Missing Madrid

Beth's 'Things I miss from abroad' post from a few months ago made me realise that I'm also feelings pangs of "homesickness" for my summer "home" in Madrid. Here's my list of things Spanish wonders that I long for...

• Tortillas
• The ubiquity of good coffee
• The metro (except for the 'circular' line that is six flights underground)
• My pain au chocolat breakfast
• Red wine
• The design on iron entrances
• Shabby lifts
• Zara
• Late dinners - even by European standards
• My incredibly passionate astronomy professors, who are also twin brothers
• The pedestrian-friendly structuring of the entire city
• Sliced dry sausages
• The food market
• The incredible architecture
• Going out for expressos with my Guatemalan roommates/"sisters"
• Wooden floors
• Fried pork intestines (which sounds terrible, but is really good and can be eaten like popcorn)
• My household of women
• Lively dinner debates
• Dancing until sunrise
• The heat
• My Mandarin-speaking Spanish mother
• Crazy football matches

Edgy Texting Technology

Apart from being able to print from any printer/scanner/fax machine on campus, one of my favorite technologies is the library book search's "Text it!" feature. It allows anyone on campus to get a book's call number texted to them so that nobody with a cell phone will ever have to write down a book ID such as "PS3505.R167fa" again. (It's also eco-friendly!) So, how do you do it? Once you find the result for your desired book, you can scroll down to the "Text it!" link under the "Holdings Information" section (as seen in the photo.) A new tab will pop up that asks for your service provider (there's a list that includes AT&T, Alltel, Nextel, Spring, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon and Virgin - it's really all-inclusive), your phone number and if you'd like - you can add a little reminder for yourself. Once you hit "send text message", it takes a couple minutes to arrive but wait a bit and presto - you'll be ready to go hunt for your book of desire!

Funny story: one morning I woke up and decided that I wasn't going to have breakfast with my friends at half past seven after all, and in my groggy haze, texted "too sleepy, not coming to breakfast" to the library by accident! 

100 Tips for Life at Saint Mike's : 71 - 80

Here are 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51- 60 and 61-70. 

71. A great way to buy textbooks is to put up a message on your graduating class' Facebook page with your required textbooks for the next semester. People are willing to sell some at an astonishingly low price if they can't return it to the bookstore. A macroeconomics textbook that's usually sold for $80 at the bookstore can be sold for $15 on the Facebook page.

72. Bring a small battery-run lamp or large flashlight for power outages. There's only been one this year, but it's useful when you really need to get work done.

73. If you're buying coffee at the Knightstand, get a cappucino; you can get regular coffee in Alliot for free with the first-year meal plan and the cappucino tastes much better.

74. Alliot gets really busy at 8am - get there at before 7.50 or after 9am!

75. You're not allowed to bring containers into Alliot. I was trying to bring back fried eggs and bagels to serve breakfast in bed to a friend who had fallen ill one day and get scolded by Rosemary (one of the canteen ladies.) Don't do it!

76. If you really need to concentrate on studying/writing a paper, go to an isolated space without anything but your study materials - no cell phone, no agenda, no other reading materials! And don't tell your friends where you are or commit to activities shortly after your study time. This way, you won't feel rushed and give your studies your full attention.

77. Allow for a bit of flexibility when you're planning your weekly schedule - professors don't always stick to their syllabi because sometimes the class is lagging a bit behind or advancing very fast.

78. One of the benefits of being a journalism major: free colour printing. Colour printing isn't even an option on the Pharos printing system for other majors.

79. Get a desk lamp as soon as possible. The regular dorm lights are a bit harsh, so students tend to buy warmer standing lights but it won't be bright enough to fill the whole room.

80. If you're taking an economics class, you'll normally need 5-8 coloured pens for graphs - especially in Principles of Microeconomics.

Proactiv Dispenser

Normally, you see candy or soda dispensers - and in some metro stations, magazine dispensers. In the Burlington Town Center Mall, you'll come across a Proactiv acne treatment dispenser. One of the quirky things you encounter living in Vermont ;)