Welcome to real life!

Hello, hello, from Real Life! I've settled in and am trying to make sense of what this all means. So many exciting firsts (which I'll get to), and food! Let's get started!

First, Number One. Real "House" Living. And it's not with a chef.

I'm paying a monthly rent. I'm paying utilities. I don't have a chef that prepares meals for me at 12 and 6. As spoiled as I was to have the experiences that I did for the past two years, I'm so excited and happy to be doing this. On my own. Worrying about what house things I need to take care of. I'm in a house of 4 people, total, and it has been great so far, for the week that I've been living here. My room is spacious and has a wonderful window that gets sun for about as long as the sun is out. A tree right in front of the window attracts little birdies that chirp and flit about ever so gently. I have an orange and white theme, which makes me happy (both consciously and subconsciously, I think). I bike about 15 minutes to work, which is a fabulously short amount of time. I have yet to experiment with walking and bussing; at some point, I'll report on that soon.

First, Number Two. Real Job. And it's not one where I yell "HOUSE MEETING."

Unfortunately. (Although, we have had a house meeting.) I'm working on campus, and it's a great feeling. The first time I biked onto campus, I felt so detached. I felt like a real person on this incredible campus that I was lucky to call mine for 4 years. Training happened this week, and classes officially start Monday. We've had some long days (9-5), but this won't be nearly as long as what I anticipate for when the school year starts. I come home, fairly exhausted and unwilling to do much of anything else than veg and read the NYTimes, but I get out of my room, cook dinner, catch up on work... that's real life.

First, Number Three. Cooking. And it's not necessarily just for fun.

But, I've managed quite well. A new fun daydreaming activity: what will I make for dinner tonight?

My first dinner!! Soba noodles with fresh cucumber and an egg. I need to get more practice on boiling eggs... the whites had barely set. But, it still tasted delicious. And, so simple!

Dinner, day two. Well, actually today's lunch. Fried brown rice with red bell peppers, spinach, and egg. It was really really yummy. I can make fried rice, woohoo! I put in some of the soba dipping sauce as flavoring, since I don't have plain soy sauce, and it was really good.

I'm also MASSIVELY appreciating free food: today is case in point. I visited my lab, and there were tons of leftover scones/muffins/bananas. So, I helped myself. YAY for no more toast in the morning. Especially when I have an early morning tomorrow: 8 am :(

Hopefully I'll keep up with food pictures, as to keep us all entertained.

Tonight: salad with tuna on top (hello, lunch from day one!), possibly an Indian Fare microwavable meal (YES TRADER JOES), and rice. Noah is exchanging dinner for 2.5 cranberry almond biscotti.