Read At Your Own Risk: Journeys: Week One

In which I talk about buses. And food.

My first week was spent in Roanoke, which was less like a town, for me, and more like a bunch of wonderfully-kept roads separating things like Wendy’s and Subway and Domino’s. And, most importantly, the stop for the bus taking us into Blacksburg. It’s called the Smart Way Commuter bus, and I liked it. That’s it. No explanation, really, I just liked it. Journeys were an hour and fifteen minutes exactly, unless we skipped a couple of stops, and then they were an hour. For the first few days, we were so tired that we routinely slept off in the bus, waking up to just point and yell that that was our stop that went by just now, oh no, oh no, what do we do now.

Roanoke. To me.

So. The bus. Getting off the bus for the first time on friday morning, I caught my first glimpse of Blacksburg and of Virginia Tech. I was impressed. It was pretty. And big, but not all that big. But pretty, yes. All the departments are made of this nice pinkish stone, and the Library has a huge arch, with ‘Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’ written on it, looking suitably imposing. Pics follow.

The Graduate School. Because pretty.

View from the Drillfield, which is not, in fact, flat.

All the halls in which the departments are look like this.

On that first friday, everyone had a final or two, so they were rushing here and there with book- and laptop-bags. It felt nice, like a college. Unfortunately, the students were leaving the same week, so we weren’t going to see them around over the summer, but it was good while it lasted.

It’s strange how, feeling like a stranger in a strange land, you grasp at anything that reminds you of home. And no matter how adventurous I say I am with food, I was happy to eat just a regular sub in a regular Subway on that first day. We later had burritos for the first time at a place called Moe’s, as part of our group lunch(exciting, slightly scary experience, but fun) and we went around trying new places for pizza and burgers and fried chicken, so far we’ve eaten(for the first time ever) at:

Wendy’s(burgers)

Moe’s(burritos)

Mexican Grill(more burritos)

Atomic Pizzeria(pizza. duh)

Next Door Bake Shop(breakfast sandwiches and lattes)

Benny Marazano’s(more pizza)

Burger King(more burgers and fried chicken)

We’ve also tried pepperoni pizza everywhere because pepperoni is officially our favourite pizza topping and hamburgers, cheeseburgers, whatever you want to call it, at places you find in India. too. Everything’s been good(within reason).

I really like the pizza here, though. I can feel the fat building as I take a bite, but it tastes AWESOME. Soo much better than the pizza back home.

So yeah. Now that the absolutely-necessary food list is over, what else can I say about this place?

Did I mention how pretty it is? Like really: