12 December 2006
Good news!
Last Friday I heard from King's...I have housing! I'll be in Wolfson House which is near main campus, so I can easily walk to things in central London thus saving money, and time! Hooray!
Finally, the First Week of December...And then some...
Saturday: Met some people at the Grand Place for the Christmas Market, went to a Chopin concert with same group-really good
Sunday: Not much, Mass, procrastination via the Sims, studied for Defense Economics, typed paper outline
Monday: Class day, French study guide made us sad-it's bad when you can't even understand the study guide...
Tuesday: Internship. Want to know anything about Turkmenistan? I'm your girl. Great place to live...if you like an eccentric (insane) president, if you have a government job (because you get nice housing) that has nothing to do with agriculture because if it did the president would be mad at you, and if well...that's about it. Oh, if you're the president, you're good too.
Wednesday: St. Nicholas Day!! Opened my ornament from mom, Internship again. More Turkmenistan followed by Uzbekistan, another fun happy place. Up to 5 and a half pages on the paper!
Thursday: SHAPE, the planning section of NATO, out in Mons. Pretty interesting, our speaker was a British Royal Navy guy so he had a great accent and was pretty funny too. Honest too. European Security class, studying for the final. Throat started feeling rough though...
Friday: Defense Economics final. I think it went okay, we'd gotten the questions ahead of time and I wrote what I knew, so I think it went okay. Beginning to get sick-lots of sneezing.
Saturday: Officially sick-it's a cold. Wrote some then went downtown for some final shopping at the market and various stores. More writing but feeling atrocious.
Sunday: Monschau, Germany! Feeling better too. Christmas Market! It was nice, although very cold which was solved with multiple hot chocolates. I got some nice glass but sadly no wood ornaments. I guess they are really a southern Germany thing, or at least not a Monschau thing. After the trip we went to Jerry's for a Christmas tree lighting gathering and pizza. We sang Christmas carols too and it was really nice. We had fun and got to see Jerry's house.
Monday: Last class day, so a bit sad. Sorta. French final...we think we passed...more writing. Up to 15 pages!
Tuesday: Last day of the internship. Marie and Joanna took me out to a really nice Italian place for lunch and got me chocolates from Pierre Marcolini. Nice packaging-better than Godiva even because it's all black and silver. Ooo. More writing, up to about 17 now with 3 sections left, and that's including the conclusion. Woot!
By the way, I don't think I'll be able to get around to posting pictures in Facebook...at least not until I'm home or in London. So, I'll post them eventually just be patient.
Sunday: Not much, Mass, procrastination via the Sims, studied for Defense Economics, typed paper outline
Monday: Class day, French study guide made us sad-it's bad when you can't even understand the study guide...
Tuesday: Internship. Want to know anything about Turkmenistan? I'm your girl. Great place to live...if you like an eccentric (insane) president, if you have a government job (because you get nice housing) that has nothing to do with agriculture because if it did the president would be mad at you, and if well...that's about it. Oh, if you're the president, you're good too.
Wednesday: St. Nicholas Day!! Opened my ornament from mom, Internship again. More Turkmenistan followed by Uzbekistan, another fun happy place. Up to 5 and a half pages on the paper!
Thursday: SHAPE, the planning section of NATO, out in Mons. Pretty interesting, our speaker was a British Royal Navy guy so he had a great accent and was pretty funny too. Honest too. European Security class, studying for the final. Throat started feeling rough though...
Friday: Defense Economics final. I think it went okay, we'd gotten the questions ahead of time and I wrote what I knew, so I think it went okay. Beginning to get sick-lots of sneezing.
Saturday: Officially sick-it's a cold. Wrote some then went downtown for some final shopping at the market and various stores. More writing but feeling atrocious.
Sunday: Monschau, Germany! Feeling better too. Christmas Market! It was nice, although very cold which was solved with multiple hot chocolates. I got some nice glass but sadly no wood ornaments. I guess they are really a southern Germany thing, or at least not a Monschau thing. After the trip we went to Jerry's for a Christmas tree lighting gathering and pizza. We sang Christmas carols too and it was really nice. We had fun and got to see Jerry's house.
Monday: Last class day, so a bit sad. Sorta. French final...we think we passed...more writing. Up to 15 pages!
Tuesday: Last day of the internship. Marie and Joanna took me out to a really nice Italian place for lunch and got me chocolates from Pierre Marcolini. Nice packaging-better than Godiva even because it's all black and silver. Ooo. More writing, up to about 17 now with 3 sections left, and that's including the conclusion. Woot!
By the way, I don't think I'll be able to get around to posting pictures in Facebook...at least not until I'm home or in London. So, I'll post them eventually just be patient.
01 December 2006
Last Week of November
Tuesday: Internship day-worked on my internship paper, did some research. Not too much activity. Listened to Christmas music via Yahoo radio.
Wednesday: Same as Tuesday, really.
Thursday: Class day. EU Seminar 2, finished paper (15 and a half pages!), European Security, Defense Economics, and French.
Friday: Free day! AUBC for the internet-emailed the paper to Jerry, started research for next paper, nothing too exciting. Lebanese place for dinner tonight with some of the group!
Less than a month until I'm home, and it's a nice feeling. All I have to worry about now is getting housing for next semester, taking 3 exams, writing a 25 page paper, and packing. Normal, nothing to worry about. Yeah, sure...whatever. And it's finally getting cold!
Wednesday: Same as Tuesday, really.
Thursday: Class day. EU Seminar 2, finished paper (15 and a half pages!), European Security, Defense Economics, and French.
Friday: Free day! AUBC for the internet-emailed the paper to Jerry, started research for next paper, nothing too exciting. Lebanese place for dinner tonight with some of the group!
Less than a month until I'm home, and it's a nice feeling. All I have to worry about now is getting housing for next semester, taking 3 exams, writing a 25 page paper, and packing. Normal, nothing to worry about. Yeah, sure...whatever. And it's finally getting cold!
Super Long Academic Field Trip-Central and Eastern Europe
And now the exciting details of our two week long trip! Well, sorta exciting. At times.
Tuesday: Train to the airport, 2:40 flight to Larnaca (Cyprus!) where the inflight movie was Just My Luck (which was not our luck), then a bus ride to the hotel (as everything's an hour away from everything else on Cyprus, it seems).
Wednesday: Drove to Nicosia (the capital of the Greek part of Cyprus) where we had a seminar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the Cyprus question. According to them, it's the Turks who are mucking things up by having troops over there which aren't needed. And they'd love to have the Turkish Cypriots in the parliament but 2,000 of them (living on the Greek side) can't have 24 seats when all of the Greek Cypriots only have 50 some odd and no, you can't just have them in two seats of their total. Then on to the buffer zone in the Green Line to listen to the UN Development Project people. Ah, middle ground is so nice. Basically, the whole situation is frustrating because no one is willing to give even an inch, much less a mile on anything. And there's no incentive to move forward. After this we went back to Limassol and the hotel and about 6 of us went to this small restaurant for local food-mostly grilled meat. Twas interesting.
Thursday: Northern Cyprus! Officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Seminar at the foreign ministry, our speaker was the Political Director! And he was very good at dodging questions. Then on to the Near East University where we were not only shown around the campus by the vice-president, we got an elaborate lunch where we were literally wined and dined, well, without the wine. It was a nice place and all, but the constant photos and videotaping was annoying and a little weird. After that we went to the coast and saw a really old castle then back to Nicosia to cross the border and then back to Limassol.
Friday: Free day! Basically walked around downtown Limassol and got souvenirs then walked back to the hotel along the beach and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Saturday: Or Best Laid Plans day. As it went awry. So, we're all set to fly to Vienna when about an hour before we have to leave for the hotel we find out that one of our number, Marissa, had to go to the hospital in the morning because of severe stomach pains which turned out to be appendicitus and she needs emergency surgery. Now we can't exactly leave her, nor do we want to, so we're in Cyprus until Tuesday, at the earliest as that's the next flight to Brussels. So since we've nothing to do, really, about 20 of us go to see Casino Royale as it's playing at a theater nearby. It wasn't bad. I mean, as a stand alone film it was pretty good but as a Bond film, some of the different elements were off from the rest of the series, which wasn't a huge deal just different. And...they destroyed part of Venice! Blasphemy, that. So, good movie. After that I continued on with about 5 of the others and we had dinner before walking back to the hotel through the tourist district. It was a nice evening with the only damper being Marissa's condition.
Sunday: Group meeting debating the merits of different plans for the rest of the trip. Most of us (all but one really) were on the side of Budapest and Belgrade, as we'd rather take the less expensive option (as opposed to Sarajevo) and see 2 cities instead of just 1 and spend less time on the bus. I then made a stab at productivity which fell flat and relaxed the rest of the day.
Monday: Education! Jerry arranged for us (all but a one who was at the hospital with Marissa) to tour some of the archeological sites on the coast. We went to Kourion, where they have an amphitheater, the birthplace of Aphrodite (cliffs), and a large site where there are tons of mosaics at Pathos.
Tuesday: Finally leaving Cyprus, as Marissa's recovering and a friend of Jerry's is flying in to take care of her until she can fly back to Brussels on Friday. Flight to Vienna where we pick up Alex and Claudia (who because she's from the Dominican Republic had to get visas for specific days and thus had to take the flight on Saturday) and we drive to Budapest.
Wednesday: Free day in Budapest! We went to the market, saw Parliament, Matthias Church, the old palace, St. Stephen's Cathedral, and saw the synagogue. Found an amazing bookstore with a lot of English language books and generally saw most of the city. Long day, very exhausting, but worth it. Had goulash for lunch!
Thursday: Drove to Belgrade, Serbia. Very different place, you can even see bomb damage from the war that hasn't been repaired or torn down. Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel-had turkey but the rest was Serbian. Amazing soup though, just different, all of it.
Friday: Seminar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kosovo can't be independent-it's silly, in their opinion). A literal 3 hour tour of the city, the first hour on the bus where most of us promptly fell asleep then a two hour walking tour of their park and fort. Our tour guide was...interesting. She started the tour off with the national anthem then proceeded to sing traditional songs throughout the walking tour. Creeped most of us out and caused lots of uncomfortable laughter. Horrid jokes too, but an experience nonetheless. Dinner out at a Serbian restaurant where Ryan was very generous and treated all 9 of us. Not sure whether it was because he was the only guy or he was just being sweet, likely both. The girls then went back to the hotel and watched the Thanksgiving through Christmas episodes of Grey's Anatomy from Season 2. A good third of us watch it regularly.
Saturday: Bus to Zagreb, getting in mid-afternoon so we could walk around. Went to the Cathedral, which is pretty nice and walked around the Old Town. All the stores were closed, though, which was very frustrating as things looked pretty inexpensive. Our hotel was great though-right near the center of town with nice rooms and decent tv channels. We actually watched Iron Jawed Angels in Croatia!
Sunday: Lovely drive through Slovenia, Austria, and part of Germany to Ausgburg where we stopped for the night, a midway point in the drive back to Brussels.
Monday: Drove to Brussels and got back in time for dinner.
All in all, a great trip, many new places, but just a little long and we're glad to be back.
Tuesday: Train to the airport, 2:40 flight to Larnaca (Cyprus!) where the inflight movie was Just My Luck (which was not our luck), then a bus ride to the hotel (as everything's an hour away from everything else on Cyprus, it seems).
Wednesday: Drove to Nicosia (the capital of the Greek part of Cyprus) where we had a seminar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the Cyprus question. According to them, it's the Turks who are mucking things up by having troops over there which aren't needed. And they'd love to have the Turkish Cypriots in the parliament but 2,000 of them (living on the Greek side) can't have 24 seats when all of the Greek Cypriots only have 50 some odd and no, you can't just have them in two seats of their total. Then on to the buffer zone in the Green Line to listen to the UN Development Project people. Ah, middle ground is so nice. Basically, the whole situation is frustrating because no one is willing to give even an inch, much less a mile on anything. And there's no incentive to move forward. After this we went back to Limassol and the hotel and about 6 of us went to this small restaurant for local food-mostly grilled meat. Twas interesting.
Thursday: Northern Cyprus! Officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Seminar at the foreign ministry, our speaker was the Political Director! And he was very good at dodging questions. Then on to the Near East University where we were not only shown around the campus by the vice-president, we got an elaborate lunch where we were literally wined and dined, well, without the wine. It was a nice place and all, but the constant photos and videotaping was annoying and a little weird. After that we went to the coast and saw a really old castle then back to Nicosia to cross the border and then back to Limassol.
Friday: Free day! Basically walked around downtown Limassol and got souvenirs then walked back to the hotel along the beach and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Saturday: Or Best Laid Plans day. As it went awry. So, we're all set to fly to Vienna when about an hour before we have to leave for the hotel we find out that one of our number, Marissa, had to go to the hospital in the morning because of severe stomach pains which turned out to be appendicitus and she needs emergency surgery. Now we can't exactly leave her, nor do we want to, so we're in Cyprus until Tuesday, at the earliest as that's the next flight to Brussels. So since we've nothing to do, really, about 20 of us go to see Casino Royale as it's playing at a theater nearby. It wasn't bad. I mean, as a stand alone film it was pretty good but as a Bond film, some of the different elements were off from the rest of the series, which wasn't a huge deal just different. And...they destroyed part of Venice! Blasphemy, that. So, good movie. After that I continued on with about 5 of the others and we had dinner before walking back to the hotel through the tourist district. It was a nice evening with the only damper being Marissa's condition.
Sunday: Group meeting debating the merits of different plans for the rest of the trip. Most of us (all but one really) were on the side of Budapest and Belgrade, as we'd rather take the less expensive option (as opposed to Sarajevo) and see 2 cities instead of just 1 and spend less time on the bus. I then made a stab at productivity which fell flat and relaxed the rest of the day.
Monday: Education! Jerry arranged for us (all but a one who was at the hospital with Marissa) to tour some of the archeological sites on the coast. We went to Kourion, where they have an amphitheater, the birthplace of Aphrodite (cliffs), and a large site where there are tons of mosaics at Pathos.
