December 30, 2010
Loneliness
I'm home, but I mostly just feel lonely. Everyone I studied abroad with is glowing with delight about being surrounded by family and friends again, but I don't have any friends here... and I'm beginning to think there's almost no correlation between what I do and arguments I get into with my mom. Things are pretty peaceful right now, but I just feel... distant. :( Even Tidbit is only sleeping in my room half the time, and it actually gets cold at night here.
December 29, 2010
Random Status Update
Starting to get excited about Germany: http://www3.uni-bonn.de/studying/international-students/exchange-and-study-abroad/jyp/pre-departure
Check out how far I can go on Public Transport for free as a student!! It takes me right up to the border with France, for one thing. And it implies I might only have to pay a "supplement" for trains going to other regions in Germany?!
Other than that I'm mostly in organizing mode. Tidying my room and sorting photos. I go through an album on Picasa and tag all the good/unique ones as "good". Then I tag the whole album as "bad". Then I search by "good" and untag all of those pictures as "bad". Then, I search by "bad" and delete all. It works well.
Last night I cooked Chicken Spaghetti, only it wasn't actually chicken (*cough* leftover turkey) and it wasn't actually spaghetti (*cough* rice and quinoa noodles). I need some good Asian food stat, all this good ol'fashioned, hearty Midwestern fare is about to do me in.
I need to be writing (emails and for writer's club). But right now I'm not in a very creative mood. I did squeeze out four posts about my road trip on the Pamplona blog. Three more, (Valle de Roncal, Embalse de Yesa, and Castillo de Javier), and two of those quite short, and I'll have wrapped up those TWO DAYS. I swear there were more hours in the day in Spain.
Check out how far I can go on Public Transport for free as a student!! It takes me right up to the border with France, for one thing. And it implies I might only have to pay a "supplement" for trains going to other regions in Germany?!
Other than that I'm mostly in organizing mode. Tidying my room and sorting photos. I go through an album on Picasa and tag all the good/unique ones as "good". Then I tag the whole album as "bad". Then I search by "good" and untag all of those pictures as "bad". Then, I search by "bad" and delete all. It works well.
Last night I cooked Chicken Spaghetti, only it wasn't actually chicken (*cough* leftover turkey) and it wasn't actually spaghetti (*cough* rice and quinoa noodles). I need some good Asian food stat, all this good ol'fashioned, hearty Midwestern fare is about to do me in.
I need to be writing (emails and for writer's club). But right now I'm not in a very creative mood. I did squeeze out four posts about my road trip on the Pamplona blog. Three more, (Valle de Roncal, Embalse de Yesa, and Castillo de Javier), and two of those quite short, and I'll have wrapped up those TWO DAYS. I swear there were more hours in the day in Spain.
December 27, 2010
Goals for the Long Break
There's no big, all consuming mission. Instead, I'll -
Minor Goals:
Try to be a good daughter while I'm home
Get my photos all sorted and archived
Brush up on my German
Catch up on my emails
'Finish' my Pamplona blog
Reduce Clutter
Show my mom Picasa
Major Goals:
Babysit as much as I can
Improve my writing by reading, practicing, and going to writing group.
Minor Goals:
Try to be a good daughter while I'm home
Get my photos all sorted and archived
Brush up on my German
Catch up on my emails
'Finish' my Pamplona blog
Reduce Clutter
Show my mom Picasa
Major Goals:
Babysit as much as I can
Improve my writing by reading, practicing, and going to writing group.
December 26, 2010
Sorauren
Sorauren is a little village in Navarra, really close to Pamplona. I walked there one November day.
If you look up Sorauren on Wikipedia, there are three paragraphs about its location, it's stone bridge, it's cultural scene (??), and a battle that took place there during the Peninsular war. After these paragraphs, there is a sentence mentioning that a residential street in Toronto is also named Sorauren.
If you look up Sorauren on Wordpress.com, you see page after page about the street in Toronto. Looking for Sorauren + Spain, Sorauren + Navarra, or Sorauren + Pamplona returns no results.
If you look up Sorauren on Wikipedia, there are three paragraphs about its location, it's stone bridge, it's cultural scene (??), and a battle that took place there during the Peninsular war. After these paragraphs, there is a sentence mentioning that a residential street in Toronto is also named Sorauren.
If you look up Sorauren on Wordpress.com, you see page after page about the street in Toronto. Looking for Sorauren + Spain, Sorauren + Navarra, or Sorauren + Pamplona returns no results.
December 25, 2010
Christmas Day in Florida
I know I'm still a Missouri girl when... bare feet and sandals in the grass make me think of summer afternoons, not Christmas day after-dinner.
December 17, 2010
Last Times
Last time on Goroabe Bridge, last time in Plaza del Castillo, last time on campus in about half an hour, maybe. Probably. Gotta turn in library books and take a last exam and I can't imagine why I'd go back after that.
But there's a last time for everything. You can choose to cry about it, or not.
But there's a last time for everything. You can choose to cry about it, or not.
December 15, 2010
3 Days and Counting...
Last day in Askatasuna today. They bought me a scarf as a Christmas present!! ;_; They totally didn't have to do that! And they even got black because they noticed that my coat was black and that in the picture I had of my friends and me I was wearing black! One of the teachers (the sweet one who wants to live in the U.S. for a few years, and loves skiing etc) gave me a piece of paper with her phone number, address, etc on it, that says, "You will welcome at my house." She also told me this herself and was muttering something about San Fermines when another teacher took me away for something. So nice. ^^
Hotel in Bilbao booked, buses figured out, itinerary sent home. Package sent to Austria (a little stressful and twice the expected price, but still a slight savings in the long run. and a lot easier). Took my second to last final. Didn't feel great about it between the different format / different expectations / Spanish / the material being a bit hard to study for (almost common sense... you know the type). But, what else is new, and I keep reminding myself that I only need to pass, and I only need like a 50% to pass.
