Bring it arounnnnnnnnnnnnnd towwwwwwwwwwwwwwn

(Yes, that was a Spongebob Squarepants quote. I like to cite the wise old sages in order to get my point across)

Today we're discussing something that has been plaguing this former Chicagoan: How to get around Madison without a car. My old stomping grounds had a grocery store every three blocks or so. My old neighborhood had an EL station a ten minute walk in either direction. My old neighborhood was mapped out like a grid, every street intersected cross-streets at some point, if Google maps told you to turn at a certain intersection, you walked straight until you found the other street. This was the life I led for four  years. I could get from the very edge of the South Loop to Millennium Park in fifteen minutes flat. I could reach the House of Blues in 20 minutes. I could reach Target in three. Yes, the old neighborhood was a good neighborhood.

Now I'm the new kid on the block. It's not so easy being new, especially when you've heard explanations such as "Oh yeah, Madison's real easy to figure out. It's like a funny-shaped bicycle wheel, where the Capitol is the center and the streets are all weirdly curved spokes". Yeah....helpful. Yesterday Google Maps told me to walk straight down the street I live on, turn right, walk for five minutes, turn left, turn left, and turn right again. Yes...it told me to go back to my street two blocks later. This fifteen-minute detour caused me to bust into my first meeting for my program, sweaty and out of breath in a room of pristine girls who probably learned all of their makeup and fashion skills from studying/living in France for the past year. (/rant) That's me! I love to make a good first impression. (We'll follow this up with the joke I made about a Senegalese parable today and yep...I'm definitely the international development girl. The "Afrique de l'Ouest" kid.)

The point is, I'm trying to figure out my way around Madison. I don't have a car, I do have a bike. What I've found:

Look at those sweet bikers not getting hit by the bus next to them!

• Biking is SO MUCH SAFER and easier in Madison. I'm not afraid that every single bus on the road is going to hit me. I never biked in Chicago, everyone I knew who biked had been hit by a car. At least once. Mostly twice. Madison has these wonderful WIDE bike lanes that aren't expressly made for buses to hog as extra stopping space. People actually NOTICE bikers instead of merging into them. I road my bike down the busiest street in my area and wasn't even a bit nervous! Ask me again how I feel when it's -15 degrees and icy. I may have changed my mind by then.
• Illinois is flat. Wisconsin is not. There are hills. What took me 5 minutes walking in Chicago now takes me 10. "Oh? It's only .7 miles away? Pshh...piece of cake" "...What? Those .7 miles are known as 'Bascom Hill'?" Yeah, it's happened. Luckily for me, biking toward campus is relatively downhill, so I don't get too sweaty until I'm on my way home. 
• Grocery stores are far away and usually expensive for one reason or another. This may just be the neighborhood I happen to live in, but the closest stores to me are a Whole Foods or a Co-Op. I'm all for healthy eating, I think it's great when people can choose to buy organic and locally grown. I'm also a poor graduate student. The sad part is, this actually doesn't kill me as much because Wisconsin doesn't tax on food, and I hail from the land of 11% sales tax on all purchases. Really, my grocery bill at Whole Foods is about the same here as it was in a Jewel Osco in Chicago. This store is about 1.1 miles away from me, so I'm pretty much doing the long haul with very limited grocery purchases a couple of times a week. Have considered biking, thought about it rationally, have stopped considering biking,

It really is a great city to live in. Of course, I'm saying this in August, when my apartment stays at a toasty 81 degrees and my flip flops are still acceptable footwear. I'm sure I'll adapt and learn to love this place even though it's going to be EVEN COLDER THAN CHICAGO WINTERS OH MY WORD WHAT HAVE I DONE....ahem. No, seriously though, Madison is a cool place to be. Everyone is really friendly when you get lost and need to ask for directions. People care about health and the environment. I actually haven't even seen that many smokers (of cigarettes...) out and about these parts. Madisonians care about their surroundings, and they want you to care about it too. I think I'm going to like it here, once I don't have to stare at Google Maps for an hour every time I want to go somewhere.

And we're off!

Guess who took a break from saving lives to visit her baby sister! 

Orientation started yesterday. Needless to say, I am fairly overwhelmed at the moment. I remember this experience from undergraduate, being fed countless pieces of information at once and trying to soak it all in. It's a different sort of overwhelmed, they aren't telling me how financial aid works or what to do if you have a problem with your roommate, but they're still telling me things that I should know. Everyone in the group is nice so far, it's such a small program that I'm really confident we'll all get to know each other fairly well. I'm looking forward to the coming weeks, especially once classes start.
I've never had any problems with language before, especially French. Even if  it had been awhile since I'd really had a good conversation in French, the minute I was with people at my level I bounced right back. It's taking me longer...I'm searching for words that I know are there, but far away. It's hard because I'm not used to other people being better. I think I'm the youngest in the program, that's something I definitely am used to. It's hard for me to start new things, I get frustrated that I need to ask for directions, that I don't know the easiest way to do things, that I don't even know where I'm going to buy my groceries all the time...Of course I'm not exactly alone, I have my family friends (who are really more family than anything) and the Boyfriend's family. I've even found little connections to my far away home in Minnesota. I'll adjust, definitely. I can see how this program will be great for me, but I can also see the things which will bug me. It seems as though most people took some sort of a "break" from school before starting the program. While most of this was getting full time employment, I'm worried that I'll feel the burnout of too much school before they do.

