International Festival on campus

Hanging out with Sarah (the human) was one of my initial reasons for traveling to Syracuse. In fact, I'd been trying to visit her since this past summer when she returned to school.

She's a fun person. When we're together, we normally wander around aimlessly and eat foods from small restaurants, which I normally find intimidating - but she's crazy about tiny little foreign food places and people like her - so I feel less socially intimidated when I'm with her.

One of the more interesting things I did in Syracuse was actually going to an international festival on campus which she was participating in as part of her Study Abroad project. She went to Puerto Rico for most of the past Summer, and had a lot of fun trying new things and hanging out on the beach.

Anyway, the International Festival was something she had to do a lot of preparation for. She made a dish with plantains called mofongo, and lots of empanadillas, a fried beef stuffed pastry. The entire festival was culturally-themed backdrops for lots of food, and the food was definitely the star of the event.

Puerto Rico was by far my favorite country represented at there, although I did eat lots of other interesting foods from other students like a pickle and (raw) herring sandwich, on Amsterdam's table, and a dessert with pears cooked in wine which was quite enjoyable. I believe that was from an Eastern European country, but I can't remember which one. It's a shame. Was it Moldova?

I may have a bias, though. The night before the event I helped Sarah make some of the empanadillas. I already knew they'd be delicious. Apparently they're sold everywhere you go in PR. It's like going to any continental American city and finding a burger.