The Drive

Let me begin this entry by stating that I am originally from Houma, Louisiana. After graduating high school, I decided to attend Ringling College, despite the fact that the school is located 800 miles away from home. When I moved here to Sarasota, I drove the whole way in one go, which took 12 hours total. Time passed quickly for a while; I left early in the morning before the sun was up, so watching the sun rise and get higher in the sky over the course of a few hours was entertaining to see. There were also several sights and checkpoints to see along the way that made the drive more entertaining. First I got to New Orleans and drove through the city, then over Lake Pontchartrain, straight through Mississippi, into the city of Mobile, Alabama, through a long tunnel and over an even longer bridge, before finally arriving in Florida. Unfortunately, this is where the journey stopped being exciting and the passage of time seemed to slow down. The Florida landscape is pretty, but it gets old after a while, and there were still 7 hours in the car left to go. The Florida interstate does not have much scenery to offer, and after a while it began to get monotonous. I continued to drive for several hours, which felt even longer due to how boring the trip was starting to feel. Then, towards the end of the trip, the sun started to set; to make things complicated, I got lost. This made the trip more interesting; now, I had the goal of not only making it to Sarasota, but finding my way back to the main interstate in the dark while winding through the traffic of Tampa. The fear of being lost and so far from the safety of my home was like an adrenaline rush, and driving stopped being monotonous and became a challenge. I eventually made it onto Highway 41 and made it to Ringling’s campus. My perception of the passage of time over the 12-hour trip changed several times throughout the journey, speeding up during the exciting parts and slowing down during the monotonous parts. Altogether, reflecting on the trip gave me a good new perspective on the way I subconsciously perceive the passage of time.