And So it Begins...

First, some housekeeping items:

1. I think I will try write in time to my schedule to blog at least one time per week, probably only one time per week. You eager beavers, this is directed towards you--don't bother checking every day ;)
2. Please share my blog with other family/friends who may not have Facebook or who may have missed my post. I realized I do not have many email addresses, so I'm counting on you to spread it around! 

Okay... 

This week was my first real week of obligations: Orientation Week. I had full days Monday-Wednesday and a little over a half day Thursday, so it was a full week and a little bit of a shock to the Allison who was used to sleeping in until 9 and doing things in small doses. Surprise! Back to real life. I ended the week with a trip to the fair with my cousin (in-law) Kate and a party with my fellow cohort members! 

Overall, orientation was an enjoyable experience. I wouldn't call it fun, but I did very much enjoy spending time with my cohort members and the faculty/staff in the sociology department. Monday was an all day department orientation and it ended with a reception. That part was fun. How could it not be--they provided free beer! The parts that weren't so much fun were the out-of-department orientations. Tuesday morning we had a grad school orientation--way too many people and way too much general knowledge that I already had heard at the department orientation. My favorite part there was the tables from various organizations set up in the hallway. I got a lot of free pens by talking to people ;) Thursday we had some teaching enrichment workshops outside of the department and I did get some good tips, but it was just too much sitting and listening and I was starving by the time it was done. Wednesday we had all day TA (teaching assistant) training in the department and that was really long and tiring too, but it was a lot more interactive and informative.

I think we have a good group of people in our cohort. There are 11 of us. About half are from Minnesota and the other half from various other places, including one from Tanzania! It's split pretty evenly between people who are coming in with Master's and those who only have Bachelor's degrees. Last night 7 of us got together for a party and conversation went on for a good three hours with no real breaks. It will be interesting to see how we interact with each other and as a group. We share an office and take basically the same classes the first year, so it will be like we are a little family :)

At the department reception, my theory professor gave me some information about places to swing dance, so on Wednesday night I went to Lee's Bar to check it out. It was such a fun (and interesting) experience! When I first got there, there was one other guy there and the bartender, so I ended up talking to the guy (who was about ready to retire to put age in perspective). It turns out it was his first time and he had just moved to the city for work (Jim). I also met Luke who is from Nebraska, fresh out of college and has taught country swing (which I learned uses a lot more space than the swing we did that night). Anyway, we formed a little group, and checked in on each other throughout the night. From 8-9 there was a mini lesson. We learned basically what I already knew, but with a triple step. By the time our lesson was over, the bar was full of people waiting for the band to start playing. I would say there were probably 20 couples there. The dance floor was certainly full! I was feeling a little rusty and worried about embarrassing myself, but overall I think I did very well. Of course it's easier for the follower. If you have a good leader, you can dance with anyone! I also met some people who are into salsa and told me of some places that I could go to dance if I was interested. I kindly reminded them, I was a grad student and could really only plan on one thing a week ;) I do see salsa in my future...Anyway, GREAT NIGHT! I had forgotten how happy swing makes me. I think I will plan to be at Lee's every Wed! 

So, what now?

Tomorrow I am going tubing with some of the older grad students and my cohort. Not the kind of tubing where you are behind a boat, just floating down the river. I reeeeeally hope the weather is nice. Monday is Labor Day and for once I have no class! Yay! Super excited about that, though I will probably do work anyway, but I won't have anywhere to go. Tuesday classes start. I've included a list of the classes I'll be taking below:

Social Theory
Sociology as a Profession (1 credit for helping us through the first year)
Human Rights (Cross-Disciplinary Perspective)
Intermediate Stats (ugh)
Sociology of Education Journal Editing (maybe)
TA for Intro to Sociology (leading 2 discussion groups)

And with that I will leave you. I'll try to put some pictures up later.

 Kate and I at the fair

 Butter sculptures of the dairy princess finalists (called princess kay in Minnesota)

 Snow cone at the fair!

A beautiful night in Minneapolis. Walking home from the light rail.

