Figuring Out Madison
It's been awhile since I've written an entry, and for good reason. Let's see, the last entry, I was in a hotel room having just finished our journey into Wisconsin. The plan at that point was to head north for a week of camping in the wilds of northern Wisconsin, maybe pick up a few more states by going through Minnesota and the Dakotas.
As it turned out, that wasn't to be. My grandfather was ailing, so the next morning, after being in Madison less than 24 hours, Jess and I loaded up and started the 15-hour drive down to Longmont, CO. We arrived by noon the next day. It perhaps wasn't the best circumstances to be in Colorado, but it was great to see my family, and we even managed to see a few friends one afternoon. Ultimately, my grandfather passed away, and we headed back to Madison Friday after the funeral. We pulled into Madison early Saturday afternoon, in time to arrive at the apartment complex and sign the papers for our new apartment. Our total mileage since leaving New Haven, CT: 3600 miles on the Rav4, which we drove to Colorado.
The apartment we had in New Haven was pretty nice, with a loft and two-story windows. It was pretty generic, though, with no real character. Our apartment here in Madison (called The Madison Apartments) really made that obvious; it is beautiful. For a one-bedroom apartment, it is huge, at 1500 square feet. It has a very large kitchen, with tons of counter space, which is a big plus for me. It is just a really nice place, quite easily the nicest place we've ever lived in. We even have a garage space right below us for one of our cars. This place would have cost a fortune in monthly rent in Connecticut, but according to The Madison's website, it only costs $1150 a month, which might actually be expensive for Wisconsin. Of course, we don't have to worry about that at all; we don't even pay utilities. Heck, with the stipend we receive as two travelers in the same place, we actually get paid to live here.
Since this is our second assignment, we already had a lot of the essentials of traveler household goods (pots & pans, dishes, etc.). That, of course, didn't stop us from blowing some serious cash at Target buying "essentials." Jess has been using my shampoo, which actually bills itself as men's shampoo, for about six months now, which is not my fault in the least (she's just too lazy to buy her own). So, she splurged and bought herself not only shampoo but conditioner as well. As for myself, since I have had a hard time finding a barber that I trust since leaving NC in May (for which I haven't looked too hard), I haven't gotten a haircut for several months. I had to buy some pomade (think of George Clooney's character's use of Dapper Dan pomade in Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?) to hold back my hair from my eyes. I've had marginal results; I look like a cross between a greaser and an old perv. I guess there is the ugly phase of growing one's hair out; that phase has lasted about a month so far for me.
We spent Sunday touring Madison. It's actually a nice college city. The university here is huge, with 41,000 students. The campus sits on the shore of one of Madison's three big lakes, which is really nice now, but probably sucks in mid-winter when the -40 degree winds blow in across the lake. Fortunately, school will be in session, so all the students will get to enjoy that. Bikes and mopeds are very popular in Madison (again, at least before the winter freeze comes); there are loads of bike paths, and I've seen more mopeds in the last week than ever before. Strangely, literally no one, whether on bike, moped, or motorcycle, wears a helmet. No one. On the main drag through town, the bike lane lies between the car lanes and the bus lane, so there is plenty of potential for MVA collisions. Sure enough, they have quite the active neuro ICU in town. Yet, the throngs of bikers in the morning all ride along with their hair blowing freely in the breeze, and there doesn't seem to be much encouragement to change that, from my limited time in Madison.
We walked all around the downtown area, which sits right next to the campus. There are a lot of the interesting little shops that sell things that college students find funny (I'm still young enough I usually see the humor as well). Apparently school was starting Monday, because that Sunday afternoon, all the students and their parents were coming into town. It's a little funny to watch parents drop off their kids, not just watching the mothers sobbing as they walk away from their kids, but also the looks of impending doom that cross the faces of most fathers. They've spent the better part of the last two decades trying to establish a sense of morality in their kids, only to drop them off in a gleefully decadent environment. In one store, I watched several dads looking over items that I can't even mention because I don't want my own mom knowing what I was looking at. Their looks of dawning horror is priceless. The glimmer in their children's eyes is also priceless. It's wonderful to watch.
There are also a lot of great restaurants in the area. It's nice to see a lot of ethnic food choices. We ended up eating at a Mediterranean restaurant, which was next to several ethnic restaurants, including one from East Africa, which sounded good. Even more exciting, Wisconsin seems to have caught some of Colorado's enthusiasm for microbreweries. There are lots of local brews to sample, and we've both added almost ten beers to our beer lists. There are even a couple of breweries right here in Madison, which makes a short trip for the necessary beer pilgrimages. One of our favorite brands up here is Leinenkugel's, which has several great beers.
So, we're warming up to Madison just fine. It's a different experience from New England, for sure, but that is the essence of travel nursing, to enjoy a multitude of different experiences in different environments. I think we'll like it just fine.
Until next time, be safe.