I weighed myself out of curiosity. Despite churros and Milka and having a deep fryer in the house that I've become quite good at using, I'm going home the exact same weight as I left. Which meant I could go to Beatriz and buy one last box of Garrotes. I met up with Sofia and Nadine one last time and we went to a little cafe called La Hormiga Atomica (the atomic ant). I ordered in Basque, but that meant all of one word was in Basque, and he didn't seem to notice. :P I got photos with Nadine, Sofia, Patri, and Daphne, and they all signed my flag (Patri signed for Daphne ;)). Tomorrow if I get signatures and photos from Florencia, Gema, and Mary, then that's really everyone. Even Gianfranco's coming back so I'll get his!
It's getting decently cold now. But I can make it a few more days, even without a coat. Tonight it was all in the wind (actually a balmy 0!) and when a wall or something blocked it for a second a sort of warm relief washed over me. Every time I take any little side street now I realize it might be my last time.
To do: Send christmassy things to Liisa and Rinna, withdraw a bit more money so I'm good for Bilbao (extra doesn't hurt, I can bring it to Germany so I'm okay on arrival). Buy presents for Todd and Rachel, Laura, and Zahra. Complete all obligations (from exams to parties). Get to Bilbao. Get home. Y ya esta.
Hotel in Bilbao booked, buses figured out, itinerary sent home. Package sent to Austria (a little stressful and twice the expected price, but still a slight savings in the long run. and a lot easier). Took my second to last final. Didn't feel great about it between the different format / different expectations / Spanish / the material being a bit hard to study for (almost common sense... you know the type). But, what else is new, and I keep reminding myself that I only need to pass, and I only need like a 50% to pass.
I weighed myself out of curiosity. Despite churros and Milka and having a deep fryer in the house that I've become quite good at using, I'm going home the exact same weight as I left. Which meant I could go to Beatriz and buy one last box of Garrotes. I met up with Sofia and Nadine one last time and we went to a little cafe called La Hormiga Atomica (the atomic ant). I ordered in Basque, but that meant all of one word was in Basque, and he didn't seem to notice. :P I got photos with Nadine, Sofia, Patri, and Daphne, and they all signed my flag (Patri signed for Daphne ;)). Tomorrow if I get signatures and photos from Florencia, Gema, and Mary, then that's really everyone. Even Gianfranco's coming back so I'll get his!
It's getting decently cold now. But I can make it a few more days, even without a coat. Tonight it was all in the wind (actually a balmy 0!) and when a wall or something blocked it for a second a sort of warm relief washed over me. Every time I take any little side street now I realize it might be my last time.
To do: Send christmassy things to Liisa and Rinna, withdraw a bit more money so I'm good for Bilbao (extra doesn't hurt, I can bring it to Germany so I'm okay on arrival). Buy presents for Todd and Rachel, Laura, and Zahra. Complete all obligations (from exams to parties). Get to Bilbao. Get home. Y ya esta.
December 14, 2010
Everything Else
I got done all of my packing today. I obsessively sorted out my coins and bills and made estimates about whether I'll need to withdraw any more. I rationed out my remaining food. I went and stole some boxes from the dumpster and packaged up and addressed my Christmas present to Liisa, a message in a bottle for Rinna, and the stuff I'm shipping to Austria to have in Germany. It's amazing how productive you can be when you don't want to study.
December 13, 2010
The Final Days
The last days are here. I'm leaving in less than a week. Yesterday I did the last load of laundry and today I started packing. Looks like I'm going to manage to get home in the same luggage - standard size suitcase, school size backpack, and briefcase - as I came in with, although I am planning to send a small package to Lea in Austria of things for Germany - medicines I bought here, (which may be illegal to ship in and out of the E.U. and I don't want to look it up), a few cute summery things I can wait a while on, etc. Not a ton, just enough to take off the strain and hopefully save my zippers. :)
I've got one more day of volunteering at Askatasuna, probably one more English lesson with Javier. All of my lectures are over and I have two more finals coming up. I haven't really said any real goodbyes yet, but I have them marked on the calendar and they're rushing up to meet me. My main friend group had a Christmas party that was also our last quiet event - we're going out on Friday which should be fun, but it's not really the same. Ainhoa's birthday party was on Saturday, and unfortunately I had to pick between that and the last official Erasmus event. :( But I made the right choice, I needed to go to Ainhoa's party after all she's done for me, and as a bonus we ran into a funny procession of men with giant bells on their backs, and I went inside a 'normal' Spanish house for the first time. :)
At all these events I'm careful to get some good photos. I don't want to regret anything like that that's so easy fixed now, so hard to fix later. Of course there are still a few loose ends - I realized the other day that I never contacted the other Couchsurfing person who told me to send a message once I arrived in Pamplona, and I never did grab lunch with Esther. But it's okay, really, and I plan to send a message to both of them to let them know that they made me feel really welcome, which is true. I had some semi-friends in Club de Montaña who I haven´t seen in a while because the November event was cancelled. So no real goodbye, but I´ll survive that. :) There are still so many things I haven´t seen, but they´re now just more reasons to come back. By and large, no regrets, I´ve done well by myself.
Jaime and I went downtown to take a few pictures tonight - of the Christmas decorations and just to have a few hours together outside of the house. The town was strangely deserted although it wasn´t even that late - do Spaniards adapt a different schedule in wintertime? But it wasn´t quite dodgy, more sort of peaceful, and we took some really lovely photos. It´s such a stupid thing, but I´m glad. We´ve been through so much together and I´m glad we have a nice photo or two to remember each other with. She has an exam at 8:30 tomorrow, but it was coming down to this - it was tonight or never. We really are in the final days. Where have the months gone?
