That's right! Snow in London people, snow in London. Hooray! Mostly melted now, not that cold unfortunately, though to be frank, it's very, very cold. The windy-breeze thing doesn't help matters much.
And happy belated National Pie Day. And I missed it...I had chicken pot pie a day too early. Drat.
24 January 2007
17 January 2007
First Full Week in London and Then Some
Let's see...what have I been up to since the 5th? As that was my last real post...ah, yes.
Last week:
Monday: Philosophy department meeting, basically finding out what I'll have to do as a JYA (junior year abroad, KCL terminology) student and getting set up with classes. Then I went to my first tutorial for Greek Philosophy, rescheduled for the afternoon from that morning. At King's there are lectures and tutorials. The former are just like classes, only usually conducted as a lecture with little interaction between the lecturer and student, but depending on the professor. Attendance isn't required but as KCL students have exams at the end of the year, lectures help with those. The latter have required attendance and are meant to correspond with the lectures. This semester (until March 23) I have two classes, so two tutorials but the semester is split into mini-terms of 5 weeks each with a reading week in between. The first mini-term I have my Greek Philosophy tutorial and the second my Epistemology and Metaphysics tutorial. Tutorials are more like classes only with about 5 or 6 people total as opposed to 40 or so. It's a discussion-based thing and we have to write an essay a week for it, 1000 words each. I miss writing pages, words are just annoying to keep counting and such.
Tuesday: First Ep & Met (Epistemology and Metaphysics) lecture, and my professor's American. Go figure. Interesting though. Found my way to the Humanities library, Maughan Library, up by the Royal Courts of Justice. And does it look like a library or what! Very nice building on the whole and very useful. Spotty wireless though.
Wednesday: First Greek Philosophy lecture with yet another American. Dr. Adamson's more entertaining though, comparing James Brown to Aristotle (both were hugely influential and did soul stuff). I've a feeling this'll be a good class.
Thursday: Worked on the essay, finished it.
Weekend: Went to New Hunt's House library (NHH) (medical campus, Guy's campus which Wolfson House [my hall] is on) for wireless, stayed all day...sorta. Went to Leicester Square Saturday to try to get a ticket to the matinee of Spamalot, had to settle for the Tuesday matinee instead but got to wander around. Sunday, nothing useful or exciting.
This week:
Monday: Greek tutorial, wireless at NHH library.
Tuesday: Ep and Met, shopping along Oxford Street (my alarm clock died on me but I got a new one that's working fine so far), Spamalot!! It was great! Very funny even though the balcony area is precarious for the vertically challenged (aka, very steep) but I got to move down a few rows due to lack of people in the seats, thus helping my view. Very nice afternoon had by me.
Wednesday (today): Greek lecture in which syllogies were discussed and the Posterior Analytics were discussed utilizing Kermit. Seriously. And a blue chair. Humorous again. Then to NHH library for supposed essay work and internet. And avoiding the rain and wind. :) Twas a good day.
Last week:
Monday: Philosophy department meeting, basically finding out what I'll have to do as a JYA (junior year abroad, KCL terminology) student and getting set up with classes. Then I went to my first tutorial for Greek Philosophy, rescheduled for the afternoon from that morning. At King's there are lectures and tutorials. The former are just like classes, only usually conducted as a lecture with little interaction between the lecturer and student, but depending on the professor. Attendance isn't required but as KCL students have exams at the end of the year, lectures help with those. The latter have required attendance and are meant to correspond with the lectures. This semester (until March 23) I have two classes, so two tutorials but the semester is split into mini-terms of 5 weeks each with a reading week in between. The first mini-term I have my Greek Philosophy tutorial and the second my Epistemology and Metaphysics tutorial. Tutorials are more like classes only with about 5 or 6 people total as opposed to 40 or so. It's a discussion-based thing and we have to write an essay a week for it, 1000 words each. I miss writing pages, words are just annoying to keep counting and such.
Tuesday: First Ep & Met (Epistemology and Metaphysics) lecture, and my professor's American. Go figure. Interesting though. Found my way to the Humanities library, Maughan Library, up by the Royal Courts of Justice. And does it look like a library or what! Very nice building on the whole and very useful. Spotty wireless though.
Wednesday: First Greek Philosophy lecture with yet another American. Dr. Adamson's more entertaining though, comparing James Brown to Aristotle (both were hugely influential and did soul stuff). I've a feeling this'll be a good class.
Thursday: Worked on the essay, finished it.
Weekend: Went to New Hunt's House library (NHH) (medical campus, Guy's campus which Wolfson House [my hall] is on) for wireless, stayed all day...sorta. Went to Leicester Square Saturday to try to get a ticket to the matinee of Spamalot, had to settle for the Tuesday matinee instead but got to wander around. Sunday, nothing useful or exciting.
This week:
Monday: Greek tutorial, wireless at NHH library.
Tuesday: Ep and Met, shopping along Oxford Street (my alarm clock died on me but I got a new one that's working fine so far), Spamalot!! It was great! Very funny even though the balcony area is precarious for the vertically challenged (aka, very steep) but I got to move down a few rows due to lack of people in the seats, thus helping my view. Very nice afternoon had by me.
