In general so far in this program, I feel I have been able to be very active in Detroit and see a lot of stuff, which has been awesome. I now have my bike and have been playing soccer, so that occupies a lot of my time, and there is always some event to go to both during the week and on the weekends. The event that stands out most to me right now is probably a Couchsurfing meet-up that I went to with Noor last week.
Couchsurfing is a website where you can stay with locals anywhere around the world for free, just because they want to host people, or where you can host people yourself. There are also events that people active in the Couchsurfing community can participate in, which are usually chill get-togethers, like barbecues or a trip to a bar. I have used the website in the past to couchsurf in Spain, so I was interested in seeing what was going on here in Detroit and saw that there was a weekly meeting nearby at the Northern Lights Lounge. I was really excited to go, and convinced Noor to come along with me and check it out. What we found was a group of people really interested in travel and other cultures as well as many, many other interests. It really was a pretty normal event, but the people who made up the group and the very relaxed, accepting and open-minded nature of the dialogue was great to experience.
I think that this experience also illustrates that I have only scratched the surface of what Detroit has to offer; I have done the typical DIA, RenCen/River walk trips, I have seen Greek town, but there will always be more to do and learn here. The vastness of the opportunities here and how deep one can delve into each individual one is astounding, and although I still am very much conscious of my status as an outsider in many parts of the city, it has left an impression on me like no place except perhaps Ann Arbor and my own home.
(if you want to check out couchsurfing, go to the monthly potluck this sunday https://www.couchsurfing.org/n/events/3rd-sunday-potluck-farmington-hills AND BRING FOOD OR EVERYONE WILL HATE YOU)
I have never heard of Crowdsurfing, but that sounds like a fun way to meet people! It makes sense to have something like that for meeting people, especially if you are living in a big city. That’s sweet though, are they usually in Farmington Hills?