I've got one more day of volunteering at Askatasuna, probably one more English lesson with Javier. All of my lectures are over and I have two more finals coming up. I haven't really said any real goodbyes yet, but I have them marked on the calendar and they're rushing up to meet me. My main friend group had a Christmas party that was also our last quiet event - we're going out on Friday which should be fun, but it's not really the same. Ainhoa's birthday party was on Saturday, and unfortunately I had to pick between that and the last official Erasmus event. :( But I made the right choice, I needed to go to Ainhoa's party after all she's done for me, and as a bonus we ran into a funny procession of men with giant bells on their backs, and I went inside a 'normal' Spanish house for the first time. :)
At all these events I'm careful to get some good photos. I don't want to regret anything like that that's so easy fixed now, so hard to fix later. Of course there are still a few loose ends - I realized the other day that I never contacted the other Couchsurfing person who told me to send a message once I arrived in Pamplona, and I never did grab lunch with Esther. But it's okay, really, and I plan to send a message to both of them to let them know that they made me feel really welcome, which is true. I had some semi-friends in Club de Montaña who I haven´t seen in a while because the November event was cancelled. So no real goodbye, but I´ll survive that. :) There are still so many things I haven´t seen, but they´re now just more reasons to come back. By and large, no regrets, I´ve done well by myself.
Jaime and I went downtown to take a few pictures tonight - of the Christmas decorations and just to have a few hours together outside of the house. The town was strangely deserted although it wasn´t even that late - do Spaniards adapt a different schedule in wintertime? But it wasn´t quite dodgy, more sort of peaceful, and we took some really lovely photos. It´s such a stupid thing, but I´m glad. We´ve been through so much together and I´m glad we have a nice photo or two to remember each other with. She has an exam at 8:30 tomorrow, but it was coming down to this - it was tonight or never. We really are in the final days. Where have the months gone?
December 05, 2010
Germany Income!
I found out today that I've been chosen to work on my school's study abroad blog. I sent in an application a few weeks ago and now it's on. :) The payment is 250$, and for that I have to blog about 15 times. Not professional rates maybe but definitely not bad, especially considering that I would be (and will be) doing the same thing for fun. 250 is what? Funding for maybe two whole weekend trips, and from Bonn that could get me anywhere - Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Berlin, Alsace-Lorraine, maybe even Switzerland. Further, if I'm willing to hop on a Ryanair flight from Cologne (connections should be good!)
It's a good deal, all told. I'm also going to try to find some gigs babysitting or teaching English. Pamplona's a bit small to just hope you walk into something like that, and people generally are looking when the international students first arrive. But getting paid 10 euros an hour is niiiceee for an American.
I'm happy to have gotten the blog position. I actually wasn't certain - not to sound arrogant, but I thought I might be overqualified. I've had a personal blog (which one? duhhh) for almost 6 years, I've been maintaining what I think is a decent little blog for this semester in Spain, I'm a JOURNALISM student, and this is my second study abroad experience - maybe they want someone more fresh, more raw? I was also worried that Germany might be a bit too dull for them - EVERYONE goes to Germany. Maybe they wanted a student off to Indonesia or Ghana. But I guess not. Win.
It's a good deal, all told. I'm also going to try to find some gigs babysitting or teaching English. Pamplona's a bit small to just hope you walk into something like that, and people generally are looking when the international students first arrive. But getting paid 10 euros an hour is niiiceee for an American.
I'm happy to have gotten the blog position. I actually wasn't certain - not to sound arrogant, but I thought I might be overqualified. I've had a personal blog (which one? duhhh) for almost 6 years, I've been maintaining what I think is a decent little blog for this semester in Spain, I'm a JOURNALISM student, and this is my second study abroad experience - maybe they want someone more fresh, more raw? I was also worried that Germany might be a bit too dull for them - EVERYONE goes to Germany. Maybe they wanted a student off to Indonesia or Ghana. But I guess not. Win.
Pictures of Pamplona
This is Pamplona, the beautiful city in Navarra, Northern Spain, where I studied and spent four months of my life. We've got four vibrant seasons, world class tapas, a beautiful old town, a cathedral, a huge sprawling fortress, rivers and mills and delightful suburbs all around, two big universities, a reasonable amount of nightlife, nuns everywhere, one of the main fronts of the Basque independence movement, a park with live deer in it, festivals in every season, and more. And still, some people manage to call it boring - and after one semester! These people make me sick.
I took all of these pictures either in Pamplona proper (the majority) or in a suburb that you can reach on foot (faster by city bus).
I took all of these pictures either in Pamplona proper (the majority) or in a suburb that you can reach on foot (faster by city bus).
Pamplona in Wintertime
Another day, another protest
Plaza San Francisco
Plaza del Castillo
Little girl during San Fermin Txikito
Sorauren, nearby town. (Follow the Parque Fluvial)
Very popular banner for people to hang - it asks the government tobring Basque prisoners back to the Basque Country.
University of Navarra
La Trinidad de Arre
Another little demonstration...
San Saturnino
El Alto del Perdon (lights of Pamplona below!)
San Fermin Txikito
The Casco Viejo
View from campus in wintertime
Medieval Market Petting Zoo
San Fermin Txikito
Giant Paella at University
Birch tree in Plaza Felix Huarte
Plaza del Conde Rodezno
Church Steeple
San Saturnino
Parque Fluvial
Nuns everywhere!
Best food in the world
Paintball at the University Sports Day
Biurdana Mill
The City Hall
Monument to the Running of the Bulls
UNAV Campus
Rincon del Caballo Blanco (great view of the mountains from here!)
Basque Handball Court in the fortress
The CathedralLast Two Weeks
I took my first legit final here. Maybe I failed it or maybe I did fine. The systems just too different and I wasn't 100% sure what they wanted from me all the time. But I passed the first mini exam, I went to all the classes, and I did reasonably well on the project... and I'm an international student. I should be able to pass the class, and that's all I need.
