Interview Adventures: St. Louis

Over Thanksgiving break, Andrew and I got to hang out in St. Louis with some pretty cool people and had an awesome time.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving week, I had an interview at my home institution, then that same day left for St. Louis by train (16 hour trip!) all by myself. This was a new experience for me. The seats were like airplane seats but larger with more recline. I LOVED getting to get up and move around to wherever I wanted, so I spent most of my time not at my seat, but in the cafe.

I had to warm up with instant noodles because my train car was a freaking ice machine.

And I hung out in the lounge, listening to a couple of dudes talk about their favorite beer...

... and ate my cup noodles.

The trip itself was largely uneventful, except for a lonely traveling salesman who tried to put his arm around my shoulder at dinner and asked if I was staying for dessert (my response was to say, no, I wasn't staying for dessert and to also lean waaay forward). And a few slightly tipsy young men were cat-calling every female that walked through their car. Other than that, it really was smooth sailing. I was surrounded by characters, for sure, but they were fun characters :).

Many hours later, I arrived in St. Louis. It was cold! But no snow.

Yay for cute apartments! This one is where friends live. Friends with a comfy couch, yay!

Andrew and Miriam arrived a few days later, after my first interview in the city. We hung out. Ate stuff. I took Miriam to the park.

We had coffees. Good coffees with Matt and Nicole. St. Louis has some really nice little places to eat and drink. I don't have a picture, but we all ate together at a fantabulous Italian place that was locally owned and served us the best mussels I've ever had, ever. We soaked up the broth with extra bread.

And I took Miriam to the Zoo!! It's free!!

St Louis was a blast :).