Madison Bucket List

I HAVE SO MUCH TO SHARE WITH YOU ALL.


First of all, Blogger just got all fancy and now I can look at all the general stats of the people reading my blog. Lets guess which Google word search brings people to my blog the most.


Wait for it...


Waaaaaaiiiit for it.....






MERYL. STREEP.


I'm so happy I could cry. Also, if you're worried that now I can see exactly who is reading/how many times they are reading, I can't. I can only see general things like what countries are reading (Egypt and Ukraine, how you doin?) and which operating systems are being used to view my blog the most (Windows, thanks so much for the unending support.)


So I'm gonna go ahead and spend the next 4 hours learning exactly how everything on the new Blogger works. But first!


I've been keeping something from this blog. A terrible secret. 


Just kidding I have zero secrets. I'm no where near mysterious enough for secrets. But I have been keeping one thing off the blog. I'm calling it my Madison Bucket List. I didn't put it up because I was thinking I'd do it just for myself and then post it once I was done. Then I ended up telling everyone (once again, no secrets) because it turns out that bucket lists are better with friends. 

Did I use WordArt? Obviously. 

What is a Madison Bucket List? Thank you for asking. It's a list of entirely achievable adventures or tasks that I somehow never got around to doing in these last four years at Madison. I'm trying to do one per day. 


And everyone that I've talked to about it have been incredibly interested. Also very willing to help a lady out. I received many requests to post my adventures here, so I'll just start by posting what I've done so far. 


**editor's note: No just kidding I won't post everything I've done so far because that makes for a REALLY long blog post so this is going to be divided up. Enjoy days 1-5**


Madison Bucket List (Days 1-5)


Day 1) Try a new flavor of Babcock ice cream

For those wondering how liberal of a campus Madison is, please direct your questions to my roommate's bumper stickers

For those of you unfamiliar with Babcock Ice Cream, it's pretty great. It's primarily student run, and it's only available in Madison so I figure it's the perfect thing to start off my list. The flavor was Union Utopia: peanut butter caramel and chocolate. I think. Apparently I'm the only person in Madison that hadn't tried the flavor, based on the reactions I got when I told people that it was the flavor I chose.

Day 2: Read The Onion cover to cover

Did you know that The Onion was founded by two UW-Madison juniors? That's right. We're awesome. Anyway, because of that UW-Madison has hard copies of The Onion at every campus building and at every street corner. And yet I've still never read it cover to cover! I've definitely read it before, but only enough to read the stories with the funniest headlines. This time, I sat down and read every little thing in that paper.


My favorite headline: "Rod Stewart Mistaken for Elderly Aunt"

Day 3: Go back to Pop's as a senior

That beautiful building is where I got my food every day as a freshman. It's where I ate a croissant at every meal and wondered why I was gaining weight. It's where I voted for the first time (because for some reason we voted in our dining hall). If you go in and turn left, you get to Pop's, which has hot food that you put on a tray and pay for the regular way. To the right is Ed's, which is like a mini mall. Also it had pizza. And maybe wraps? I don't really remember.

This stunning building is being knocked down soon, so I thought I'd stop by and give it my last respects. Unfortunately I thought of this at about 11:40 pm and I was freaking out about getting my Bucket List item done by midnight, so my roommate Maggie and I sped there on our bikes, only to find that Pop's was closed for the night.

Not to be discouraged, we went to Ed's instead. But I had to do something that I'd never done before for the list, so we bought a pint of Babcock ice cream (which I've never done before!) ( I know that's basically what I did the first day) (Shut it).

Day 4: Go to Johnny O's

Or in my case, stand in line at Johnny O's for two seconds because the line was too long. But don't worry, I went back later.

So, there are about a million bars in Madison, and I've been to about 5 of them. For many reasons, the biggest being that I turned 21 very late. But I really want to get to all the college bars before I leave because I know I won't want to go back to them once I've graduated.


I mean, it's already a struggle to get me to go to them now. And I draw the line at Whiskey Jack's. I just... can't. Not when their website home page plays dirty country music and has pictures of girls wearing cowboy hats unironically. 

Day 5: Go to Shoo


Okay now see... some of these are going to be more interesting than others. This one is not interesting. It's a shoe store. More like a boutique, really. But it is Madison-based!


I bought a new pair of Tom's. Then the next night I wore them in a rainstorm like a FOOL and now they're covered in mud and I can't be bothered to do anything about it. They sit in my closet, mocking me. 


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Wow, that was a really boring one to end on, but what can you do? The list goes on! I'm on day 13 right now. 


Here's the list of things I have not yet accomplished. Hopefully it gets warmer, otherwise canoeing and kickball might get a little difficult. 


Madison Bucket List (not yet completed)
- Watch sunrise over one of the lakes
- Buy flowers from the farmer's market
- Sit in Abe's lap (this one's waiting for graduation)
- Get dessert from Big 10
- Work out at the Nat
- Picnic at Picnic Point
- Eat at Buraka
- Buy that quarter zip from the bookstore you've wanted for 4 years
- Try the Great Dane beer flavored chocolates
- Get canoe from Hoofers
- Find someone who can sail and con them into taking you sailing
- Kickball at Vilas
- Get cupcake from Madison Sweets cupcake place




Have any ideas for what I should add? Let me know! I'm struggling to come up with cool-weather ideas.