Today was quite a lovely day. Firstly, there was the perfect weather. Secondly, I got to do some training in chemistry (yes, that’s lovely). Thirdly, I got to sit outside and read in peaceful surroundings.

Yesterday, I drove to Bloomington, IN, and checked into the Biddle Hotel inside of the Indiana University Memorial Union. Then I drove around looking for food and went to the Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse. I had a Reuben and a caramel Italian soda. The Reuben was OK and the soda tasty. I picked up a chocolate cupcake to eat back at the hotel.

The hotel is interesting. It looks like a hotel in the lobby and rooms, but when you get into the stairwell, it’s very much a dorm stairwell. Look, smell, and sound. Heh.

This morning, I went to the Maple room and picked up my bag with my packet, a copy of the college text that IU uses, and their lab manual. I had a blueberry bagel vit schmear. The admissions people talked with us first, then our chemistry coordinator walked us though the Chem 105 (and Chem 101) topics. I figured out that there’s quite a few topics I’ll need to brush up on.

We all walked over to Nick’s (an IU institution, apparently) for lunch. I had the fish & chips. Pretty nice. Once we returned, she covered the rest of Chem 105 and they realized that they could finish up tomorrow, so I should be able to go home early.

After the workshop ended, I wound up walking around the shops and restaurants near campus. I had decided on Thai food for supper, and there were a few Thai places to pick from. I eventually went to Siam House. The Crab Angel appetizer was interesting and tasty and the pad Thai was merely adequate. It had a nice spice to it. 🙂

I was stuffed after supper, so I returned to the hotel room and read my BeBook. And then decided why read indoors when there was such a lovely campus to read at. So my BeBook and I took a walk to People’s Park (I think is what it’s called) and sat under the trees and read. (Sadly, IU recently had lots of wind damage from a storm at the end of May and lost over 300 trees.) Near 8pm, I walked over to Hartzell’s for ice cream. They had dark chocolate and sweet basil ice cream, which was an interesting and tasty flavor. So I had it and some mint Oreo (made with creme de menthe) ice cream. And I sat & read my BeBook. A nice moment of bliss which was slightly spoiled with a bum who cadged $2 from me. 🙂

Anyhoo, now I’m talking to elsaf and judiang via Skype. So the bliss continues. 🙂