#549 School field trip day

Neil Pasricha

It all starts with the permission slip.

Yes, when teachers send them home before the bell rings so parents can rubber stamp the bumpy yellow bus trip to the museum, then it’s on, my friends, it’s on.

Soon the days count down and the buzz builds up as the class gets ready for the day away from school. The middle-ages unit wraps up at Medieval Times, paintings are handed in before the art gallery, and everyone mails a friend a letter before the tour of the post office.

On the morning of the big day you wake up with some extra pep in your step because you know we’re all going far away. It’s time to skip the portables, soggy sandwiches, and long afternoons with the Spanish teacher.

It’s time to do something different.

It’s time … to go for a ride.

Yes, whether it’s the petting zoo, chocolate factory, or a long hike in the woods, it’s time to enjoy the school vacation with some of the following perks:

1. Subs in the house. Taking thirty screaming seven-year-olds to the planetarium is a bit much, so most teachers call in backups in the form of parent chaperones. These subs act like a sweet and sweatered army of substitutes and don’t know enough names or have enough power to mess up the fun. Of course, that’s assuming they’re not your mom or dad. If that happens, your day is done.

2. Wheels on the bus. They go round and round on the way there and back. Yeah, we all gang rush into the slippery seatbelt-free seats and enjoy a loud, laughing party on wheels. There are loud screechy songs, secret makeout sessions, and some friendly gestures at passing motorists. This is also when the classroom’s social structure is on display too — from the cool kids at the back to the nerds sitting with the teacher up front. I really did love sitting up front though. I mean, how about that view?

3. Sealing it in. A friend and I were strolling quickly through an art gallery a couple years back when we stumbled on a group of kindergartners holding a rope and looking at splotchy art paintings. I’ll never remember the jaw-dropping look of pure head-tilting amazement from the little boy at the end of the group — eyes twinkling, mittens hanging out his winter coat, and his whirring brain soaking and swallowing up something beautiful on the wall. And it’s true: field trips often help seal in the learning. Chalk one up for school.

So… let’s enjoy the memories, let’s enjoy the moments, and let’s enjoy the parking lot speed bumps. Yes, let’s all love those special days when dusty chalkboards fade away and buses wheel us down the freeway, far away, far away, far away.

AWESOME!

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Photos from: here, here, here, and here

2,210 thoughts to “#549 School field trip day”

  2. Ramen Noodles.

    They’re filling, easy to make, and allow you to cook creatively!

    You can also add just about anything to them and they’ll still taste great.
    Whether you make them with some garlic powder and an egg, drain them and add marinara sauce and shredded cheese, or just leave them plain how they are, Raman Noodles will always taste AWESOME.

  3. Wedding Cake.

    The last time I had wedding cake was at the ripe of eight, and since then, I’ve grown from an itty-bitty kid into an angsty teenage girl, but one thing remains: wedding cake is just plainly awesome.

    All cakes are covered in things that make people happy. ‘Happy Birthday Suzie!’, ‘Congratulations Tom!’ And wedding cake, the deliciously satisfying symbol of two loves united by holy matrimony? That makes people even happier.

    And if you’ve ever eaten wedding cake, you know how once you’ve got it on your fork, your tongue is watering and your taste buds are buckling in for a total roller-coaster ride of sweet deliciousness.

    Not only that, wedding cakes can be silly. Did the bride just smash the groom into that piece of cake? Yes, she sure did, and she did it all with the intention of being totally

    AWESOME!

  4. awesome thing #549:
    DANCING like there’s no tomorrow.

    That’s right. Anyone can do it. Anywhere. Anytime. But there is something absolutely freeing about it. Maybe it is because the majority of us look ridiculously hilarious when we try to bust a move. Or maybe it’s because dancing naturally shakes off every care in the world. All I know is that when the dancing starts, nothing in the world matters but hitting the dance floor and shakin what your mama gave you with all you’ve got!
    AWESOME.

  5. What do I think is awesome? I think either sunshine dried sheets in the summer or fresh and clean (still hot) flannel sheets in the winter! Either way bedtime is awesome with the smells and feels! Kinda stiff in the summer and delightfully soft and cozy in the winter!

  6. When someone you’ve only met once or twice recognizes you or remembers you by name. It feels nice knowing you somehow left an impression on them. AWESOME!

  7. Getting something out of your tooth successfully after several tries with your tongue. Whether it be that piece of apple skin that you can’t get to from the front with your finger, or the kernel in your back tooth. Such a relief.

  8. You know what’s awesome? Nail files. They make you nails shorter without having to completely cut them down :]

  9. #Looking Up and Finding Something Unexpected!
    We look straight ahead, down at our feet, across the room, but rarely up. When i was younger I discovered the small joy of looking up everywhere I go because you never know what you’ll find. I had walked into an art gallery and there were so many things to take in, but when I glanced at the ceiling I found even more amazing art painted across the ceiling tiles and hanging from every crevice. Now I look up all the time. From the record store with the ceiling covered in scratched LPs to the cat hiding in the rafters to the balloon that never made it out of the store, you never know what you’ll find when you look up!
    AWESOME.

