The Grand Finale

I can't believe that my week is up! It didn't seem like a week! While this past weekend was a real test to my dedication to my experiment, overall I enjoyed this experience and will take a lot away from this.  Let’s go through my final overview shall we?

Transportation

I must confess! When I had to leave for my train from Union Station (on Friday), I didn’t leave enough time to walk to the Tenleytown Metro stop. I know excuses, excuses, but I couldn’t miss my train! Once I got into Philadelphia, my family and I went home for an hour to get ready for sedar at my cousin’s house. We drove my mother’s SUV to my cousin’s house and then to my aunt and uncle’s house in Cape May, which is on the Jersey Shore line. Once we got there, no one in my large family drove a single mile. We all walked or biked to the places we wanted to go to. I love walking and biking to places, that weekend reminded me why I want to live in a city. To have everything a bike ride away makes me so happy!

Food

            Food, glorious food. On my train ride back home I gave myself a little pep talk that I should try to resist the home cooked brisket and chicken and put all my hunger towards the vegetarian friendly matzah ball soup. So you can imagine my heartache when my cousin announced that due to “technical difficulties” there would be no matzah ball soup this year. Throughout my life, I have been to 18 sedars and at every sedar there was matzah ball soup. The ONE year where that soup is my key to avoiding meat and there are “technical difficulties.” After that, there was no use fighting it; I had brisket and I don’t regret a thing! It was delicious and I would do it again if I could. I guess you could say I had a slip up that entire weekend, but the instant I was back on campus, I got back to business.

Consumerism

            I never realized how much people consume over Easter. I suspected that with the typical holidays such as Christmas and Hanukah there would be a lot of trash, but Easter is just as bad! The only reusable thing people use during Easter is their baskets. Trash wise there are the candy wrappers, the plastic around the toys kids gets, the green papery stuff that looks like grass for the Easter baskets, and the amount of paper plates my family used over the holiday. I tried to do my part and produce as little of waste as I could. However, every time I tried to get a family member to do the same I got this look of confusion as if I had asked them to cartwheel throughout the house. I’m pretty they thought I was a hippie that weekend.

Technology

            This weekend was the easiest weekend to stay away from Facebook and technology in general. I checked my phone at least once everyday but other than that I didn’t need technology. Who needs technology when you have the beach? So it seems that the only solution for me is to move to the beach. Just kidding, but I was really proud of myself. It was really nice to break that bond and just spend quality time with my family. I don’t recall the times I browsed the Internet, but I’ll always remember family gatherings.

Positive Impact/Political Action

            I’m a firm believer in everyone having their own opinion, but one thing that I liked was hearing what my family’s opinion on the presidential candidates. While I’m sure most of them were by no means experts on the matter, it was just interesting to hear the reasoning on each candidate. I can honestly say I still have no idea who I’m going to vote for. I don’t like any candidate but I still want to vote. I’m sure when the time comes I’ll find someone I can settle for, but I don’t want to settle! I wanted a good pool of candidates, but the pickings are slim.

Health & Happiness

            Because I didn’t take my laptop back home with me, I took advantage of the long train ride and read a good chunk of my Steve Jobs’ book. I’m really enjoying this book! It was so nice just to read for an hour and a half. It really cleared my head and helped me shake off that chaotic vibe I was feeling all week. If I have learned anything from this experiment, it’s that having that half hour to myself really helps. Yes, I could use that time to do homework, but that wouldn’t make me happy. I’ve learned that after reading or running I’m more up to doing my work than if I didn’t.

Overall:

In all honesty, I didn’t change THAT much through this experiment, but I think I’m going to evolve my lifestyle. I know I don’t need Facebook as much, if TDR doesn’t have meat it’s not the end of the world, walking feels good, and I don’t have to throw out as much trash as I though I did. The most valuable thing I learned is that I need to be more conscious about the things I do such as eating meat and throwing out trash. I used to go into this mindless state, but now I stop and think about what I’m doing. All it takes is thinking, who would have thunk?