I swear I'm cursed when it comes to trips. The last three times I've planned anything involving a car, (and the last four out of five times) something's gone wrong. First it was Allan and the passport, then it was Ainhoa's mom's car breaking down and needing hers, and then this weekend we were essentially snowed in. We were hoping for four days of little road trips, getting the car Sat-Tues. But what looks like it's going to be the biggest snow of my semester fell Friday (when I couldn't really enjoy it) and the roads were still too icy Saturday to go out. Since the car rental place is closed Sunday, it's not like we can start today. And Monday and Wednesday are national holidays, so things are even more complicated!
But I shouldn't complain about these things really. Spain's air traffic controllers went on an unannounced strike and really messed up transportation around here. Apparently Spain has declared some sort of state of emergency that hasn't been used since Franco died. Yikes. My roommate Jaime made it to Switzerland okay (just in time), but my friends Sara and Colleen got stuck in Madrid (at least they live there, so they could just go home to figure things out) and are missing Prague altogether. They're resilient, though, now fighting to get their money back on the original flight and thinking they can still get to Vienna and such. So yeah, not complaining about my road trippettes anymore!
And, I think things will work out fine. I'm down to my last two weeks here, and the hardest exams are out of the way. I've done most of my Christmas shopping. Emily is arriving tonight, we're getting pintxos with my friends... tomorrow we'll go with Ainhoa (and her friend Andrea) to a Basque book fair in Durango, Tuesday with luck we'll get the car and go north to Elizondo and the witch caves. Then Emily leaves - on Wednesday Marketa and I are hoping to go East to the mountains after all (weather dependent). If I can see Ochagavia, the snow-capped Pyrenees, and Javier, I'll be a very, very happy girl. :) Basque final is Thursday but I'm not worried, I am planning to review a bit, and go to take the exam, for my own dignity - but I don't think the credit will even transfer.
This weekend I still might have a bit of fun - maybe a day trip with Ainhoa's car at last? :) And the farewell slideshow for international students... and Christmas party with my friends! I'll also start studying for my final two exams, next week - I'm not too worried about them, there's just Literature and Film and my Literature class, and I've read all the books and watched all the movies. I have to finish up my notebook assignment for Literature, but that's due Friday during the exam and helps me study, so not too stressful. And I'll pack and clean, ship Liisa's Christmas present to Finland and probably a box of things for Germany to Lea's family in Austria.
Friday's my last exam - then I'll go out and party like crazy with my friends, one last time. It's not my ideal way to spend a final night, but that's the general consensus and it /will/ be fun - I just wish we had a quiet time after that. :) Then I'll sleep in, grab my stuff, and head to Bilbao - not looking forward to having to get there and to a hotel with all my luggage, alone, in winter time! My flight leaves early early the next morning, the 19th, and later that day (time difference!) I'll be home. I can actually see it approaching now. How time flies!
I swear I'm cursed when it comes to trips. The last three times I've planned anything involving a car, (and the last four out of five times) something's gone wrong. First it was Allan and the passport, then it was Ainhoa's mom's car breaking down and needing hers, and then this weekend we were essentially snowed in. We were hoping for four days of little road trips, getting the car Sat-Tues. But what looks like it's going to be the biggest snow of my semester fell Friday (when I couldn't really enjoy it) and the roads were still too icy Saturday to go out. Since the car rental place is closed Sunday, it's not like we can start today. And Monday and Wednesday are national holidays, so things are even more complicated!
But I shouldn't complain about these things really. Spain's air traffic controllers went on an unannounced strike and really messed up transportation around here. Apparently Spain has declared some sort of state of emergency that hasn't been used since Franco died. Yikes. My roommate Jaime made it to Switzerland okay (just in time), but my friends Sara and Colleen got stuck in Madrid (at least they live there, so they could just go home to figure things out) and are missing Prague altogether. They're resilient, though, now fighting to get their money back on the original flight and thinking they can still get to Vienna and such. So yeah, not complaining about my road trippettes anymore!
And, I think things will work out fine. I'm down to my last two weeks here, and the hardest exams are out of the way. I've done most of my Christmas shopping. Emily is arriving tonight, we're getting pintxos with my friends... tomorrow we'll go with Ainhoa (and her friend Andrea) to a Basque book fair in Durango, Tuesday with luck we'll get the car and go north to Elizondo and the witch caves. Then Emily leaves - on Wednesday Marketa and I are hoping to go East to the mountains after all (weather dependent). If I can see Ochagavia, the snow-capped Pyrenees, and Javier, I'll be a very, very happy girl. :) Basque final is Thursday but I'm not worried, I am planning to review a bit, and go to take the exam, for my own dignity - but I don't think the credit will even transfer.
This weekend I still might have a bit of fun - maybe a day trip with Ainhoa's car at last? :) And the farewell slideshow for international students... and Christmas party with my friends! I'll also start studying for my final two exams, next week - I'm not too worried about them, there's just Literature and Film and my Literature class, and I've read all the books and watched all the movies. I have to finish up my notebook assignment for Literature, but that's due Friday during the exam and helps me study, so not too stressful. And I'll pack and clean, ship Liisa's Christmas present to Finland and probably a box of things for Germany to Lea's family in Austria.
Friday's my last exam - then I'll go out and party like crazy with my friends, one last time. It's not my ideal way to spend a final night, but that's the general consensus and it /will/ be fun - I just wish we had a quiet time after that. :) Then I'll sleep in, grab my stuff, and head to Bilbao - not looking forward to having to get there and to a hotel with all my luggage, alone, in winter time! My flight leaves early early the next morning, the 19th, and later that day (time difference!) I'll be home. I can actually see it approaching now. How time flies!
December 03, 2010
Still Life in Spain
It's snowing pretty hard today. First serious exam tomorrow - Cultura Visual.