  10. recieving a strong, powerful kiss.

    when youre kissed with such urgency you feel like the person kissing you couldnt stand another minute without feeling you against them. absolutely awesome.

  11. Cookies.

    I don’t know about everyone else, but I’ve always found cookies to be one of the most amazing baked goods out there.
    No matter how big or how small they are, they always seem to taste delicious and never fail at making people smile.

  14. Looking up a word when I am unsure of its definition, and being spot on with what I thought it meant in the first place!

  15. Finishing your friends sentences, being so connected to someone that you can do that-AWESOME

    Discovering that the food you are really craving is in the house and you dont have to go and buy it-AWESOME

    Those rare moments when you pause and realise how amazing life is and how lucky you are, They are totally AWESOME

    Getting back in just before it starts to rain, phew you beat nature-AWESOME

    Bumping into someone unexpectedly and having a good ole catch up-AWESOME

    Waking up and realising its weekend and you can relax-be it going back to sleep or just chilling out-AWESOME

    The feeling you get when a baby clasps its little hand around your finger and won’t let go-AWESOME

  16. Getting all your homework done for the semester early.

    This only happens to high-school students who do not have a job yet. The teacher (who only assigns bookwork) has a plan for the semester and does not want to get off track. The student usually does their homework one night on an impulse move. After this, the class is just a ONE-HOUR STUDY HALL, where the student completes homework from other classes, reads, or uses the forbidden ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT DEVICES. This is especially good if the class offers completion grades for assignments. Don’t forget to study before the test!

    AWESOME!

  17. #549 When a Baby Squeezes Your Index Finger

    Surely, nothing makes you feel more needed than when a little one wraps its tiny warm fingers around your index finger. Time stands still as the little baby has enough grip power to seemingly lift a 20 pound dumbbell. I dare you to try NOT to smile when a baby squeezes your finger… it’s impossible. Studies prove it. AWESOME!

  18. When you look at someone across the room and you both just smile. Such genuine happiness

  19. To set the scene: It’s the dreading class before lunch. Either you’re fighting the urge to take a nap on your spanish book, or you’re daydreaming about the pb&j sandwich waiting for you in your locker. But what’s that? The teacher just called your name! One of two AWESOME things can come of this…
    1. You actually heard the question your scary spanish teacher asked you, AND YOU KNOW THE ANSWER! Yeah, I did voy a la playa this weekend! Take that, teacher.
    2. Your table mate, seeing the terrified expression on your face and noticing you haven’t uttered a single syllable in the last 30 seconds, whispers the answer to you. Pure relief!

  20. Being friends since preschool in a small town and only after twenty years realizing our parents used to be practically neighbors while both of us were babies and living in another bigger city. Also realizing it’s the same city we actually live in right now, same area even, and almost neighbors. The circle is complete, and we have returned to our own and each other’s roots without realizing it.
    Awesome.

  21. New or freshly washed bathroom rugs….. I love the feeling stepping out of the shower onto a nice fluffy rug. It feels great on my my feet and between my toes!

  22. Metal Shows.

    From crowd surfing over room of crazy fans to punching and pushing your way into mosh pits, what’s not to love about going to a metal show?!

    Even if the bands don’t quite live up to the hype, or you get dropped while cruising over the crowd, the excitment of the show will, by all means cure you of your brief disapointment.

    Whether it’s at a bar, a local fire hall, or an enormous concert venue, metal shows are, and will always be totally AWESOME.

  23. Being the only car driving down a normally busy road
    It’s like having the city to yourself!

  24. This totally just happened:

    when you pull into a packed parking lot (bonus points for a rainy day, like now) and as soon as you start your hunt, someone super close leaves! It’s like you called ahead!

  26. The Smell of Fresh Cut Grass
    ahhh….as you’re driving down the highway on a warm Spring day with your windows down that soothing, refreshing smell drifts into your nostrils giving you the feeling of success. You know as you smell that newly cut grass that the Summer is now well on its way and soon it’ll be that time again to go out and and gain a new golden skin tone and let your hair flow freely in the wind. It is now time to go out and enjoy your yard. To go out and do something. Create something. The smell of freshly cut grass gives you that inspiration that tells you, yes you can. Yes, the aroma of that cut grass lets you be serene with yourself and all of your surroundings because now you know the summer’s coming and it wont be long.
    That feeling is Awesome.

  27. New pencils!! Or just new stationery for that matter!!

    When it’s never been used and you’re the first person to use it- that’s awesome!!

  29. When the radio station plays your request.

    Everyone has that one song they’re waiting to hear. You call in and give them the title of that great melody that’s been stuck in your head all day. You’re waiting and waiting, when suddenly, they announce your request! You’re now able to sit back and absorb yourself in that feel-good song played just for you.

    Awesome!

  30. When your favorite magazine finally arrives in the mail two weeks late.

    You get excited before its even the 1st. You finished the current issue weeks ago, and you know the new one is days away. You check your mailbox avidly and eagerly, running home from work hoping todays the day. To much disappointment its never there..then finally half way through the month when your convinced it was lost in the mail or your creepy neighbor stole it..you open your mailbox and there it is…extra thick.
    AWESOME!

