I got friends in high and low places

I had such a wonderful weekend. Friday night I drove up to Greenfield, Massachusetts and went to the famous contra dance there. It was definitely one of the better dances I've been to. During the break I called my friend and found out she would be coming to the dance in New Haven the next day along with her sister, so during the dance in Greenfield as great as it was, I was also excited about the next night. That night I went back to my friend's house... well more like cabin shack in the middle of nowhere Vermont and we watched The Shining until 3am, went to bed, woke up and got a delicious lunch at a diner nearby. I think that was actually the first time I'd been to Vermont, and it was only about 20 minutes in from the Massachusetts border but it was still the middle of nowhere. But beautiful, and I'm excited to go back and see it in October once the leaves have really started changing. Around 1:30, I hit the road and in two and a half hours I made it to Brewster, picked up my friend, went to pick up her sister at the subway in the Bronx and booked it to New Haven. There was an accident somewhere near New Milford on 95 (when is there not?) and I made it a point to go on local roads to get around it. Not sure if it actually made it quicker, but we made it to the dance with just enough time to get a little bit of the beginners class in for my friends. At first I had trouble getting them to find a partner, but I think by the middle they seemed to feel a little bit more comfortable and definitely looked like they were having fun. I know I sure was, and seeing my friends enjoying something that I love made me smile even more. And after going to six dances within the past year (it's hard for me to believe that it's really only that few...I feel like I must be missing some, but maybe not), I finally feel like I can consider myself experienced at my seventh contra dance. I can most definitely say that I am addicted to it and love it, even though I've never danced in the same city twice (but that will change within the next few weeks!).

Speaking of the next few weeks, I have dances in all different cities planned for the next five weekends. This Friday is a dance on a boat in Brooklyn, Saturday is the Chinatown dance (which I have a free pass for from my first dance ever last year). The following week no contra dances, but I think I am going to a swing dance Thursday in New Paltz. The next week, my bestest friend ever who got me to love this wonderful thing is coming down to visit and we're going to Greenfield on Friday and Stamford on Saturday. Following that is Fall Ball in New Hampshire which is 12 hours of dancing on Saturday. Then finally I will be visiting my friend in Rhode Island and bringing her along to a dance near her. By the end of October I will have danced in 7 cities, 5 states, and 2 countries (and that's not including English & Swing dances!). I am really glad that I am doing this because I've met some great friends and gone on some amazing adventures from doing it. Not having friends at school gets extremely frustrating and lonely during the week, but I am so excited and happy that I have such great friends everywhere else and I get to visit them on the weekends. Oh and not to mention that Tuesday I'm seeing Frank Turner again with two friends!! I just want to skip the next few weeks and go straight to the weekends!