Tuesday: Finally leaving Cyprus, as Marissa's recovering and a friend of Jerry's is flying in to take care of her until she can fly back to Brussels on Friday. Flight to Vienna where we pick up Alex and Claudia (who because she's from the Dominican Republic had to get visas for specific days and thus had to take the flight on Saturday) and we drive to Budapest.
Wednesday: Free day in Budapest! We went to the market, saw Parliament, Matthias Church, the old palace, St. Stephen's Cathedral, and saw the synagogue. Found an amazing bookstore with a lot of English language books and generally saw most of the city. Long day, very exhausting, but worth it. Had goulash for lunch!
Thursday: Drove to Belgrade, Serbia. Very different place, you can even see bomb damage from the war that hasn't been repaired or torn down. Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel-had turkey but the rest was Serbian. Amazing soup though, just different, all of it.
Friday: Seminar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kosovo can't be independent-it's silly, in their opinion). A literal 3 hour tour of the city, the first hour on the bus where most of us promptly fell asleep then a two hour walking tour of their park and fort. Our tour guide was...interesting. She started the tour off with the national anthem then proceeded to sing traditional songs throughout the walking tour. Creeped most of us out and caused lots of uncomfortable laughter. Horrid jokes too, but an experience nonetheless. Dinner out at a Serbian restaurant where Ryan was very generous and treated all 9 of us. Not sure whether it was because he was the only guy or he was just being sweet, likely both. The girls then went back to the hotel and watched the Thanksgiving through Christmas episodes of Grey's Anatomy from Season 2. A good third of us watch it regularly.
Saturday: Bus to Zagreb, getting in mid-afternoon so we could walk around. Went to the Cathedral, which is pretty nice and walked around the Old Town. All the stores were closed, though, which was very frustrating as things looked pretty inexpensive. Our hotel was great though-right near the center of town with nice rooms and decent tv channels. We actually watched Iron Jawed Angels in Croatia!
Sunday: Lovely drive through Slovenia, Austria, and part of Germany to Ausgburg where we stopped for the night, a midway point in the drive back to Brussels.
Monday: Drove to Brussels and got back in time for dinner.
All in all, a great trip, many new places, but just a little long and we're glad to be back.
13 November 2006
Last Post Before the Big Trip...
Friday: Another class day, Military day really. Common Foreign and Security Policy, European Security and Defense Policy, and Military Personnel. Fun times.
Saturday: Didn't do much of substance, worked on my internship paper, made a stab at studying
Sunday: More studying and nothing of substance, had trouble focusing. Strange, huh? A movie or the Common Agricultural Policy? Which would you choose? But study I did.
Monday: EU Seminar 2 midterm (ugh), European Security, trip details, Accession, then French class which is always a pleasure.
So, pretty boring because I chose not to go to Antwerp or Ghent in favor of getting things done, which I mostly did. Cyprus tomorrow! Oh, trip schedule:
Tuesday 14 November Travel to Cyprus
Wednesday 15 November Nicosia
Thursday, 16 November Nicosia
Friday 17 November Free Day in Cyprus
Saturday 18 November Travel to Budapest (Hungary)
Sunday 19 November Budapest
Monday 20 November Travel to Belgrade (Serbia)
Tuesday 21 November Belgrade
Wednesday 22 November Travel to Sarajevo (Bosnia)
Thursday 23 November Sarajevo
Friday 24 November Travel to Zagreb (Croatia)
Saturday 25 November Travel to Augsburg (Germany)
Sunday 26 November Travel to Brussels
Busy trip so a good post (or two) will be forthcoming after the 26th!
Saturday: Didn't do much of substance, worked on my internship paper, made a stab at studying
Sunday: More studying and nothing of substance, had trouble focusing. Strange, huh? A movie or the Common Agricultural Policy? Which would you choose? But study I did.
Monday: EU Seminar 2 midterm (ugh), European Security, trip details, Accession, then French class which is always a pleasure.
So, pretty boring because I chose not to go to Antwerp or Ghent in favor of getting things done, which I mostly did. Cyprus tomorrow! Oh, trip schedule:
Tuesday 14 November Travel to Cyprus
Wednesday 15 November Nicosia
Thursday, 16 November Nicosia
Friday 17 November Free Day in Cyprus
Saturday 18 November Travel to Budapest (Hungary)
Sunday 19 November Budapest
Monday 20 November Travel to Belgrade (Serbia)
Tuesday 21 November Belgrade
Wednesday 22 November Travel to Sarajevo (Bosnia)
Thursday 23 November Sarajevo
Friday 24 November Travel to Zagreb (Croatia)
Saturday 25 November Travel to Augsburg (Germany)
Sunday 26 November Travel to Brussels
Busy trip so a good post (or two) will be forthcoming after the 26th!
09 November 2006
Indulging in Partisan Joy...
Go Dems! Congratulations to my political party. Got the House and the Senate and picked up some governors too. Harris got nicely trounced in my home state (so very happy about that) and now I can hopefully have my internship this summer with Nelson. The South Dakota abortion thing got rejected and several states raised the minimum wage. Granted, Florida has another Republican governor and Feeney got reelected (I really can't stand my congressman) but Sink is CFO (a Dem) and Feeney's Democratic challenger got over 89,000 votes without doing a whole lot of campaigning. I just hope that all this sets the Democrats up well for 2008 and doesn't hurt us.
Tuesday: Internship day, did some reading and various other tasks.
Wednesday: Another internship day. Checked CNN about every 5 minutes to check on Virginia and Montana and did some research for my paper.
Thursday: Class day! Got two cards from mom, no envelope yet from Dad and it was supposed to be here days ago. But today's money day. European Central Bank for EU Seminar I and the Euro for EU Seminar II along with a Jamie Shea lecture. Found out Virginia and Montana are projected to go the Dems, which is nice :D.
It's a good week to be a Democrat. :) About time too.
Tuesday: Internship day, did some reading and various other tasks.
Wednesday: Another internship day. Checked CNN about every 5 minutes to check on Virginia and Montana and did some research for my paper.
Thursday: Class day! Got two cards from mom, no envelope yet from Dad and it was supposed to be here days ago. But today's money day. European Central Bank for EU Seminar I and the Euro for EU Seminar II along with a Jamie Shea lecture. Found out Virginia and Montana are projected to go the Dems, which is nice :D.
It's a good week to be a Democrat. :) About time too.
Fall Break 2006, October 29-November 6
The long awaited post about my fall break:
Sunday: enjoyed my extra hour due to the wonderful invention called "Fall Back" (colloquially speaking), finished packing, final check of email before the week away, met Hillary at Gare du Nord at 4 to take the train to the Brussels International Airport, dinner at Pizza Hut (good old fashioned american-style congealed cheese before the real thing), flight to Rome; once there we had to fend off a sketchy cab guy to use a real cab (the book said to only use white or yellow ones, so we did) because the buses were a bit odd and we didn't want to take our chances with them and the real cab was about 20 euros less than sketchy cab; checked into the hostel and crashed.
Monday: Up at 7:30 after a horrid night's sleep (I've never heard so much snoring in my life), checked out and trekked to the Termini station to leave our luggage for the day. Then: Ancient City day! Colosseum (took pictures figured we'd save the time, money, and experience of going inside for another trip), took pictures of Domus Aurea but couldn't find the triple 6 (it was his address), Forum tour (funny things happened whilst going there), Vittorio Emanuel II monument, Bocca delle Verita (face in the wall from Roman Holiday, it's actually on a porch [sorta] of a church), Jewish Ghetto (museum and synagogue-which, by the way, was beautiful inside), Fontana di Trevi (the fountain on the side of a building that is in every movie set in Rome, threw a coin in and everything), Spanish Steps (which despite the name were built and funded by everybody else, English and French and whatnot, spent some time there doing as Romans do-namely sitting and watching the tourists). Then we trekked back to Termini to collect bags and take a very cold train ride to Naples (they did not need that much air conditioning). Took the metro to the hostel easier than our trip in Rome. Had gelato today! Chocolate around lunch and lemon a little while later, just like a remembered it too!
Tuesday: Lava Day! Well, sort of. We went to Pompeii via train. We walked around for a couple hours (and yes, we did go into the bordello and yes, the pictures were on the walls) taking pictures and generally getting a bit confused as the guidebook didn't always agree with the signs posted on building walls. Then we took a bus up to Vesuvius, well two-thirds or so up. Then we hiked the rest of the way. That's right, I climbed a volcano and yes it hurt but it was so worth it. If nothing else for the view of the Naples and the water and the small islands in the bay/lagoon/harbor thing. I will say though, the crater itself was kind of a let down because it was just rocks and a bit of steam on a side wall. I wanted lava or at least some activity but I suppose it's better that there's only rocks, for the people at least. Then back to Naples for dinner at a pizza place where President Clinton ate back when he was in Naples for the G-7 summit. They even have a picture up. Halloween night was fun, all in all.
Wednesday: Woke up around 8, which meant we got lots of sleep. Dumped stuff at the train station for the day after visiting Virgil's Tomb (which we couldn't exactly see because of gates). Archeological Museum-more statues than you could shake a stick at, by the way, and where all the real stuff from Pompeii is kept. Then walked, in the rain, down to Via dei Tribunali, buying me a 4 euro umbrella on the way as both of mine were in the train station but the new one is bigger and is fun to play with as it can be used as a cane. Lunch of calzone at the other recommmended pizza place from the book. Catacombs weren't visitable until 2 which was too late so we walked down a side street looking at shops which we think were all for manger scenes as all the figures were religious. The Duomo was closed as well, this whole closing in the middle of the day thing that Europe has is not very logical to me, so we headed back to the Metro. Then the cultural experience that we don't ever want to repeat happened. We were getting onto the Metro and I had to get out my wallet to buy a ticket. So we go to put them in the machines and this guy tried to "help me" but I had heard it click. I couldn't shake him off though until I felt fingers on my left side near my purse. I whirled around and shouted "what do you think you're doing?" at him and he backed away. I went through with no problems after that. But that incident just solidified my distaste for Naples. The rain helped as well, but it felt like a beach town and sort of looked like one too. But nothing happened after that incident and that incident was averted so all is well. So don't worry, family. Took the train back to Rome, got into hostel fine and watched some of Pride and Prejudice, the BBC version as Hillary had her laptop with her.
Thursday: Best Laid Plans...Day. Another trek to Termini to drop off luggage then went to Ottaviano to go to the Vatican Museums where we encountered a huge line, which we weren't exactly expecting. An hour or so later we finally get in but had to race through as we wanted to see the Sistine Chapel before trying to go to noon Mass. We saw it, it was nice, but couldn't take pictures (bad attitude) and the museum was closing at 12:30 (winter times are lame in Italy) so we couldn't go back. However, once we're out of the museums, having trekked all the way around to the square, the line to get into the Vatican was really long too. So, no Mass and a poor job on the museums for nothing. Hillary went off to the Maritime Prison and I got in the line. Randomly, the woman in front of me who was traveling with her daughter was not only American, but went to AU! She's now working at the University of Hawaii and was on a belated post college graduation trip with her daughter. They were fun to talk to. Once past the metal detectors, the reason for the back up, I skipped the line to the dome and wandered around St. Peter's. My religion really does have a nice place here, lots of stuff in the museums too. Couldn't light a candle in St. Peter's, which makes sense due to the number of people around and the place'd probably burn down. Then mailed a postcard from the Vatican Post Office and went to the Colosseum for souvenirs then took the train to Florence, hiking about 10 minutes from the bus stop to the actual hostel because it was in an old villa, pretty but a hike. Found out we'd only booked one night but shelved it until the next day. Happy 18th schwesters!!
Friday: Found out hostel didn't have any openings for that night so we called around and found one that did, cheaper and closer to the train station. Dropped stuff then went into Florence. Went to the Duomo and saw the doors of the Baptistry, the church was really pretty with colored marble and stuff. Then went on to the Uffizi Museum (having reserved tickets the day before) and did it properly, seeing everything. Lunch near the museum, had the local specialty of bruschetta with pasta. Went to the Accademia to see David in all his 14 foot glory. Saw the synagogue but it was closed. On to Palazzo Vecchio, the government center and former Medici residence before they moved. Toured it, twas nice, all palatial-y. Saw the Piazza delle Repubblica then on to dinner where we had regional soup-it was a cold day! Pretty skies, but cold. Went back to the hostel where we had our own room, got to use an elevator, were next to the church, and generally considered it to be a gift from on high to make up for the day before.
Saturday: Morning train to Pisa. Walked to Piazza del Duomo, past hundreds of kids who were either scouting or doing some sort of scavanger thing with hats (no idea really). Saw the Leaning Tower, and yes, it leans. We took a couple fun pictures then went inside the Duomo (which was nice) then got souvenirs on our way back to the train station for the train to Venice. Hostel is called Camping del Serenissima for a reason-really does feel like Girl Scout camp with small cabins and space for tents and RVs. We walked down the road for dinner, reasonably priced pizza and warmth which was nice.
Sunday: Venice! Walked around Piazza San Marco before Mass at St. Mark's. Lunch off the piazza (really good lasagna) then a tour of the Doge's Palace led by me and the guidebook. Off to Murano via water taxi (really useful and sorta fun), bought glass but as it was Sunday, the workshops were closed. Back to San Marco for masks and by 5 PM it was already getting dark, which is insane and feels just wrong. Off to the Rialto bridge to buy me a handmade leather bound journal that the guidebook talked about, the couple who owns the shop were so nice too. Back to the hostel to get warm and relax.
Monday: Took forever to get to the airport as we had to take buses. First from the hostel to Venice, then a bus out to Treviso, then another bus to the airport as we were flying RyanAir and thus at a small airport. Took about 3 hours altogether but we didn't have a line for security, a plus with the small airport. Flight back, bus from Charleloi to Midi then via metro back to host home. Unpacked and relaxed. :)
General thoughts: A good trip, overall. Got dark around 5:30 which is crazy, and got cold towards the end of the week, colder than expected which wasn't fun. But we had a great time, I took about 614 pictures (without changing memory cards mind you) and now am dealing with labeling all of them, so pictures will be up on Facebook later this week...as in this weekend.
