Social Oddities and Swollen Ankles (Assessment 3)

Like I previously mentioned, the most surprising and shocking thing for me was on my first drift, seeing the sleeping bags half buried in the snow, abandoned from the night before. I had always noticed a homeless population in Milwaukee, without truly thinking much of it. It was shocking to see this sight, especially considering what came next on my trip…

Right after making my way out of the makeshift bedroom for the night, I found myself carefully walking through a nearby park. Trying to step lightly as I walked on the extremely icy, previously less traveled path, I was approached by a (seemingly) homeless man, curious if I was lost. At first I was a little nervous to have the inevitable conversation with this man, having had unusual experiences in the past, but the man could not have been a nicer person. He asked if I was lost, needed any directions to get out, then shook my hand and told me to have a nice day. As he was walking away, I had hoped with all my heart that he wasn’t the man who had spent the previous night under that bridge; truly a person undeserving of a lack-luster life.

Another ramification of the drift I incurred was after I returned from my second drift. I was near the lake on higher grounds when I decided to take a shortcut to the beach itself. There were two ways to get down; walk all the way back to the path and take it down to the lake, or attempt to simply take the extremely steep hill down to the path which happened to be right below me. Like the reckless youth I am, I tucked my camera in a safe place and started the downhill slide to the path below. Needless to say, the snow when coupled with a massive incline did not make for a turbulence free trip. When I made it to the bottom, I didn’t notice any immediate damage, but when I returned my ankle hurt like nothing else. Thankfully I did my drift on a Thursday, so I was able to take the weekend off to nurse my extremely hurt ankle, and I was better in time for class on Monday.