Fair Day #1

As you can see from the title, today was faaaaaaair daaaaaaaay! So, what am I doing right now? You guessed it--sprawled out on the couch, watching netflix. I had to really get the gumption up to write this blog post :-p Anyway, the Minnesota State Fair is pretty cool as far as fairs go. It's really big--lots of food, lots of rides, stuff to buy, some animal barns. We covered basically everything with an emphasis on food. My first purchase was a cup of poutine!! For those of you who do not know about this Canadian delicacy, it consists of french fries, with cheese curds on top, covered with hot gravy. Mmmmmmm :) I had looked at the food vendor list online last night and was disappointed to find out there was not an array of stands with wine slushies as there seems to be at the New York Stat Fair. Happily, I did find one place even though it was pretty expensive. I also had some pizza, a sip of mini donut beer, so many Sweet Martha's cookies and all you can drink milk for a dollar! There was so much more food--lots of things "on a stick," smoothies, ice cream, turkey legs, bbq pork, and on and on.  There were A LOT of people there too (picture to follow). But food wasn't the only good thing. We also saw some nice cows, horses, pigs, sheep, and lots and lots of baby pigs! So cute! There were also quite a few human babies that were nice to look at too ;)

Yesterday I met with one of my subject librarians. Kim is the subject librarian for women and gender studies. We talked about some resources to use at the library. Really, I just wanted to meet her so halfway through the semester or next year when I need her I won't just be emailing her out of the blue.  I didn't even know librarians could help with all of that stuff. She showed me some really cool research stuff. Afterward, I took the time to explore the library--the Wilson Library. There are like 12 libraries across the 3 campuses. Wilson is on the west bank right near my building. There are four levels. There's actually a map library in the basement. The woman working in there probably was really confused when I walked in there aimlessly but she didn't say anything.

I also did some baking yesterday since it didn't feel like 90 degrees in our apartment for once. I made zucchini bread from the zucchinis I got at the farmer's market Wednesday! It's sooooo good! Meghan and Austin (her boyfriend) loved it too! I even shredded and froze some for later.

 As we walked into the fair. A lot of people. (and fried pickles to the right!)

 Exploring the government publication section of the library

 Some houses in my neighborhood

 Train tracks that run next to I-94

 This train car never moves

 There's a deer in this picture up by the cars. My roommate said she's never seen a deer in Minneapolis before. Feels like home...

 This is the outside of my apartment building. 

This is the view of one of the streets that my building is on (and my finger)

Success!

There have been a number of successes today, but the one I am currently happy (or should I say relieved) about is setting up my UMN email on my iPhone! I was about to give up when I found a website showing exactly how to do it for umn emails. Imagine that! Now I can check both my Elmira email and my UMN email all in the same place! Phew!

Second success: I went to the farmer's market on campus today and bought sweet corn (which I just finished devouring). It was great! And the farmer's market was way bigger than I expected--and cheap! I got a few veggies and splurged on raspberries. Yuuuummy!

Third: I walked over to the Soc building after and met up with one of the administrators. We chatted for at least a half hour and then she introduced me to some other office staff. She is so nice!

Fourth: I set up a credit union account here! Don't worry I'm not leaving Southern Chautauqua, I just needed a place here too. The lady that set me up is really nice and guess what! She lived in Falconer, NY for a while after high school. Small world, eh?

Oh my goodness I almost forgot! My real first success of the day was the bike ride I took this morning! I took the bike down to the east river parkway and rode along the bike trail (which is so nice btw). It went way better than yesterday! I can't remember if I wrote about yesterday...it definitely would not be considered a success. Of course, today I didn't have to shift very much or pass many people, but it's a start!