Yesterday I had my meeting with the director du program, I told him that I want to finish in 1.5 years by doing my internship over the summer, and he was very confident that it could be done. I have to keep remembering that I'm not really here for "school" so to speak. Sure, I'm taking classes and acquiring knowledge, but it's more of a training on how to conduct business in French. The internship is just another thing to put on my resume, another way that I can learn to interact in a professional manner globally. I'm excited for that. The director also advised that I register for the foreign service test this coming spring, particularly since I'm planning on being done with the program by December of 2012 (assuming the world still exists).

Oh la la...que la vie change rapidement! More blogging about my experiences in Madison now that I have internet! I have plenty of topics to discuss regarding my new life, but do not want to make one gigantic blog post.


PS: Update on living simply. Yesterday my mom and sister drove up from Chicago/Boston in my sister's case, for a short visit. They took me grocery shopping and we accidentally bought this:

Whoops....

The Boyfriend Voice

In the car with a few friends on an impromptu grocery trip, one of my friends was relaying a story to us about an awful manicure experience. "And then I thought I should write a horrible review, but *boyfriend said "no, honey, that's too harsh." At which point, her boyfriend chimes in from the back seat "Hey! You made me sound like a frat boy!" And it was true, my friend had used a typical "boyfriend voice" that I'm afraid we're all guilty of using when telling stories about our loved ones. This was a new experience for me, I've heard and even used The Voice before; however it was the first time the imatatee was within earshot. It got me wondering....why do we make our boyfriends sound so dumb? I know for a fact that if my guy and I were engaged in a battle of intelligence, he would for sure come out on top. The guy's a genius, which is all I ask for because he can fix my computer. He is by no means dumb, and yet I apply The Voice, making him sound as though he's got a wad of chewing gum in the space where his genius brain should be. Is this simply because in most of these stories I'm supposed to sound "right" and he's "wrong"? Furthermore, do guys have a girlfriend voice? Do I sound as ditzy in his stories as he does in mine, and is it an accurate interpretation? I must further investigate this strange phenomenon. Clearly being an Official Grad Student has given me the mind of a scientist...is there a grad student Voice?

Ps: I have successfully moved, but due to a crazy internet company story (which I may blog when I don't have to type on my Blackberry keyboard), I am without internet until HOPEFULLY monday night at the latest. Never fear, my one reader! (Yes, that's you boyfriend guy)

Chicken you won't want to Mish...kebab...

Once again I've cooked something and eaten it before taking a picture. There should be leftovers in the fridge, maybe I'll get a picture tomorrow and post it. Chicken shishkebabs. SO. GOOD. Even the resident chef of the house told me that I did an excellent job. Capital, simply capital. So here we go:

This served 3 adults, plus probably a lunch or two left over. (Note: As previously stated, I just kind of eyeball it when it comes to spices, feel free to add/subtract as you see fit)

3 larger boneless chicken breasts
3 red peppers
1 large onion
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp dried mint leaves
3 larger cloves garlic
salt and pepper
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil (traditional family marinade formula- 2 parts oil, one part vinegar)

We used 4 skewers and then wrapped the leftovers in a foil packet and set that on the grill.

1. Cut chicken, red peppers, and onions into decent bite-sized pieces. The best way to do the onion is to cut it in half, then cut each half again and peel off the layers. Throw into large bowl, along with washed grape tomatoes.
2. Chop garlic and add to bowl.
3. Add oil, vinegar, salt, pepper mint, and oregano. Toss contents of bowl until all pieces are well-coated.
4. After mixing well, spear pieces onto shishkebabs. I liked to alternate pepper, tomato, onion, chicken, but it's really all about preference.
5. Place remaining vegetables and chicken in foil packet.
6. Start the grill at a very high heat so that the outside of the kebabs gets well-done. Use tongs to rotate the kebabs every once in awhile, watching carefully so that they don't get overcooked.
7. After a few minutes move them to a cooler part of the grill (less directly over the heat) until the chicken appears fully cooked.
It's really THAT EASY.

We ate this coupled with a rice cooked in chicken base. This "yellow rice" is a favorite from when I was a kid. Genius idea! The leftover will be going tomorrow would go well in a pita with some sort of a tzatziki (although it does pose the milk+meat issue for some, note to self: find dairy-free tzatziki recipe.)