Sunday: enjoyed my extra hour due to the wonderful invention called "Fall Back" (colloquially speaking), finished packing, final check of email before the week away, met Hillary at Gare du Nord at 4 to take the train to the Brussels International Airport, dinner at Pizza Hut (good old fashioned american-style congealed cheese before the real thing), flight to Rome; once there we had to fend off a sketchy cab guy to use a real cab (the book said to only use white or yellow ones, so we did) because the buses were a bit odd and we didn't want to take our chances with them and the real cab was about 20 euros less than sketchy cab; checked into the hostel and crashed.
Monday: Up at 7:30 after a horrid night's sleep (I've never heard so much snoring in my life), checked out and trekked to the Termini station to leave our luggage for the day. Then: Ancient City day! Colosseum (took pictures figured we'd save the time, money, and experience of going inside for another trip), took pictures of Domus Aurea but couldn't find the triple 6 (it was his address), Forum tour (funny things happened whilst going there), Vittorio Emanuel II monument, Bocca delle Verita (face in the wall from Roman Holiday, it's actually on a porch [sorta] of a church), Jewish Ghetto (museum and synagogue-which, by the way, was beautiful inside), Fontana di Trevi (the fountain on the side of a building that is in every movie set in Rome, threw a coin in and everything), Spanish Steps (which despite the name were built and funded by everybody else, English and French and whatnot, spent some time there doing as Romans do-namely sitting and watching the tourists). Then we trekked back to Termini to collect bags and take a very cold train ride to Naples (they did not need that much air conditioning). Took the metro to the hostel easier than our trip in Rome. Had gelato today! Chocolate around lunch and lemon a little while later, just like a remembered it too!
Tuesday: Lava Day! Well, sort of. We went to Pompeii via train. We walked around for a couple hours (and yes, we did go into the bordello and yes, the pictures were on the walls) taking pictures and generally getting a bit confused as the guidebook didn't always agree with the signs posted on building walls. Then we took a bus up to Vesuvius, well two-thirds or so up. Then we hiked the rest of the way. That's right, I climbed a volcano and yes it hurt but it was so worth it. If nothing else for the view of the Naples and the water and the small islands in the bay/lagoon/harbor thing. I will say though, the crater itself was kind of a let down because it was just rocks and a bit of steam on a side wall. I wanted lava or at least some activity but I suppose it's better that there's only rocks, for the people at least. Then back to Naples for dinner at a pizza place where President Clinton ate back when he was in Naples for the G-7 summit. They even have a picture up. Halloween night was fun, all in all.
Wednesday: Woke up around 8, which meant we got lots of sleep. Dumped stuff at the train station for the day after visiting Virgil's Tomb (which we couldn't exactly see because of gates). Archeological Museum-more statues than you could shake a stick at, by the way, and where all the real stuff from Pompeii is kept. Then walked, in the rain, down to Via dei Tribunali, buying me a 4 euro umbrella on the way as both of mine were in the train station but the new one is bigger and is fun to play with as it can be used as a cane. Lunch of calzone at the other recommmended pizza place from the book. Catacombs weren't visitable until 2 which was too late so we walked down a side street looking at shops which we think were all for manger scenes as all the figures were religious. The Duomo was closed as well, this whole closing in the middle of the day thing that Europe has is not very logical to me, so we headed back to the Metro. Then the cultural experience that we don't ever want to repeat happened. We were getting onto the Metro and I had to get out my wallet to buy a ticket. So we go to put them in the machines and this guy tried to "help me" but I had heard it click. I couldn't shake him off though until I felt fingers on my left side near my purse. I whirled around and shouted "what do you think you're doing?" at him and he backed away. I went through with no problems after that. But that incident just solidified my distaste for Naples. The rain helped as well, but it felt like a beach town and sort of looked like one too. But nothing happened after that incident and that incident was averted so all is well. So don't worry, family. Took the train back to Rome, got into hostel fine and watched some of Pride and Prejudice, the BBC version as Hillary had her laptop with her.
Thursday: Best Laid Plans...Day. Another trek to Termini to drop off luggage then went to Ottaviano to go to the Vatican Museums where we encountered a huge line, which we weren't exactly expecting. An hour or so later we finally get in but had to race through as we wanted to see the Sistine Chapel before trying to go to noon Mass. We saw it, it was nice, but couldn't take pictures (bad attitude) and the museum was closing at 12:30 (winter times are lame in Italy) so we couldn't go back. However, once we're out of the museums, having trekked all the way around to the square, the line to get into the Vatican was really long too. So, no Mass and a poor job on the museums for nothing. Hillary went off to the Maritime Prison and I got in the line. Randomly, the woman in front of me who was traveling with her daughter was not only American, but went to AU! She's now working at the University of Hawaii and was on a belated post college graduation trip with her daughter. They were fun to talk to. Once past the metal detectors, the reason for the back up, I skipped the line to the dome and wandered around St. Peter's. My religion really does have a nice place here, lots of stuff in the museums too. Couldn't light a candle in St. Peter's, which makes sense due to the number of people around and the place'd probably burn down. Then mailed a postcard from the Vatican Post Office and went to the Colosseum for souvenirs then took the train to Florence, hiking about 10 minutes from the bus stop to the actual hostel because it was in an old villa, pretty but a hike. Found out we'd only booked one night but shelved it until the next day. Happy 18th schwesters!!
Friday: Found out hostel didn't have any openings for that night so we called around and found one that did, cheaper and closer to the train station. Dropped stuff then went into Florence. Went to the Duomo and saw the doors of the Baptistry, the church was really pretty with colored marble and stuff. Then went on to the Uffizi Museum (having reserved tickets the day before) and did it properly, seeing everything. Lunch near the museum, had the local specialty of bruschetta with pasta. Went to the Accademia to see David in all his 14 foot glory. Saw the synagogue but it was closed. On to Palazzo Vecchio, the government center and former Medici residence before they moved. Toured it, twas nice, all palatial-y. Saw the Piazza delle Repubblica then on to dinner where we had regional soup-it was a cold day! Pretty skies, but cold. Went back to the hostel where we had our own room, got to use an elevator, were next to the church, and generally considered it to be a gift from on high to make up for the day before.
Saturday: Morning train to Pisa. Walked to Piazza del Duomo, past hundreds of kids who were either scouting or doing some sort of scavanger thing with hats (no idea really). Saw the Leaning Tower, and yes, it leans. We took a couple fun pictures then went inside the Duomo (which was nice) then got souvenirs on our way back to the train station for the train to Venice. Hostel is called Camping del Serenissima for a reason-really does feel like Girl Scout camp with small cabins and space for tents and RVs. We walked down the road for dinner, reasonably priced pizza and warmth which was nice.
Sunday: Venice! Walked around Piazza San Marco before Mass at St. Mark's. Lunch off the piazza (really good lasagna) then a tour of the Doge's Palace led by me and the guidebook. Off to Murano via water taxi (really useful and sorta fun), bought glass but as it was Sunday, the workshops were closed. Back to San Marco for masks and by 5 PM it was already getting dark, which is insane and feels just wrong. Off to the Rialto bridge to buy me a handmade leather bound journal that the guidebook talked about, the couple who owns the shop were so nice too. Back to the hostel to get warm and relax.
Monday: Took forever to get to the airport as we had to take buses. First from the hostel to Venice, then a bus out to Treviso, then another bus to the airport as we were flying RyanAir and thus at a small airport. Took about 3 hours altogether but we didn't have a line for security, a plus with the small airport. Flight back, bus from Charleloi to Midi then via metro back to host home. Unpacked and relaxed. :)
General thoughts: A good trip, overall. Got dark around 5:30 which is crazy, and got cold towards the end of the week, colder than expected which wasn't fun. But we had a great time, I took about 614 pictures (without changing memory cards mind you) and now am dealing with labeling all of them, so pictures will be up on Facebook later this week...as in this weekend.
28 October 2006
Midpoint Week
Monday: Long day spent listening to cultural exchange presentations. We were put into groups with two or three EPHEC, a business school at Alma, students. Mine went well, and since we're not being graded, it went great. I tried to correct some grammar mistakes made by the EPHEC students just putting the French version of their paper through a translation program, but they didn't seem to get some of them. It's maple syrup, not syrup of maple. My one problem, which a lot of us have voiced, is that I felt like I was back in high school. The school has actual bells to tell people when to go to class, not a sound I'm used to anymore, they're rude to their professors, talk during presentations. Just disappointing on the whole. Then we went to French class which was a barrel of laughs, as always.
Tuesday: Internship. I...ah...checked my CSW email...and did some reading for EU Seminar 1...and watched some Daily Show clips. Yeah, not much to do. European Security seminar that evening, more Balkans. Problem is that Jamie jumps around, so I've a feeling I'll need to do some reading on the Balkan history before the test to get everything straight.
Wednesday: Actual stuff to do at the internship-researching parliamentary questions for answers. More reading for EU Seminar 1, for the test on Friday.
Thursday: Class day. Defense Economics, European Security Seminar, EU Seminar 2. Studying for the test.
Friday: EU Seminar I midterm. Wasn't terrible. The rest of the day was spent back at the house, not doing much of anything.
Saturday: Morning/most of the afternoon spent at school in the hallway to use the Internet, as it's faster here and I'll trade speed for the comfort of home. Church.
Tomorrow's activities will be included in the super long post about Fall Break, which we are currently enjoying. Oh, and I made another album on Facebook for those family members interested, i.e. Mum, as Mini Europe dominates the album. :) Well, I'm off to Italy tomorrow. Land of temperatures projected to be in the 70s, gelato, pizza, old buildings, and...other stuff.
Tuesday: Internship. I...ah...checked my CSW email...and did some reading for EU Seminar 1...and watched some Daily Show clips. Yeah, not much to do. European Security seminar that evening, more Balkans. Problem is that Jamie jumps around, so I've a feeling I'll need to do some reading on the Balkan history before the test to get everything straight.
Wednesday: Actual stuff to do at the internship-researching parliamentary questions for answers. More reading for EU Seminar 1, for the test on Friday.
Thursday: Class day. Defense Economics, European Security Seminar, EU Seminar 2. Studying for the test.
Friday: EU Seminar I midterm. Wasn't terrible. The rest of the day was spent back at the house, not doing much of anything.
Saturday: Morning/most of the afternoon spent at school in the hallway to use the Internet, as it's faster here and I'll trade speed for the comfort of home. Church.
Tomorrow's activities will be included in the super long post about Fall Break, which we are currently enjoying. Oh, and I made another album on Facebook for those family members interested, i.e. Mum, as Mini Europe dominates the album. :) Well, I'm off to Italy tomorrow. Land of temperatures projected to be in the 70s, gelato, pizza, old buildings, and...other stuff.
23 October 2006
Last Weekend Before Fall Break
Thursday: Class day, EU Seminar II, Defense Economics, EU Seminar 1. Lotsa economics and such.
Friday: Free day! I went to the Museum of Musical Instruments by the Royal Palace. It was awesome! Lots of instruments and headphones came with the ticket and played music done by the instrument in front of you. Pretty building too. Then I did assorted Brussels/EU gear shopping I'd put off. Really just got 2 t-shirts.
Saturday: Day of wandering around the Grand Place and Rue Neuve, the main shopping street, with Sara and Erofile. It was pretty fun. And educational. I helped Sara pick out an outfit for her boyfriend. We were going for the urban but not gangster look. While avoiding blue. It was pretty fun. :) For dinner I went to the Lebanese place around the corner from host family's house with Sara, Erofile, Erin, and Sarah Brown and her friend Laura. We were there for about three hours just talking and eating Mediterranean food. Yummy!
Sunday: Sara's birthday! Happy 20th! We went to Mini Europe which is like Splendid China only an EU propaganda machine and yet subtle. It has models of landmarks from every EU member country including a huge Houses of Parliament, the Grand Place, the Brandenburg Gate complete with a small Berlin wall which is being torn down (very cool). Since I took pictures of, oh, everything, expect another album on Facebook quite soon. The Laysons had a nice dinner for Sara, curry chicken which certainly cleared out my sinuses and a very good chocolate icing layer cake partially made with shredded almonds.
It was a good weekend but this week is going to be filled with research for papers and studying for the EU Seminar 1 test on Friday. But Fall Break is next week! Less than a week until I'm in Italy! Ciao!
Friday: Free day! I went to the Museum of Musical Instruments by the Royal Palace. It was awesome! Lots of instruments and headphones came with the ticket and played music done by the instrument in front of you. Pretty building too. Then I did assorted Brussels/EU gear shopping I'd put off. Really just got 2 t-shirts.
Saturday: Day of wandering around the Grand Place and Rue Neuve, the main shopping street, with Sara and Erofile. It was pretty fun. And educational. I helped Sara pick out an outfit for her boyfriend. We were going for the urban but not gangster look. While avoiding blue. It was pretty fun. :) For dinner I went to the Lebanese place around the corner from host family's house with Sara, Erofile, Erin, and Sarah Brown and her friend Laura. We were there for about three hours just talking and eating Mediterranean food. Yummy!
Sunday: Sara's birthday! Happy 20th! We went to Mini Europe which is like Splendid China only an EU propaganda machine and yet subtle. It has models of landmarks from every EU member country including a huge Houses of Parliament, the Grand Place, the Brandenburg Gate complete with a small Berlin wall which is being torn down (very cool). Since I took pictures of, oh, everything, expect another album on Facebook quite soon. The Laysons had a nice dinner for Sara, curry chicken which certainly cleared out my sinuses and a very good chocolate icing layer cake partially made with shredded almonds.
It was a good weekend but this week is going to be filled with research for papers and studying for the EU Seminar 1 test on Friday. But Fall Break is next week! Less than a week until I'm in Italy! Ciao!
