Minneapolis-St. Paul

I knew Minnesota was cheaper than Miami but dang – the portions are ridiculous here. I went to the Pagoda pan-Asian restaurant and ordered this $8.99 dish. And erm…. Yeah. That’s too much food. It doesn’t look like a lot but that plate is like 10×10 inches of nothing but meat. PETA would flip.

Another thing that’s killing me is the drink specials. The drinks are about $2 cheaper than in Miami and there always seems to be a 2-4-1 or 3-4-1 special going on. My problem is that I’m not a huge drinker, and at some clubs they don’t give you a ticket… they just hand you two beers.

There’s no graceful way to doublefist beer at the clubhouse. You’ll look like you have issues every time.

So the result of the Minnesota portion problem is that I’m always lugging around a to-go box.

And yes, there’s one sitting on my coffee table as I’m typing this.

The University is only about two miles from downtown so I’ve spent a lot of time roaming and playing tourist. I love the sculptures that are all over downtown.

These guys are my favorite. It’s like the bird turds have come to life and decided to garden!

So apparently the Mary Tyler Moore Show was based here… as a kid I assumed all city shows took place in NYC. Oops!

Moving to Minneapolis a month early was a good idea. I’m meeting my housemates sort of one-by-one as they move in instead of in a huge group a few days before school starts. I also get to explore at a relaxed (and random) pace –“Oh let’s see where this bus goes to!”

One thing that has been on the to-do list is City Hall.

City Hall!

Stained glass windows in City Hall

I was a history major as an undergrad and I’m a huge sucker for historic buildings. City hall didn’t disappoint – a highlight was the heroic statue in the middle of the lobby.

“Father of Waters” by Larkin Goldsmith Mead

The downtown Barnes & Noble has become my downtown hangout spot. It has window seats facing Nicollet Avenue – the people watching is amazing. Today however, the entertainment was inside,
Lady sitting behind me (to her friend): Our new couch is AMAZING. This must be the best time in our marriage because we must have tried seven different positions last night – the sex has never been better!
Umm… maybe they’ll name the baby Ikea?

Other snippets:

• I’ve now competent with the public transit system. Well, uh, less awkward at least.
• Package scare. Madre Jansen calls me and says, “Uh, the package I sent was delivered yesterday. They left it outside of the house on the side door. FIND IT!” Turns out that they left it on the side door of the house. Why? No clue. I think it was out there all night but someone brought it in eventually. Whew. This is after yesterday’s package mishap where mom accidentally sent my stuff to my next door neighbor, Campus Crusade for Christ.
• Latin Night at Saloon was a hot mess. I had my “Oh my god where the heck did I move to?!” moment somewhere between the Latin room (where no one knew how to whine) and the karaoke room where the male cast of Friends was belching out golden oldies.
• There are so many bikers (bicyclists) here. A lot of them wear helmets too, which I find unusual as well. They tear down some of the streets like the apocalypse is nigh – I’m scared that I’m going to get hit one of these days.
• What really perturbs me is that the clubs here serve food. A girl was eating fries at the bar. Ew. “Girl you know your breath is hot.” One club even has computers. That’s right. Computers. People check their email up in the clubhouse – that’s just seven different forms of unacceptable.
• And finally, NASCAR came to downtown Minneapolis today. Why? I don’t know. I don’t question racecars in the middle of the city.

And I realize my posts are incoherent/in snippet format. Things will shape up once I get out of my wide-eyed tourist mode.