Running vs Walking: The Great Debate

My parents and I had an interesting discussion this morning. About a year and a half ago they "bought each other" a treadmill as a way to encourage a healthier lifestyle. If you've ever seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos describes her family as "loud, breeding, Greek eaters". That pretty much sums up my family. My dad has experience in the restaurant business, he's a great cook and we all enjoy sampling his food (in large portions). As it turns out, my brother is the only person in the family who appears to be immune to the vast amount of calories we've been consuming. Long story short, we're fat and we're all trying to do something about it.

With friends at the Making Strides Walk  in October 2010

Back to the discussion of this morning, my mom had just finished her workout and I was about to begin mine, when the three of us began to compare our workout routines. When I first started running, I decided that the best way to do things was to warm-up for about 5-7 minutes, run for as long as I could without stopping (about 5 minutes), walk for about 5 more minutes, then run at gradually decreasing intervals (5 mins straight, 2 minutes straight, a minute straight...etc). I don't know where I came up with this strategy, it just sort of happened. I was able to put in a pretty good workout this way, but I wanted a little more structure to figure out exactly how much running I was doing vs how much walking. Now warm-up for 5 minutes, and then alternate running 1.5 minutes, walking 1 minute for about 25-30 minutes. My mom says she walks the entire time, and somehow she seems to be getting in a greater workout than I am, adding that her doctor said that her 30 min walk in the morning should be coupled with a 30 min walk at night. At this point, my dad chimed in that his doctor admitted he would have preferred my dad to walk briskly rather than run.

So...the question, do you prefer walking or running? Which is "better for you" when you're a beginner? There are people who say that you can burn the same amount of calories running the same amount of time as you would walking it, but I'm not quite sure that's true. Any insight? I think it makes more sense that a doctor would recommend for my parents to run because....well, they're kind of getting old and the risk of developing arthritis and other joint damage is certainly increased for them. At my age, I think that the damage of carrying extra weight on my body could be comparable to the stress of running. For now I'm going to stick with my running, because I like the way it feels to run and I want to build up my endurance.

Why does Blogger always think I speak Finnish?

My feet in Senegal

Alas, one day I'll learn. At least I can muster my way through when it randomly gives me a Norwegian page or two! Not much to blog about. I'm heading up to Madison again for a few days and then on Sunday I'll be seeing Beauty and the Beast with my mom and some dear friends! It's pretty exciting because I used to drag her to see it in theaters when I was three years old, and as a graduation gift she's taking me to see it on stage.

Since I've been dog-sitting a puppy girl who enjoys waking up at 5:30 AM, I was watching Arthur today in a sleepy stupor. (Don't judge.) Any nostalgic love I have for the show aside, I was really impressed with one of the episodes. (Yes, I watched the full 30 minutes.) The episode was entitled "In My Africa", and it centered around the Brain's cousin Cheikh who is from Dakar. Of course, as soon as the little cartoon version of Dakar came across the screen I was hooked. While Cheikh shares a bit of his Senegalese culture with his new friend D.W., the main point is that many people, like Arthur's sister, mistake Africa for a country. They assume that every part of this "country" is filled with lions and hippos and giraffes (Oh my!). When I was in Senegal, the most interesting animal I saw was a pelican that was about 4'5". The main characters of the episode wrote a song to teach children about some special aspects of all 54 countries in Africa. A noteable highlight was the random shouting of "DJIBOUTI!"

I applaud you, Arthur creators. You have finally addressed something which I feel like a majority of American children need to learn. They also do a great episode on Asperger's syndrome and give a nod to Judaism without a "chanukah special", I'm totally going to make my kids watch Arthur when they exist. And I'm going to continue watching it now. No regrets.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries (I wish I had a picture...but I ate them all..)

I was hankering for these delicious sweet potato hashbrowns I had at a delicious Chicago restaurant...aptly named Hash Browns. Not really eating out anymore, due to various restrictions, I decided to whip up a batch of sweet potato fries for the first time. Since I learned to cook from my dad, I took his approach to making something you've never made before: take an educated guess at how it's made and see what happens.

Turns out it was delicious. I like a little (a lot) of spice to my recipes, so if you aren't a fan of spicy foods, leave out the cayenne pepper. But really, the cayenne pepper is the whole reason I love this recipe.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries
(serves 2-3)
2-3 medium sized sweet potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt


1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. Cut the sweet potatoes into wedges or thicker strips. I left the skin on, which gave it a nice flavor and casing, but I supposed you could peel it as well if you aren't into that texture. In my experience, the wedges will be a variety of sizes. That's perfectly fine, they'll cook just fine.
3. Pour wedges, olive oil, paprika, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and sal into a ziplock bag. Shake it up until the wedges are thoroughly coated.
5. Spread wedges into a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 30 minutes, turning the fries halfway through.

I served them with lemon chicken and a side salad, but they'll go great with just about anything. Be sure to save this recipe for leftover sweet potatoes after Thanksgiving!

Speaking of food, in case anyone was concerned, our garden is going amazingly! I'm going to be getting creative at the end of this summer because I'll have to use up:

Jalepenos and tomatoes!