiful in its own way as nature reclaimed its land.
Another memorable experience was a visit to the Bushkill Creek. The creek was fairly low that day so we decided to go down to the bank. This meant going underneath The Spot to traverse the piles of wood and glass that have accumulated underneath the building. It was a wondrous sight. There were distinct pockets of light and shadow and the glass reflected colored light onto the aging concrete. It was a wonderful place to watch the sun set. Then we were asked to leave by a bemused Public Safety officer. Even he couldn’t deny the beauty and excitement.
Go ahead. Explore.
