Dear So and So

[Owlie]

Owlie - welcome to the real world. And there are more rural places! Or places where they remember 40 years ago (older than you) when the economy was good. I've lived in some of them. Get yourself a stove top Italian espresso pot and you'll survive. Some of the best espresso I ever had was made in one of those pots at my neighbor's house on a fish hatchery, at the end of 9 miles of dirt road, 17 miles from "town".

Cleveland has spoiled me. And I never thought I'd say that. Everything I needed on a daily basis (bank, mini post office for stamps, small LBS, two grocery store, 3.5 Starbucks and an independent coffeeshop, restaurants galore) within walking distance (~1.5 miles) and everything else (Target, Wal-mart, Whole Foods, yarn shop, more restaurants) was a short bus trip. I hate driving, so this is...culture shock, to say the least.
You'd think there would be more surrounding a university. Unless it's primarily a commuter campus, I have to wonder what the heck the undergrads at this university do for fun. Drink, probably.

[Catrin]

+1 on the espresso pot or a good french press, or both

Sounds like the area around my UT campus (not the main Knoxville campus), it was like stepping back in time a few decades.