Getting Off Campus
Yesterday was a beautiful fall day on campus, the fog in the morning was gorgeous and the leaves are all starting to change into beautiful reds and yellows and oranges. But as much as I love campus, sometimes it's nice to get together with friends and go do something off campus for a night. Yesterday afternoon I was feeling impulsive like I wanted to go do something fun so I texted some friends and we decided we wanted to go check out the bins. So we met up, grabbed a bite at the Bon at 5 and then got a Lyft there.
The Bins
If you're not familiar, The Bins is a goodwill outlet store where nothing is sorted and everything is just thrown into big blue tubs. We don't have any stores like that where I'm from so the first time I heard about it was on my new student trip when our trip leaders were giving us recommendations for stuff to do in Portland. You pay $2.19 per pound for most stuff and then books and glassware and some other items are priced differently. And if you buy more than 25 pounds the price goes down to $1.19. I would recommend going with a couple of friends and paying for everything all together that way you can get it up to 25 pounds and pay less. Plus it was tons of fun going with some friends and digging through all the clothing and showing each other things we thought we would like. You can also find really random stuff like records, mason jars, old toys, cute little kids clothes, suspiciously stained shirts, and more. I didn't really need, need new clothes but the outing and the fun was worth it. I got two shirts with hoods, a pair of hippie cotton pants, a pair of green cargo shorts, a pair of black and white polka dot shorts, an autumnal striped sweater, a lord of the rings shirt, 2 Hawaiian shirts (one with hot sauce bottles on it), a red and white striped button up, and a really cool green and orange bomber jacket with patched on it. all in all, I only paid $8. If you're looking for something to do off campus that won't cost too much and is a lot of fun with friends then I'd recommend the bins.
Public Transport
When we were done we decided not to Lyft back to campus so we got to the closest TriMet stop and then took the TriMet to the stop where the Pio Express picks students up near PSU. Our journey on the TriMet was an interesting experience because we met a man dressed in a clown concept and bloody makeup. At first, we were all a little confused and maybe slightly nervous but we got to talking and he told us he was working at a haunted house for the month of October, and that night was his first night wearing the costume home on public transportation. It was a very random and interaction but we all enjoyed it. We also stopped by Target in downtown Portland because it was convenient and one of my friends needed some stuff from there, and then we walked to the Pio stop. While we were waiting for the bus we ordered some Thai food through uber eats because one of my friends had a free delivery coupon. We made the mistake of ordering it too early and the food got to campus before us because the pio was running late. The pio is great and super convenient but doesn't always run on time. It was ok though, one of our roommates got the food for us and it was still pretty warm when we got back to campus.
The Rest of the Weekend
Now, today I've got plans to wash all the clothes that I got from the bins, and just wash all the clothes that I need to wash anyways. Mostly today though I've got to get a lot of homework done. I've got to prepare for a debate about human rights that I'm having in my International Affairs class. And I need to do the reading for my Exploration and Discovery class, and start working on the essay I have due for that class. I have an essay for political science coming up so if I want to get ahead I can start working on that (but realistically I'll probably put that off till next weekend). I got my absentee voting ballot in the mail so I'm planning on voting this weekend too. I'll also probably go to dinner with friends tonight, and spend some time calling family and catching up with them. These are the exciting Saturday plans of a college student, but sometimes it's nice to have a nice relaxed day like today.
Tomorrow though my conversational Spanish class has plans to meet up at the Portland Market where there are lots of latino food trucks that we're planning on eating at. It'll be a fun time to work on my spanish and eat some good food. And of course, I'll probably spend some time doing homework tomorrow night too, getting reading for my classes for the week. And I'll try to spend some time outside too to enjoy the beautiful fall trees and weather on campus.
Overall this is a pretty typical weekend and a pretty great weekend.
If you have any questions feel free to email me at quetingaul@lclark.edu