gainesville weekend

gainesville, florida is a university town. as the location of the university of florida, home of the national champion florida gators (go gators), it's a pretty active, bustling city with a lot of restaurants, bars, and retail stores in the area. in other words, it's my kind of town... hahahaha.

some observations and discoveries i made during my 3 days visiting with candice:

1. there's a bonefish grill just 5 minutes away from university commons (the dormitory complex where i stayed with candice and tim. his dad runs the joint so he has a unit there). for those of you who are scratching their heads as to the significance of this bar to my life, it's the bar that my cousins their friends and i frequented in virginia. they have the best calamari.

2. after a roll and rice bowl lunch at dragonfly cafex last saturday, candice and i scouted around the area for a coffee place. we chanced upon this korean-owned coffee shop - a la starbucks, but much more quiet and relaxing. kay's coffee. their chai latte was refreshing (cold) and calming (hot), and their chocolate chip cookies were moist and scrumptious.

3. the mass we attended yesterday morning was the single most dynamic mass i had ever experienced in my life. the priest was quite the showman and kept eveyone engaged throughout the entire ceremony. it was the kind of celebration where they made sure that everyone in the congregation was involved in every aspect of the mass. seriously. as in they had a special offertory where the priest, carrying an offertory basket decorated with butterflies, sat down on the steps in front the altar and invited the children to come over with their offerings (i say it's a smart way of collecting more money from the parishioners... hehehe). but really, it was really quite touching. you really got the feeling that everyone enjoyed being there. that it wasn't just a sunday obligation kind of thing.

4. after mass, we grabbed brunch at this quaint little restaurant in haile village center. i swear, it was the cutest, coziest looking neighborhood every. it was such an alien concept to tim that there were bicycles parked outside that weren't chained or locked in any way. see, if someone did that in dc, he's just begging for it to be stolen.

5. oh the traffic. i'd gotten used to free flowing roads down in crystal river so i kinda reverted to my manila driver persona when i encountered the young (and therefore stupid... hahahaha) college kids driving along archer avenue.

6. gainesville being a college town, i could not believe how much young people were here. see, the average age of the residents in crystal river is 60 years old, so talagang nanibago ako sa itsura ng mga tao dito. hahahaha.