So there are my five successes for the day :)

A Trip Downtown

I decided Monday and Tuesday (today) I would spend some time exploring downtown in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Lucky for me the green line train goes to both. My trip to Minneapolis was okay. I learned that I do not ever want to live somewhere where it's hot all the time--that's for sure! It was way too hot and humid for me yesterday and I was tuckered out after short of an hour. I spent most of my time at a place called Nicollet Mall, a street with a bunch of stores made for walking. I walked by the Target Center which I think is where the Twins play baseball. I also stumbled upon a Target in the middle of downtown while looking for a bathroom--3 stories. At the end of the day all I wanted was ice cream, but when I stopped at DQ the vanilla machine was broken. It was actually a case of a silver lining because I got to try a new coffee place (Dunn Bros). I got something similar to an iced capp at Tim Hortons but more ice creamy. Today I went to downtown St. Paul. I walked to the Capital which is a grand, beautiful building. There's also a nice grassy area out front where people were eating lunch. It's funny how the Mississippi is everywhere here. It cuts through St. Paul like it does Minneapolis. There's a nice bridge in St. Paul to walk over it and you can even climb down to some kind of island/park area. I spent about an hour in St. Paul and then headed back home because it looked like rain.

I don't think I have gotten on a light rail once that arrived at the scheduled time. In Olso, I would be running to the train and know exactly how much time before it left without me. Here the trains are subject to traffic patterns, while in Norway they were not. The light rail is really nice, though. The trains remind me of the trains in Olso, a little less space but basically the same. You might be wondering, aren't all subway trains very similar? No, no they aren't...at least not in Europe. I'm going to have to try a bus soon. Maybe another day.

Last night I met two of Meghan's friends and we all went to trivia. It was really fun, though we didn't do so hot on the trivia. I do count myself personally responsible for one correct answer!

Sunday I went to the event that I had mentioned earlier, "Open Streets." One of my cohort members went with me and we probably walked about half way, maybe less. It was really long! The annoying thing was that the vendors were only set up outside their businesses so if it was all houses along that part of the street, all you saw were houses. It was a very nice day and I did get a free massage and posture check by a chiropractor/acupuncturist/massage therapist office. Turns out my right leg is shorter then my left. We also stopped for pizza, which is always great. I am really starting to miss Eds though :(

Sorry if this post is a little scattered brained. I'm working my way through Season 2 of Orange is the New Black ;)

Okay..let's see about some pictures!

 View of the capital from the train station

 Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis

 St. Paul view from the bridge

 Campus flowers

 Prospect Park community gardens I stumbled upon on a walk

 Some houses in Prospect Park

Saturday #1 and some pics

My first Saturday in Minneapolis. 2 exciting things happened. I decided to go for a walk and on that walk I 1. Gave a guy directions like a total native!  and 2.  Bought some cool stuff at a garage sale (lamp, mail holder, free ice cube tray).

I decided to go across the river today to Seward, the neighborhood on the other side of the bridge. Some streets reminded me a lot of Prospect Park because of the gardens, but other parts were just little houses all in a row--no trees, no gardens. On my way back toward the bridge I visited the Seward Community Co-op, which is basically just like a big grocery store full of food from local farmers and other organic things. It's really cool! It's open to the public, but the idea of a co-op is that you buy into it so members get certain benefits if they buy into it. I'm definitely going back there!

Tomorrow there is supposed to be an event called "Open Streets Minneapolis" where a street is blocked off for pedestrians and bikes and there are vendors lining the street. I think it is to promote healthy living, doing something other than driving. It sounds pretty cool!

Sitting on the couch right now is making me feel pretty tired. Between yesterday and this morning, I gone on a run and two 2 hour walks. My muscles are tight and my left shin is killing me--shows how out of shape I am!

Here are some pictures (I'll try to start taking more):

 The blue dot is where I live!

My garage sale lamp!

Desk from Ikea

Closet

 Bedroom

From my walk today

Mississippi River from the bridge

This was at a restaurant Meghan and I went to the other night. Right on the river.

Welcome to Minneapolis

For the past few days I have been contemplating starting a blog about my latest adventure. I'm not sure how long it will last or how frequently I will post, but I think it will be good to have a place to share my experiences and record things I want to remember later. It's funny, I usually don't spend much time customizing my blog but I decided to play around with the colors. Guess what I ended up with....UMN (University of Minnesota) colors---Maroon and Gold. Completely unintentional. Maybe it's a sign...

