In attempts to find the most joy in life, I continually come back to the Cross. UT B.S. CHE, 2016. Hobbies: running, biking, deepening friendships over food.

Jun 3, 2016

A Summer in Kentucky (pt. 1)

I’ve been in Kentucky for about two full days now. My dad just left town earlier today (thanks a lot for coming with me), so today was the first day I spent in Kentucky alone.

Reflecting on the past few days, there are a few things I’ve noticed about the town here. Needless to say, it’s been quite different than the atmosphere in which I have lived. I’ll also preface by saying that none of the things I’m writing are meant to be seen in a negative light. I’m just noting differences and things I’ve seen in the short time I’ve been here.

Road trips are not fun alone. Thank God that my dad came with me. Otherwise, I probably would have fallen asleep at the wheel at some point during the 17ish hour drive.
I’m around a bunch of small towns. Towns have been described to me by the number of stoplights there are to give size estimates. Here’s the count for the cities around me: Ghent, KY: 0, Vevay, IN: 1, Warsaw, KY: 2 (EDIT: I drove through Ghent, and it has 1 stoplight, hooray)
The nearest Kroger/Walmart (sorry, HEB, you don’t exist in this state) is about a 20 minute drive away. I don’t think I’m ever going to complain about grocery shopping again. I guess I need to make a complete list before leaving each time now.
I can count the number of non-white people I’ve seen on two hands… or less. It’s going to be an interesting summer. I’m sure that will change once work starts, and I start meeting more people. Again, not a bad thing, just different. (I’ve actually seen more cemeteries (4) than Asian Americans (2)).
That being said, people are super friendly and helpful. I’ve had pleasant experiences with everyone I’ve interacted with so far even though I’m pretty sure I stick out like a sore thumb as a new person.
Finding places to exercise is going to be hard. I’m supposed to be training for a triathlon, but the nearest pool (YMCA) is 20 minutes away and across the river. I’m not entirely sure the roads here are biker friendly either (mainly two lane roads and fairly winding roads).

At the end of the day, I’m still looking forward to this whole experience once work starts. I went on a bike ride today along the main road here, and I got to ride along the Ohio River. Man, God definitely made nature full of awe (sorry, no good pictures cause I was riding the whole time). Every time I got to glance at the river or even some of the greenery around (I don’t think I get to see too much of nature in Houston or Austin), I’m reminded of our beautiful creator and the intricacies the Lord has put in this world for us to enjoy.

Took a small break to take a few pictures. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer.

Well, thanks for reading. Hope your summer has been going well so far. Feel free to reach out to me if you wanna chat. Odds are that I’ll be down to chat, haha.