settling in

Earlier this week we said goodbye to the trailer and moved into an apartment. It was actually kind of sad to leave the trailer. It was a good little place to start off. Quiet and cosy with nice surroundings.

Our new place is a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment in a big complex of hundreds of apartments. It already has a fridge, microwave and dishwasher (most apartments here do). We also have central aircon and heating, a fireplace (didn't think it got that cold here though!), nice high ceilings, plenty of storage and a balcony. It's also in a great area – not too far from work for Jon and close to shops and restaurants.

We've pretty much bought everything here from Walmart – tv stand, coffee table, couch, desk and chair, lamps, bedside tables and a mattress that came in a box. Yes, that's right, a REAL mattress in a BOX! (check out the pics on flickr).

It's been great to finally get a place, set it up and be able to unpack. It's still kind of weird to think this is our new home though (for a while). I'm imagining friends and family coming to visit and stay here with us, it's quite strange!

It's also so great to be able to cook again. We're keen to get in the kitchen and try making some southern food – etouffee, gumbo, jambalaya, and sweets like beignets and red velvet cake. Stay tuned for some recipes!

the red stick

So I think we've covered most of our trip getting here, now I can tell you about Baton Rouge. It is essentially a college/university town. There is not a great deal happening at the moment, but I have a feeling that once the semester starts, things will be pretty different.

We have been staying in a trailer (!) since we arrived almost two weeks ago. It's on the LSU AgCenter 'farm', and across from the research station where Jon will be working. We are surrounded by green grass, trees and fish ponds.

The trailer's been pretty good – it has electricity and hot water, so we have aircon, a fridge, microwave, stove, shower and toilet. It's been a bit hard to cook though, so I'll admit that we've had more microwave dinners and take-away than we would normally, but it's only temporary!

The others in the lab (where Jon will be working) have been great help, picking us from the airport (five hours after we were due to arrive), giving us lifts to the shops, and to look at apartments. Speaking of which – we signed the lease on a one bedroom apartment this week, and are keen to move in so we can unpack and finally start to settle.

Right now though, we are looking for a car to buy. Public transport here (we've been told) sucks. I've seen a few buses around, but really, you need a car to get around because everything's so spread out.

There is either a Walmart, Albertsons or Winn Dixie on almost every corner (otherwise it's a take-away chain). These are the mega chain stores, kind of like a Safeway or Coles put together with a Big W or Kmart. So you can pretty much buy anything there for cheap. We haven't come across any greengrocers, butchers or bakers, apparently they are quite uncommon here (I guess due to the gigantor stores taking over). We know of a farmer's market held downtown every Saturday though, so that's on our to do / go to list.

Also worth a mention is that the folks here like their sport. We had an idea that college sports were very popular, but didn't fully comprehend until passing the home stadium (Tiger Stadium) on the way to the farm from the airport. It is the same size as the MCG – no kidding. The stadium seats a hundred thousand! Their home baseball stadium seats about 40,000. Also there is a chain of shops called Tiger Mania that sell all the uni/team merchandise. You also see the team colours (purple and gold) everywhere here.