My grocery list:
Milk
Relleno (bloodless blood sausage from Pamplona)
Baguette
Tomato sauce
6 Eggs
I could have survived the day with what I had in my cupboard, and shouldn't have wasted the time with my exam approaching, but then again it only takes ten minutes, and tomorrow I'm busy, and Sunday it'll be closed, and Monday and Tuesday perhaps too - there's some sort of holiday. Even today lots of things are closed for Dia de Navarra, but luckily not the grocery store. Besides, I wanted to feel the snow under my own feet - this was an excuse.
Plaza Felix Huarte has nine new residents as of this morning - very pale and a bit misshapen. I don't know if they'll make it to nightfall - the temperature is only just at freezing, after all.
My room smells like the wet laundry hung up to dry. It's not unpleasant. There's enough light bouncing off the snow and coming in through the window that I can leave the electric ones turned off. The air is cool but I've got my wool socks and a sweatshirt on as I sit in bed and study with a mug of Colacao. Life is good.
My grocery list:
Milk
Relleno (bloodless blood sausage from Pamplona)
Baguette
Tomato sauce
6 Eggs
I could have survived the day with what I had in my cupboard, and shouldn't have wasted the time with my exam approaching, but then again it only takes ten minutes, and tomorrow I'm busy, and Sunday it'll be closed, and Monday and Tuesday perhaps too - there's some sort of holiday. Even today lots of things are closed for Dia de Navarra, but luckily not the grocery store. Besides, I wanted to feel the snow under my own feet - this was an excuse.
Plaza Felix Huarte has nine new residents as of this morning - very pale and a bit misshapen. I don't know if they'll make it to nightfall - the temperature is only just at freezing, after all.
My room smells like the wet laundry hung up to dry. It's not unpleasant. There's enough light bouncing off the snow and coming in through the window that I can leave the electric ones turned off. The air is cool but I've got my wool socks and a sweatshirt on as I sit in bed and study with a mug of Colacao. Life is good.
December 02, 2010
Living with Ana
People ask me what's wrong with Ana. It's difficult for me to explain, because it's the never-endingness of it all that makes it so unbearable. Today, for example (I kept track of the details because I felt the need to record the terribleness of it all) she was trying to convince me to buy these sort of warm pantyhose things that she likes to wear. I thought I understood with just mentioning them what they were, but she launched into a 2-3 minute description of them in her style - meaning requiring you to give full attention the whole time, meaning expansive gestures, meaning she was standing so close to me that I had to smell her hideous cigarette breath the entire time. When she finished, she did it again. And again.
Starting at the third repetition, I started saying, "Yes, I understand what they are." as clearly as possible. Starting at the fourth, I started cutting her off mid sentence to repeat that I understood, again and again. Nothing works. After FIVE repetitions of the exact same description, she went and got a pair so she could give it AGAIN with a prop - this time slower and with some additional details such as here are white ones here are black ones. She can barely see, so although the price tag was clearly visible, she took about 30 seconds to read it off painfully slowly. Then she went to another pair (same price) and did the same thing. I thanked her and said I would go buy some and thanked her again. I got the description AGAIN - if you're still counting, this is now the seventh time.
I decided that desperate measures had to be taken, and I actually said, "You don't need to explain it any more, I know what they are." I tried to walk away, but as a closing remark she went through the information one more time. Then I sat down to eat while she put away dishes. Suddenly she exclaimed, "Que Suerte!!" (What luck!)
"Que?" I said. (What?)
"Que suerte!" she said.
"Porque dices esto?" I said (Why are you saying that?)
"Porque que suerte!" she said. (Because what luck!)
- A pause -
Finally, she added, "That Jaime's in Switzerland this weekend! How fun for her!"
Maybe Jaime's right. Maybe she does lace her cigarettes with crack. People suggest to me that she's just lonely. Maybe, but the only reason she's ever not bothering me is when she's on the webcam or the phone for hours, or has one of her children over, or a friend. She has loads of them, and good for her. But the house is ALWAYS filled with her voice. If she's lonely, she's insatiable.
People have suggested that it's a Spanish thing. The annoying speech patterns, the crazy gestures? Probably. The cigarette breath and lack of respect for personal space? Probably. The repetition? Maybe - the first 2-3 times. After that? I think not. Jorge said that in Spain they don't like to make people eat alone - they feel bad for you. Thinking he might be on to something, I very clearly explained to her that I liked to eat alone. But every time I did this, she looked so sad that I eventually relented and gave up on one of my favourite ways to relax - reading or studying over a quick snack or lunch.
As I'm posting this, she's eating across the table from me and staring right at me. The entire time. I should mention that I came into the kitchen first, and she followed me - It's not like I busted in on her private time. You want food in this house, you better be ready for some company.
Starting at the third repetition, I started saying, "Yes, I understand what they are." as clearly as possible. Starting at the fourth, I started cutting her off mid sentence to repeat that I understood, again and again. Nothing works. After FIVE repetitions of the exact same description, she went and got a pair so she could give it AGAIN with a prop - this time slower and with some additional details such as here are white ones here are black ones. She can barely see, so although the price tag was clearly visible, she took about 30 seconds to read it off painfully slowly. Then she went to another pair (same price) and did the same thing. I thanked her and said I would go buy some and thanked her again. I got the description AGAIN - if you're still counting, this is now the seventh time.
I decided that desperate measures had to be taken, and I actually said, "You don't need to explain it any more, I know what they are." I tried to walk away, but as a closing remark she went through the information one more time. Then I sat down to eat while she put away dishes. Suddenly she exclaimed, "Que Suerte!!" (What luck!)
"Que?" I said. (What?)
"Que suerte!" she said.
"Porque dices esto?" I said (Why are you saying that?)
"Porque que suerte!" she said. (Because what luck!)
- A pause -
Finally, she added, "That Jaime's in Switzerland this weekend! How fun for her!"
Maybe Jaime's right. Maybe she does lace her cigarettes with crack. People suggest to me that she's just lonely. Maybe, but the only reason she's ever not bothering me is when she's on the webcam or the phone for hours, or has one of her children over, or a friend. She has loads of them, and good for her. But the house is ALWAYS filled with her voice. If she's lonely, she's insatiable.
