Learning so much!

So I don't have many pictures to share for this post, but I do have some exciting things to share about what I've been learning and doing!

Since I last wrote, on Friday last week I went into Minneapolis for the first time in search of Mexican food! Me, Callista, Kate, Ruby, and Laura took the bus into Minneapolis and headed to Lake Street, a section which has a lot of Hispanic culture, markets, and restaurants. We had a lot of restaurants to choose from, so we walked into one that looked nice and small and interesting. So we walked in, and I noticed we got a couple weird looks from some guys sitting at a table. The place was small and there was no sign of a waitress or menus, so we just sat down. After waiting a couple minutes, no one came over, so I got up in search of menus to grab. When I started walking over, I was met by our waitress who was wearing a little cowgirl outfit and lots of make-up. Hmm....She then brought us our menus, which we opened to find lots of bikini-clad women showcasing food, which was all listed in Spanish, but from the pictures we could tell it was mostly seafood and meat. Considering 3 of us are vegan, we decided this might not be the best place for us and left. We walked down the street and soon found another place called La Poblanita which was a much better atmosphere and a great choice of food! I got a Gordita and we had some amazing guacamole and fresh-made tortilla chips!

On Saturday I went into Minneapolis again with Heidi and Callita, but this time I got to see more of it because we rode around on our bikes.

We headed into the city on the Greenway, which is like a mini-highway for bikes, and then rode the Light Rail (which is like the T) in the rest of the way. We got to see some great sights in the city! The only bummer was when Callista's bike broke down (her tire got messed up), but luckily we were about 100 feet from the only bike shop we saw all day when it happened! I don't think we could have been more lucky. We got some great food at a nice restaurant and then had a leisurely bike ride around and out of the city and back to St Paul.

On Sunday a bunch of us took a trip to Sibley's Bike Depot where we worked on our bikes and learned how to true a wheel and fix the brakes!

On Monday I went to my Experimental College class and learned a lot about energy efficiency and how much potential there is for easily reducing the amount of energy we use with pretty minor modifications and upgrades. Fun fact: most of the potential for reducing carbon emissions will come from increasing energy efficiency rather than generating clean, renewable energy. Also interesting to think about is the fact that more than half of the buildings that will exist in 2050 (a year that has been cited as a crucial point as far as reducing carbon emissions) are buildings that have already been built and exist today. So that really drives home the point that we need to focus on working with what we already have and not just thinking about how to build better buildings in the future. It was exciting because it's so relevant to the work we're doing with Cooperative Energy Futures, which is focusing on helping people make their homes more energy efficient!

On Tuesday, my excitement for the day was when I tried out a new Experimental College class called Body Appreciation through dance. It's a small class where we just do some exercises, stretches, and routines that draw from ballet, jazz, hip hop, and modern. It was so fun! And the instructor is really interested in eating disorders, so she teaches dance to help people love their bodies and not worry about what they look like but just be amazed at what they can do!

Yesterday, on Wednesday, I think one of the best things I did all day was talking to Callista and starting to do research about how we can bring these awesome projects back to our homes and to Worcester! We are looking for connections between what we're doing here and what could be done over in the east. We're researching economic development, green jobs, transportation, history, and zoning in Worcester to see what there is for potential or where we can be inspired to work with other people and envision awesome things for back home. We're talking about doing something like ARISE in Worcester for re-vitalizing a lot of the manufacturing that has been lost over the years, working on creating an Experimental College, and seeing if there's potential for energy efficiency projects in the city. It's exciting to think of how we can be inspired by the people out here to do incredible, transformative, and positive things once we get back to Massachusetts.

Last night was also great when Callista and I hosted a group gathering at our house. We had most of the Summer of Solutions group over for some of our famously delicious Vegan Flourless Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies and a check-in discussion about how we all think the summer is going and what we  think about Summer of Solutions so far. It was great to get everyone together and really hear how everyone is feeling and hang out in a space that is not work or project-centered. It made me feel really happy and generated a lot of positive feelings about how things are going with Summer of Solutions!

Today I had my first 1-on-1 meeting with a homeowner interested in being a part of the Cooperative Energy Futures pilot project. I basically just went to her home and talked with her for a little bit about her thought about energy efficiency, if she's had a home energy audit, if she has insulation, if she has any neighbors who might be interested, and what she envisions for the project and building community around it. She had some great questions and input, so it went really well! It's great that people are so excited about really organizing their communities and getting people together to make their homes more energy efficient to save money and reduce their carbon emissions. I think it's just such a win-win, people really want to be a part of it!

Well I'm getting sleepy, and I need to rest up because tomorrow is a busy day full of meetings from 10-6:30. Being a part of Summer of Solutions has really been like a full-time job! We definitely spend about 40 hours a week working on and discussing our projects! It sounds like a lot but the reason it's really great is because I'm loving what we're doing, we mix fun in with work, and the people I'm working with are just incredible.