I always feel more alive after I’ve visited Bloomington, IN. This past weekend I went there to share in the experience of Lotus Fest, and it was no exception. Lotus is an international music festival which brings exuberant live to Bloomington. Not that Bloomington isn’t always bursting with energy and culture, but Lotus brings in many out-of-towners that add to the mix. Lotus is an annual festival, but this is the first year I have gone, much to my dismay. I should have been going for years! This year’s festival featured musical groups such as Movits!, a Swedish hip hop/swing band, Bomba Estereo, from Colombia, Frigg, a group of Norwegian fiddlers, Strange Fruit, a performance art group from Australia, and many others. My favorite by a significant margin was Movits! They were pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen, and I am so inspired to learn Swedish and go to Sweden because of them. So I definitely recommend checking them out!

If you have not been to Bloomington, IN, it really is a cool place. It’s so beautiful, nestled in the few and far between rolling hills of Indiana. A small town, which basically revolves around Indiana University, a very fine university by the way, and is filled with many cute boutiques, coffee shops, bookstores, and ethnic restaurants. The main square is beautiful, with a classic courthouse and one of my favorite coffee shops, Scholar’s Bakehouse. Kirkwood, the main street that leads to Sample Gates which open to the campus, is where all the cute boutiques are. 4th street is home to the ethnic restaurants, which range from Ethiopian to Tibetan, and Turkish to Thai. One can’t miss the cycling culture in Bloomington, as it is the host of the Little Five competition for cyclists. Road bikes are everywhere in Bloomington and they’re so pretty!

Lotus Fest is just another wonderful thing I enjoy about Bloomington, and I certainly recommend going, not only to experience Lotus but also to visit Bloomington.