Anyone who is planning to go to college at some point in there lives needs to know about basic introductions. Any body you meet will ask for your name, your hometown, and your major. It's all very standard stuff. Try to generalize those first three things. Same specifics for the next round, it lengthens the conversation, engages everyone a little bit more, and shows more personality. For example, I say, "I'm Jillianne. I'm from south Mississippi, the coast. And I'm an Art Major." Next round, they'll probably ask how far is your hometown, and ask for more info on your major. But for me, since I hate the standard intro, I go for something a little more.. spunky? I ask, "So name, and so and so major. What else is there to know?" This always throws them for a loop. For one, they didn't think anyone would care. Two, it completely brakes the shell of the standard convo. They'll typically say, "Uh, I don't know. What about you?" Hoping you'll fall into the same trap they just did. Wrong. "Well, I kayak. I have a killer blog about it, you should check it out btw," Bam. You now have plenty of material for a conversation that should last the entire route of wherever you are walking to. You're welcome.
To the point. This is after four or five rounds of conversing with someone. They know all about my major, my goals, my hopes and dreams, and they know I'm serious about kayaking. So they ask more. "Where do you kayak?" they ask. This is a tricky one. The simple answer is, "Mallini's Bayou." But they are from someplace 35 minutes west of Dallas, they have no grasp on what part of "the south" I am from, and they certainly have no earthly idea what "Mallini's Bayou" means. They want something awesome like "In the middle of the ocean" or "Down these white rapids that are behind my house" or even "When I said I kayak, I meant I did it once when I was on vacation with my family at a lake. I'm sorry I lied, here's a dollar for your troubles. Oh you won't take a dollar? How about store credit at Starbucks?" So I have to generalize but make it sound just as epic as it really is.
Here we go.
"Well... I live two miles from the beach. I haven't been out there yet. The water is always pretty choppy when I get out there. Not Atlantic Ocean choppy, but enough to flip a kayak with the same ease as flicking someone on the nose. So there's this bayou right? Not bayou as in the waters are covered in green stuff and looks like a golf course. I mean, there are gators and there is a golf course next door, but not that kind of bayou. It's about 20 minutes from my house. It's so nice! We put the kayaks in a drop off in a stranger's yard and the water is always perfect. It's a series of creeks and caverns with a canopy of trees covering the whole thing! There are houses along every edge, and everyone usually waves. Imagine you're going through a neighborhood but the streets have been replaced with streams and the cars have been replaced with boats. If I'm lucky, I'm out there when the sun is going down. The coast of Mississippi has the most beautiful sunsets and I will argue that until the day I die."
Sometimes I do just say, "In the middle of the ocean." It depends on how much sleep I got the night before and how comfortable my shoes are.
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