19 October 2006
Internship Days
Tuesday: Fought the wireless computer at work to do some research on UN conventions, finally managed it, sort of, but I played a lot of solitare waiting for it to connect. But I got to make a huge list of un convention signatories and color coded EU countries, accession countries, and EFTA countries. Sorta fun. Went to AUBC for a Jamie optional session but he didn't make it so we all just hung out for about an hour and a half and I read about 98 pages of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Odd book, but I'm sure it'd make more sense in the movie. I hope.
Wednesday: Sent out over 60 emails about Colombia to a couple Parliament committees, the Commission, and the Council. Got a nice reply from one of them! :) Called me Mrs. Koons though, but how could the MEP know I'm only 20? *shrug* Did some more UN conventin research and watched some Daily Show and Colbert Report over lunch. I was on a better computer, nicer even.
Not much else going on. Weather is still spastic, sunny and rainy, cold yet warm in the sun. Go figure. It feels a bit like fall though, which is nice. :)
Wednesday: Sent out over 60 emails about Colombia to a couple Parliament committees, the Commission, and the Council. Got a nice reply from one of them! :) Called me Mrs. Koons though, but how could the MEP know I'm only 20? *shrug* Did some more UN conventin research and watched some Daily Show and Colbert Report over lunch. I was on a better computer, nicer even.
Not much else going on. Weather is still spastic, sunny and rainy, cold yet warm in the sun. Go figure. It feels a bit like fall though, which is nice. :)
16 October 2006
Last Week and Academic Field Trip 2-Luxembourg and Maastricht
Monday: Long class day with two EU Seminar 1 lectures and a European Security thing with Jamie Shea. Oh, and French. Learned some vocabulary...and such.
Tuesday: Internship day. Wrote some summaries of reports on life in a couple countries. It's not fun to live in either Sudan or Colombia these days.
Wednesday: More internship stuff. Some research on Council press releases for countries CSW cares about. Met the bus at 7 for the trip to Luxembourg. I got there early and everything and then...I realized I forgot my camera. So, any and all pictures you see on Facebook are not mine. I'll try to credit where they're all from. So, frustration set in on the trip right at the beginning.
Thursday: Long day in Luxembourg. Went to Court of Justice for speakers. We were supposed to watch a hearing but it got cancelled on us. Anyway, it was interesting and we got stuff from them. Pamphlets and the like. Then we did a city tour led by Jerry which was pretty cool then we were let loose on our own. I really liked the Cathedral, I think it might even be my favorite so far. The city was quite small, but pretty.
Friday: Tour of the casemates, really long tunnels and such that went under the fortresses on the cliff things. Had openings for cannons and such. We then went to the European Investment Bank. Kinda dry but a very informative and sorta interesting. We then drove to Maastricht.
Saturday: Maastricht! New city, new country. First time in the Netherlands for me. We went to the caves of St. Pietersburg. Really extensive system of tunnels made by stone miners, the stone is softer underground and hardens up outside so it's good for building. It's very pure air and always 50 degrees but has no electric lighting so we used kerosene lamps. We even went through a small section for the "extreme" experience- in the dark with no light whatsoever. So we felt along the walls until we got to the guide and the lamps. I have such a new appreciation for being blind-I don't like it. We then went on a guided city tour. Saw some churches, old buildings, the building where the Maastricht Treaty was signed, linking the city to our classes. We then had free time so I walked around to find souvenirs and found some. :)
Sunday: Bus ride to Tongeren, tried to go to the history museum but it was closed due to construction. So we walked around the antiques market which is massive and sometimes has scary dead animals. But lots of chandeliers, randomly. Then on to Leuven for a Jerry tour of the university and city. Fifth oldest in Europe, you know. Catholic too. Lotsa churches and religious figures as buildings. Saint's body's there too. Damian, he worked with lepers in Hawaii and was cannonized in the 90s. Then back to Brussels. Did laundry and used host family's wireless for the first time!! So family, I can Skype from home now! Woot.
Monday: EU Seminar 2, Defense Economics, EU Seminar 2. Competition Policy, Procurement, and the Budget. Very interesting. Sure.
Tuesday: Internship day. Wrote some summaries of reports on life in a couple countries. It's not fun to live in either Sudan or Colombia these days.
Wednesday: More internship stuff. Some research on Council press releases for countries CSW cares about. Met the bus at 7 for the trip to Luxembourg. I got there early and everything and then...I realized I forgot my camera. So, any and all pictures you see on Facebook are not mine. I'll try to credit where they're all from. So, frustration set in on the trip right at the beginning.
Thursday: Long day in Luxembourg. Went to Court of Justice for speakers. We were supposed to watch a hearing but it got cancelled on us. Anyway, it was interesting and we got stuff from them. Pamphlets and the like. Then we did a city tour led by Jerry which was pretty cool then we were let loose on our own. I really liked the Cathedral, I think it might even be my favorite so far. The city was quite small, but pretty.
Friday: Tour of the casemates, really long tunnels and such that went under the fortresses on the cliff things. Had openings for cannons and such. We then went to the European Investment Bank. Kinda dry but a very informative and sorta interesting. We then drove to Maastricht.
Saturday: Maastricht! New city, new country. First time in the Netherlands for me. We went to the caves of St. Pietersburg. Really extensive system of tunnels made by stone miners, the stone is softer underground and hardens up outside so it's good for building. It's very pure air and always 50 degrees but has no electric lighting so we used kerosene lamps. We even went through a small section for the "extreme" experience- in the dark with no light whatsoever. So we felt along the walls until we got to the guide and the lamps. I have such a new appreciation for being blind-I don't like it. We then went on a guided city tour. Saw some churches, old buildings, the building where the Maastricht Treaty was signed, linking the city to our classes. We then had free time so I walked around to find souvenirs and found some. :)
Sunday: Bus ride to Tongeren, tried to go to the history museum but it was closed due to construction. So we walked around the antiques market which is massive and sometimes has scary dead animals. But lots of chandeliers, randomly. Then on to Leuven for a Jerry tour of the university and city. Fifth oldest in Europe, you know. Catholic too. Lotsa churches and religious figures as buildings. Saint's body's there too. Damian, he worked with lepers in Hawaii and was cannonized in the 90s. Then back to Brussels. Did laundry and used host family's wireless for the first time!! So family, I can Skype from home now! Woot.
Monday: EU Seminar 2, Defense Economics, EU Seminar 2. Competition Policy, Procurement, and the Budget. Very interesting. Sure.
09 October 2006
Glorious Weekend of Nothingness
Well....almost nothing.
Friday: Actually a bit productive but slept for oh, 10 or so hours? At least. I met with my cultural exchange group to talk about US food. Then went for confession as I missed Mass last weekend due to the trip. Then I went back to the house to relax and play the Sims and watch some downloaded TV shows.
Saturday: Went to campus to the use the Internet in the afternoon, went to Mass at a church on Rue Neuve, played Sims.
Sunday: Played Sims, oh, all day. Other random stuff of no consequence.
So really, not productive at all. It was very relaxing. I'll make up for it this next weekend because we're going to Luxembourg and Maastricht. So, short entry because nothing much happened. :)
Friday: Actually a bit productive but slept for oh, 10 or so hours? At least. I met with my cultural exchange group to talk about US food. Then went for confession as I missed Mass last weekend due to the trip. Then I went back to the house to relax and play the Sims and watch some downloaded TV shows.
Saturday: Went to campus to the use the Internet in the afternoon, went to Mass at a church on Rue Neuve, played Sims.
Sunday: Played Sims, oh, all day. Other random stuff of no consequence.
So really, not productive at all. It was very relaxing. I'll make up for it this next weekend because we're going to Luxembourg and Maastricht. So, short entry because nothing much happened. :)
05 October 2006
Internship Days and Class Day
Tuesday: Did some research for CSW then went to the International Trade Committee meeting to take notes. The European Parliament has a couple really nice buildings. It was pretty cool if not the most interesting thing in the world.
Wednesday: Long day at Parliament again. Went to the Foreign Affairs committee which was more interesting than the Trade one. I got to hear/see Javier Solana address them too. :) For those of you not versed in EU stuff, he's the Secretary General of the Council and the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, thus an important person. He was on our first test too, thus it was doubly cool.
Thursday: EU Seminar II test, ugh. I dislike economics. European Security seminar, Defense Economics seminar, nothing!
We've entered the Belgium weather phase of the semester it seems. It's cold, been kinda rainy and the high for the next six days isn't going to get above 65 degrees. And my nose is rebelling. Of course. Because it's been nice so why not hate Jennifer now. *rolls eyes* I plan to hole up for the next few days and relax. It'll be fun. =)
Wednesday: Long day at Parliament again. Went to the Foreign Affairs committee which was more interesting than the Trade one. I got to hear/see Javier Solana address them too. :) For those of you not versed in EU stuff, he's the Secretary General of the Council and the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, thus an important person. He was on our first test too, thus it was doubly cool.
Thursday: EU Seminar II test, ugh. I dislike economics. European Security seminar, Defense Economics seminar, nothing!
We've entered the Belgium weather phase of the semester it seems. It's cold, been kinda rainy and the high for the next six days isn't going to get above 65 degrees. And my nose is rebelling. Of course. Because it's been nice so why not hate Jennifer now. *rolls eyes* I plan to hole up for the next few days and relax. It'll be fun. =)
02 October 2006
Very Good News
I've been accepted to King's College in London for Spring 2007!!! I've been provisionally allocated Greek Philosophy and Epistemology and Metaphysics. So, today is a good day! This was all pretty fast too, only took a couple weeks I think as the date on the acceptance letter attached to the email was September 28th. So, yay! A good day.
Academic Field Trip 1-Stasbourg and Trier
Monday: Class day as well as meeting with my group from one of the schools here on the UCL campus. Our topic is food, showing the differences between Belgium and the US. It's a cultural exchange...should be interesting, I hope.
Tuesday: No internship, everyone's traveling. First test here in Brussels...EU Seminar I, as in the three major institutions, history, and legislative procedures. As in, a lot of stuff. I think I did okay...I'll find out at the end of this next class.
Wednesday: Packing, got October's abonnement, productive for about two hours then played the Sims until I left to meet the bus. We drove to St. Avold as a halfway point to Strasbourg that night.
Thursday: Busy day. Walking tour of Strasbourg, saw the Clock do it's thing in the Cathedral, went to European Parliament, listened to Peter Stasny talk about being an MEP, hotel, dinner out in Strasbourg on our own. I had a regional thing for dinner: Choucroute Alsace (I think that's how it's spelled): basically a base of sauerkraut with five different kinds of meat on top. Quite good if a bit pricy which was alleviated by splitting it with another girl on the program. For complete explanations of the clock, a picture is needed so wait for the album on Facebook.
Friday: Another busy day. Went to the Council of Europe (the human rights organization that has 46 members and includes countries like Turkey and Russia whereas the EU does not), went into Alsace to Riquewehr to see a town with mostly a German influence over the centuries, toured the Koenigsbourg castle, back to Strasbourg. For dinner I had another regional dish: tarte flambee, basically a pizza like thing with a thin cream-ish layer, onions and bits of ham. Also quite good.
Saturday: Off to Trier. Long walking tour to see all the old Roman stuff: part of a gate, the Cathedral which has 5 different architectural styles, Constantine's (yes, that guy) throne hall (which interestingly enough is now a Protestant church), the Roman baths and the best preserved sewer system outside Rome, and the amphitheater where people died and gladiators fought. And yes, I can now say I have been bar hopping. So, it was two bars, but whatever. And I didn't drink anything, of course. But I turned it into a sociological study (nerdy, I know). Apparently going to bars means you a) drink, b) stand around, c) talk really loud to be heard, d) butt into other people's conversations, e) attempt to listen to the music, and f) either encourage or discourage advances by others. And both were smoky. Ugh. But it was social and interesting if not a really good time.
Sunday: Bad day. I made the mistake of going kayaking. Sure, it was pretty. But we must have gotten stuck on rocks at least a dozen times and turned around at least that much. And if I know next to nothing about kayaking, my partner knew even less. It hurt, it took forever, and it was not fun. And this is putting it lightly. I'm not a sporty person, a fact hammered home a lot yesterday. Needless to say, as I type, my shoulders are protesting...very loudly.
Monday: Class day. Morning trip to the Justus Lipsius building-Council of the EU building. Another speaker but we've now been to two of the three main EU instutions.
Busy week, but we've now been here a month and a day. I guess it seems that long...but this next month will pass even faster due to the trips.
Tuesday: No internship, everyone's traveling. First test here in Brussels...EU Seminar I, as in the three major institutions, history, and legislative procedures. As in, a lot of stuff. I think I did okay...I'll find out at the end of this next class.
Wednesday: Packing, got October's abonnement, productive for about two hours then played the Sims until I left to meet the bus. We drove to St. Avold as a halfway point to Strasbourg that night.
Thursday: Busy day. Walking tour of Strasbourg, saw the Clock do it's thing in the Cathedral, went to European Parliament, listened to Peter Stasny talk about being an MEP, hotel, dinner out in Strasbourg on our own. I had a regional thing for dinner: Choucroute Alsace (I think that's how it's spelled): basically a base of sauerkraut with five different kinds of meat on top. Quite good if a bit pricy which was alleviated by splitting it with another girl on the program. For complete explanations of the clock, a picture is needed so wait for the album on Facebook.
Friday: Another busy day. Went to the Council of Europe (the human rights organization that has 46 members and includes countries like Turkey and Russia whereas the EU does not), went into Alsace to Riquewehr to see a town with mostly a German influence over the centuries, toured the Koenigsbourg castle, back to Strasbourg. For dinner I had another regional dish: tarte flambee, basically a pizza like thing with a thin cream-ish layer, onions and bits of ham. Also quite good.
