I spent my intersession break much like any other student: Relaxing, getting some sun and hanging out by a lazy river. And by lazy river I mean a river that was FROZEN SOLID.
Every year, Princeton’s oldest improv comedy group, Quipfire!, visits one of the major improv destinations in America. Last year, we went to Los Angeles. This year, our rotation of locations landed us in the arctic wasteland known as Chicago.
Our trip was an equal mix of business, pleasure, and -30 degree windchills. We took workshops with four professional improvisers, and we attended an improv show almost every night so we could see the experts in action. But we also found time to thrift shop, play WhirlyBall, and reenact scenes from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
On the last day of the trip, we celebrated surviving the polar vortex by performing in a show with a group of Quipfire! alumni, many of whom improvise professionally in Chicago. It was cool to see how the activities you pursue at Princeton can affect your life once you graduate. Some of the alumni had never improvised before they joined Quipfire! as undergraduates, and now they perform at world-renowned improv theaters.
Besides the exposed flesh warnings, the whole trip was an amazing experience. And it was completely funded by our group! We used the money we made from ticket sales to pay for plane tickets, workshops, and even a journey to the top of the Willis Tower.
Though the reason it was an unforgettable tour was not the self-funding, the workshops, the shows, or the frivolities. It was unforgettable because I spent a week with some of my favorite people in the world. And because the glacial winds permanently covered me in ice. Seriously guys, it was cold.
