This past weekend, a group of friends and I drove to Orlando to see one of our favorite artists: Hoodie Allen. Think of the song “No Interruption,” and if you haven’t heard it you probably don’t really enjoy young rappers that teenage girls swoon over.
I tried really hard to get him to answer a few questions about his life for an article, but all he had to say when he looked at my friend group was “you girls look like trouble.” It was quite a let down.
The first semester is slowly coming to an end, and the pressure of exams combined with the intense desire to see our families/dig in to a Thanksgiving turkey has left us reeling with mixed emotions. It’s becoming harder and harder to focus on anything school related, and I can literally feel the studious atmosphere that used to define Gainesville slowly evaporating. We are stuck in the middle-to-end of the school year rut.
After leaving Gainesville for about 24 hours with some of my closest friends, however, I felt rejuvenated. Our travel time was only an hour and a half, so I didn’t feel like I was five thousand miles away from campus and that something awful would happen on our return that would keep me from making it to class on Monday morning. Spontaneous road trips like these are a magical thing for a few reasons:
1. Something to look forward to. They inspire some motivation to finish your work for the week because you know you’ll be busy all weekend.
2. Variety. When you live in a college town such as Gainesville, sometimes things can get a little boring. We don’t have the luxury of living in a large city filled with endless entertainment, so the solution is to branch out a little further to other places.
3. Bonding time. I feel a lot closer to the girls I traveled with this weekend. We had plenty of non-stop conversation in the car over a bag of Tostitos (hint of lime, of course), and got to know more about each other in that short span of time than we have all year.
4. Change of Scenery. As students, we spend a lot of time sitting in the library or walking to class with the same route every single day. It’s exciting to experience a new place, and it helps us appreciate where we live.
In Orlando, our stay at a pretty nice Holiday Inn was only $90 dollars (unfortunately Chingy didn’t make an appearance), and after splitting the cost among the six of us it ended up being a measly $15 each. Definitely worth it, so I’ve listed a few upcoming concerts headed to O-Town below so you can start planning your weekend getaway.
A$AP Ferg- Dec. 1st
Danny Brown- Dec. 4th
The Devil Wears Prada- Dec. 11th
Sara Bareilles- Dec. 15th
Backstreet Boys (?)- Dec. 17th
Tegan and Sara- Dec. 19th
Brad Paisley- Jan. 25th
Arctic Monkeys- Jan. 31st
Toro Y Moi- February 17th
Paul Simon- March 16th
These are only a few of the random artists traveling to the Orlando area within the next few months. I recommend researching upcoming events in St. Augustine or Jacksonville as well, seeing as both locations are only an hour or so from Gainesville. It’s empowering to hop in the car and drive somewhere new, even if it’s not that far from campus.
Find your favorite musician, start planning your next road trip, and I promise you will not be disappointed.