Saturday: Off to Trier. Long walking tour to see all the old Roman stuff: part of a gate, the Cathedral which has 5 different architectural styles, Constantine's (yes, that guy) throne hall (which interestingly enough is now a Protestant church), the Roman baths and the best preserved sewer system outside Rome, and the amphitheater where people died and gladiators fought. And yes, I can now say I have been bar hopping. So, it was two bars, but whatever. And I didn't drink anything, of course. But I turned it into a sociological study (nerdy, I know). Apparently going to bars means you a) drink, b) stand around, c) talk really loud to be heard, d) butt into other people's conversations, e) attempt to listen to the music, and f) either encourage or discourage advances by others. And both were smoky. Ugh. But it was social and interesting if not a really good time.
Sunday: Bad day. I made the mistake of going kayaking. Sure, it was pretty. But we must have gotten stuck on rocks at least a dozen times and turned around at least that much. And if I know next to nothing about kayaking, my partner knew even less. It hurt, it took forever, and it was not fun. And this is putting it lightly. I'm not a sporty person, a fact hammered home a lot yesterday. Needless to say, as I type, my shoulders are protesting...very loudly.
Monday: Class day. Morning trip to the Justus Lipsius building-Council of the EU building. Another speaker but we've now been to two of the three main EU instutions.
Busy week, but we've now been here a month and a day. I guess it seems that long...but this next month will pass even faster due to the trips.
25 September 2006
A relaxing weekend...
Thursday: full day of class, EU Seminar 1, European Security with Jamie, and EU Seminar 2
Friday: Went to Hillary's homestay to plan Fall Break- we're going to Italy! Flying into Rome and out of Venice. Should be a lot of fun.
Saturday: Went to the Military Museum with Sara then the Welcome Fair, sort of a Brussels/Belgium information fair thing. Saw Jerry there...we were joking when we first gave a woman directions to the building that it'd be something he'd likely be at...and he was. Kind of funny. And there was a random gospel group...made me think if the Blues Brothers.
Sunday: Liege with Sara and Krishna. It was...nice. They had this huge Sunday market going on but we didn't get to wander very much. We tried to find the Glass Museum and failed but we did go to the Museum of Religious Art. But our tour guide didn't or wouldn't speak English so she and Sara had a lovely conversation while Krishna and I looked at stuff. It was shiny...and pretty but it was an odd way to see it, with the lady hovering kind of. We then walked up a very steep hill (and I'm not a hiker type of person) to the Citadel which is really an old brick wall, an obelisk monument, and a hospital. All in all though, we went on a train and it was nice to get out of the city and see more of Beligum.
Friday: Went to Hillary's homestay to plan Fall Break- we're going to Italy! Flying into Rome and out of Venice. Should be a lot of fun.
Saturday: Went to the Military Museum with Sara then the Welcome Fair, sort of a Brussels/Belgium information fair thing. Saw Jerry there...we were joking when we first gave a woman directions to the building that it'd be something he'd likely be at...and he was. Kind of funny. And there was a random gospel group...made me think if the Blues Brothers.
Sunday: Liege with Sara and Krishna. It was...nice. They had this huge Sunday market going on but we didn't get to wander very much. We tried to find the Glass Museum and failed but we did go to the Museum of Religious Art. But our tour guide didn't or wouldn't speak English so she and Sara had a lovely conversation while Krishna and I looked at stuff. It was shiny...and pretty but it was an odd way to see it, with the lady hovering kind of. We then walked up a very steep hill (and I'm not a hiker type of person) to the Citadel which is really an old brick wall, an obelisk monument, and a hospital. All in all though, we went on a train and it was nice to get out of the city and see more of Beligum.
21 September 2006
My first couple days of the internship
So, I'm interning at a place called C.S.W., aka Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Sorta like Amnesty International but focusing on religious freedoms with the same country watches and public information campaigns.
Tuesday: Didn't do a whole lot, read different briefings basically learning how not nice it can be in other countries, mostly in the third world. Burma, not so fun. Sudan too. Did research on the Council of Europe.
Wednesday: Didn't have to go in until 10:30! Called a bunch of MEP (Member of European Parliament) offices to see if they got an invitation to a reception being held next week in Strasbourg on religious intolerance. Want to call them? O2 284 + extension, starting with the 7, because you call assistants, not the MEP. Then I did some research on Indonesia's Aceh province and their thing with shari'a law. Also organized photos.
I think it'll be a good time, on the whole. Next week I have off as everyone's traveling and the week after I get to go to committee meetings, which should be a lot of fun. Or just interesting...at least I'm determined that they will be.
On another note, I've made albums on Facebook of all my pictures (well, sorta) so far. But as I've taken over 500...I was selective. Check it out here: http://american.facebook.com/photos.php?id=7402928 If it doesn't work, please let me know and I'll work on getting everyone access.
Tuesday: Didn't do a whole lot, read different briefings basically learning how not nice it can be in other countries, mostly in the third world. Burma, not so fun. Sudan too. Did research on the Council of Europe.
Wednesday: Didn't have to go in until 10:30! Called a bunch of MEP (Member of European Parliament) offices to see if they got an invitation to a reception being held next week in Strasbourg on religious intolerance. Want to call them? O2 284 + extension, starting with the 7, because you call assistants, not the MEP. Then I did some research on Indonesia's Aceh province and their thing with shari'a law. Also organized photos.
I think it'll be a good time, on the whole. Next week I have off as everyone's traveling and the week after I get to go to committee meetings, which should be a lot of fun. Or just interesting...at least I'm determined that they will be.
On another note, I've made albums on Facebook of all my pictures (well, sorta) so far. But as I've taken over 500...I was selective. Check it out here: http://american.facebook.com/photos.php?id=7402928 If it doesn't work, please let me know and I'll work on getting everyone access.
18 September 2006
My weekend in Paris
Thursday: Bus was supposed to leave at 7, really left around 7:25 ish. Then we hit traffic so we got in late, around midnight at least. So, we're at the end of 3 and had to get to the end of the 12. We change tracks at Saint-Lazare, figuring a short walk or just stairs but no, it's a very long walk and the last train is at 12:45 and it's about 12:35 right now. So other people start to run, so we do too. It's a long rain with all our junk and several sets of stairs. We made it to a train on the 12 in the right direction and got everyone on thanks to Mamie wedging the door open for Tamara. We get to the right stop, tired and thirsty and then proceed to trek the five or so blocks to the hostel. But we get there and get some sleep.
Friday: Long day, but very productive and successful. Eiffel Tower in the morning, Musee de Orsay, Notre Dame, Arc d'Triumphe by taking a picture in the middle of the Champs de Elysees, the Louvre. We had limited visibility from the tower due to the cloud cover and light rain. From there we took a boat down to the Orsay (and continued to use it to get to the next few stops). The Orsay was cool (didn't have much time at any of these places but we hit the highlights) we saw the impressionists, Monet and the like. Back on the boat to Notre Dame, went around the church and visited a small wine festival. Back on the boat to the Champs de Elysees stop to walk up to take a picture of the Arc and did so by standing in the middle of traffic. Red and green man became our constant companions (red man-don't walk-was very stern most of the time). Then we walked down to the Louvre (a long walk) but got in for free due to it being after 6 and the fact that we were students. Again, saw the highlights, Mona, Venus, Winged Victory, Coronation of Napoleon, the big stuff.
Saturday: Woke early to get to Versailles to avoid a lot of the crowds (sorta succeeded). It was very pretty, we just did the Grand Apartments tour. So, the big stuff again. It was nice, ornate, over the top but we got an audio guide with the ticket, so it had plenty of good information. Then on to Montmartre. I took a tram up to the Sacre Coeur because I know my own limits. It was worth the metro ticket. It was a very nice church and I wandered a bit before leaving and managing to meet up with Sean, Sarah, and Mamie to wander around the art shops. Then we decided to kill time before meeting up with everyone else by sitting on the steps of the church. Happened to sit near a guitar player, and we happened to stick around and he happened to be joined by about 6 other guitar guys. It turned into a big jam session and we stuck around for about three hours or so. It was a ton of fun and we got to see the sunset, which was really pretty over the city. We got a late dinner (three courses, fixed menu at 10 euro) then split up, some to go listen to the guys again who were now near Notre Dame and three of us (me included) to get some sleep.
Sunday: Allie came with me to church at Notre Dame, we decided on the Gregorian Mass at 10 so we got to hear then chant style and Latin, so I really didn't understand anything but whatever. It was gorgeous and I went to Mass at Notre Dame, so there. We then got brunch and went to a Starbucks for Allie then went to get our stuff from the hostel and off to the bus station. Bus ride was long than it was supposed to be again because another bus in the same company broke down and a 20 minute stop turned into about an hour with more people getting on and shrinking our space so none of us really got any sleep.
All in all:
The Metro's stupid, but well lit and nice trains. Small tickets that you have to get and buying more than one doesn't mean one ticket works more than once, no you end up with several small tickets equal to how many you bought. And transferring between lines means walking through an underground maze to the other line, not going up or down or something that we're used to.
Paris: very pretty, good architecture and landmarks. A bit pricy though and too many smokers-bad for the allergies.
So...a good time was had by all and I had a lot of fun!
Friday: Long day, but very productive and successful. Eiffel Tower in the morning, Musee de Orsay, Notre Dame, Arc d'Triumphe by taking a picture in the middle of the Champs de Elysees, the Louvre. We had limited visibility from the tower due to the cloud cover and light rain. From there we took a boat down to the Orsay (and continued to use it to get to the next few stops). The Orsay was cool (didn't have much time at any of these places but we hit the highlights) we saw the impressionists, Monet and the like. Back on the boat to Notre Dame, went around the church and visited a small wine festival. Back on the boat to the Champs de Elysees stop to walk up to take a picture of the Arc and did so by standing in the middle of traffic. Red and green man became our constant companions (red man-don't walk-was very stern most of the time). Then we walked down to the Louvre (a long walk) but got in for free due to it being after 6 and the fact that we were students. Again, saw the highlights, Mona, Venus, Winged Victory, Coronation of Napoleon, the big stuff.
Saturday: Woke early to get to Versailles to avoid a lot of the crowds (sorta succeeded). It was very pretty, we just did the Grand Apartments tour. So, the big stuff again. It was nice, ornate, over the top but we got an audio guide with the ticket, so it had plenty of good information. Then on to Montmartre. I took a tram up to the Sacre Coeur because I know my own limits. It was worth the metro ticket. It was a very nice church and I wandered a bit before leaving and managing to meet up with Sean, Sarah, and Mamie to wander around the art shops. Then we decided to kill time before meeting up with everyone else by sitting on the steps of the church. Happened to sit near a guitar player, and we happened to stick around and he happened to be joined by about 6 other guitar guys. It turned into a big jam session and we stuck around for about three hours or so. It was a ton of fun and we got to see the sunset, which was really pretty over the city. We got a late dinner (three courses, fixed menu at 10 euro) then split up, some to go listen to the guys again who were now near Notre Dame and three of us (me included) to get some sleep.
Sunday: Allie came with me to church at Notre Dame, we decided on the Gregorian Mass at 10 so we got to hear then chant style and Latin, so I really didn't understand anything but whatever. It was gorgeous and I went to Mass at Notre Dame, so there. We then got brunch and went to a Starbucks for Allie then went to get our stuff from the hostel and off to the bus station. Bus ride was long than it was supposed to be again because another bus in the same company broke down and a 20 minute stop turned into about an hour with more people getting on and shrinking our space so none of us really got any sleep.
All in all:
The Metro's stupid, but well lit and nice trains. Small tickets that you have to get and buying more than one doesn't mean one ticket works more than once, no you end up with several small tickets equal to how many you bought. And transferring between lines means walking through an underground maze to the other line, not going up or down or something that we're used to.
Paris: very pretty, good architecture and landmarks. A bit pricy though and too many smokers-bad for the allergies.
So...a good time was had by all and I had a lot of fun!
14 September 2006
Photos
I've uploaded some photos to Flickr, so see the link in the sidebar. I'm going to figure out either a better way of doing it or just putting them on Facebook and posting the link.
13 September 2006
Brussels Post the Third
Busy past few days on my end, but the weather's been nice and sunny on the whole.
Saturday: Did some reading then went down to the Grand Place to meet up with Hillary. We visited the Coudenberg, a museum of excavated ruins of old buildings on the spot where the Royal Palace now stands, basically a chapel and a palace built for previous rulers of the city before a fire and the buildings were leveled. That was Saturday's highlight.
Sunday: Bruges!!! Jerry gave us a tour then let us loose, so I went with Hillary to the Hospital Museum where they have this box by Memling about St. Ursula. Kinda cool. We went in the Cathedral to see a Pieta by Michelangelo, "a" not "the" because there are several and this one is less...graphic. It's just Mary and a three year old Jesus. Also in the church were statues of the apostles with how they died. Peter with an upside down cross, etc. He's the only one I could pick out. Perhaps Mum would like to help with the rest?
Monday: Two interviews, European Link and C.S.W. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide), my two most promising and interesting interviews. Then the first class with Dr. Jamie Shea, of NATO. He was the spokesman during the thing in 1999, dunno which thing, he told us but I seem to have forgotten. Anyway, he's British and funny and invited us all to lunch with him at NATO! Very cool. Then we had a class on the European Commission followed by my first Living in French class. I miss German and American language education. The former because I find myself remembering more the more I hear French and the latter because the teacher started in French and only spoke a few sentences total in 90 minutes in English. It's how they learn languages, the new language right from the beginning, but I hate feeling stupid at the beginning of a class. So, I can now sorta say my name is Jennifer, I am a student, I am single and have no children (Sara says I can now go on a date and get the important things out of the way first), and that I live in America.
Tuesday: Next two interviews with Bertelsmann Foundation (owners of the a media company with the same name, they own Random House and BMG, I believe) and Costmasters/Mediprotect. The former was great, the secretary was speaking German on the phone, which was great, but the second was disappointing. I was there before the guy was and the work he wanted done would likely take a full time person a year, or at least six months. I'll be interning for about 20 days, I don't have the time to study and understand EU regulation and then apply it to the medical devices industry. The regulation would be interesting, the rest of it, not so much. In the states, you're supposed to start out working to write regulation in the executive agencies then later in your career help companies get around it or understand it. I don't think it would be good for my career to work around things before I help create them. Besides, it's way too hard to get to.
