The Trustafarians of Colorado

I went to Colorado last week for a work-related trip but managed to have a fantastic time in the midst of all the work. Our friend S lives in Boulder, and A lives in Denver, and I managed to visit extensively with both. I arrived in Denver with a plane full of people wearing Keens and steel water bottles, so I was already looking forward to an environment of recycling and nourishing food, though I was certainly hoping for some grit and dirt as well. Luckily, I was hanging out with these friends, the perfect ones to provide that other side for which I was looking, without delving too far into any underbellies.

We started my trip with dinner and the first round of the Western finals of the NBA playoffs in Denver at the Tavern Uptown. It was a pleasant bar of dark wood and many televisions with a nice menu of many kinds of bar food. I'm generally wary of a menu that includes burritos, sandwiches, pastas, pizzas...but the meals we had were yummy. And though the Nuggets lost that one, it was fun to be in a bar full of fans at the time. And good company makes all the difference, of course.

The next day, after a day full of rockin' productive work, S and I shared margaritas on the roof of Rio Grande in Boulder. From the rooftop one can see the Flatirons in the near distance, and though the clouds hovered above us, it never rained. We engorged ourselves with chips and delicious salsa, and my strawberry margarita was delicious. The regular margarita was beautifully smooth, but the strawberry one had real strawberries! Yummy.

After that, A met us at the Lazy Dog on Pearl Street. Pearl Street is the main thoroughfare of fun in Boulder. In the downtown area it's mostly pedestrian strolling with street artisans, musicians, etc. All kinds of restaurants, bars, and specialty boutiques line the street. We again hit the rooftop for drinks and to watch the Cards-Cubs game. The Lazy Dog is a sports bar, straight-up. We didn't order food, but the bartender was friendly and we had a great time. Love that rooftop fun.

Finally, we had dinner at an Irish bar called Conor O'Neill's (of all things, it's other location is in Ann Arbor, Michigan). It had lots of steps up and steps down to trip over, but it made for an interesting feel of the place. The kind of place that feels like Guinness sent the wood over so it would feel like a proper Irish bar. We ate between the three of us two giant platters of barbeque pork pesto quesadillas. I was entirely skeptical when S suggested this dish, as the combination of barbeque and pesto in a quesadilla sounds terrible. Amazingly, it was delicious. I'm not kidding. Delicious.

Though we'd discussed karaoke, and I'm usually hard-pressed to NOT karaoke, but I was pooped after a long day of work and play, so we hit it.

The next day we had lunch at The Sink, a long-time establishment in Boulder. Robert Redford was once a dishwasher there, and his portrait (caricature?) is painted on the wall. There are many, many things painted on the walls...ceilings... It's a dive that's clearly attempting to be a dive, but the food is much better than a dive's food. For lunch, I had the meatloaf sandwich---the only meatloaf I've had with artichokes and sundried tomatoes in it, which was yummy and very filling. We returned for happy hour and had the--get this--deep friend pickles. I was again surprised to think they were delicious, and I don't care for pickles. Amazing.

We then had chips (fries) and curry while drinking British Ales at the Scotch Corner. I know...should have been Scottish Ales. Do I like beer? I remind you...no. After a rugby game we walked up and down Pearl Street a bit and popped into the Pearl Street Pub & Cellar. We both used the bathroom and decided to skedaddle. We finally landed for dinner at the Walnut Brewery, or something to that effect. They brew their own beers, as you might suspect from the title I gave this place, but the food is surprisingly good. I had the most (positively) interesting macaroni and cheese in my life. A fantastic blend of cheeses and spices. Skip the chicken...it's not necessary. This was stellar mac 'n' cheese, and I pride myself on knowing my way around a mac 'n' cheese.

All in all, it was a great time. I'll be happy to return to Colorado, whenever that time comes. I'm sure it won't be too far in the future.

A Conference and Sports Weekend in Chicago

I visited Chicago this past weekend for a professional conference, but I still tried to enjoy the city as much as I could with little spare time and even less spare money. As soon as we arrived, five friends and I made our way out the red line to Wrigley for a Cubs/Astros day game! It started cool, so I wore like four layers of clothing, but sitting in the sun and drinking a hot chocolate made it much better after a while. Being a Cards fan, I did not wear Cubs gear, though I did wear blue so as not to be beaten in the bleachers. We sat in the lower bleachers in center field. Being someone who has been to more than a few baseball games in her life, I must say that there's nothing quite like being in the bleachers in Wrigley Field. I personally feel St. Louis fans are the best fans in baseball, but Cubs fans are of a whole different breed. Great knowledge of the players and the game, and more heckling than makes me feel comfortable. Whenever the Cubs get a run, all of the fans in the bleachers pass around high-fives like they're all neighbors. It's something. Cubs lost (which I'll admit was fine with me, though a win would have been fun, too).

