A Saturday in the Twin Cities
George shares his Saturday out in Minneapolis, including shopping at a record store, getting Vietnamese food, and exploring the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden!
George shares his Saturday out in Minneapolis, including shopping at a record store, getting Vietnamese food, and exploring the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden!
As someone from New York City, (the greatest city in America… of course) moving to Northfield, Minnesota was an intimidating transition. Apart from spending a summer in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York, I’ve never spent more than a few weeks outside the city at a time. Now this isn’t to say I was dreading the move — In fact, I was incredibly excited for it.
One big part of the transition to living in Northfield that I was excited about is interacting and exploring Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Twin Cities. I only briefly visited the Twin Cities when I visited Carleton on Admitted Students Day in the spring and was itching to see more of it. Luckily, two of my friends have cars on campus (thanks Aley and Parker!), and with five other friends, we made our way into Minneapolis.
First Stop – Electric Fetus Records
If you know anything about me – you know I LOVE music. Whether it is playing jazz flute, or folk guitar, listening to indie rock, or house, I consume music in any way possible. For this reason, I love record stores — there’s just such a wide range of music, spanning decades, genres, sounds, and more. It’s also just an amazing experience to sift through piles of records looking for your favorites — it’s similar to thrifting in this way. Electric Fetus is also HUGE — I was in there for two hours easily before my friends dragged me out. Literally. Ask them. There was also a random country singer I had never heard of taking photos and signing records.
Second Stop – Quang Restaurant
After all that record shopping, me and my friends were super hungry. We decided to get Vietnamese Food — one of the cuisines I miss most from home. I can happily say that it didn’t disappoint – It was amazing – second only to the dining hall Asian station! 😉
Third Stop – Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Our last stop of the day was walking through the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden before heading home to Northfield. The park was beautiful and lively — there were lots of families walking around, a baseball game being played, and more. It was also a beautiful park, with several huge sculptures scattered around. If you are ever in Minneapolis — I suggest you check it out!
And that about wraps up my Saturday in Minneapolis! It was great to switch up the scenery from Northfield and explore a new city. Minneapolis is surprisingly accessible from Northfield, especially if you can befriend a sophomore or upperclassman with a car — but don’t fear! There are also several shuttles from Northfield to Minneapolis. If you don’t want to go by yourself, there are also several clubs and organizations that organize trips to the Twin Cities.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my day in Minneapolis! If you want to read about a more typical school day at Carleton, check out Hannah’s blog from last week! As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions 🙂
George (he/him) is a freshman interested in Mathematics, History, and Geology, from New York City. He loves listening to music (currently Big Thief, Elliot Smith, and Kid Cudi), as well as playing the jazz flute and guitar. At Carleton, he’s involved in the Carleton Association of Nature and Outdoor Enthusiasts (CANOE), Carleton’s radio station, KRLX, and more. You may see him wandering around the Arb, playing pickup ultimate frisbee, or thrifting in Northfield.