Wednesday: Lotsa free time before my last interview, OCO Consulting. So, I went to hand the letters to the police so they can come make sure we live where we say we do. Only thing is that the address given was way out at the other side of the commune and was the wrong one. They were very helpful and spoke English and told me where to go. But when I got to the correct police station, the person trying to help me didn't speak English. So he found a guy who did and we eventually got it straightened out. But yet another adventure happened in the interim. But I did go into a small Apple store-so now I feel all warm and fuzzy. :) Yes, I am such a nerd about some things.
My next post shall contain everything I did this coming weekend while in Paris! I'm going on a bus with about eight other people and we're all staying in a hostel together. Should be fun if it doesn't rain as I've heard it might. Either way, expect a blow by blow account and pictures!
Saturday: Did some reading then went down to the Grand Place to meet up with Hillary. We visited the Coudenberg, a museum of excavated ruins of old buildings on the spot where the Royal Palace now stands, basically a chapel and a palace built for previous rulers of the city before a fire and the buildings were leveled. That was Saturday's highlight.
Sunday: Bruges!!! Jerry gave us a tour then let us loose, so I went with Hillary to the Hospital Museum where they have this box by Memling about St. Ursula. Kinda cool. We went in the Cathedral to see a Pieta by Michelangelo, "a" not "the" because there are several and this one is less...graphic. It's just Mary and a three year old Jesus. Also in the church were statues of the apostles with how they died. Peter with an upside down cross, etc. He's the only one I could pick out. Perhaps Mum would like to help with the rest?
Monday: Two interviews, European Link and C.S.W. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide), my two most promising and interesting interviews. Then the first class with Dr. Jamie Shea, of NATO. He was the spokesman during the thing in 1999, dunno which thing, he told us but I seem to have forgotten. Anyway, he's British and funny and invited us all to lunch with him at NATO! Very cool. Then we had a class on the European Commission followed by my first Living in French class. I miss German and American language education. The former because I find myself remembering more the more I hear French and the latter because the teacher started in French and only spoke a few sentences total in 90 minutes in English. It's how they learn languages, the new language right from the beginning, but I hate feeling stupid at the beginning of a class. So, I can now sorta say my name is Jennifer, I am a student, I am single and have no children (Sara says I can now go on a date and get the important things out of the way first), and that I live in America.
Tuesday: Next two interviews with Bertelsmann Foundation (owners of the a media company with the same name, they own Random House and BMG, I believe) and Costmasters/Mediprotect. The former was great, the secretary was speaking German on the phone, which was great, but the second was disappointing. I was there before the guy was and the work he wanted done would likely take a full time person a year, or at least six months. I'll be interning for about 20 days, I don't have the time to study and understand EU regulation and then apply it to the medical devices industry. The regulation would be interesting, the rest of it, not so much. In the states, you're supposed to start out working to write regulation in the executive agencies then later in your career help companies get around it or understand it. I don't think it would be good for my career to work around things before I help create them. Besides, it's way too hard to get to.
Wednesday: Lotsa free time before my last interview, OCO Consulting. So, I went to hand the letters to the police so they can come make sure we live where we say we do. Only thing is that the address given was way out at the other side of the commune and was the wrong one. They were very helpful and spoke English and told me where to go. But when I got to the correct police station, the person trying to help me didn't speak English. So he found a guy who did and we eventually got it straightened out. But yet another adventure happened in the interim. But I did go into a small Apple store-so now I feel all warm and fuzzy. :) Yes, I am such a nerd about some things.
My next post shall contain everything I did this coming weekend while in Paris! I'm going on a bus with about eight other people and we're all staying in a hostel together. Should be fun if it doesn't rain as I've heard it might. Either way, expect a blow by blow account and pictures!
08 September 2006
Belgium vs. the US
Differences encountered so far:
*Plugs have two round prongs instead of our two flat rectangle things
*Belgium has two languages, the speakers of each not really like the speakers of the other
*Belgium has a king and a parliament, we have a president and Congress
*Europe has internet cafes, we have Borders and other WIFI places
*Belgium has small grocery stores, we have huge ones
*Stores close at 6ish but US stores stay open until 11 or so
*Belgium has communes, DC just has areas called different things
*You can't really get skim milk in Belgium, a fact greatly lamented
*Water fountains don't seem to exist really in Belgium, another fact greatly lamented
*An abonnement in Brussels allows you a month of public transportation for a flat rate, DC Metro charges you every trip
*French fries are called frites because Belgians know they were invented in Belgium not in France
*Things normally carried in a CVS are split between a pharmacy (Apotheek or Pharmacie), a grocery store, and Di which sells shampoo and makeup and stuff like that
*Well, Belgium speaks French and Flemish, we speak English
Others will come to me throughout my stay so be aware that these comparisons will continue. For now, au revoir...I think that's how it's spelled...
*Plugs have two round prongs instead of our two flat rectangle things
*Belgium has two languages, the speakers of each not really like the speakers of the other
*Belgium has a king and a parliament, we have a president and Congress
*Europe has internet cafes, we have Borders and other WIFI places
*Belgium has small grocery stores, we have huge ones
*Stores close at 6ish but US stores stay open until 11 or so
*Belgium has communes, DC just has areas called different things
*You can't really get skim milk in Belgium, a fact greatly lamented
*Water fountains don't seem to exist really in Belgium, another fact greatly lamented
*An abonnement in Brussels allows you a month of public transportation for a flat rate, DC Metro charges you every trip
*French fries are called frites because Belgians know they were invented in Belgium not in France
*Things normally carried in a CVS are split between a pharmacy (Apotheek or Pharmacie), a grocery store, and Di which sells shampoo and makeup and stuff like that
*Well, Belgium speaks French and Flemish, we speak English
Others will come to me throughout my stay so be aware that these comparisons will continue. For now, au revoir...I think that's how it's spelled...
End of the First Full Week
Tuesday: Free day, wandered around the Grand Place; toured the Royal Palace (only open until the 10th), saw a ceiling that at first looked like green velvet but was really 1.4 million jewel beetles...a lot of dead bugs but very pretty. Had a scoop of mango ice cream, probably was gelato, but it was amazing. :) And started the chocolate collection for the semester. :D
Wednesday: Bus tour of Brussels and the Royal Museum of Central Africa. The tour was great, actually saw trees and grass which I don't usually with living in the city. The museum was...interesting. All the animals were taxidermied so they were...dead. I'm used to models or was blissfully unaware of the state of the animals I was looking at. At any rate, I saw more dead butterflies and animals than I was prepared for. And turtles in jars...poor Great A'Tuin relatives.
Thursday: First day of classes! Safety talk by a police officer first thing, basically a lecture on how to avoid pickpockets. Like any of us would really walk down the street with their wallet hanging out of their pocket or purse...whatever. Then a class on the structure of Belgium's government and a guest speaker explaining the history of Belgium to 1555. My French test was awesome, she asked for those with no experience with French to raise their hands, there were 7 or so of us, and we put our names on a paper and then were done.
Friday: Went to register in the town hall of the commune (Brussels is split into 19 communes, or small communities) mine being downtown as I'm in the commune of Bruxelles, or the heart of Brussels. They seemed to be confused so I'm glad that my host father was there because he could explain things. Sara and I now have to go to the police so they can confirm I live where I say I live. Just finished a class on the origins of the EU and we finish up Belgian history this afternoon.
Everyone is planning or beginning to plan weekend trips. My problem is that I don't care about drinking, nor do I want to find ways to do such things. I'm a history person, I want to go to the tourist spots, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and museums, like the Louve. And I don't want to go to the British Isles because I'm saving those for the spring. And I've done Venice, though I suppose going back would be okay because it was pretty cool. Rome would be cool too. I've a feeling I may be traveling on my own a bit, which is okay with me because, if I do say so myself, I am excellent company. :) But don't worry Mum, I'll find people to go with so I'm in a group and thus safer. We shall see.
Wednesday: Bus tour of Brussels and the Royal Museum of Central Africa. The tour was great, actually saw trees and grass which I don't usually with living in the city. The museum was...interesting. All the animals were taxidermied so they were...dead. I'm used to models or was blissfully unaware of the state of the animals I was looking at. At any rate, I saw more dead butterflies and animals than I was prepared for. And turtles in jars...poor Great A'Tuin relatives.
Thursday: First day of classes! Safety talk by a police officer first thing, basically a lecture on how to avoid pickpockets. Like any of us would really walk down the street with their wallet hanging out of their pocket or purse...whatever. Then a class on the structure of Belgium's government and a guest speaker explaining the history of Belgium to 1555. My French test was awesome, she asked for those with no experience with French to raise their hands, there were 7 or so of us, and we put our names on a paper and then were done.
Friday: Went to register in the town hall of the commune (Brussels is split into 19 communes, or small communities) mine being downtown as I'm in the commune of Bruxelles, or the heart of Brussels. They seemed to be confused so I'm glad that my host father was there because he could explain things. Sara and I now have to go to the police so they can confirm I live where I say I live. Just finished a class on the origins of the EU and we finish up Belgian history this afternoon.
Everyone is planning or beginning to plan weekend trips. My problem is that I don't care about drinking, nor do I want to find ways to do such things. I'm a history person, I want to go to the tourist spots, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and museums, like the Louve. And I don't want to go to the British Isles because I'm saving those for the spring. And I've done Venice, though I suppose going back would be okay because it was pretty cool. Rome would be cool too. I've a feeling I may be traveling on my own a bit, which is okay with me because, if I do say so myself, I am excellent company. :) But don't worry Mum, I'll find people to go with so I'm in a group and thus safer. We shall see.
04 September 2006
My first few days...
I'm in Brussels! Yay! So to recap my time so far:
Thursday:
Travel day. Small-world theory event: Danielle Stuart (who I went to middle school and high school with for 7 years) was not only on my first two flights but sat across the aisle from me on the first flight. She's studying at Oxford (oooo). So that was awesome. But my flight from Miami to London was a little cramped. I got very little sleep due to the woman in front of me leaning all the way back and me in the middle seat with a guy on either side, the one to the left with a loud iPod and the one to the right moving all the time. And the plane was too warm. The flight from London to Brussels was pretty short but not bad due to me knowing/meeting the other two AU students on the flight.
Friday (Traveling took all night so the last flight was on Friday but is up there ^):
After the flights I basically crashed at the hotel, taking a nap before our orientation at 5. We all had dinner at Le Grand Cafe downtown and then we all went out exploring. My group wandered around looking for chocolate and found it by the famous statue. After that we wandered more and then went back to the hotel to sleep.
Saturday:
More general orientation with a tour of the Grand Place by Jerry (our professor). Very entertaining and informing, actually. One of the best guided tours I've had in a while. Then we met our families. I and Sara Scott, another AU student, are staying with the Layson family composed of Pablo, originally from the Philippines, Sara, originally from Italy, and their youngest, Sophie who's a senior in college. They are all very nice and helpful. And Sara's apparently a wonderful cook and so far, I certainly agree. I'm living on the Rue de la Révolution (such a cool name for a street) which is in Upper Town of the commune of Bruxelles, which is the heart of Brussels). I'm a five minute walk (or so) from the cathedral and only about ten or so more minutes from the Grand Place and the very center of the city. It's a nice area with easy walking distance to the park near the American Embassy, should I feel homesick I can go and look at the flag waving and the 24 hour guard and I'm sure the feeling will cease immediately.
Sunday:
Mass at the Cathedral in French. Didn't understand a word but it seemed shorter than at home. No kneeling either. And the hosts were thicker. Beautiful church though, Gothic with high ceilings and arches and a gorgeous organ. Very nice. I won't mind going every week. Maybe go once or twice to the other church nearby with an English mass. Spent the rest of the day organizing my room which is a little bigger than Sara's but we're going to switch in October. My room has the shower room up a short set of stairs which is unusual but kind of cool.
Monday (today):
Woke up, tried to get an abonnement (which will get me a month of unlimited metro travel which is necessary for getting to school) but failed as it isn't open until 10, got to the AU Brussels Center at Alma just fine, had more orientation and a campus tour, and am now waiting on my internship appointment with Catherine the internship coordinator. All in all, a good time so far.
~ Jennifer
Thursday:
Travel day. Small-world theory event: Danielle Stuart (who I went to middle school and high school with for 7 years) was not only on my first two flights but sat across the aisle from me on the first flight. She's studying at Oxford (oooo). So that was awesome. But my flight from Miami to London was a little cramped. I got very little sleep due to the woman in front of me leaning all the way back and me in the middle seat with a guy on either side, the one to the left with a loud iPod and the one to the right moving all the time. And the plane was too warm. The flight from London to Brussels was pretty short but not bad due to me knowing/meeting the other two AU students on the flight.
Friday (Traveling took all night so the last flight was on Friday but is up there ^):
After the flights I basically crashed at the hotel, taking a nap before our orientation at 5. We all had dinner at Le Grand Cafe downtown and then we all went out exploring. My group wandered around looking for chocolate and found it by the famous statue. After that we wandered more and then went back to the hotel to sleep.
Saturday:
More general orientation with a tour of the Grand Place by Jerry (our professor). Very entertaining and informing, actually. One of the best guided tours I've had in a while. Then we met our families. I and Sara Scott, another AU student, are staying with the Layson family composed of Pablo, originally from the Philippines, Sara, originally from Italy, and their youngest, Sophie who's a senior in college. They are all very nice and helpful. And Sara's apparently a wonderful cook and so far, I certainly agree. I'm living on the Rue de la Révolution (such a cool name for a street) which is in Upper Town of the commune of Bruxelles, which is the heart of Brussels). I'm a five minute walk (or so) from the cathedral and only about ten or so more minutes from the Grand Place and the very center of the city. It's a nice area with easy walking distance to the park near the American Embassy, should I feel homesick I can go and look at the flag waving and the 24 hour guard and I'm sure the feeling will cease immediately.
