rising_star Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 Find favorite spots to do things. For me, the key was finding a good coffee shop (which sadly closed in May), a good happy hour bar, a good place to watch football, and a good work spot on campus. They are things I use regularly when school is in session so it was important for me to find them before classes started. PufferFish 1
Louiselab Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 I was having a similar problem... and then one of my professors for the fall sent out a syllabus with a note that read, "it would be wise for you to pick your topics now and start working on the final project since I'm planning a really intensive semester. Let me know by Friday and have preliminary bibliographies for my review as well. Oh, and two books plus articles are due for the first class. Enjoy the rest of the summer vacation!" I think I've died and gone to heaven!
RiverRunner Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 Moved from the west coast to the east coast. Only coffee shop in this town opens at noon. Culture shock! Cleaned the apartment multiple times. Have pestered all those people I want to get back in touch with with lengthy e-mails. No TV. Don't know a soul within 500 miles. I have decided to use this time to meditate and get in shape. I also ate half a carton of sprinkle cookies yesterday by myself....
kahlan_amnell Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 Moved from the west coast to the east coast. Only coffee shop in this town opens at noon. Culture shock! Cleaned the apartment multiple times. Have pestered all those people I want to get back in touch with with lengthy e-mails. No TV. Don't know a soul within 500 miles. I have decided to use this time to meditate and get in shape. I also ate half a carton of sprinkle cookies yesterday by myself.... What city/town did you move to? I'm originally from the East Coast, and even in small towns I've lived in the coffee shop/shops opened at a more normal hour of the morning.
RiverRunner Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 Milltown, just outside of New Brunswick. I'm sure there are places to get coffee earlier, like a diner, or the local Dunken' Doughnuts, but so far no genuine coffee shops. I came from Portland, OR, so my standards are high I guess.
kahlan_amnell Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 Milltown, just outside of New Brunswick. I'm sure there are places to get coffee earlier, like a diner, or the local Dunken' Doughnuts, but so far no genuine coffee shops. I came from Portland, OR, so my standards are high I guess. I was talking about actual coffee shops. There were a couple of them in the small town in NH I lived in. I've never lived in the area you're living in though, so I can't comment on the presence or absence of coffee shops that open before noon. Sorry about the lack of coffee.
timuralp Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 Milltown, just outside of New Brunswick. I'm sure there are places to get coffee earlier, like a diner, or the local Dunken' Doughnuts, but so far no genuine coffee shops. I came from Portland, OR, so my standards are high I guess. That's your problem - you're next to/in New Funswick By the way, before you get all high on exercise and healthy living, check out the grease trucks. They are awesome!
jasper.milvain Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 Ok, so I'm here now. I spent the first couple of days visiting with family and doing grocery runs to stock our apartment. We also bought paint (squee!) and will be spending the afternoon priming our living room. Moving from the west coast to the prairies, the biggest culture shock has been food. We went to a small supermarket to pick up some essentials, and they didn't have hot sauce. Not only that, but all of the food that was not strictly standard North American fare took up one quarter of one side of an aisle, and was labelled "Chinese and Mexican". This is in the middle of downtown in a major city! In my old neighbourhood, even the smallest grocery stores would have ten different kinds of chili sauce, various marinades (hoisin, sesame oil, different kinds of Teriyaki organized by country/region etc), tons of pre-made curry packets, edamame, gai lan (or at least bok choi and shanghai bok choi), bean sprouts, proper jasmine, etc etc etc. I guess I got a lot more used to living in a diverse area than I thought. Our new mission is going to Chinatown and finding out where to get the food we love. I can't live like my mother-in-law, who insists that medium salsa is far too spicy and burns her mouth!
RiverRunner Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 we west coasters are apparently spoiled. is coffee before noon and a variety of hot sauce choices too much to ask?!?!?
timuralp Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 we west coasters are apparently spoiled. is coffee before noon and a variety of hot sauce choices too much to ask?!?!? hehe now you're generalizing unfairly
jasper.milvain Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 hehe now you're generalizing unfairly I dunno... I'm meeting someone for dinner tonight at a restaurant that has bottomless french fries. :shock: I do love it here, and I'm happy to be off the coast, but man is the food different.
