The roses and the corn

Doing things you've never done before is really important, especially during the college years. It's only now, in my senior year at IU, when it may be too late, that I've finally learned that trying new things and not being afraid to push myself is a really good way to enjoy life.\nFor you freshmen who just arrived in Bloomington, let me tell you about southern Indiana culture. \nSouthern Indiana is the place where the bad high school football teams are just as loved as the good ones; everyone has a favorite ball cap that hasn't been washed much, but it isn't ever worn backward; and every son has his own shotgun. Friendliness is the name of the game, and playfulness is even more important. \nA few weeks ago, a friend of mine, Heidi, drove me to her family's home in Evansville right on the Indiana-Kentucky border. I didn't really want to go at first because car trips aren't really something I'm good at, but whenever we go somewhere, Heidi always brings along games and puzzles and things for me to work on so I don't get bored. The three-hour trip was a breeze.\nHeidi drove back because she had to get dilated -- at the eye doctor's, that is. So once we got there, we met up with her 19-year-old brother, Jesse, who started as an IU freshman last week. While Heidi went off and did her thing at the doctor, I rolled with Jesse. \nAnd then began the most fun I had all summer.\nWe putzed around Evansville in his pick-up truck, complete with Yosemite Sam mud flaps; and listened to a few CDs. He took me to a nearby grocery store called Schnucks where he bought some flowers that I turned into an arrangement for this girl he'd taken a liking to. And that's when I realized just how far south we were.\nAs we left the grocery, one of the clerks said "Y'all come back now, ya' hear." \nI thought that was pretty cool, because before now, I'd only ever heard that on the Beverly Hillbillies.\nWe dropped the flowers off at the house of this lady friend of his, and then we headed back to the homestead. \nDriving back to his homestead with its goats, cats, dogs and trees upon trees interspersed with cornfields upon cornfields that run right up to their backyard, we were hollering out the windows of his Chevy going "whoo-hooo" at the cars and semis we passed. We even spat out the windows. It was so cool. \nAnd then we did something I'd never dreamed of doing before. We took a pee in a cornfield.\nI'd never done any of this before, and I was euphoric as Heidi and I drove back to Bloomington later that night. I was euphoric because I let myself open up to exploring a whole new culture foreign to anything else I'd ever done before. I'm from the city. There aren't all that many cornfields in cities. \nI think what I would like all you freshmen to take away from reading this is to realize that habits, routines and sticking with the safe bet may be just that -- a safe bet. \nBut safe bets rarely lead to growing and better appreciation of a lot of different things.\nYou know, it's funny. This summer I traveled all over Western Europe -- the thing I remember the most fondly is standing next to Jesse and peeing in the family cornfield.