best of south bend

Finals are OVER. I couldn’t be happier. Even though I’m still technically not done, it’s been nice to relax a little and kick back. In the short time I have left I’ve been trying to figure out how to see and do all the things I put off with the excuse of finals. South Bend gets a terrible rap, but it (and the general area) has a lot of hidden gems. In my two weeks remaining here, I want to make it into a bit of an adventure, checking off the list (and documenting some of the finer points for you– if I can find an outfit worth showcasing). Today starts the tour (tomorrow will be a brief hiatus), and I thought I’d match my outfit with my perception of the Midwest. Not to say that all the women would wear hair nets, I just think I had an idea of Westward expansion in mind:

I think in my head (though I wouldn’t have admitted it) I imagined a place with log cabins, half pint, well, really just Laura Ingalls Wilder (notice the prairie-length skirt with oversize belt). I haven’t actually made it to Missouri for that childhood pilgrimage yet, but I have two more years to make it happen. In the meantime I’ll perfect the hippie / school teacher vibe I’ve got going here. Speaking of schools (of thought), they say that along with economic decline comes the lengthening of skirts, and this year has not proven contrary…

One thing I miss about England (my three months there) is seeing the fields full of rape — that is the name of the yellow flower, I kid you not. It’s actually quite beautiful, and you’ve probably seen it in movies, even if you didn’t realize (in one of those Gladiator wind in the grass sequences, no doubt)(also, Take Courage did a beautiful shoot in a field of it that you can see here). Well when I saw this field off on the side of the road, my heart just swelled! In addition, it epitomizes another fact about the Midwest. It. Is. Flat. With the exception of Cincinnati (don’t know what happened there Ohio), I have yet to find a hill. It is harder to bike around my neighborhood then this campus.

Outfit Details:Shirt: French Connection (ebay)
Skirt: Anthropologie (Maeve last Fall)
Belt: off an old skirt from Macys
Shoes: Pour La Victoire (ebay again) The grass was so long and soft, they didn’t do their due diligence in these pictures, especially since I was running back and forth with the self timer.