People have suggested that it's a Spanish thing. The annoying speech patterns, the crazy gestures? Probably. The cigarette breath and lack of respect for personal space? Probably. The repetition? Maybe - the first 2-3 times. After that? I think not. Jorge said that in Spain they don't like to make people eat alone - they feel bad for you. Thinking he might be on to something, I very clearly explained to her that I liked to eat alone. But every time I did this, she looked so sad that I eventually relented and gave up on one of my favourite ways to relax - reading or studying over a quick snack or lunch.
As I'm posting this, she's eating across the table from me and staring right at me. The entire time. I should mention that I came into the kitchen first, and she followed me - It's not like I busted in on her private time. You want food in this house, you better be ready for some company.
November 29, 2010
Senz Umbrellas
I need a Senz umbrella for Bergen. Don't let me forget. Maybe even for Germany it would be smart? http://www.senzumbrellas.com/
November 27, 2010
Rain
"En Pamplona hay dos estaciones - la de lluvia y la de los autobuses." - Ainhoa
How can it rain as much anywhere as it does here in Pamplona? It's not so much that it comes down in buckets and sheets (it's usually quite gentle), but just that it's relentless, day after day after day of threatening grey skies. The clouds part just often and briefly enough that you wish they wouldn't at all - for those two seconds you remember what the world looks like with sun shining on it, and it's only all the more painful when it's taken away again.
How can it rain as much anywhere as it does here in Pamplona? It's not so much that it comes down in buckets and sheets (it's usually quite gentle), but just that it's relentless, day after day after day of threatening grey skies. The clouds part just often and briefly enough that you wish they wouldn't at all - for those two seconds you remember what the world looks like with sun shining on it, and it's only all the more painful when it's taken away again.
I'm stunned by all the blue sky in my old photo albums.
Bad Decisions
I didn't do myself any favours by snubbing ILCE, I realize - too late. When I arrived in Spain, I decided not to take any classes from ILCE - basically, classes about Spain and Spanish for foreigners - at all. The main reason was that they cost extra - quite a bit extra, too, especially if you want to take any of the cultural classes like art history or specialized literature (read: the ones I would be more likely to get transferable credit for). I felt annoyed and deceived that I would have to pay a supplement while already paying full tuition to my school back home, so after some contemplation, I snubbed the program altogether, opting instead to enroll in all of my classes directly through the faculty of communication. (Another option that most Erasmus fill their calendars with are classes taught in English... but again, many of these were low level, and my Spanish was good enough to pass courses taught in Spanish, so why not?)
Looking back, it's not that I regret trying to take some 'authentic classes'. It's more that I might regret - just a little - snubbing the typical Eramus fare altogether. A mixture, I realize in retrospect, might have been better... here's why.
1.) Spanish Proficiency: I'll start with this one, because it's the one that has surprised me the most, and which I think is least obvious. I would have guessed my Spanish would have improved the most being directly enrolled in Spanish-taught courses with Spanish students. But did it work out that way? I've heard the upper level ILCE courses are quite good, after all, and more than once I got the feeling that I would be benefiting from actually studying a bit of Spanish. I think that if I was learning new vocabulary and grammar as I went along, they would stick like never before as I saw them all around me. Instead, though, while my art history courses were taught in Spanish, the Spanish was (of course) never explained - and I didn't exactly have the time and energy to examine the professor's grammar and word choice - I was too busy trying to learn art history!
2.) Cultural Insight: This one is similar to above. I actually did take one course in English, Language and Communication (basically entry level linguistics). I learned more about Spanish culture in this class, a small group about half composed of foreigners, than I did in the journalism courses where I was the only non-Spanish student. Why? Because in the Journalism school, they take the cultural differences for granted - they don't pause for them, they don't explain them, and most of them are so subtle at this level that they can easily slip over my head if some juxtaposition doesn't pull them out. Looking back, classes taught in English by a Spanish professor to a group of mixed students may actually pull out the cultural divide much more clearly.
3.) Isolation: I thought I wouldn't miss being in class with the other Erasmus students. Wouldn't we naturally bond anyway? Yes and no. I developed a core group of friends I kept pretty close with, even if the way we first grouped together was half coincidence. I had my roommate Jaime, of course. And I went to lots of the events, so I would see people there and have fun. Still, I often got the feeling that I was late to find out about things, that I was a little bit out of the loop. It took me a while to figure out exactly why - that so many parties and trips were planned around the cafeteria table between ILCE courses.
You might argue - well, didn't you get to know Spanish students better? Again, this is sort of yes and no. The Spanish students on the whole aren't super keen on the idea of making best friends forever with someone who speaks their language slowly and who is only staying around for four months - and who can blame them? They can be very nice and helpful, but moving up to feeling comfortable sitting next to some one is a fairly tough step, and moving up from there to meeting outside of class is a bigger one, one I only started to glimpse approaching in the last weeks.
Now, with this last one I do have a sort of alternative suggestion, if you really want to chase the Spaniards around. This is - realize that classes here are arranged much more according to year than back home. I was basically an idiot - I chose one course from year two, one course from year three, and one elective (not counting my one course in English, which was also a year one class, and my Euskera course that was in a seperate department) - altogether, I saw five different groups of people in my classes - one in each class - and all of them were different than the group I was seeing at organized parties and activities. This is not the best way to really get included in any one group. My advice would be to pretend to be a second or a third year student, and sign up for all of your classes with the students from those years - that way you'll see the same group again and again, maximizing your chances of making some real Spanish friends. You'll also avoid a lot of musical-chairs-esque stress, as professors often assume that all of their students are the same year, with the same classes, and frequently switch these classes assuming it won't be an issue - whereas I often had a DIFFERENT class at that time, and missed a lot of class this way. :(
Looking back, it's not that I regret trying to take some 'authentic classes'. It's more that I might regret - just a little - snubbing the typical Eramus fare altogether. A mixture, I realize in retrospect, might have been better... here's why.
