I’ve never been the kind of person who feels at home in the great outdoors. As a child, I found no joy in looking for bugs in the back yard, and on a class fieldtrip to a well-stocked lake, the only things I could catch on my rod were clumps of grass when I somehow managed to cast the line behind me. The closest thing to camping I’ve ever experienced was setting up a pop-up tent in my living room when I was eight. I am, and have always been, an indoor cat.
As the calendar rounds the corner into spring, and the weather follows suit, it feels natural to spend more time outside. Normally, I can satisfy my craving for sunshine with an afternoon spent on the Lawn petting other people’s dogs, or drinking my morning coffee with my roommate on the fire escape of our house. However, this past Saturday, feeling particularly restless, I found myself cajoled into accompanying my sportiest friend — a frequent runner of double-digit mileage — to spend an afternoon walking the trails at Monticello.
While my friend and I had intended on using the time to catch up on life at the University, we found our conversations drifting towards topics that felt a little less close to home — the struggle of finding compatible travel companions, her impending move to California, plans for graduate school. This focus on forward motion felt natural as we walked deeper and deeper into the woods. The trail was relatively gentle and shaded by foliage, breaking at the occasional lookout point to allow a view of the impressive landscape below. I could not have imagined a more perfect afternoon, and that feeling remained with me for the rest of the day.
While it’s undeniable that the views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Charlottesville are breath-taking, I can’t attribute the high I felt that afternoon strictly to the scenery. It’s the same feeling I got when I saw one of my favorite bands play at the Pavilion on the Downtown Mall on a crisp fall evening, when I attended a workshop at the Tom Tom Founders Festival last year or even when I had Brazos for breakfast at the IX Art Park one morning.
It’s the feeling of not only having an incredible city right at your fingertips, but also making the most of it. Charlottesville has so much to offer to the music aficionado, aspiring artist or avid outdoorsman — if only we take the time to climb out of Clem, or stroll past our favorite Corner establishment and experience it. With end of the semester drawing near, many students at the University are feeling pressure to cram as many quintessential experiences as possible into the remaining weeks. Instead, I’m finding myself looking for a change of pace.
While I’ve loved almost every minute of my time spent on Grounds, sometimes a little distance can be healthy. On days when I’m feeling stuck in my routine as a student at the University, I like to get out and explore all the ways I can be a citizen of Charlottesville as well. Whether it’s a really good latte at a coffee shop a little off the beaten path or a picnic at a free polo match, I am beginning to understand that a breath of fresh air doesn’t just have to come from the mountain.
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