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We are all kind of pissed about going downtown next semester for our journalism degrees.

Well, Amanda and I are. Nicole will be living it up at the Argentina campus.

Don't get me wrong, I like downtown Phoenix. For the most part.

I'm not so stoked about having an apartment in Tempe that is close to the wrong campus.

But I do have some good memories of good old central Phoenix. It happens to be where I met Amanda.

We took an exhilarating breaking news class at The Arizona Republic a year ago.

Though we lived on the same floor of Hayden our freshman year, I can't say that we were friends. I knew her only as the girl who laughed — often and loudly — outside of my room while I was trying to write papers.

But being stuck in a boring newsroom (nothing like ours down here in the Matthews Center) makes anyone yearn for companionship. And so we took our acquaintance to the next level. We started going to lunch together.

First, we went downstairs to the eighth floor and ate in the Republic's beautiful cafeteria, which overlooked a skyline of constant construction next door.

And then we ventured into the real world, the one with too many restaurants for two indecisive girls. For the first and only time, we made some choices. And they were great ones.

We tried Focaccia Fiorentina. We kindled our newfound friendship over some delicious Italian panini.

And then the following week, we started a tradition of Friday lunch at First Watch. Every week, I vowed to order something other than the Floridian French Toast (which I called Australian French Toast every time), but could not stray from its delightful freshness.

Both of these restaurants are in "Everything's waiting for you … downtown," Amanda's guide to central Phoenix (page 28).

It turns out there are cool things to do downtown. Maybe us Tempe kids just don't know where to look.

No matter what, driving downtown and trying to find parking is going to be atrocious.

But at least I will be able to switch things up. There are only so many times I can grab a Sacks' sandwich.

After all, things will be great when you're downtown. So maybe I'll see you there.


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