Uneasy with Geography

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Clarissa

November 12, 2025

Humbling experiences are good for you, which is why I’ll publicly share that I googled my hotel in Milwaukee and, observing a sort of a coastal situation on the map, wondered if it’s located on the East or the West Coast.

Now that I know where it’s actually located, I understand why a friend said he’d pop over from Chicago to Milwaukee to see me there. I thought he was being weird, to be honest, because I imagined a 10-hour drive. To the coast. Or a coast, rather.

I’ve had an uneasy relationship with geography since the fifth grade. But please, everybody, appreciate the level of honesty here. I could have easily concealed this story.

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7 responses to “Uneasy with Geography”

Anonymous

November 12, 2025
Could be worse.

I used to be so bad with navigation that when I was driving with some friends to a theme park when we were in college that I ended up going South instead of North. They were too busy talking and then later sleeping to notice until one of them woke up three hours later and realized what had happened. Thankfully we had not bought tickets beforehand and there was another place we decided to go in the general area we were in so the day wasn’t ruined.

A few years before that when I was in high school my school required volunteer hours to graduate. I decided to volunteer at the library. For context I love reading, I had visited two of the libraries in my hometown hundreds if not thousands of times previously. (Mom had driven us to them all my life.) At this point I had recently gotten a license to drive and had not visited the libraries myself once I was allowed to drive. I somehow managed to get lost in my own hometown. I spent roughly an hour completely lost in a city that it only takes 15 to 20 mins to cross. I had to with great embarrassment at the time call them, tell them I had no idea where they were or where I was. Then once I had managed to find my way back home, I had to ask my mom to actually draw a map showing me how to get to the library I had been to hundreds of times.
- – W
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1. Clarissa
  
  November 12, 2025
  
  Thank you for sharing, this is exactly like my sister who, out of 2 possible directions will choose the wrong one with the exactitude and deliberation of a metronome. I find it very endearing.
  
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Pen

November 12, 2025

I had to look it up, because I have zero frame of reference for Wisconsin—I knew it must be one of the Great Lakes, but honestly that’s all I knew.

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1. Clarissa
  
  November 12, 2025
  
  That’s significantly more than what I knew. 😁😁😁 But thank you for the support.
  
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  1. Anonymous
    
    November 12, 2025
    
    One of my aunts lived in Milwaukee back in the 50s-60s, and had very fond memories of the place, in spite of the cold. In the winter they used to build a little wall of snow around the backyard, then use the hose to layer it up with water and let it freeze in increments, then have all the kids’ friends over to skate.
    
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Midwest Resident

November 12, 2025

They actually call this area “the North Coast” because of all the water. It does have a bit of an “oceany” feel to it. I wrote before but I would still encourage a visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum (the Calatrava Building). If you want a nice “leafy walk”, there is a small park–Juneau Park–very near the museum that is lovely right now. And I would still encourage a visit to the Milwaukee Public Market. They have a lovely little cheese shop, a spice shop, a candy shop etc. I enjoy Milwaukee. I hope you do too. 🙂

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1. Clarissa
  
  November 12, 2025
  
  I walked towards the Marquette University and saw some very nice architecture. I will definitely follow your suggestions and visit these places. Thank you so much!
  
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