LingGrad2009 Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 I too am a Westcoaster transplanted easterly, and I agree that the food was one of the biggest differences. What gets me is the extreme lack of Mexican food (Chipotle? Seriously, that's the most authentic place around)? Apparently no one understands that tortillas are only partially cooked when packaged, and they NEED another 20 seconds in a hot skillet before they're edible. And when I first got here, someone told me the best coffee around was Dunkin' Doughnuts. I was dismayed to find out they were right. I need good coffee so badly that I'm searching for a connection to buy green beans from and just roast my own. If I can get someone in Hilo to ship me some green Kona, I'd be in heaven.
kdilks Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 What gets me is the extreme lack of Mexican food (Chipotle? Seriously, that's the most authentic place around)? That might have something to do with the extreme lack of Mexicans.
timuralp Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 And when I first got here, someone told me the best coffee around was Dunkin' Doughnuts. Yea, I don't know why people are obsessed with DD coffee. I don't drink coffee, but my stepdad who's an avid drinker was never a fan. Then my east coast friends loved it. Go figure... From talking to all the visiting people I decided it must be mediocre. Anywho, I obviously can't vouch for every corner of the east coast, but in MA we had a nice coffee shop downtown that, once again according to my stepdad, made good coffee. He also bought beans from Trader Joe's, so maybe that's something to check out. Good luck with the pursuit of caffeine
dherres Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 I'm amused by the comments on DD here. I just moved to Connecticut from Atlanta.... my GOD are there a lot of Dunkins up here!! Even Krispy Kreme, who's birthplace is Atlanta, isn't as ubiquitous down south...... I am, however, absolutely devastated that there are no Waffle Houses in the north..... :x
aginath Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 The NE is definitely DD country. I didn't realize this until last summer. We flew into JFK, drove to Wallingford, CT, and took a side trip to Salem, MA. I think in the week plus we were there, I only saw one Starbucks and at least three dozen DDs. It was nuts. Oh, and dherres, hope you weren't a huge fan of sweet tea or even really tea in general. I spent my summers in CT and they're a fan of the instant stuff up there. Blech.
Sgt. Pepper Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 I did it. I am an east coaster who never imagined herself living in the Midwest. Yet, here I am in the so called "Grain Belt." I've been told I can't be from New Jersey, I don't have the accent and apparently Minneapolis is a crime ridden city. You have to lock your door with one dinky deadbolt. Other than that, I'm digging my adopted city. That Mary Tyler Moore was on to something!
purplepepper Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 When I lived in Boston, all my New England friends swore by Dunkin Doughnuts coffee. My roommate even bought a special coffee machine to be used only with DD ground coffee beans! Hey it's not bad, I quite missed it after I moved.
jasper.milvain Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 (Chipotle? Seriously, that's the most authentic place around)? Even worse--I was looking for refried beans, and they weren't with the normal beans. They were halfway across the store in the 'Mexican' section, they had no chilis in them, and they cost nearly four dollars. When refried beans are considered 'ethnic food', you're in deep prairie. Anyways, I should stop! I need to get this out of my system online so that I don't seem like a spoiled coastal brat in real life. I really am enjoying a lot of other things about the place. Like the beer store on my street that's open until 2 AM! Goodbye, crappy government stores that close at 9!
kdilks Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 I did it. I am an east coaster who never imagined herself living in the Midwest. Yet, here I am in the so called "Grain Belt." I've been told I can't be from New Jersey, I don't have the accent and apparently Minneapolis is a crime ridden city. You have to lock your door with one dinky deadbolt. Other than that, I'm digging my adopted city. That Mary Tyler Moore was on to something! Murderapolis, baby. Though at this point, I'm more worried about tornadoes than I am about crime. I'm still waiting until I can get a U-Pass to go explore downtown.
RiverRunner Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 I refuse to go to DD for coffee on principle. I'm attempting to make due with Bagel Bazaar. I know, I'm a coffee snob. Also, in an effort to assimilate, I'm trying to replace my love for authentic Mexican food with a love of authentic Indian food, since that seems to be ubiquitous.
kahlan_amnell Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 I refuse to go to DD for coffee on principle. I'm attempting to make due with Bagel Bazaar. I know, I'm a coffee snob. Also, in an effort to assimilate, I'm trying to replace my love for authentic Mexican food with a love of authentic Indian food, since that seems to be ubiquitous. For a basic cup of drip coffee it isn't a bad place to go. Their chai lattes are also decent. However, I wouldn't buy their espresso drinks.
Sgt. Pepper Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 Murderapolis, baby. Though at this point, I'm more worried about tornadoes than I am about crime. I'm still waiting until I can get a U-Pass to go explore downtown. I'm getting my Upass and public library cards today. I've been to the Target, and for a brief moment I thought I would walk out the door and see Route 1 just like back at home... I like the downtown, but I'm really enjoying Uptown and REALLY glad I didn't move closer to campus.
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