Cheers & Jeers

The "ins and outs" of Missoula since my arrival...

Allow me to start with the gripes:

1) I haven't turned my fan off in seven straight days.  Ugggg. The  poor thing has even stopped oscillating due to its perpetual workload.

2) My coconut oil is still liquefied. You know its hot outside when your coconut oil is no longer solid at room temp!!!! (melting point of coconut oil is roughly 72deg F or 22.2deg C) 

3) The Food Zoo (campus cafeteria) serves a shoddy vegan breakfast and the veggie burgers take 30min to grill... [insert inappropriate exclaimation of your choice here].  At least dinner is yummy! Veg jambalaya and southern spiced collards with carrots are on the menu tonight!

4) Text books.  FREAKING EXPENSIVE.  And for some inexplicable reason the bookstore did not order enough books for the number of students who are enrolled in the class. Hmmmm, and this is a university???? Not to mention, unlike elementary school, professors don't tell their students what they want until you actually are doing something in class and actually need it.  Such as lab books.  The tried and true composition books are no longer good enough.  You need a professional carbon paper transfer experiment logbook, that is conveniently located in the book store for a whopping $19.00. No exceptions or you receive no credit for all labs. Prerequisites for university classes should have "psychic abilities".

5) Homework/Dormwork. You know you are university when 11.30pm is a normal bedtime and 8.00am is waking up early... Behold: BioChem notes!  These kept me up until 12.15 last night.  They are worth gold in time.

6) The Mountain Line buses do not run on Sundays. Thus all grocery shopping must be done on Saturday. 

7) No compost on campus :( But at least there's recycling! 

8) Noisy dorm locale. All the tipsy parties like to congregate outside the Turner-Knowles conjunction.  Its the armpit of campus, decently lighted, there's drop-off parking and access to toilets.  The perfect recipe for evening noise making.  Yesterday, some guy decided to start whistling show-tunes at 12.30 in the morning.  It was great.

Now for the praises:

1) There are grochery stores and foodie-haunts within walking distance of my dorm!  In Seattle/Redmond I would never have been able to walk to a bakery or market in 10 minutes.  Its bliss

2) Iced Coffee with ACTUAL espresso ice cubes.  The longer I sit, the more coffee flavored my drink becomes. :D I highly recommend a stop by Buttercup Market.  They do the same procedure with lemonade and iced tea.

3) Washington Apples! And they're Golden Delicious!  No watery, flavorless, hard red delicious and granny smiths. Let apple and PB eaters rejoice.

4) Dream Cream.  Hot weather = beastly dry skin. It’s my all-purpose angel in a pot. (Thank you, Mum!--I am by no means ashamed to admit I've already used a 1/6th of the tub).

5) The UMT Start-of-Fall Fair.  I love it when an entire city is jazzed about the coming of Autumn :) Bonus:  TONS of free stuff.  It’s like a mini VegFest, but Griz themed.  I amassed buttons, a fist full of pens, coupons, collapsible bags, toothpaste, sunscreen, saltwater-huckleberry taffy and so forth.  Here are some pics of the campus during the festivities:

6) Fly-fish-lure earrings.  My new favorite accessory scored at the farmers market. I think I may need to go back for another pair. I love them THAT much.

7) Dallas Blusher/Bronzer by Benefit.  It is a strange plumy, bronze-purple color that looks deceiving in the pan, but goddess-like on the face. It makes me appear less like a pale-zombie-beast in the morning. *"Often, a school is your best bet--perhaps not for education but certainly for protection from an undead attack." 

— Max Brooks (The Zombie Survival Guide)*

8) My Toms.  Well loved. Abused. And have seen some pretty interestin' places in their short life. All hail the world's best shoe.

9) The signs above the toilets.  I never knew anyone called urine No. 1 and fecal matter No. 2 outside of colloquial conversation.  It makes me smile each time nature calls

Sooooooo, what does everyone/anyone thing about Missoula?

Cheers, kaite ;]