Sunday:
Mass at the Cathedral in French. Didn't understand a word but it seemed shorter than at home. No kneeling either. And the hosts were thicker. Beautiful church though, Gothic with high ceilings and arches and a gorgeous organ. Very nice. I won't mind going every week. Maybe go once or twice to the other church nearby with an English mass. Spent the rest of the day organizing my room which is a little bigger than Sara's but we're going to switch in October. My room has the shower room up a short set of stairs which is unusual but kind of cool.
Monday (today):
Woke up, tried to get an abonnement (which will get me a month of unlimited metro travel which is necessary for getting to school) but failed as it isn't open until 10, got to the AU Brussels Center at Alma just fine, had more orientation and a campus tour, and am now waiting on my internship appointment with Catherine the internship coordinator. All in all, a good time so far.
~ Jennifer
12 August 2006
It Came!!!
My Student Visa is at my house and has been for a week. I'm very relieved. At first, the website said to get it in at least three weeks before you left and it'd take about a week for US citizens. Then, the Atlanta consulate told my dad that it wouldn't be ready by the 14th of August and it'd be a stretch to get it done by the 31st, which is when I leave for Brussels. And then, low and behold, it arrives last Saturday afternoon. So, I'm relieved. I was prepared to start calling on Monday, bugging them about it. I mean, I'm fairly boring...my parents are financially stable, I'm perfectly healthy (ish) with no diseases, I don't have a criminal record...why would it take so long? But maybe the person was just being cautious. At any rate, I'm glad to have one less thing to worry about. Now if only the airports would stop freaking out...
15 July 2006
Feeling...
Creative. It's a slightly uncomfortable feeling, I admit. I've been feeling inklings all week but only now have a way to fully deal with them as other avenues have proven unsuccessful. I went to Jo Ann's.
If you've never been to a craft store, start with Michael's. It's the best for everything...but it doesn't have fabric. Which is sad, but so it goes. So, I went to Jo Ann's to solve that problem. The thing is, you go in feeling creative looking for something to quench that feeling only when you get to the fabric department, the feeling only intensifies and worsens. Too much there...too many avenues for creativity. So, I picked about five fabrics and...ran. Sort of. Walked, really. But now I have about 3 yards of various fabrics for pillows.
Yes, I'm going to make pillows. And they're sort of going to match each other! I found a purple and a green that match and two blues that match. Then I made the mistake of walking by the flat quarters and found very pretty oriental squares, so I had to get black for the backs of those pillows. I wish my mum had never taught me how to sew...or use the sewing machine. Then this disease wouldn't be an issue. Anyway, off to go deal with this creativity. Good thing I don't have enough time to make another quilt. I'm such a nerd sometimes...or simply a freak as schwester likes to say...c'est la vie.
If you've never been to a craft store, start with Michael's. It's the best for everything...but it doesn't have fabric. Which is sad, but so it goes. So, I went to Jo Ann's to solve that problem. The thing is, you go in feeling creative looking for something to quench that feeling only when you get to the fabric department, the feeling only intensifies and worsens. Too much there...too many avenues for creativity. So, I picked about five fabrics and...ran. Sort of. Walked, really. But now I have about 3 yards of various fabrics for pillows.
Yes, I'm going to make pillows. And they're sort of going to match each other! I found a purple and a green that match and two blues that match. Then I made the mistake of walking by the flat quarters and found very pretty oriental squares, so I had to get black for the backs of those pillows. I wish my mum had never taught me how to sew...or use the sewing machine. Then this disease wouldn't be an issue. Anyway, off to go deal with this creativity. Good thing I don't have enough time to make another quilt. I'm such a nerd sometimes...or simply a freak as schwester likes to say...c'est la vie.
24 June 2006
Six Months and A Day...
Until Christmas. My mum's favorite thing about her birthday (tomorrow) is that it's in the middle of the year between her favorite holiday- Christmas. She gets presents every six months at any rate. There's a tropical wave off the coast right now. Sounds happy, doesn't it? It could turn into a tropical depression, thus taking it's sadness out on the rest of us. Then turn into a storm then a hurricane. Let's hope that doesn't happen. Great dark clouds though. No strange mental ramblings to report today, unfortunately. Just my usual Saturday hour or so in Borders. Heard that song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"? Very interesting. Gets stuck in the head far too easy, in my opinion.
So, in honor of the song, I shall close with the lyrics.
Black Horse And The Cherry Tree
KT Tunstall
two, three, four (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) well my heart knows me better than i know myself so i'm gonna let it do all the talking. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) i came across a place in the middle of nowhere with a big black horse and a cherry tree. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) i fell in fear, upon my back i said don't look back, just keep on walking. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) when the big black horse that looked this way, said hey lady, will you marry me? (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) but i said no, no, no,no-no-no i said no, no, you're not the one for me no, no, no,no-no-no i said no, no, you're not the one for me (ooooo,woo-hoo) and my heart had a problem, in the early hours, so it stopped it dead for a beat or two. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) but i cut some cord, and i shouldn't have done that, and it won't forgive me after all these years (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) so i sent her to a place in the middle of nowhere with a big black horse and a cherry tree. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) now it won't come back , cause it's oh so happy and now i've got a hole for the world to see (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) but it said no, no, no,no-no-no i said no, no, you're not the one for me no, no, no,no-no-no said no, no, you're not the one for me (ooooo,woo-hoo) (not the one for me, yeah) (ooooo,woo-hoo) said no,no, no,no, no, no, no you're not the one for me said no,no, no,no, no, no, no you're not the one for me big black horse and a cherry tree i can't quite get there cause they've all forsaken me big black horse and a cherry tree i can't quite get there cause they've all forsaken me
So, in honor of the song, I shall close with the lyrics.
Black Horse And The Cherry Tree
KT Tunstall
two, three, four (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) well my heart knows me better than i know myself so i'm gonna let it do all the talking. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) i came across a place in the middle of nowhere with a big black horse and a cherry tree. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) i fell in fear, upon my back i said don't look back, just keep on walking. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) when the big black horse that looked this way, said hey lady, will you marry me? (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) but i said no, no, no,no-no-no i said no, no, you're not the one for me no, no, no,no-no-no i said no, no, you're not the one for me (ooooo,woo-hoo) and my heart had a problem, in the early hours, so it stopped it dead for a beat or two. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) but i cut some cord, and i shouldn't have done that, and it won't forgive me after all these years (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) so i sent her to a place in the middle of nowhere with a big black horse and a cherry tree. (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) now it won't come back , cause it's oh so happy and now i've got a hole for the world to see (woo-hoo,woo-hoo) but it said no, no, no,no-no-no i said no, no, you're not the one for me no, no, no,no-no-no said no, no, you're not the one for me (ooooo,woo-hoo) (not the one for me, yeah) (ooooo,woo-hoo) said no,no, no,no, no, no, no you're not the one for me said no,no, no,no, no, no, no you're not the one for me big black horse and a cherry tree i can't quite get there cause they've all forsaken me big black horse and a cherry tree i can't quite get there cause they've all forsaken me
18 June 2006
Father's Day
Happy Father's Day. A few more gray hares from me. <- my father's day card to my dad. It had gray bunnies on the front. It was his kind of joke.
We're up in Gainesville, FL visiting my grandparents today. They moved about a year and a half or so ago to this retirement community, Oak Hammock, from Frederick, MD. I've decided I really am happy for them because their leaving the area meant I am less homesick at school, more independent, more social, and more self-reliant. I liked their house though....and the city. Anyway. Gainesville's the home of the University of Florida, UF to the Floridians. Sprawling mass of a school with about 48,000 people attending in a given semester. The city's population (normal) is about 50,000. Thus, the apartment complex on every corner around here for the students. I like my smaller school. :)
Not too much else going on for me...working, filing and the like. Typing envelopes on a typewriter! It's kind of fun...quite loud but makes me appreciate computers all the more. And my iPod helps keep away the boredom and some of the mental wanderings while filing. I'm too efficient at it though...I get done far too quickly and things don't pile up fast enough. And I can't just sit around until they do pile up again. More's the pity.
My mum's birthday is this coming Sunday. We're going to the beach. One would normally think that for a person living in Florida, thus an hour and a half or so away from the beach most of the time, the beach would be a nice place to go. Not so much for me. I think it's the sand. Or the sunscreen thing. Or the heat. Either way, I'm not a big fan. So, I'll bring a book and just read. The week after that is the 4th of July. I don't have to work that day, which is nice, but I do have to work the day before. And we're going to the beach again. But my dad always has a concert he has to play on the 4th so at least they'll do the beach thing while I'm not there. Then it's Pirates time. The movie comes out on my dad's birthday. He's well aware that we'll be going to see it that day. He's voiced no objections so if he has any...well...whatever.
Other than the holidays coming up, not much is going on. Work, blah, meeting a friend to go to the local fitness room, yadda yadda...going through DVDs the family has acquired in my absence, fun.
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodnight. Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you.
So fine. I watched the Sound of Music yesterday. I'm also trying to pick up a bit of French for Brussels. It's slow going.
We're up in Gainesville, FL visiting my grandparents today. They moved about a year and a half or so ago to this retirement community, Oak Hammock, from Frederick, MD. I've decided I really am happy for them because their leaving the area meant I am less homesick at school, more independent, more social, and more self-reliant. I liked their house though....and the city. Anyway. Gainesville's the home of the University of Florida, UF to the Floridians. Sprawling mass of a school with about 48,000 people attending in a given semester. The city's population (normal) is about 50,000. Thus, the apartment complex on every corner around here for the students. I like my smaller school. :)
Not too much else going on for me...working, filing and the like. Typing envelopes on a typewriter! It's kind of fun...quite loud but makes me appreciate computers all the more. And my iPod helps keep away the boredom and some of the mental wanderings while filing. I'm too efficient at it though...I get done far too quickly and things don't pile up fast enough. And I can't just sit around until they do pile up again. More's the pity.
My mum's birthday is this coming Sunday. We're going to the beach. One would normally think that for a person living in Florida, thus an hour and a half or so away from the beach most of the time, the beach would be a nice place to go. Not so much for me. I think it's the sand. Or the sunscreen thing. Or the heat. Either way, I'm not a big fan. So, I'll bring a book and just read. The week after that is the 4th of July. I don't have to work that day, which is nice, but I do have to work the day before. And we're going to the beach again. But my dad always has a concert he has to play on the 4th so at least they'll do the beach thing while I'm not there. Then it's Pirates time. The movie comes out on my dad's birthday. He's well aware that we'll be going to see it that day. He's voiced no objections so if he has any...well...whatever.
Other than the holidays coming up, not much is going on. Work, blah, meeting a friend to go to the local fitness room, yadda yadda...going through DVDs the family has acquired in my absence, fun.
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodnight. Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you.
So fine. I watched the Sound of Music yesterday. I'm also trying to pick up a bit of French for Brussels. It's slow going.
10 June 2006
Mental Wanderings and Long Words
So, while at work this week, filing away, I came across a name of a company suing somebody. They were called Superior Hobbies. So, I got to wondering…do they only stock superior products or do they simply have a snooty idea of what is a ‘superior’ hobby? In addition, does the Superior Hobbies place have an inferior hobbies section to placate the less cultured hobby enthusiast? And if in a parallel universe the store would be called Inferior Hobbies and stock superior goods or still stock inferior goods. Or would they have their own ideas of what is an inferior hobby?
It was after the parallel universe thought that I decided that either I had a really impressive imagination or just that such thoughts were brought on by filing, hours of nothingness, and paper cuts. Either way I’d spent too much time on the thought, though I did manage to pass some time considering the idea that I spent too much on the whole thing. Such is how I
spend my days, until August 11th, at least. I never want to be a secretary unless it’s a title, so that knowledge is something at least.
Also, fun and very long words:
floccinaucinihilipilification, noun: Estimating something as worthless
antidisestablishmentarianism, noun: opposition to the separation of church and state
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, noun: A lung disease caused by inhaling fine particles of silica., i.e. "black lung"
End note: Ann Coulter needs to get over herself. Or simply fade out of existence, taking her narrow minded, nonsensical ideas with her. And that is the end of my soapbox rant for today.
It was after the parallel universe thought that I decided that either I had a really impressive imagination or just that such thoughts were brought on by filing, hours of nothingness, and paper cuts. Either way I’d spent too much time on the thought, though I did manage to pass some time considering the idea that I spent too much on the whole thing. Such is how I
spend my days, until August 11th, at least. I never want to be a secretary unless it’s a title, so that knowledge is something at least.
Also, fun and very long words:
floccinaucinihilipilification, noun: Estimating something as worthless
antidisestablishmentarianism, noun: opposition to the separation of church and state
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, noun: A lung disease caused by inhaling fine particles of silica., i.e. "black lung"
End note: Ann Coulter needs to get over herself. Or simply fade out of existence, taking her narrow minded, nonsensical ideas with her. And that is the end of my soapbox rant for today.
03 June 2006
An Ode to Borders
Borders, Borders,
Thou art wonderful.
You have good movies,
You have good music,
You have good books,
Thus your name.
You feed and magnify my book store addiction
But I don't care,
Because you're just that cool.
And you gave me a dessert for my birthday.
And you have mango smoothies that taste real.
Fin.
So, the air conditioning is working, but because we have dial-up at home and not the nice, fast wireless Borders has, I'm at Borders right now. And drinking my smoothie...and eating my chocolate creamcheese muffin that they warmed up for me. I love this place. :)
Thou art wonderful.
You have good movies,
You have good music,
You have good books,
Thus your name.
You feed and magnify my book store addiction
But I don't care,
Because you're just that cool.
And you gave me a dessert for my birthday.
And you have mango smoothies that taste real.
Fin.
So, the air conditioning is working, but because we have dial-up at home and not the nice, fast wireless Borders has, I'm at Borders right now. And drinking my smoothie...and eating my chocolate creamcheese muffin that they warmed up for me. I love this place. :)
01 June 2006
An Ode to the Creator of Air Conditioner
Oh, Air Conditioner Creator
Your product is one of the best inventions ever
You made Florida habitable
You made summers bearable
And now your creation is not working at my house
You should have foreseen this problem
And made them self-fixing
Thank you.