1.) Spanish Proficiency: I'll start with this one, because it's the one that has surprised me the most, and which I think is least obvious. I would have guessed my Spanish would have improved the most being directly enrolled in Spanish-taught courses with Spanish students. But did it work out that way? I've heard the upper level ILCE courses are quite good, after all, and more than once I got the feeling that I would be benefiting from actually studying a bit of Spanish. I think that if I was learning new vocabulary and grammar as I went along, they would stick like never before as I saw them all around me. Instead, though, while my art history courses were taught in Spanish, the Spanish was (of course) never explained - and I didn't exactly have the time and energy to examine the professor's grammar and word choice - I was too busy trying to learn art history!
2.) Cultural Insight: This one is similar to above. I actually did take one course in English, Language and Communication (basically entry level linguistics). I learned more about Spanish culture in this class, a small group about half composed of foreigners, than I did in the journalism courses where I was the only non-Spanish student. Why? Because in the Journalism school, they take the cultural differences for granted - they don't pause for them, they don't explain them, and most of them are so subtle at this level that they can easily slip over my head if some juxtaposition doesn't pull them out. Looking back, classes taught in English by a Spanish professor to a group of mixed students may actually pull out the cultural divide much more clearly.
3.) Isolation: I thought I wouldn't miss being in class with the other Erasmus students. Wouldn't we naturally bond anyway? Yes and no. I developed a core group of friends I kept pretty close with, even if the way we first grouped together was half coincidence. I had my roommate Jaime, of course. And I went to lots of the events, so I would see people there and have fun. Still, I often got the feeling that I was late to find out about things, that I was a little bit out of the loop. It took me a while to figure out exactly why - that so many parties and trips were planned around the cafeteria table between ILCE courses.
You might argue - well, didn't you get to know Spanish students better? Again, this is sort of yes and no. The Spanish students on the whole aren't super keen on the idea of making best friends forever with someone who speaks their language slowly and who is only staying around for four months - and who can blame them? They can be very nice and helpful, but moving up to feeling comfortable sitting next to some one is a fairly tough step, and moving up from there to meeting outside of class is a bigger one, one I only started to glimpse approaching in the last weeks.
Now, with this last one I do have a sort of alternative suggestion, if you really want to chase the Spaniards around. This is - realize that classes here are arranged much more according to year than back home. I was basically an idiot - I chose one course from year two, one course from year three, and one elective (not counting my one course in English, which was also a year one class, and my Euskera course that was in a seperate department) - altogether, I saw five different groups of people in my classes - one in each class - and all of them were different than the group I was seeing at organized parties and activities. This is not the best way to really get included in any one group. My advice would be to pretend to be a second or a third year student, and sign up for all of your classes with the students from those years - that way you'll see the same group again and again, maximizing your chances of making some real Spanish friends. You'll also avoid a lot of musical-chairs-esque stress, as professors often assume that all of their students are the same year, with the same classes, and frequently switch these classes assuming it won't be an issue - whereas I often had a DIFFERENT class at that time, and missed a lot of class this way. :(
November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving in Spain
Halloween passed all but unnoticed. It's becoming more international these days, and coincides enough with All Saints Day that there was something slightly special about it here, but nothing extraordinary. I was travelling in Galicia, and in Muros that day there were a few smashed pumpkins here and there, and I drank chocolate with rum and after Sara and Colleen left for Madrid I cooked cheese tortellini with pumpkin sauce and went to a concert with a girl from my hostel.
Thanksgiving on the other hand is totally absent, and somehow more noticeable because of it, and because I'm here in Pamplona. Everyone's facebook status and Skype messages are that they miss their family and want to go home and some of the international students (none of my friends) are even putting on little Thanksgiving dinners in miniature - limited both by what they know how to cook themselves, and on available ingredients. It's harder to ignore. The truth is I'm glad to spend only one fall abroad. The Spring won't be so bad - they still have Easter, after all, and we don't even get off school back home for Easter, unless by coincidence.
Today I pondered a trip to Etxauri or at least an hour or two in the library. Instead I stayed home after classes, cooked relleno and some sort of chicken makhani. It turned out a bit British for my taste - too sweet, somehow... but still quite edible. Ana's stuck indoors by the cold (it's supposed to snow this weekend), and when I offered to pick her up a carton of eggs, she sent me with a whole grocery list of ingredients for Pochas. What a jolly thanksgiving. :) Although anything I can think of to have at least the slight feeling is only going to make it worse. No, more or less ignoring it is the best policy. As I said to Melissa, yes, I'm alone for Thanksgiving, but it's not as if everyone around me is baking turkey and sweet potatoes and hugging relatives while I'm eating a turkey and gravy t.v. dinner. Life goes on as normal.
The highlight of the day was talking to my family via Skype. They're at Todd's in St. Louis and it's snowing there. Everyone took turns talking to me - Mom, Dad, Melissa, Todd, Rachel, Tori, Trevor, Ryan, Bob, and even Amy (my little cousin). RJ hadn't arrived yet. Bob and Trevor and Ryan and Todd were weird as always - Bob said he was also going to eat some blood sausage for the holiday, while Todd told me that the U.S. was "probably going to invade Spain... and I think they're going to put me in charge of it." And they held up Tidbit for me to see/talk to... she could hear me calling her and was cocking her head in that adorable way she has. :D She was so confused by my voice coming from the computer!
Thanksgiving on the other hand is totally absent, and somehow more noticeable because of it, and because I'm here in Pamplona. Everyone's facebook status and Skype messages are that they miss their family and want to go home and some of the international students (none of my friends) are even putting on little Thanksgiving dinners in miniature - limited both by what they know how to cook themselves, and on available ingredients. It's harder to ignore. The truth is I'm glad to spend only one fall abroad. The Spring won't be so bad - they still have Easter, after all, and we don't even get off school back home for Easter, unless by coincidence.
