On Friday night I went to my first ever "House Party".  I ended up meeting a potential-friend at the departmental BBQ on thursday and so she invited me to this party that she and her room-mate were going to.  We biked there (aah, I love the fact that everyone bikes in Davis) , but if i'm going to do this biking at night thing i think that i'll invest in some bike lights soon.

Ok, I had been to parties at people's houses before, and the such, but somehow this was different. If it weren't for the bikes strewn on the front lawn, it would have been just like that house party in "The Rules of Attraction".  There were 2 kegs (in the garage, none-the-less), a foosball table, and it was an October-fest-themed party.   A bit after one it turned into a dance party (which was cool, i guess) and so i decided to mosey on home.

How American is that, eh? (uh.. other than the bike-part.)

So here is a photo of me (yes, i know the quality is shit, but it was taken with a webcam...) after my first day of school out here in Davis.

Grad school is a little bit different out here in the states than back home.  

Here when you start grad school they give you a little cow, and take you 
out to a BBQ by a pool with palm trees around and give you booze.  

At McGill all they gave us was homework.  ugh.  

Contrary to popular belief, I’m still alive. Lots has happened in the last month, so thanks to everyone who has called me, written me, emailed me et cetera.

Today is my first day of classes at UCDavis. After class we’re going to have a welcome BBQ (oh…how American) and everyone is bringing a dessert. I decided to make “Tarte au sucre à la crème”. Sometimes it is nice just to eat sugar in a pie shell and I think that it might just be sweet enough for American taste. If I don’t die of sugar-poisoning, I’ll post some pictures in the next few days.



 

Sometimes, life here seems a little bit surreal.

The fact that it hasn’t rained since I arrived (in July) and yet there are green lawns everywhere and not a gardener in sight is something that is starting to confuse me. I haven’t seen a single person cutting or watering their lawn, and yet everywhere I go there are green lush lawns that are trimmed to perfection.

It also doesn’t help that there appear to be random college aged boys performing stunts (maybe frat initiation??) at perfectly reasonably hours of the day. Twice I’ve seen one guy who goes running in 40-degree heat, wearing only sneakers and a lovely purple fun-fur thong thingy. The first time I saw him, he was also wearing a purple fun-fur shrug.

In addition, Davis has a few local characters.  I have yet to spot the midget cop, or the guy who lives in his bike (no.  this is not a typo) but i have been assured by many people that they exist. Though every town has characters (Dr. Mask in Ottawa, the plague lady in MTL), somehow the fact that there is a homeless man who lives in a box that he has put wheels on and attached to a bike contributes to the surreal feeling of this town.  

Bumper Stickers in California

It seems as though Californians love to adorn their cars with stupidstupidstupid bumper stickers, that support political parties and what not. Yesterday, however, I was impressed, becuase somebody put a "If we're not supposed to eat humans, why are they made of meat" bumper sticker on the same bumper as "Stop continental drift" and a Jesus fish, that had been modified to be a Darwin-Jesus Fish.