Exploring the Neighborhood & the Downfalls of Fordham

This past Sunday I went with my next door neighbor in the house, Jason, to sample some of the food that you can find in our neighborhood. For lunch we went to this pizza place called Full Moon Pizza, which is located in the Little Italy of the Bronx just a couple blocks down. I had heard from a bunch of people that I just HAD to go there because they have the best pizza. Well, I'm not sure if it's the best, but it's definitely delicious. The slices are huge, about twice the size of a normal slice, and even though the price tag is a bit high (anywhere from $2-$5 for a slice) it's worth it. I also got garlic knots which were dripping in garlic and butter. Not the healthiest meal in the world, but a good experience.

Here's a picture of the pizza slice that I found on slice.com. It gives you a good idea of how big one piece is:

After stuffing ourselves with Italian food, Jason and I went and got Chinese for dinner. The place is called Nice Food (heh heh) and it's only a block away from the house. For $9 I got this huge container of chicken and broccoli plus white rice. It lasted me three meals! I wouldn't go there often, because the food is pretty bad for you, but it's good once in a while. Plus, there are a bunch more restaurants around that I need to try, including the Italian bakeries in Little Italy. 

On Monday, my day off from work, I decided to study for the midterm I had later that night in my class. I spent my free time on Sunday making this awesome 10-page study guide, but I had one problem-- I don't have a printer this semester! In order to print my study guide and the homework assignment that was also due, I made my way to Fordham's campus. What I thought was going to take about 10 seconds to accomplish took me a half an hour! First, I had to locate a computer lab that actually had working computers (the first room I went into had lots of computers, but they had no programs on them!). Then, when I went to print my document, nothing happened. Why? Because you have to PAY for your printing at Fordham! This means I had to trek downstairs and load up my student ID with some cash, and then enter it into some weird machine to print my documents. Yeah, I only paid 50¢, but the printing wasn't even double-sided, so I felt like I had killed a tree or two. A big difference from the usual "green" culture I'm used to. Not so much a big deal, but just a couple of the areas where Fordham can improve.

P.S. In case you were wondering, my midterm went well!

Lazy Days & My First Class

The past few days have been pretty boring for me. I don't start my internship until tomorrow (yay!) so I have been hanging around the house pretty much. This weekend there were only a few of us in the house. We made the best of it, though, and went to the Museum of Natural History on Saturday. It was really cool! The place is huge, and there is so much to see. It is really tiring, though. Students get in for a suggested donation of $12, but that means that if you don't want to pay anything you don't have to. You can check out the museum's website here for more information. Here are some pictures that I took:

Some "animals" from the Africa exhibit:

Wooly Mammoth fossils:

T-Rex fossils:

Blue whale (sorry about the dots, don't know why that happened):

Yesterday I had my first class at Fordham. I'm taking The US Congress. It will transfer credits over to my Political Science major. The class is just under 3 hours long since it's only once per week. My professor is a Bronx native, and a Democrat. That's always great to know! The class seems really easy so far, and the professor is really laid back. I have a few chapters to read for my next class, but most of it seems like review from a class I took freshman year. One thing I also noticed about Fordham is the diversity. My class not only had a number of students from different ethnicities, but there were some adults studying as well. I have been craving this diverse classroom setting! It should be a great semester.