  34. Awesome Thing #549: Winning a contest or drawing you were sure you’d never win. Because like the rest, “you’ve never won anything!”

    It doesn’t even matter what they heck you won (Unless it’s an Awesome Things Book, of course!). All that matters is that you DID.

    Awesome.

    1. truth!! or ever just knowing someone that’s won! Winning when you least expect is the best for sure!

  35. Nice! Free car wash!

    Days and days of heavy rain and dark clouds hovering over our heads. We curse every time we step out of the door to go to work/school and curse again when rain is still pouring when it’s time to go home. Everyone is in a bad mood because there is nothing uplifting about it.

    The next day you wake up, sun is breaking through the clouds and enters your bedroom. You think to yourself, “Finally, a nice sunny day”. Then you get out of the house and sees a shiny car sitting on the driveway. “Is it mine?” Hell yes! It’s a sunny day AND you get a free car wash! Loving the rain after all!

  38. When a movie you really want to see has been sitting at the top of your dvd queue for weeks with a “very long wait.” You’ve resigned yourself to the fact that it will be a very, very, very, long time before it arrives but you let it linger at number 1, not ever giving up and paying an extra $5 for a rental from the place down the block, and arranging your next must watches around it, dreaming of the day when you finally get what your eyes are dying to see. When one day, completely out the blue, what is that..IT HAS SHIPPED! Without ever being without a “very long wait” but wait you did and now its on its way.
    AWESOME!

  39. (I hope Neil haven’t covered this yet)

    Day light savings time

    Clocks are changed an hour ahead. We lose an extra hour of sleep, making us frustrated and cranky on Monday morning for work/school. When it’s time to get off after a long day of work, you are greeted by sunlight. After a long and dark winter, this little glimpse of spring lifts one’s spirits and the long day at work doesn’t seem so bad after all. I walked home with a little smile on my face today.

  41. When you have a crazy dream that makes absolutely no sense and remember it all in the morning.

  42. Reading the back of the cereal box….

    There is nothing better than waking up, pouring out some cereal (hoping a prize comes out with the cereal), splashing cold milk on top and in a zombie like trance read anything and everything the cereal box has to offer. If you are lucky, and are eating a very sugary cereal, there will be games and puzzles for you to enjoy. If you are not so lucky, you will still read all of the nutritional facts and the ingredients just so your mind can get woken up slowly with useless information.

    Awesome.

  43. That short amount of time between writing a test and getting it back with your mark. You’ve written it, and what’s done is done, but you don’t know if you failed it yet. No worries about studying OR telling your parents about a bad mark!

  44. Getting to your car right before the ticketing agent gets there. Nothing beats looking at him/her, smiling and giving a little wave, before getting in the car and driving away assured you’ve just beat the system and saved yourself $30.

  45. That moment when you are sitting on the tarmac in a plane waiting to take off and it feels like the pilot has just put the pedal to the metal and away you go!

  46. The morning after something awesome happens…

    There is no better feeling in the world than waking up and remembering the amazing thing that happened the day before. Whether you finally got the nerve up to ask your crush on a date (and they said yes), or you aced a major test that got you the A you needed to graduate, or your team won the Super bowl, or you just had a baby….. The list goes on and on, but whatever that awes0me thing was, you wake up and relive that great feeling all over again. No better way to start off a day.

    Awesome.

  47. The accomplished feeling you get after finishing that small menial task you could have finished much sooner but never got around to.

    Procrastinators everywhere know the feeling. After looking at the pile of unfolded laundry, the stack of dirty cereal bowls or the pile of unorganized papers on your desk you finally decide, for some unknown reason, to get up and finish the job. You wash the dishes, fold the laundry and put that pile of papers in the recycling bin. Small jobs that you could have easily finished as soon as they appeared but you just couldn’t get around to. Whatever it was you had to do, you finally did it and it feels fantastic!

  49. When what you’re doing just clicks in your head.

    You know those days. When you sit in class staring blankly, confused, unsure. When you’re the only one who has no idea what to do. When you’re the only person who doesn’t understand that math concept. You feel so small, and stupid. But you keep at it, keep working. It’s hard, it’s frustrating, but you keep on trucking, because you know that you need that mark to pass. After a good hour or two of confusion and frustration, you finally do a question. And *click*

    You finally understand! It all makes sense now! Why didn’t I understand it in the first place? Who cares? You get it now. And finally you can go on finishing what ever you have to do with a smile on your face, because you know you’re right, and that feeling of accomplishment is

    AWESOME!

  50. Becoming less foreign

    When you first arrive in a foreign country that speaks a foreign language, the inability to communicate effectively and fully can be really frustrating. Putting forth all sorts of effort hoping they understand some of your native tongue, talking very slowly, gesticulating, playing charades to explain what you want to eat, or simply pointing at maps so a taxi can get you to where you need to go. Finally, after some studying, when you’ve sufficiently pored over your local language phrase book, or received feedback from your language tutor, you let loose with a flurry of mostly coherent native tongue when speaking with a taxi driver, and he completely understands everything you say, no questions asked, no quizzical expressions shown.

    AWESOME

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