We then set off to celebrate the post-game in the bars of Wrigleyville. After trying to get into the Cubby Bear and finding it packed to the brim with young folks, we made our way to Goose Island, a micro-brewery nearby. As you might guess, they brew their own beer. Of course, I think beer is disgusting, so I had a rootbeer float with Goose Island root beer--made with real sugar! It was delicious. Successful rootbeer...check.

We then went back to the hotel to pick up Andrew and Terry and find deep-dish pizza. To refer again to my St. Louis roots, I like my pizza made with provel cheese and cracker-thin crust. But one has to eat deep-dish in Chicago! So we went to Giordano's, where not only is it deep dish, but it's stuffed with all the toppings in the middle of the pizza. Such a concept is madness. But oh so delicious.

The next morning, S and I presented our paper and then went to another panel. Then I went shopping. Our hotel was in the loop district, and that's where I shopped. I bought a new suit! I'm sure to get a job in this getup. That afternoon we walked across the river to Mother Hubbard's, a sports pub with tons of screens and a great local feel to watch the NCAA semifinal games. The drinks were expensive, but the food was okay. In particular, the onion rings were rockin'. I had picked UCLA to win the whole shebang, so I found the first game disappointing, but at least Kansas won. Root root for the midwest! It was a really great place to watch the games...dark, yummy, and loud with sports cheers.

I attended one more panel the next morning, and then we had to check out of the hotel and wander until we had to leave for the airport. So we had coffee and tea at Ada's--we didn't eat, but we'd had brunch there before and really enjoyed it. Not much to look at, but breakfast is yummy. We then dropped Andrew off to head to the airport, shopped a little, and moved on to lunch. We tried this new chain called Wow Bao in the Renaissance Hotel. In Asia, bao are stuffed yeast buns that are common fast food items....just buns stuffed with meat and vegetables. Wow Bao is the first American chain to offer these. They're delicious! I also had yummy hibiscus tea, and they offer handmade ginger ale (which I didn't try but sounds awesome). It feels very trendy and California-yuppy, but that doesn't change the deliciousness or the novelty. I recommend it.

Then boring homework in the hotel, a ride to MDW, and a ridiculously difficult crossword puzzle later (still unfinished!), we returned to Atlanta. Successful weekend, though severely lacking in tourism. Next time.

Teacher's Duties at the Mosque of Paris

June 18

Today, Monday, the students in my class turned in their first papers. However, I ended up sick, so the day was gone. Once I felt a little better I still had to finish planning my lecture for tomorrow, so I didn't do anything fun today.


June 19

I lectured today on the European Union's common foreign and security policies and how they relate to human rights. It was my second lecture of the class, but one I knew far less about than my first on human rights NGOs. I think it went less well than the first, but it still felt fairly successful. Lecturing is so much more difficult than running a discussion section, but I still love to do it. I'm once again grateful that I have found that I do love the thing I've chosen to do as a career.

In the afternoon, I set off to find a place to grade papers. I first went to the Jardins des Plantes, which is the equivalent of the botanical gardens, one might say. There are labyrinths and rose gardens, with an evolution museum as well. It was pleasant until a guy joined me on my bench and played mp3s out of his phone while I attempted to read. I bailed out of there and crossed the street to the Mosquee of Paris. While this may seem a strange place to try and work, there's a perfect little cafe attached to it. It's an open air patio enclosed from the street by white walls and perfectly shaded by fig trees. I sat at a little mosaic-topped table while a waiter walked around with little perfect cups of perfect mint tea for a mere 2 euros apiece. It was perfectly brewed at the perfect temperature with the perfect amount of sweetness. I couldn't have found a more wonderful place to work and drink tea than this.

That evening I went out with the students for the first time. We went to a British pub, Frog and Princess, in the Latin Quarter. A program assistant meeting I attended before the trip recommended I go out with the students a lot to keep an eye out for potential problems. I was only doing my duty.