bedposts and notches

so if last week's entry was my ode to boston, this week's is an ode to milwaukee.

i spent this weekend wandering around town (or really, i should say driving, because it's not particularly a wandering town and it was quite cold) and exploring the different neighborhoods, the universities, the condo market, the restaurants and shops. why would i be doing this? i hear you ask. (and WHERE is milwaukee?, i hear my friends across the pond asking)

and so now i must come clean. this 'great city on a great lake' is where i'll find myself after the gambia next year.

and why milwaukee? (and really, where IS milwaukee??)

milwaukee for those of you not familiar with US geography is to the west of lake michigan in the state of wisconsin. and i'll be moving here because i've met someone very special and together we're heading to middle america for an adventure. i'm thinking of it as a stop along the way out west, because one day we'll get west. but it's a beautiful stop to make, and i'm enthralled by the city after this weekend.

the city itself is relatively industrial - historically a blue collar factory town - but the rejuvenation effort, especially downtown, is strong, and the pride for all things milwaukee is contagious. we went to see a movie on friday night at the oriental theatre - an old school theatre on the east side of town - and there was a man playing an ORGAN on the stage as we arrived, and enormous genie-like cross-legged statues lit up in florescent pinks, purples and oranges. it was like walking into the 1930s - very glamorous. when the movie began, the organ slowly disappeared into the stage while he continued banging out the last few notes which were quickly swallowed by the velvet curtains.



they've got a market downtown in a section of town we like - 'the historic third ward' - called the milwaukee public market and walking inside is like walking into foodie heaven. (it's supposedly meant to mimic pike market - of seattle fame, and it's perhaps a bit like the new part of spittalfields market in london). it's an indoor market the size of a football field with specialty stalls of cheeses, fresh fruit and veg, ethnic cuisines, nuts, dairy, candies, coffee, a delicatessen, raw juice bar, pastries and bread and anything and everything in between. a top mark green grocer and definitely a selling point for this area of town.

i read somewhere today that milwaukee is very much like chicago without the crowds - it has museums, a symphony and theatre, the ballet, sports teams (brewers and bucks), festivals and a relatively small financial district. it also is ON lake michigan, so has the views and esplanades of a coastal town. i'm excited to explore yet another notch on my bedpost of cities.

i also spent friday talking with professors at the two local universities and fell in love with the program at marquette university. i met with the chair of the department for over an hour and he told me that if i got my application into him ASAP, he would see what he could do about expediting the process to get me an early decision before i leave for the gambia. (which leads me to believe that i rather impressed him and that the outcome would be favorable to me!) - which is excellent considering i was completely unimpressed with the other university i visited (uwm). i think marquette will give me the kind of experience i hoped for in my undergraduate career - personal, intimate and involved - and i am incredibly grateful to be in a position to take advantage of this at this point in my life.

all in all, things are moving along nicely and i couldn't be happier. watch this space for updates!