Christina Henning
Lawrence, KS
University of Kansas

Last 5 blog entries: Central Route! Southern U.S. Bike and Build

Show latest update from from Christina's blog Central Route! Spring Break was the second week in March. I went to Arizona for an alternative break with six other KU students. We spent the week living and working with Ida, a 82 year old Navajo woman. We learned about her family and their history. We worked on small projects including building a new fence around her garden, leveling the road leading to her home, and herding sheep every day. 42 days until we begin our trip from Virginia Beach, Virginia! I'll be driving from St. Louis to Virginia Beach two days after school ends, on May 17th with Sarah Graham, a friend from high school who is also doing the Central Route. This semester has gone by really fast and it's just now starting to feel like spring. Training this winter consisted mostly of running and biking at the KU rec. center. Now that the weather is nice I've been biking to school and riding with friends around Lawrence. Fundraising has been successful, my friends and family have been generous, but I still have about $1,000 to raise. I'm also working on finding the gear I'm going to need for this summer at local bike shops and on the internet. Any suggestion or advice would be helpful. :D bike rides and high fives

Christina's bio:      I am currently a second year student at the University of Kansas and studying architecture.  Born and raised St. Louis City means that I know all the words on the Nellyville album and my summers usually involve baseball games and frozen custard. I love St. Louis and the people there, but I’m ready for something different this summer. I ran cross-country and track throughout high school and grew to love running and love being part of a team. Leaving St. Louis for a small Kansas town was not what I had in mind when I thought about moving out and going to college (I was thinking more along the lines of Chicago or some other big city). Much to my surprise however, Lawrence has turned out to be absolutely amazing.  With 19 independent coffee shops, numerous vintage stores, really good music venues, and most importantly, awesome people, Lawrence has become home.   I moved out of the dorms and into an apartment in the “student ghetto” this year. Despite the limited counter space, lack of washer/drier and the trees growing out of our rain gutters, there is no other place I’d rather be living and no other place I’d rather be in life right now than studying architecture and in college.      I’d consider myself to be a pretty active person, as long as it involves being outside. Running and occasionally trying to play tennis are usually my first choices. Besides riding around my neighborhood as a kid, I’ve never really been an avid biker. I came to school last year with a mountain bike that got stolen within the first few weeks. I then decided to invest in a road bike from a used bike shop. A beautiful, green, 1970s PUCH. His name is Leo, because he purrs like a cat. Since then I’ve fell in love with bikes and bike rides.      I can’t think of anything that sounds more exciting than biking across the country this summer.  The book “Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises” opened my eyes to a purpose of architecture that I’ve since become really interested in. I hope to use architecture to help people both while I’m in school and after I graduate. I’m still trying to figure out what exactly that means. Helping to provide affordable housing though participating in Bike and Build this summer I feel is the first step in that direction. I’m hoping to have an experience unlike any other and learn a lot more about the housing crisis in this country.  I’m also looking forward to meeting some awesome people crazy enough to commit to this.

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