no soup for me

It felt like a really, really, really long day.

I'm extremely thankful for my morning carpooling buddies who pick me up at 6am, but getting up at 5 is beginning to wear me down. This morning we got to the downtown parking lot at 6:35, and I reached the university by about 7:10. I don't mind the walk; it's rather refreshing. I had to wait for the Tim Horton's to open at 7:30. Met the student and a TA at 8am, then worked through a busy lab (i.e., lots of conversation) and a steady-paced lecture. With another 3-hour lab still ahead of me, I tell you, I was ready for lunch.

All I wanted was a simple bowl of soup--maybe cream of mushroom, broccoli, or leek & potato (mmm, that's my fave). I would have settled for what they call "garden vegetable medley," which is probably concocted from the leftover side dishes of the week before. (Right, Celina?) However, Le Snack in Marion Hall was serving something that looked like mostly watered-down beef consommé. So I girded up my loins and struck out for Faire Alimentaire at SITE. FA had two, count them, two chicken soups. Chicken Chowder and Chicken Rice or something like that. The point is they were both chicken broth based. The UO food service meatatarian soup nazis were obviously out to get me today. I didn't have the gumption to try my luck at the other Faire Alimentaire. (Fair indeed! I suppose the translation would be "to make food" or "to do food.") Good thing I had the foresight to get a Tim's donut and pack a few snacks.

I won't get into the details of the really, really, really long carpool ride home with a bunch of strangers (all university students), other than to say that fresh snow was falling as the driver-whose-first-language-is-definitely-not-English observed the posted speed limit and tailgated. And I was in the front passenger seat. Hitchhiking home is looking more and more like a viable option.