Late friday night I was tired, sore, happy, excited and anxious to be packing for my weekend in Marquette, Michigan. My brother goes to Northern Michigan University and plays for the football team up there. I would call him everyday over facetime and talk to him about it and what we could do when I get up there. I’ve always heard how beautiful Marquette is, all the leaves are changing colors as we set into fall, all of the endless great lakes are preparing for winter, ever since my brother committed here, I’ve always wanted to go and find out things about this place, so I would research things to do and places to go in Marquette. Marquette is a place for outdoorsy people, there's endless things you can do from hiking, biking, rock climbing, swimming, kayaking, fishing etc. I'm frustrated because my laptop is operating slow and then I look up at the top and see that I have 8 different tabs open, so I think to myself, “Do I like this place that much? considering I’ve never actually been here myself?” Usually when you have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday you’re pretty upset, but that’s not me when I know I'm on my way up to Marquette. Woken up by my head hitting the window, I read my phone screen and the time says 8:30. 8:30?? I felt like I was asleep forever and I still have 3 and a half hours in this small uncomfortable car. The 2 pillows and super big blanket made the car ride a lot more “comfortable.” Now that we’re about an hour over the Mackinac Bridge, I felt like we just entered into a whole new world. It’s like Marquette grabbed me and warped me to this new place I've never seen. It’s amazing up here, my eyes we’re glued outside the window. I even thought it was cool when we would stop at a gas station up there and I would hear the lady behind the counter say “Would that be all kiddo?” in her yooper accent, the yooper accent sounds like a canadian one so it made me think of a funny T.V. show. Steadily strolling spastically through every little town, it had it’s own feel I guess, they would only take about 10 minutes to pass through but it really made you feel like you were way up north. We pass through a town called “Christmas, Michigan.” Everytown had a unique feature (Like the name) that made them different. Now that I can't see lake huron out my window any more, all I see is the sweet trees, and sooner than later i'll see Lake Superior. I’d never go a car ride without my headphones, music makes the drive a lot more enjoyable since is almost 7 hours long.

A couple hours later, I’m wide awake and walking around Marquette just outside the dome and I’m just amazed. “And this” was probably said 20 times by my dad, he was like a tour guide because he had already been up there a few times and it was my first. The way Lake Superior looks sitting there, if you looked closely and really paid attention to the water, it looks almost calm, but rough at the same time. I could almost see every white cap of every little wave. Under a quarter of a mile away from the dome. The little beach I was walking on was amazing, almost captivating, at one end you can see a corner of the old looking, vintage bustling town, and at the other end is all lake and a little peninsula of rocks stacked up probably 8 foot high in what almost seems like someone carefully placed every rock there. I stand a firm believer in the quote that says “A picture doesn’t do it justice” when referring to a place or some sort, When I saw the inside of the Superior dome, the largest wooden dome in the world, is probably one of the coolest places I’ve been in. The huge wooden beams that are above the turf look amazing, it’s crazy to me how big they are. I’ve seen just a little bit of downtown, a little beach, and the Superior Dome and I’m already loving Marquette and can’t wait to see more this place has to offer after the game with my family. The second I saw my brother run out there on the turf it was just kinda weird how much pride I felt. I’ve always been proud of him, but this was different I guess. It was one of the coolest things ever seeing my older brother at the next level for the first time. NMU ended up losing the game in the final minutes to a team all the way from Texas, but seeing my brother after the game was sweet, and what I was looking forward to most of the day, it was the first time I saw him as a rough and tough college football player. It made me feel like my brother was big time. Every time i'm up at Marquette I realized one of the reasons why I liked it so much is because my brother was here. When he left for college it sucked and hit me right in the face  cause I realized how much I would miss him because we spent literally every day this past summer together, so seeing him after not being able to for a longer than I preferred in a place like Marquette, made me realize that this place is 100 times better. I would get to spend another 2 years with my brother at school and a place that is just for me, I think that would be something that would make me pretty happy. So now that I’m leaving Marquette, I feel a sudden amount of sadness. The 24 hours I was in Marquette I felt a feeling of connection you could say, it reminded me of home because of the small town and the fact that my brother was there, and it was completely different than home. Now that I have this feeling about Marquette, I know why my brother chose to come here. He probably had the same feelings I did. Marquette felt like a second home.