Woodland Adventure

This weekend we took a trip out to the Beanblossom Bottom Trail a couple miles from our house. We found it by accident last week when there was nice weather and we'd gone for a countryside drive. It's a really neat spot with something like 2.5 miles of wooden walkways through marshy land. Here's Paul and Binsey on the elevated walkway



Binsey wasn't afraid of the ice - in fact, she ran all around on it and tried to dig out some frozen sticks. Good thing she only weighs 30 pounds so she didn't crack the ice and fall in!


Here we are on a lookout platform. I got a chance to wear my new rain boots for the hike since there were semi-frozen puddles in some places

The Best Rowing Movie Ever Made...

Today Paul and I watched a movie we got from the Bloomington Public Library called Miracle at Oxford. The review on the back said it was "the best rowing movie ever made". I'm not about to doubt that claim, but it was pretty good. Since both Paul and I have rowed (and Paul at Oxford), we were probably a little more interested than most other people would be in the film. But it was still really neat to say "ooh, I know that street!" or "Hey, isn't that the butcher shop we liked?" It also had some interesting commentary on how Americans are perceived in the UK.

What was a really bizarre coincidence is that one of the main actors, Dominic West, also starred in Mona Lisa Smile, which was filmed at Wellesley College while I was a student there.

So now I'm thinking it might be a good time to watch Breaking Away again - that's the movie about bike racing in the Little 500 in Bloomington, Indiana. It's always fun to watch a movie about a place you've lived, and now that I've been in Bloomington for over half a year I should be able to recognize some places!

We're homeowners!

Despite some crazy events leading up to it (like our key not opening the car door a half hour before the closing), we are now officially homeowners. It is a really great feeling to know you don't have to move out in a year, or deal with random maintenance people letting themselves into your home. Plus, we have a yard which is just fantastic for the dog. So far his favorite thing about the house is that he can chase grasshoppers in the lawn (if you can call it that!). Getting him back in the house, on the other hand, is a lot harder!

Otherwise the house is a total mess, since we have a lot of boxes of stuff but no furniture except a couple chairs and a kitchen table. But we'll get there eventually. The best part is having a bed to sleep on that no one else has ever slept on. We also got to pick out all the appliances since it's a new house. Finally, after 2 years, we can use all those awesome wedding presents we got!

We love the location because we are in a subdivision that's a bit out in the country. Really, it's just a few minutes drive from Indiana University, but it's far enough away that you have to drive past cows to get here. And when we went to change the address on our drivers licenses today, the local BMV office was using a cowbell on the door to announce your arrival.

The Walk-In Clinic is Fantastic!

I haven't blogged anything for a while, with good reason - we've both been sick with a nasty cold that just won't go away. We tried about 5 different over-the-counter medicines and hoped we wouldn't be listed as criminals for buying so much pseudoephedrine. After 3 weeks of being sick without improvement, we finally went to see a doctor on Thursday.

But, it's not all that easy to see a doctor when you're new in town. Since I've moved so much, I'm very familiar with the protocol - first you check with your insurance company (if you're even insured yet) to find a doctor who accepts your insurance and then make an appointment with them. Easy enough. Well, not so easy. Many doctors aren't taking new patients, and those who are have special appointments for new patients, scheduled 2 weeks to several months in advance. Bummer. So what to do when you're sick and need some sort of non-emergency medical care?

Urgent care is an option, but our insurance doesn't cover it until we've met our high deductible. But, it does cover office visits with just a co-pay. So, I searched around and found a local walk-in clinic, called them and found out that they bill walk-in visits as normal office visits! Score!

The clinic was brand new and super clean. And we saw a doctor right away with no appointment. So now we've got some antibiotics and finally get to sleep through the night due to some prescription cough suppressant. And the doctor assured us we don't have swine flu or pneumonia. Whew! If only it was always so easy to deal with medical treatment!

Our First Date! (in Bloomington)

We don't get out much. But, last night, we did get out - without the pup! It was $2 pint night at a local brewpub, so we decided we'd take advantage. Paul got some kind of hoppy ale, and I stuck with the weiss beer. It was so nice to get out together on a real date, and to sit at a table where we could actually look across at each other!

The Drive to Bloomington

I tried to capture all of the state welcome signs as we drove from MA to IN, though I didn't get the RI sign. We left from my grandmother's house in Rhode Island, stopped overnight in Pittsburgh and drove the next day to Bloomington. It went smoothly, apart from having to replace the windshield wipers. And now that unpacking is done and the internet connection is back, I can post the pictures!

Entering Connecticut in the rain with malfunctioning windshield wipers...

From Move to Bloomington

Entering New York...


Pennsylvania and better weather...


Something called the Cheese House in Pennsylvania. Note the bugs on the windshield - YUCK!


We had an awesome time seeing Julina and Michael in Pittsburgh. They brought us to a tasty Belgian restaurant for mussels, which may have been even better than the ones we had in Brussels! It's always bittersweet seeing friends all over the place - so much fun to visit, but sad to leave. Well, we'll be in Bloomington for a while and we like visitors!

