Settling in

A big day. Our first glimpse of Ann Arbor and the campus, and we were feted at Wallace House.

Arrived at our new digs, The Ponds at Georgetown, around 11pm Sunday night. Had a quick poke around the apartment, recoiled at the smell of mothballs, then padded out down Packard Street keen to see something of our new home. Being close to midnight on a Sunday during uni break, there wasn't much action. Soon enough we stumbled onto Marco's Pizza and Gerard perked up. As he ordered a pepperoni to go, I enquired how far away downtown was from there.
"You mean downtown Ann Arbor?"
I didn't take that as a good sign.
He and his equally vague co-worker decided it was about 4 or 5 miles away (it's actually a little under 2 miles). There certainly wasn't any sign of interesting college life nearby. A little disappointing to be so far away, but for now we had bigger fish to fry: settling in to the apartment.

The first thing to go was the pack of mothballs from the hall cupboard. Took the pizza outside to the balcony and made quick work of it. Not bad, but very doughy. The cheese and the crust were almost one.
Rewired up the stereo to stream some soothing music from the iPod (Angelique Kidjo, Madeleine Peyroux, Toumani Diabate and Kora Jazz Trio, thanks Jemima!). Started unpacking our bags. Claimed a bathroom each and began to make them our own. The professor had left the cupboards full of his stuff, so we first had to move it out of the way to squeeze ours in. Memories of our superb Saturday cleaning job in Bronte came swimming back as we steeled ourselves for a repeat performance.

Up early after a decent sleep on a real bed, and rushed eagerly to the window to take in our new surroundings. Saw a long pond quite close to our window, a tall jet fountain, and some families of ducks swimming around the reeds. Scooted across the road to the supermarket, Kroger's. Ashamed to say the first items in our trolley were two tubs of Ben & Jerry's. When in Rome, I suppose. Our first impressions were of a convenience food mecca - a bit low rent with little fresh produce. But they do have rice milk, which we brought home for a plate of cereal (no bowls to be had in the professor's cupboard). And they have the New York Times for sale too - bliss!

Jumped on a bus and headed to town - only 2 miles away. Walked all around downtown. Joined the People's Food Co-op for discounted groceries, and for a sense of instant belonging! Thankful to spy some favourite macrobiotic foods to keep me healthy and alive. Got our first sniff of the divine and overwhelming Zingerman's deli, with its crowds, awesome cheese cabinet, and $20 jars of lavender honey from Provence, and left with half a loaf of sourdough. Took our first look at campus and its majestic, ivy-shrouded buildings.

Walked along pleasant South University Street lined with timber houses with steeply pitched rooves and wide front porches to Wallace House, the headquarters for the Knight-Wallace Fellowships which brought us to the University of Michigan. What a warm welcome! The house is divine, sprawling over several levels, and smelling of timber. It has cosy reception rooms and reading nooks downstairs, a large banquet table, and a piano. We were also told help ourselves to the "free pop" in the fridge and to the computer lab and telephone to call Australia.
Also met a couple of fellow Fellows - Thomas from Rwanda and Vindu from San Jose.

Sampled the nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. Why does Chinese food taste so different in the US? It's more than the serving containers, and please don't say MSG. Well, many of the dishes were invented in here, that's why. Tried General Tso's Chicken (dreamt up by a NYC chef in the 1970s) - battered chicken in a hot red sauce on a bed of broccoli. Teamed it with a French red, Le Pigeoulet en Provence (vin de pays de Vaucluse), from the nearby Big Ten Market- which also sells Fox Creek Vixen Sparkling Shiraz! Hallelujah!