On Sunday and Monday, I went on a short trip to Pittsburgh for another dental school interview. Since Pittsburgh isn't too far, I made the 3 1/2 hour trip by car on Sunday morning. My parents decided to join me for a little vacation and explore the city.
We got to our hotel around 3 pm and decided to take a walk around the campus. Unfortunately, the weather was kind of nasty. It started raining and it was pretty windy. Thank goodness we had a couple of old, but mostly functional umbrellas in the car trunk.
The Cathedral of Learning was close to the hotel, so we walked over to check it out. The Cathedral is a Pittsburgh landmark, and is the second tallest university building in the world! When you walk in, there's a spacious area where a lot of students study. The rest of the building has classrooms and administrative offices.
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There are also many "Nationality Rooms" on the first few floors. Each room celebrates a nation and is decorated by committees of that nationality. I got to peek in to the German Room, and it was decorated for Christmas. The woodwork was really intricate and there were beautiful stained glass windows with German fairy tale characters.
There were captions in German (that I could read a bit of) and the pictures were of Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, and Cinderella, among many others.
I wouldn't mind being taught in this classroom!
After visiting the Cathedral, I wanted to walk to the dental school building just to check it out. It was at the top of a very steep hill, and though it was cold and windy, I was getting sweaty by the time I got to the top! I'm glad I walked there the day before my interview, because I decided to take the hotel shuttle so I wouldn't arrive all sweaty and disheveled.
Pittsburgh is a really hilly city, and the school is kind of built on a slope. At least going from the main campus to the medical campus, it's all uphill. We walked a bit more around the school, and then decided to explore another part of the town and find a place to eat dinner.
Back at the hotel, we took the shuttle to a neighborhood called Shadyside. Despite the name, the area is not shady at all! It's a nice residential area and there's a street with upscale shops, boutiques, and restaurants. On a rainy Sunday night, it was pretty quiet. I was getting really hungry, so I got some gelato at Mercurio's, an "artisan gelato and neapolitan pizza" shop. I got peanut butter cup, birthday cake, and almond fig gelato. It really hit the spot!
For dinner, I chose a Mexican restaurant called Steel Cactus. The prices wasn't too bad, but the food was pretty mediocre. I got chips and guac and a burrito covered in cheese and mole sauce. Wasn't that amazing. Good decor, but honestly, that's all they have going for them.
Kind of disappointing, but oh well. I'm pretty bad at finding good restaurants, and it's always a hit or miss in an unfamiliar place.
The next day, I had my interview and got to tour the school. The interview schedule ended at 3 pm, and we headed home soon after. The drive back was pleasant, and the sun set was gorgeous with the mountains in the background :)
I'm a day late, but how was your weekend?
