Black Friday

I survived my first Black Friday shopping experience!

I have always been a little curious about the whole idea, so when my friend Kim asked me if I wanted to go this year, I said "sure!" Every year, Kim and her friend Karen head over to the river to do some all-night shopping at Birch Run. This year we mixed things up a bit and went to Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills.

My day started with an 8am class on Thursday. I must admit, I tried to have a little nap in the afternoon, but it was not a successful mission. I was wide awake so I just decided to give up on the dream of some extra mid-afternoon sleep. We left Kim's place at 11:30pm and after stopping for our coffee, crossed the border into Michigan. Along the way, we saw some poor suckers set up in tents outside of Best Buy and Walmart stores. I cannot imagine going that hard core.

When we hit the mall, we circled like sharks to find a parking spot and the closest entrance was "The Children's Place". I couldn't believe my eyes when we walked in to see a huge line-up, but more importantly, people had KIDS IN STROLLERS. People...it's 2am...these children need to be in bed! Craziness! Actually the craziest thing I saw was perhaps not the kids in strollers, but rather a woman that barfed right in the middle of the mall at exactly the same moment that I happened to be walking by. What are the odds? Augh...gross!

The shopping was pretty fun, with a few deals to be had, but nothing earth-shattering. It really was more about the experience than the deals for me. I was trying stuff on at Banana Republic at 4am and commented to Kim "I'm not even tired, this is wild!" We stopped for breakfast around 7am and headed back to Port Huron to hit Birchwood Mall. I think we had run out of steam by then, but we carried on nonetheless.

By the time we reached Kim's house at 1pm I was ready for some sleep and had a 2 hour nap before heading back to London. And so, my very first Black Friday shopping experience. Success.