Your product is one of the best inventions ever
You made Florida habitable
You made summers bearable
And now your creation is not working at my house
You should have foreseen this problem
And made them self-fixing
Thank you.
30 May 2006
Happy Birthday to Me!
That's right, my 20th birthday is today. Well, at 8:36 tonight. Not doing much today, checking email, hanging out with my family. We went to MGM on Sunday though, so that counts as an activity. My mum has a thing about doing something special for birthdays. So, we'll have a nice family dinner, open my gifts, then play Munchkin. Great game. Funny. All my choice, of course. This has been a pretty good year, I think. This next one should be even better, what with all my study abroad plans.
I start my summer job tomorrow. I have enjoyed relaxing this past week though. Won't happen again until August, unfortunately. Well, so long for now.
I start my summer job tomorrow. I have enjoyed relaxing this past week though. Won't happen again until August, unfortunately. Well, so long for now.
21 May 2006
Home Sweet Home
Yes, I am back home in sunny Florida. Well, perhaps too sunny due to the fires over in Brevard County. And hot. Ugh. I miss DC weather already. I'm slowly unpacking my stuff. We barely fit everything in the car. It's my own fault for having too many books...and clothes. But I needed stuff for about three different types of weather so it's really not my fault. And I'm a girl, so there you go. I don't start at the courthouse until the 31st, the day after my 20th birthday. Hooray! Almost out of the teens. I'm excited.
Oh, and if you should die today and God asks you why He should let you into heaven, like this rather...annoying evangelist asked my mum yesterday when she was going door to door, tell the person that you'll be praised for not pushing your faith on other people like I would tell Him. Or, my mum's "that's between me and Him". But my advice is to make it witty and pointed.
Oh, and if you should die today and God asks you why He should let you into heaven, like this rather...annoying evangelist asked my mum yesterday when she was going door to door, tell the person that you'll be praised for not pushing your faith on other people like I would tell Him. Or, my mum's "that's between me and Him". But my advice is to make it witty and pointed.
12 May 2006
New 'Be' Slogans...
Ideas for the AU "Be" campaign:
'Be A Failure At Life'
Or, for the philosophy majors:
'Be A Logical Fallacy'
'Be Bright' in glow-in-the-dark letters
'Be A Failure At Life'
Or, for the philosophy majors:
'Be A Logical Fallacy'
'Be Bright' in glow-in-the-dark letters
10 May 2006
Chaos...not just a theory
Wow...today was one of the longest desk shifts of my life. Granted, the 8 hour stretch that one time was pretty bad but today's 6 hours, wow. I must have checked about 50 or so people out of their room. And most of them came all at once when I was trying to check out the vacuum and the carts. And usually I was the only one there. Because Housing and Dining decided, oh, after finals is a great time to put everyone on single staffing. Wrong! Luckily the RD and one of the RAs were around a lot to help, at least in the first couple hours.
But I got to relax by going to dinner with a bunch of people on the floor, which was great. A nice end to a crazy day. And now, I'm already tired! Doesn't seem right.
But I got to relax by going to dinner with a bunch of people on the floor, which was great. A nice end to a crazy day. And now, I'm already tired! Doesn't seem right.
09 May 2006
Tuesday, Once a day of pain, now a day of joy
Right now I am incredibly happy that I am done with finals! Done, done, done!
And...*whispers* I'm actually feeling okay about them....I mean, I think I got the major points across well enough. Now, I just have to pack. But I'm not leaving until Sunday, so I've got lots of time, which is really kinda nice. I'll start on Friday, I think. Or at least, Thursday night.
Tomorrow, I'm treating myself to work for 6 hours. A special treat for finishing finals. Just for me. But, I'll just be watching movies, so all is well.
In honor of today:
Beautiful Day
U2
The heart is a bloom,
Shoots up through the stony ground.
There’s no room,
No space to rent in this town.
You’re out of luck,
And the reason that you had to care.
The traffic is stuck,
And you're not moving anywhere.
You thought you'd found a friend,
To take you out of this place.
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace.
It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
The sky falls, and you feel like,
It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
Don't let it get away
You're on the road,
But you've got no destination
You’re in the mud,
In the maze of her imagination
You love this town,
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over, and it's been all over you
It's a beautiful day (day . . .)
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
hoo . . hoo . . . hoo
Touch me
Take me to that other place,
Teach me . . . oh,
I know I'm not a hopeless case.
See the world in green and blue,
see China right in front of you,
see the canyons broken by cloud,
see the tuna fleets clearing the sea out,
see the Bedouin fires at night,
see the oil fields at first light,
and see the bird with a leaf in her mouth,
After the flood all the colours came out.
(Day . . .)
It was a beautiful day (day . . .)
Don't let it get away,
Beautiful day (day . . .)
Touch me,
Take me to that other place.
Reach me,
I know I'm not a hopeless case.
What you don't have,
you don't need it now,
What you don't know,
you can feel it somehow,
What you don't have,
you don't need it now,
don't need it now . . .
[It] was a beautiful day...
And...*whispers* I'm actually feeling okay about them....I mean, I think I got the major points across well enough. Now, I just have to pack. But I'm not leaving until Sunday, so I've got lots of time, which is really kinda nice. I'll start on Friday, I think. Or at least, Thursday night.
Tomorrow, I'm treating myself to work for 6 hours. A special treat for finishing finals. Just for me. But, I'll just be watching movies, so all is well.
In honor of today:
Beautiful Day
U2
The heart is a bloom,
Shoots up through the stony ground.
There’s no room,
No space to rent in this town.
You’re out of luck,
And the reason that you had to care.
The traffic is stuck,
And you're not moving anywhere.
You thought you'd found a friend,
To take you out of this place.
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace.
It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
The sky falls, and you feel like,
It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
Don't let it get away
You're on the road,
But you've got no destination
You’re in the mud,
In the maze of her imagination
You love this town,
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over, and it's been all over you
It's a beautiful day (day . . .)
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
hoo . . hoo . . . hoo
Touch me
Take me to that other place,
Teach me . . . oh,
I know I'm not a hopeless case.
See the world in green and blue,
see China right in front of you,
see the canyons broken by cloud,
see the tuna fleets clearing the sea out,
see the Bedouin fires at night,
see the oil fields at first light,
and see the bird with a leaf in her mouth,
After the flood all the colours came out.
(Day . . .)
It was a beautiful day (day . . .)
Don't let it get away,
Beautiful day (day . . .)
Touch me,
Take me to that other place.
Reach me,
I know I'm not a hopeless case.
What you don't have,
you don't need it now,
What you don't know,
you can feel it somehow,
What you don't have,
you don't need it now,
don't need it now . . .
[It] was a beautiful day...
06 May 2006
Late Night/Early Morning Ramble
I’d like to admit, here and now, that I am a bit of a prude.
I’m at work right now, sitting at the front desk of Letts Hall watching people come in and out. Mostly in right now, and about seven times out of ten, they’ve been drinking. I just don’t see the point. How is this fun? I can get clubbing, I guess, dancing can be fun… but drinking? Just doesn’t seem necessary. Perhaps it’s part of the stereotypical college experience, but why be a stereotype? Why fall into that trap? I guess you get a buzz or something…but I don’t see how that is worth it in the long run. There are so many other things that can touch your soul and give you that bit of euphoria. Cultural things, music, plays, movies, books.
Yes, I’m tired and have a headache but I still believe all this. Maybe I’m too self-conscious about giving up even a little control to be a stereotype. But why is that bad? Call me boring…I say my liver will hold up longer and I’ll be happier with myself in the long run.
I’m at work right now, sitting at the front desk of Letts Hall watching people come in and out. Mostly in right now, and about seven times out of ten, they’ve been drinking. I just don’t see the point. How is this fun? I can get clubbing, I guess, dancing can be fun… but drinking? Just doesn’t seem necessary. Perhaps it’s part of the stereotypical college experience, but why be a stereotype? Why fall into that trap? I guess you get a buzz or something…but I don’t see how that is worth it in the long run. There are so many other things that can touch your soul and give you that bit of euphoria. Cultural things, music, plays, movies, books.
Yes, I’m tired and have a headache but I still believe all this. Maybe I’m too self-conscious about giving up even a little control to be a stereotype. But why is that bad? Call me boring…I say my liver will hold up longer and I’ll be happier with myself in the long run.
05 May 2006
Smoke On The Water
Deep Purple
We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
Pulling kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Swiss time was running on
It seemed that we would lose the race
We ended up at the Grand Hotel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the Rolling truck Stones
thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We made a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know we'll never forget.
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
Deep Purple
We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
Pulling kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Swiss time was running on
It seemed that we would lose the race
We ended up at the Grand Hotel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the Rolling truck Stones
thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We made a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know we'll never forget.
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
21 April 2006
After this Semester is over...
After this semester is over I shall:
> Have a couple weeks off before having to start work.
> Have to work for the summer at the County Courthouse, Small Claims/County Civil division until August 11th. Thus having to be around the most bitter old woman I have ever had the displeasure to meet. She just sucks the...light out of anything and everything.
> Have to go back to filing my life away for the summer
> Have only a couple months to get things in order for the next year
> Have only a couple months until I go to Brussels, Belgium for the Fall semester!!
I got in! Brussels Enclave: European Union program, Fall 2006!!! I'm so excited. I get an internship (hopefully someplace cool), a homestay so I can experience the culture hands on, and many academic field trips. I can't wait. This'll be my primary medium for communication with everyone still in the US, so expect many updates. :) Now I just have to survive the rest of the year!
> Have a couple weeks off before having to start work.
> Have to work for the summer at the County Courthouse, Small Claims/County Civil division until August 11th. Thus having to be around the most bitter old woman I have ever had the displeasure to meet. She just sucks the...light out of anything and everything.
> Have to go back to filing my life away for the summer
> Have only a couple months to get things in order for the next year
> Have only a couple months until I go to Brussels, Belgium for the Fall semester!!
I got in! Brussels Enclave: European Union program, Fall 2006!!! I'm so excited. I get an internship (hopefully someplace cool), a homestay so I can experience the culture hands on, and many academic field trips. I can't wait. This'll be my primary medium for communication with everyone still in the US, so expect many updates. :) Now I just have to survive the rest of the year!
22 March 2006
Spring Break 2006 in Boston with family
>Walked a lot, thus feet hurt most of the time.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play.
>Got up earlier most days than I do most days for college. Thus, life was sad. I think I slept better though. Most likely because it wasn't on my dorm room's mattress.
>Went to a lot of cool historical places. Like Salem. Lexington and Concord. Plymouth. A few graveyards. Old North Church. Boston Common. To some, Filene's Basement has historical significance.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play. With the Boston Symphony.
>Went with my schwester on a couple college tours: Boston College and Brown. Realized schwester could likely get into Brown with no problems based on grades. Very proud.
>Went to three new states in one trip.
>Spent time with the family.
>Went to a cool restaurant: Finagle A Bagel. Isn't that just a great name? I think so too.
>Had a snow flurry happen a couple times.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play. Hey, the guy's got talent.
Basically, very fun. I get fingerprinted for my FBI Identification record so I can go to Brussels next fall on Friday!
>Walked a lot, thus feet hurt most of the time.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play.
>Got up earlier most days than I do most days for college. Thus, life was sad. I think I slept better though. Most likely because it wasn't on my dorm room's mattress.
>Went to a lot of cool historical places. Like Salem. Lexington and Concord. Plymouth. A few graveyards. Old North Church. Boston Common. To some, Filene's Basement has historical significance.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play. With the Boston Symphony.
>Went with my schwester on a couple college tours: Boston College and Brown. Realized schwester could likely get into Brown with no problems based on grades. Very proud.
>Went to three new states in one trip.
>Spent time with the family.
>Went to a cool restaurant: Finagle A Bagel. Isn't that just a great name? I think so too.
>Had a snow flurry happen a couple times.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play. Hey, the guy's got talent.
Basically, very fun. I get fingerprinted for my FBI Identification record so I can go to Brussels next fall on Friday!
20 February 2006
It's a bird...it's a plane...it's an update!
That's right, a new post. Amazing. In the time since I last wrote, several things have happened:
>my computer's hard drive failed on me thus losing, oh, about a year and a half of my life. But I'm not bitter anymore. Oh, no. Over it completely. (note sarcasm)
>the semester ended and a new one begun. Plenty of reading, a couple days of no class but work to make up for it.
>application to study abroad started. I'm slowly working through the process.
>lost a roommate, gained a new one. I actually talk to this one. It's amazing to have a roommate that you can talk to about stuff. It's new and different for me, a very welcome change, I assure you.
>Olympics started. The only sports I actually watch with any sort of enthusiasm. Well, lots of enthusiasm. Curling is really, kind of cool to watch. This rock thing, sliding across the ice, looking like a teapot, and people sweeping the ice to get it to move faster or in a certain way. Glorified shuffleboard. Awesome.
Other fun stuff happened too, but this was the big stuff. All is well with me, just keeping busy and having fun.
>my computer's hard drive failed on me thus losing, oh, about a year and a half of my life. But I'm not bitter anymore. Oh, no. Over it completely. (note sarcasm)
>the semester ended and a new one begun. Plenty of reading, a couple days of no class but work to make up for it.
>application to study abroad started. I'm slowly working through the process.
>lost a roommate, gained a new one. I actually talk to this one. It's amazing to have a roommate that you can talk to about stuff. It's new and different for me, a very welcome change, I assure you.
>Olympics started. The only sports I actually watch with any sort of enthusiasm. Well, lots of enthusiasm. Curling is really, kind of cool to watch. This rock thing, sliding across the ice, looking like a teapot, and people sweeping the ice to get it to move faster or in a certain way. Glorified shuffleboard. Awesome.
Other fun stuff happened too, but this was the big stuff. All is well with me, just keeping busy and having fun.
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