Thoughts on Bloomington

It's been a month or so since I did one of these so let's see how it goes.

-People are really friendly here. Coming from Texas, that says a lot. The college kids that work at all the stores and restaurants seem to be very nice and helpful. Not the typical "college kid" attitude I was expecting. Everyone seems generally enthusiastic that you are choosing to frequent their particular storefront.

-The trash thing is actually working quite well. I guess I overestimated how much trash we produce. We rarely fill the whole thing up throughout the week.

-Mexican food gets a C from me. We visited a new restaurant tonight called Casa Brava. It looks really cool and contemporary. The food was average and the service was average. I don't think people here know what true mexican food is. Whether that be Lupes or Don Jose's in Cali or Abuelos and El Paseo in TX.

-Extracurricular activities: Bloomington gets an A. From drive in theaters, to a cool science museum, this town has anything and everything to keep you entertained. Not to mention you have the lake 10 minutes away and Indianapolis 50 minutes away if you feel like a real night out on the town. The local newspaper is so good about always informing you about all the little/big things happening around town. Honestly you feel as if you have to choose because there's no way you could do everything. On top of that, there are various small towns all outside of Bloomington (15-40 minutes away depending) that each have their own character and special highlights. We have yet to go to any of these towns yet but will definitely visit soon. Popcorn, Indiana is just 15 miles from here and that is what Dale and Thomas popcorn originated as.

-Church. Interesting subject. Still under examination. :) We have been visiting a large Christian church that seems really great. But we decided to look yesterday online for other Christian/community churches out there. We found one we would like to visit but due to the boys' being sick today, we had to miss. So hopefully we'll get a chance to visit next Sunday. It's very small and meets in a clubhouse but who knows.......could be wonderful. Check back with us on that.

-Gas. It's expensive. In fact, I'm a little disturbed at the fact that I filled up "early" (I was only half empty) today because the gas dipped to $3.93. What is this world coming to?

-Ain't no place like home. And that home ain't Bloomington........for most around here. What I mean is almost no one is from here. Many seem to be passing through since you know, it's a college town. So it leaves you to wonder when you meet someone that you could potentially have a lot in common with and then they say their spouse is getting their doctorate, so on and so forth and only has 2 years left in the program. Bummer. This causes you to get excited when you meet people that have nothing to do with the university and therefore their chances of staying in B-town are much higher.

-Two interesting facts about IU. Apparently IU has the #1 music school in the world. Ya. I know. Pretty impressive. And we recently heard they have the #1 undergraduate Spanish program in the country. So if you feel the sudden urge to become the next Mozart or Miguel de Cervantes, you might consider heading to Hoosierville.

Alright, that's all for now. Hope you learned something new.