The view of the Mississippi River from the Washington Pedestrian Bridge on the University of Minnesota Campus

Hello friends,

It’s raining here in Minnesota and the early Spring flowers are finally blooming. This last weekend, my roommate and I spent most of our Saturday morning cleaning up our garden, so to prepare for planting this week. We’re hoping that the freezing season is officially over. Also, my local neighborhood association met up and we worked together to clean up all the trash that had blown in from the recent windstorms. It was dirty work, but I still enjoyed myself because it gave me the opportunity to meet some of the neighbors I hadn’t met before. When we finished up, I walked around, and I was impressed; it’s pretty amazing what a little bit of work can do to make a neighborhood look more welcoming.

You know what else was happening this weekend? The Outdoor Adventure Expo, hosted by Midwest Mountaineering! During the Spring Expo, there is a boat auction, great sales on outdoor equipment, 120+ presentations from experienced adventurers, 100+ of exhibitors, The Radical Reels Tour, and cheap beer and food. I spent a majority of my weekend working the Expo and interacting with like-minded people. It was fun talking to customers and exhibitors and hearing about their stories or future trips. As I mentioned in my last blog, I actually gave a presentation about my backpacking trip through Mongolia, mostly focusing on my backcountry trek through Bogh Khan Uul National Park and my experience on the Trans-Siberian Railway. I also premiered my short film, Mongolia: A Journey to the West. You can see it at my youtube page or below.

I was surprised to see so many people interested in my presentation. To be honest, I thought it was going to be my family, a few of my friends, and maybe a couple people who had seen the ad in the newspaper. But, I was totally wrong; the room could sit up to 60 people and even before my presentation started, the room became standing room only. I didn’t take a head count, but I think there was at least 70 people in there. I’m always a little nervous to talk in front of an audience, but I actually kept my cool and gave a well-timed and a well-executed presentation (at least that’s what my Dad said…). For my talk, I showed pictures of Bogh Khan Uul and told stories about the trek, I explained about my film and premiered it, and then I ended the presentation with a few pictures and a few short videos of my time on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Overall, I’m very happy with it and I’ve been asked to give a second presentation in the near future. One last thing, when I finished my talk, a few people came up to ask me questions. Most of them were about WWOOF.org and couchsurfing.org, but there was one individual named Paul Schmid who came up to me, gave me his business card, and asked me if he could interview me for his podcast called The Pursuit Zone. He defines his blog by saying, “the idea behind The Pursuit Zone is to interview people that dream big, get out of their comfort zones, and accomplish ambitious pursuits.” He has interviewed some spectacular people. If you have a free moment, you should check it out! I’ll also let you all know if he contacts me and uploads my interview onto his site.

You maybe wondering what Molly is up to now, since she has finally finished her film and the Spring Expo is over. Well, for the upcoming weeks, I am planning on doing a big renovation on this blog. I think I’m ready to move from amateur to semi-less-amateur blogger. Also, I’ve decided that I’m going to start a film project, where I’m going to go through all of my footage from my 7-month trip and make short videos to document my experience. Meaning, I’m going to go through a transition from being solely a blogger to becoming a “vlogger” (video-blogger). I’ll still be writing posts and catching you all up with my life, but I’ll also be spending more time making short videos. In the meantime, I’m going to make a youtube channel (or vimeo channel) and connect it with my blog. I’ve never done a blog makeover before, so it may take me awhile.

Again, thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy my most recent film!

The next time you will hear from me will probably be about the Minneapolis Comic Con, which is this upcoming weekend (yay!), and a summary of my blog renovation progress.

Till next time,

Much love,

-Molly

Playing Hammerschlagen with fellow Spring Expo employees.