After tragically missing the very last chance to post a June update, I have decided to give up on monthly updates (jk

The summer semester is finally over. As an international student, I’ve hit the six-credit summer limit, which means I am, at long last, truly free. Naturally, this activated my run-around-everywhere mode. (Funny how I moved to America and then never researched a single trip. Am I actually just lazy?) So far, July has consisted of one day in the cowboy town, one day around downtown Fort Worth, and one day around downtown Dallas. Total loot: museum maps +3, traditional caches +2, EarthCaches +2, virtual caches +4, the final coordinates for one mystery cache solved, and two multicaches abandoned at the very last stage (next time for sure). Driving skill ++, travel experience ++, cultural literacy ++ (citation needed).

Most museums in America were founded in the name of some individual or foundation. The majority are free to the public, balancing the books with just a few paid exhibitions. At the Kimbell, you can see Picasso, Mondrian, and Monet all under one roof. I couldn’t make it through a single one of those endless English descriptions, but even breezing through, you can still see something in quite a few of the paintings and sculptures. (Look at that, my art history knowledge coming in handy again.) And if all else fails, there is the first-rate architecture itself to admire, designed around natural light. I happened to go on a brilliantly sunny day, and every last detail of the art was crisp and clear. My one complaint is that the Asian art galleries were still a little dark. Is this, too, the darkness of the Toyokawa household / ANON code? (As in: can’t afford the electric bill.)

Did you know? In downtown Dallas, you can ride an American train, metro, and streetcar all in one day (translations mine). Add driving myself, riding in somebody else’s car, and walking, and that makes six modes of transportation across three days, each with its own distinct experience. What follows is review time, ranked from peak to pathetic.

First up: the train. We took it from Bell, right near our house, into downtown Dallas, a trip of just under an hour. In terms of comfort, it was easily the best of the three forms of public transit. Three levels, soft seats, and you can almost always get a window spot from which to gaze upon the autumn moon and spring breeze. (Too bad Texas only ever has summer.) The only drawback is how easy the ticket is to lose. Nobody checked on the way there; then they checked on the way back and—where did my ticket go? Polite yet profoundly awkward smile.jpg. Overall rating: top tier.

Next, the metro. They call it a metro, but it spends most of its time above ground. Downtown Dallas has red, orange, green, blue, silver, and various other lines. I have questions about whoever planned the routes: at several downtown stops, you can watch a whole bunch of lines march side by side, yet somehow still wait forever for the color you actually need. Outside the city center, things get even more spectacularly absurd. The Silver Line runs once an hour. Once. An. Hour. What am I supposed to do if I miss one on my way to class? It isn’t especially comfortable, either, and the moment it does go underground, there goes your signal. Sigh. Chinese metro systems have spoiled me. Rating: NPC tier.

The streetcar is a genuine antique from the last century, so it only runs through a small part of downtown Dallas. Its schedule is completely random and entirely luck-based; roll badly and you may be standing there for half an hour. But it does have one thing going for it: it’s free! The interior has plenty of character, too. With the World Cup underway, flags from all over the world were hanging inside. Sitting on a solid-wood bench, listening to the bell as the car trundled along, my body gently swaying from side to side (alright, it barely moved at all)—the comfort level was honestly luxurious. Best sleep I got on any of them. (There is a gorgeous cityscape right outside the window and all you know how to do is sleep?) Rating: high society.

Driving myself is something I never got to experience back in China. I got my license a few months ago and have driven here and there since, but never as often as during this break. International students can take no more than three online and three in-person credits over the summer, so I still had to drive to TCC every day. Luckily, the Northeast Campus is only twenty minutes from home. Leaving right at ten gave me plenty of time to make my 10:30 U.S. Government class… Wait, weren’t we talking about transportation? How did I get onto that? I drove to the two museums in Fort Worth. Sure, the car was driving itself, but you still have to stay completely focused, ready to take over whenever the navigation decides to have one of its random episodes. I’ve mostly been driving the little white car, which thankfully doesn’t guzzle too much gas. Gas in America has stubbornly stayed at no less than $3 a gallon for ages. That may be cheaper than China, but a $30 fill-up still hurts. I miss you, days when a run to Longview cost only $20 in gas. Taking all of that into account—especially the fact that you can’t play on your phone while driving (jk)—rating: absolute bottom.

Which makes the undisputed winner riding in someone else’s car (usually with a family member driving). Maximum comfort, no fixed transit route tying you down, and you can clear your dailies on the ride home. (Gacha gamer spotted.) Most importantly, you can fall peacefully asleep in the passenger seat or the back without worrying about missing your stop or, you know, safety. Can any other mode of transportation do that? Spreads hands! It is also the one I’ve experienced most. As a kid, I wasn’t happy in the car: I hated wearing a seat belt, got a little carsick, and was forever yearning for that sacred, inviolable throne (to a child, anyway) behind the wheel. Later, after riding in both left- and right-hand-drive cars, I would sit in a left-hand-drive one and imagine myself driving a right-hand-drive one, then do the reverse when I was in a right-hand-drive car. Until the day I finally sat in that seat for real.

Turns out driving isn’t that hard—and isn’t that easy, either. Knowing the dimensions of the whole car. Staying alert to everything in every direction at all times. Recognizing every kind of road sign. Responding flexibly to whatever surprises come your way… All of that is packed into the simple verb to drive. In America, your driver’s license is effectively your ID. Put that way, perhaps learning to drive is a kind of coming-of-age ceremony. For me, the moment I can honestly say “I know how to drive” will probably be when Mom goes from gripping the passenger seat in terror to sleeping there without a care in the world. (Not there yet.) For now, whenever anyone says my driving is “getting better and better,” all credit goes to Tesla’s Autopilot (

And just like that, the way I travel quietly changed. In America—especially in vast, sparsely populated Texas—you can hardly go anywhere without a car. My days of roaming all over Beijing seem to be gone, and it looks like I probably did not, in the end, achieve my goal of visiting at least two states in my first year here. But at least I’m already on the road.

Oh, right. Tomorrow I have to drive the little white car to UTD for orientation. Come to think of it, is this going to be my first time driving onto the highway by myself…?