Day 2: West Virginia


Ohio


Can you see the rainbow? (note the cleaner windshield)


INDIANA!


And, Bloomington!

We've arrived in Bloomington!

We got into our temporary apartment in Bloomington last evening around 5. It took 2 days to drive the 980 miles from Massachusetts through lots and lots of hills. Right now we're making progress through all our boxed stuff that's been sitting for nearly two years, plus our wedding presents, which have only been sitting for one year. So far the highlight was finding our mugs, which include Paul's cowboy mug and my frog mug. We can't fully unpack because we're moving again in 3 months. Luckily there is storage space at the apartment complex so we don't have to drive somewhere else to store the extra stuff (it seems we're going to have quite the library judging by the number of book boxes sitting in the truck).

Well, I'd like to be able to walk through the room without tripping over and into boxes, so it's back to unpacking. Pictures from the drive to come later...it's probably going to be a while before we can share pictures of the apartment, at least on the inside!

Extreme Pig Out...

...that was the title of a show I was just watching on the Travel Channel as I ate some of the massive slice of chocolate peanut butter layer cake that Paul and I took home from Gregg's last night (if you've ever been to Gregg's for dessert, you know they are very very generous with their cake slices!). Thankfully they were showing skinny teenagers trying to eat 7 pound burgers, so it didn't turn me off from the cake (does that mean I've completely re-acclimated to the American lifestyle?). Anyway, Gregg's cakes are one of the things I miss when I'm away from the Rhode Island area. That and Del's frozen lemonade.

But there are definitely new things to look forward to with regard to "extreme pig outs". Like Steak N' Shake, a burger and milkshake restaurant that's open 24 hours. Their claim to fame is that they use steak in their burgers, as opposed to other chain fast food burger joints that supposedly use lesser quality beef. Either way, it's tasty. And then there's Bruster's ice cream, which Paul introduced me to on our recent trip to Bloomington, and I am now a card-carrying member of their "sweet rewards" club so I can get a free ice cream cone after I buy 9. And I'm sure I'll get there.

I'm also fascinated by farms. There are some farms in and around Seekonk, but not nearly on the scale of what you've got in the midwest. I think grain elevators are really neat, and I love seeing tractors and combines in action. In Bloomington, I'm hoping to take full advantage of the weekly community farmers market and if we can, we might be signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) plan where you pay to get a share of each week's crops, kind of like the vegetable box scheme we signed up for in Oxford. I've got a lot to learn about our new home state, that's for sure! And I think even Paul will be experiencing a lot of new things since he's going back to his college town as a grown and married man.

Well, we've got a lot to figure out in the next few months, but at least most of our stuff is packed (and has been for nearly 2 years!), so getting there won't be much of a hassle!

Our visit to Bloomington

This past weekend we took a trip out to Bloomington to accomplish two things. One, for me to meet a bunch of professors and students who I'll be working with for the next few years, and two, to find a place to live for the summer. It seems both worked out really well!

We stayed in Bloomington from Thursday to Monday. Paul's friend Nicole was generous enough to host us while we were there, and give us the run-down on the town. Apparently in the last few years since Paul graduated from IU Bloomington has grown a lot. They've increased the number of undergrads and there's been a lot of students coming from NY and NJ, sparking vast construction of condos and "New York style" apartments. Needless to say, there is a huge selection of housing options. We decided it'd be best to go for a summer sub-let so we can get (re)familiarized with the town, and figure out where we want to live more permanently. Houses are ridiculously cheap compared to what you get in Massachusetts, so we are basically cutting our expected housing budget in half or more.

We wound up finding a summer sub-let on the east side of town. It's fully furnished, includes a washer and dryer, dishwasher, central air, and best of all, we can get a puppy! I think the puppy idea is what I'm most excited about right now. A lot of you probably know I grew up with 2 golden retrievers, Lisa and Disa, and I do miss them. They were wonderful dogs, so friendly and always happy to see anyone. Having a dog really brings a special kind of joy into your life. I think you don't really understand it unless you have had a dog. So we're looking at adopting a golden retriever puppy once we find a reputable breeder. We'll probably look at the pound too, but it's hard to find purebred golden puppies.

As for my program and the people in it, I am really blessed to have found such a great group of people to be working with over the next few years. Since a bunch of prospective grad students were visiting, the graduate secretary set up 15-30 minute meetings for each of us with different professors. I was amazed that professors who I thought I had nothing in common with actually do have research interests that overlap with mine. It's so reassuring, because while there are probably 2 or 3 professors I see as the best "fit" for me, I really appreciate having input from different perspectives and I know I'll have that at IU.

As for pictures, we didn't take a whole lot, but here's what the campus looks like from inside the Sample Gates (named for an alum).

From Bloomington March 2009

And here's what you get in the countryside just outside the town. Beautiful, isn't it? I'm so looking forward to this fantastic combination of college town and country roads!:

From Bloomington March 2009