My Richmond bucket list: Final installation

The Monroe Park Campus has begun
to show all the tell-tale signs of the
impending finals week.

Conversations heard in passing are
less frequently about the raging party
from the past weekend and more frequently
about final projects and curved
grades.

Students have made the library their
second home. On any late-night library
stroll, one can find that person who has
finally succumbed to the losing battle he
was fighting with his circadian rhythm
– the table obscured with piles of textbooks,
the poor young scholar sleeping
soundly in the glare of his laptop.

It is during this time that recreational
activities are farthest from the mind. It
is important, however, to remember
that “this too shall pass.” Those coming
sunny days can be spent outside instead
of under fluorescent lights hunched over
a desk bubbling in hundreds of tiny
circles with a No. 2 pencil.

For those who will be strolling across
the stage with a degree in their hands
this May, congratulations! For those
who still will call Richmond home for
a little while longer, take advantage of
what this city has to offer, those four .
or five years will have come and gone
before you know it.

#10 See some art in the park

The Carillion Civic Association hosts
“Arts in the Park,” an adjudicated show
that takes place every May, in Byrd Park.
This free event, which is in its 37th year,
showcases the talent of more than 450
artists from all over the country.

With a wide variety of media on
display – from glass to fiber to jewelry to
woodwork – there is a little of something
for every artistic taste. My personal
advice: Be sure to check out the stainedglass
pieces of Riverside Glass – with
their dazzling colors and friendly artists,
you won’t be disappointed.

The event will take place this weekend:
May 3 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and
May 4 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free
shuttles are available at the University
of Richmond parking lot.

#11 Go for a walk

Sunny days are meant to be spent
outdoors, and with the James River
basically at your fingertips, you have
the perfect location to enjoy the scenery
and to get a little exercise. Beginning at
14th and Dock Streets, a 1.25-mile walk
traverses the banks of Haxall Canal and
the James River and Kanawha Canal.
Totally free and open every day of the
year, this is the perfect place to take the
dog, that special someone or a group of
close friends, or to just enjoy a riverside
sunset on your own.

Just in case you missed them

. (in no order, at all)

#1. See a movie at the Byrd Theatre

#2. Go to a house show

#3. Check out the music department

#4. Get on stage

#5. Go to the river

#6. Check out some museums

# 7: Lace up your running (or walking)
shoes for a good cause

#8: Meet some famous resident lectures,
musicians, etc.

#9: Go to a festival