Wednesday (today): Greek lecture in which syllogies were discussed and the Posterior Analytics were discussed utilizing Kermit. Seriously. And a blue chair. Humorous again. Then to NHH library for supposed essay work and internet. And avoiding the rain and wind. :) Twas a good day.
15 January 2007
Welcome to the Warmest Day of My Week...
That's right...high of 65 today with the rest of the week not above 45 degrees for a high and 26 on Saturday! Woohoo! This is why I came to London after all...
A real post will follow soon to update on my activities since the last real post. But, a sneak peak: I'm going to the matinee of Spamalot tomorrow!!!
A real post will follow soon to update on my activities since the last real post. But, a sneak peak: I'm going to the matinee of Spamalot tomorrow!!!
05 January 2007
New Year, New Semester, New School, New City, New Country, New Time Zone, New Currency...New Language?
Yep, lots of things are new these days. But to wrap up some things from last year:
I finished the super long paper, not only on time but a day early and I got an A- on it! The end of the semester went fine, I got decent grades and I got home okay. My two weeks at said home were short but satisfying, the holidays were great, it was nice having the dollar back and knowing exactly what things cost.
Now, however...it's 2007 and things have changed, yet again. Good changes, of course, but changes nonetheless.
I'm in a new study abroad program, this one for my other major, Philosophy. I'm at King's College in London. Yep, England. So far, so good. I had to break down and buy a blanket though...my room's just too cold. I've got a single though, with a good amount of storage space for everything so I'm currently pretty organized. And I've got a view too...as I'm on the eighth floor. It's just of other buildings but it's London, so who cares? No wireless, but a campus (yes 'a', as there are several) is nearby and I can (and am) get it there.
Orientation was yesterday and enrolment (their spelling, not mine) was today. There are people from all over the States here. I met people from Vanderbilt (I think), Brown, Georgetown, Washington University St. Louis, GW, University of Pennslyvania, UNC Chapel Hill, and more. There has to be over a 100 of us at least. And people from DC! They miss it as well, though for most, this is their first study abroad, but not all. I hope I see most of them again. I have my ID card and a vague idea of where to go for class, we'll see if it translates into actual knowing next week.
Let's see...what else? Ah, yes. The daily calculation of prices doubled so as to get them close to the dollar, always fun. But again, London so why complain. And there are student discounts available everywhere, apparently. I've settled in okay so far and it'll only get better. A bit windy and grey out all the time and it might be raining right now (correction: it is raining), but it'll be like Brussels only better, so I'm okay. :)
Oh, and by the way, having a big suitcase that fits all your clothes is fine except when said suitcase has a broken handle that you don't discover until you have to use said handle in the airport. Then it becomes annoying and really kills your hands having to drag the thing to the train then out of the train station to the cab then to the residence hall. Luckily we have elevators but my hands are still a bit sore. At least I flew into Gatwick and not Heathrow: no luggage on the Tube for me!
As always, more later.
I finished the super long paper, not only on time but a day early and I got an A- on it! The end of the semester went fine, I got decent grades and I got home okay. My two weeks at said home were short but satisfying, the holidays were great, it was nice having the dollar back and knowing exactly what things cost.
Now, however...it's 2007 and things have changed, yet again. Good changes, of course, but changes nonetheless.
I'm in a new study abroad program, this one for my other major, Philosophy. I'm at King's College in London. Yep, England. So far, so good. I had to break down and buy a blanket though...my room's just too cold. I've got a single though, with a good amount of storage space for everything so I'm currently pretty organized. And I've got a view too...as I'm on the eighth floor. It's just of other buildings but it's London, so who cares? No wireless, but a campus (yes 'a', as there are several) is nearby and I can (and am) get it there.
Orientation was yesterday and enrolment (their spelling, not mine) was today. There are people from all over the States here. I met people from Vanderbilt (I think), Brown, Georgetown, Washington University St. Louis, GW, University of Pennslyvania, UNC Chapel Hill, and more. There has to be over a 100 of us at least. And people from DC! They miss it as well, though for most, this is their first study abroad, but not all. I hope I see most of them again. I have my ID card and a vague idea of where to go for class, we'll see if it translates into actual knowing next week.
Let's see...what else? Ah, yes. The daily calculation of prices doubled so as to get them close to the dollar, always fun. But again, London so why complain. And there are student discounts available everywhere, apparently. I've settled in okay so far and it'll only get better. A bit windy and grey out all the time and it might be raining right now (correction: it is raining), but it'll be like Brussels only better, so I'm okay. :)
Oh, and by the way, having a big suitcase that fits all your clothes is fine except when said suitcase has a broken handle that you don't discover until you have to use said handle in the airport. Then it becomes annoying and really kills your hands having to drag the thing to the train then out of the train station to the cab then to the residence hall. Luckily we have elevators but my hands are still a bit sore. At least I flew into Gatwick and not Heathrow: no luggage on the Tube for me!
As always, more later.
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.
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