It's currently 12:49pm, eastern standard time.

I had a class this morning from 10am to 10:50am, and that's all that I actually HAVE to do today. My English class, which is my other monday-wednesday-friday-50-minutes-each-of-those-days class isn't meeting today, as I mentioned on Wednesdays blog entry.

When I got out of class this morning, I was planning on sitting outside and eating my yogurt brunch, but it was a bit too chilly even for my long-sleeved shirt and rarely-cold self. So I headed towards the student center. When I got near the door, loud Indian music greeted me (and all other nearby students) and I remembered: Today is the day of the international displays in the student center.

One of the things that I love most about my school is the emphasis on free food at almost all Student Government Association sponsored events.

Today, most of the booths (manned by students from the countries that the booth was about, as well as other students just in it for the extra-credit) had some sort of ethnic food to go along with it. Outside was the "America" area, with free hot dogs, bratwurst, purple cabbage, and saurkraut. (No, not the German area.. the American area. Well, I suppose our German heritage is the most American???)

At any rate, there was Spanish Rice, Vietnamese fried rice, egg rolls, jello-like-stuff, Teremasu, some sort of Greece brussel-sprout cakes, Australian Pavlova cake and ANZAC biscuits, Mexican tacos, and several other delicious dishes. There was a great deal of information about various countries as well.

So I can save my yogurt for another day, or perhaps for my between-lunch-and-dinner meal tonight. And I've got one very full belly and much-more educated mind. (Mostly, though, I looked at the beautiful photographs of all these places I've never been to.)

As much as I've studied other countries before (what with growing up in the very mixed-ethnicity South Florida and having a mother that taught English for Speakers of Other Languages, and being involved in International Day projects for Girl Scouts, and being generally fascinated with other cultures, and studying Japanese for four years as well as the mandatory Spanish and French classes I had throughout elementary school .. ) I've never been outside the United States. Not even to Canada or Mexico, nor even to Cuba or the other Carrabian Islands, which are only between 200 and 500 miles off the coast of Southern FL. Closer than many drives I've made.

One day, my friends. One day.