Now that I’ve officially left Madison, it seems appropriate to summarize three years of experience into a short post.

• Madison has four seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Protest
• Beer!  Beer as far as the eye can see!  Beer to make you realize that beer is able to taste like something other than every other beer in the world.
• There really is a difference between a block of Kraft cheddar cheese and a 12-year block of cheddar.
• Food!  There are so many places to get fantastic food ranging from burgers, locally sourced meat, crazy and traditional pizzas, and amazing brunches.
• I’ve never seen another city so excited about running and biking, and it has more than enough trails to support the passion.
• Never again will I see people in short running shorts when it’s 15 outside running around a frozen lake while people are ice-fishing.
• Extremely engaged politically – both sides are passionate and mostly informed about their causes.  Everyone is willing to protest, counter-protest, and take full advantage of their civil liberties.
• The winters suck.  With a few extra babushkas I could have been convinced I was back in Ukraine.
• Going 60 in the left-hand lane of the highway is not acceptable.  Please move over.
• For an espresso addict, there are few things better than a city with so many independent coffee shops and tea stores within such a small and confined location.
• Saturday morning at the Farmer’s Market is one of the best ways to walk off the occasional hangover and a great place to get food for the week.

I’m sure there’s more that is worth mentioning, but these are the things I think of initially.

Lastly, below is a very small sampling of each of the four seasons in Madison.

Fall

Winter

Protest

Spring

Beer