A Justified Break

Spring Break 2007 was my first official year I actually got to get off campus, since the last two years I had been working at the Globe. It wasn't your typical spring break though, which is probably a good thing. Even though I'm only 23 I feel like I've missed my age for those things. That's why I was so excited I was going down to Texas to visit one of my best friends from Northeatern who recently moved there.

Let me just say, I was going down to see my friend Allison, who I met about three years ago and has since quickly become one of my closest friends. This bond we have is because of two words- Justin Timberlake. I had known her for a year or so before we become really good friends. If we had only known our almost-scary obsession with Justin was something we both had in common. Both of has have been to every NSYNC, Justin concert that has graced the northeast since our freshman years in high school, so almost ten years now. We can name every appearance, every lyric, every girlfriend, clothes style, you name it. Although we had shared so many of the same concert experiences, just not together, we were going to see Justin in Dallas this break for the first time together. We had both already seen him a couple of times this year, most notably his club tour this summer that came to Avalon here in Boston and the Roseland Ballroom in NYC. This was the most amazing show we had both been to of his, because it only held a few hundred true fans, and was a smaller setting than the huge arenas he only plays these days.

Anyway, we went to see him last week in Dallas with General Admission tickets. Since I had seen him in Boston last month with the same tickets, I knew how to get us a good spot. We ended up in the first row of GA, right in back of VIP, which had celebrities literally right in front of us, like Tony Romo, QB of the Cowboys. The concert, as usual, was amazing. Since Justin is from the south he had some family up and really made it more special. Any kind of concert is definitely the most fun when shared with friends who share your passion (or obsession, whatever you want to call it!).

While that was the obvious highlight of my trip to Dallas, we did some more touristy, southern things down there as well. I refused to go to any place to eat that is in the northeast, so we stuck to all unique southern restaurants and chains. We visited Fort Worth, which is exactly the type of town you may envision when you think of Texas. It has kids walking around with stirrups, boots and cowboy hats.
The touristy town was filled with souveneir shops and saloons, and also a daily walking of the longhorns down the street, which was a pretty fun sight. We ended our time at Ft. Worth at the world's largest honky-tonk (but do they really have them in places other than Texas?) called Billy Bobs. It was fun because it was so different. I find it so interesting how the south is literally like a different world compared to the northeast.

Second to Justin, my favorite thing in Texas was visiting the Sixth Floor Museum, ocated on the street JFK was driving down when he was fatally shot in Dallas. The museum had amazing information on the day of his death. In fact, the museum is located on the sixth floor, the exact floor with the window where Lee Harvey Oswald shot the two shots that killed the president as he drove by in a convertible pass the infamous grassy knoll. The museum showcased exhibits which featured different conspiracy theories of the assisination. It was really a touching tribute to JFK, and to be in the exact place where his promising life was cut short more upsetting than I had expected it to be. It just makes you wonder if our nation would be different today had that not happened. I find things so interesting when you leave a place and are still thinking about all the things you just learned.

I was very sad when I had to leave Texas and the 80 degree whether.. oh yeah, and Allison too. Oh well, we'll always have Justin. :)