Above: Phil, Andreas, Jeff and Brett at a graduation ceremony.
My summer was spent working, traveling and preparing for dramatic changes in my life. For the first time school is officially over for good. I now must decide where in the world I want to live and where my career will begin. My decision to leave the United States is one that I made many years ago. Up until now I always had to return for school, work and money. As of August 31st I am no longer a resident of Lawrence, Kansas and look to live and work abroad.
Above: Phil, Andreas, Jeff and Brett at a graduation ceremony.
After graduation in May I took a trip to Dallas, Texas with my friends Nate and Orsi. We toured the 6th Floor Museum (JFK's assassination), Art Museum, Zoo, etc. My pledge father from Triangle, Josh Freisen, took us out to some cool bars. We also went to the Medieval Times Dinner Theater where our knight kicked ass. They had lots of battles with swords, armor, jousting and other entertainment. I found the horses to be particularly impressive because they were so well-trained. The food was OK and it was more of a novelty experience that was sort of expensive, but definitely worth doing once.
Above: Nate, Orsi and I before our feast at Medieval Times in Dallas.
Next it was on to the St. Louis area for Justin and Missy's wedding. It went very well and we all got rather drunk at the reception. I got to see some old fraternity brothers from years ago such as Keith Doyle. We stayed at Beezer's house and in general had a great time
 |
 |
Top: Missy and Justin leaving the church. Above Left: Me and Nate partying at the reception. Above Right: Brad, Keith, Matt, and Josh.
My final "big" road trip of the summer was to New Orleans. This was trip I had wanted to make for many years, but something always came up to prevent it. Mardi Gras always fell during a busy time of the school year. I would have mid-term exams, lack the money, or just couldn't round up enough people to go with. This time it was just a last second weekend trip that Rob and I threw together. We drove down with two of Rob's good friends named Tom Turner and Ryan Steeves. The excitement of Bourbon Street was nothing short of amazing. We enjoyed good food, cheap drinks, women flashing us, and plenty of weird people.
The highlights for me included a Vampire Tour in which the colorful history of New Orleans took center stage. I learned all about vampire legends of the past, saw where these events took place, went to haunted/vampire bars, and even met a "real" vampire. He sure as hell looked like one to me and even had fangs. Another highlight was a street performer who did a Houdini-like escape from a straight jacket, 3 chains, 3 padlocks and handcuffs. It took him a little over 10 minutes and was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. It was made more memorable by the fact that Ryan and I put him in the straight jacket and made the chains so tight he was turning blue in the face from a lack of oxygen. I was sure he was going to keel over and die on us, but somehow he did it.
Below: Tom, Rob and Ryan at Pat O'Brians near Bourbon Street. Right: The escape artists talking to the crowd just prior to beginning his trick.
 |
 |
Our last night was spent with a group of girls that kept us out all night. Despite Ryan being mugged (yet not losing any money), we still lacked enough cash to catch a cab back to the hotel. So we walked all the way there for over an hour through rough neighborhoods, a cemetery, across the Mississippi on a barge, etc. It sucked really bad and damn near killed our fat asses to walk that far.
 |
 |
Above: Tom with Brenda (one of the many women we met on our trip). Right: Rob and Ryan tried to make our tiny barge seem as grand as The Titantic.