Wait a second Al.. You're in Minnesota?!! Yeah, so for all of you who may not have heard, I moved to Minnesota!! There, now you know. I'll be starting a PhD in Sociology at the University of Minnesota in just a couple of weeks now. And yes, I'll be here for a looooong time.

I've been in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul are right next to each other and therefore basically make up one big city, aka: twin cities) since Sunday. My family and I made the 15+ hour drive on Saturday and finished it up Sunday morning. My parents and Jared stuck around until Wednesday. We did a lot (A LOT) of errand running and then some fun stuff too--Minnehaha Park, Mall of America, Dinner with cousins, exploring. I got a new bed, dresser and desk out of the whole deal so I'm pretty happy about everything. My parents were a great help. I'm really glad I had them here with me. 

So Allison, where do you live? Good question. I live in a neighborhood called Prospect Park. If you type it into Google Maps it will show where my neighborhood is. So far I love the neighborhood. There are lot of really nice houses---not like nice houses in a development that are look the same. Different houses! I went by one today that looked like it could be from colonial times with bright red barn doors and then I walked by another not too far from it that was basically a cube and looked very modern. And the gardens! There are gardens everywhere. People seem to let their gardens grow and sometimes it does look a little unruly, but it's also really nice, almost jungle-like. I especially enjoy the streets where the trees make a sort of canopy so I really feel like I'm in the jungle. It's a great neighborhood for walks! 

You'll notice if you do look up Prospect Park that it isn't very far from the Mississippi. Now, who would have ever thought I would be living on the Mississippi? Not me. I didn't even know the Mississippi came up this far. Supposedly it starts in Wisconsin... There is a really nice pedestrian/bike path that runs along the river and it's probably a 10 min walk or less for me to get to it. Awesome. There's stairs that you can go down so that you're right next to the river too. 

What's your house like? I live in an apartment building. It's really nice, a good-sized first apartment I think. My bed room is big enough to fit a queen sized bed, desk, decent closet and still feel spacious. We have a small kitchen and eating area and a living room with a couple couches. You know, normal things that apartments might have. 

So you have a roommate? Yeah, she's awesome! Her name is Meghan and she had been looking for someone to move in, so I was lucky enough to move in to a fully furnished apartment with someone who knows the area. She's been a big help with everything so far! I did find her on craigslist and no, that's actually not weird at all. 

Hmmm....what else? Ahh yes, the U. So the University is split between the East Bank and the West Bank (and there's also a St. Paul campus). The Sociology building is on the West Bank. Most of the happenings are on the East Bank---student union, undergrad classes, stadiums, fitness center, etc. I got the chance to explore a little today with my cousins wife (see reference to cousins above) (she's awesome too, btw). I took the light rail to campus. The light rail is basically just an above ground subway train. The green line just opened in June and that is the line that runs near my house. I can take it all the way to downtown Minneapolis if I want, but the East and West Bank stops are only 3 & 4 stops from my station. 

Yesterday I tried my hand at driving. I didn't go during rush hour and I didn't go very far, only to the U so it probably wasn't typical city driving. Anyway, I got to make a legal u-turn (very exciting) and I decided I am never driving to campus because parking is ridiculous (hard to find and expensive). 

At this point, I feel like I could be in New York somewhere. The weather is pretty similar--although the summer here is more like it should be in NY. It's been in the 80's here the past couple days. There are trees and other vegetation that I might see in NY. Yeah, that's kind of it...but what I mean to say is that I don't feel like it's really been a huge adjustment besides it being a city. It doesn't feel foreign. Being in a city is really cool for a lot of reasons. I haven't been in many (or really explored many), but Minneapolis just seems to have a lot of parts to it that can be very different from one another. And there are a ton of people to watch, people that also can look very different from each other. 

Wow, I think that's enough for today. I will try to get some pictures up in the near future. Next week is my last week off before orientation so I am hoping to do some fun things that I can blog about :)

As they say in Minnesota,

(Yeah I haven't figured that out yet).