Today I pondered a trip to Etxauri or at least an hour or two in the library. Instead I stayed home after classes, cooked relleno and some sort of chicken makhani. It turned out a bit British for my taste - too sweet, somehow... but still quite edible. Ana's stuck indoors by the cold (it's supposed to snow this weekend), and when I offered to pick her up a carton of eggs, she sent me with a whole grocery list of ingredients for Pochas. What a jolly thanksgiving. :) Although anything I can think of to have at least the slight feeling is only going to make it worse. No, more or less ignoring it is the best policy. As I said to Melissa, yes, I'm alone for Thanksgiving, but it's not as if everyone around me is baking turkey and sweet potatoes and hugging relatives while I'm eating a turkey and gravy t.v. dinner. Life goes on as normal.
The highlight of the day was talking to my family via Skype. They're at Todd's in St. Louis and it's snowing there. Everyone took turns talking to me - Mom, Dad, Melissa, Todd, Rachel, Tori, Trevor, Ryan, Bob, and even Amy (my little cousin). RJ hadn't arrived yet. Bob and Trevor and Ryan and Todd were weird as always - Bob said he was also going to eat some blood sausage for the holiday, while Todd told me that the U.S. was "probably going to invade Spain... and I think they're going to put me in charge of it." And they held up Tidbit for me to see/talk to... she could hear me calling her and was cocking her head in that adorable way she has. :D She was so confused by my voice coming from the computer!
November 23, 2010
Mini Updates on Finals and Travel
My first final is on Friday. It's also the least stressful one - Language and Communication, my only class in English. So it'll be good to get that out of the way. Euskera's nothing to worry about it because it's likely Mizzou will never see that grade. Literatura y Cine I should be able to pass without a second thought, and to be honest Fundamentos Culturales III as well - between the slight amount he might feel sorry for me because I'm Erasmus, I've come to every class, and I'm trying... and the fact that I've read all the books... I should basically pass. No worries.
Cultura Visual is the big bad one. I haven't studied as much as I should and it's not something I'm as naturally talented at - bullshitting art - especially the more modern stuff. But hey, if I have to study hard for ONE exam, it's not going to kill me. :) Ida and I will study together, I talked to the professor again all pitiful like to prove that I'm trying, I have a copy of the textbook in English from the library, and today I got really smart and found a kid taking brilliant notes and asked him to please email the lot to me. He said he would! :D Yay!
Travel. I'm ready to settle down now, but I still want to do little day-trips throughout Navarra. I'm sort of cursed, though - it's one thing to sightsee towns by myself, another to hike alone through a forest. And most of the other people seem to fall into two camps - 1.) They want to lock themselves in for the remainder of the semester to study... *cough* Lea *cough* Nadine *cough*... or, they see the finals schedule as a reason to travel far and wide... to Italy, Switzerland, or Portugal, say. I really want to stay close to home - day trips, yes, maybe even one or two nights away. But it's not the easiest thing - not because there's not lots to see in Navarra - but because much of it is car-trip material. And I don't have a car.
I'm cursed about cars, btw. Allan's brother got into a little accident right before Scotland, so we couldn't use the car to see anything. Then Allan lost his passport and couldn't come here for us to take our road trip to Andorra (MAJOR bummer). And now, today Ainhoa (the saint) had offered to go on a day trip with her car... I could pick anywhere! We were going to do it over the weekend, but the weather was really rainy... so it was supposed to be tomorrow morning. Well, that didn't work out so well - her mom's car broke this afternoon, so she needs Ainhoa's car until further notice.
There's still lots I can do, and I plan to do. And yes, I am being responsible with my finals. I had the opportunity to go to Portugal this weekend, and I passed. Although I broke my own rule of taking chances I'd never have in America, and that I would regret not taking later (Lisbon for the weekend? Yes please!)... there were a few reasons I didn't go. One is expense and stress - it would have been a reasonably cheap trip, but I need to save for Germany... and there's so much going on around here right now that it would really be stressful to throw things together and run away for a few days. Two is responsibility - I need to study for finals, I'd made a few commitments here even though I could move them if I had to - like volunteering at the Basque school. These sort of things. Originally I might have been tempted, but I thought Sara and Colleen would come up this weekend. Now that they can't, I'm tempted again, but... no. Besides, I'm not that much of a big city girl anyway - I'd rather have a week (or more!) to do Portugal with like-minded friends - spend a day or two in the capital, spend a little time in nature, a little bit in small towns, try to snag world heritage sites... etc, than have two or three days with some basically random other Erasmus students. It would be fun, yes, but I think I'm better off waiting.
Everything is starting to make sense, here. I'm constantly noticing little things and wondering, 'what the hell were you thinking that first month??' Finding a public library, bus schedules, exotic food ingredients, tourist information, granola bars, etc... all so easy after all. Too bad I only have a few more weeks to enjoy it - and then I start all over again in Germany! But I like to think it won't be quite as bad - that I'll be able to use my experience here to be smarter from the start. Besides, Germany's a pretty organized country, and there's about a 50 page packet in English about Bonn, explaining most of the stuff I had to figure out the slowest and hardest possible way here in Pamplona. :)
Btw - today people reached my blog searching for Frau Eilken (is it the same one, I wonder?) and Dumbledore's Will Galadriel. (YES)
November 21, 2010
Travelling Alone
So this is my last full week of classes. Which means that it's my last Wednesday off that really counts. It's a funny thing to think about. At first, when I heard I had Wednesday's off, some of my friends groaned. What a rubbish day to have off, they thought, since it meant I couldn't take a long weekend. I sort of liked it, though. It's been like my own private weekend when I could reorganize and get things done, since on most of my actual weekends I've been quite busy. I also thought that I'd make a few trips on Wednesdays - little things, by myself. I liked the idea of hopping up to France from San Sebastian - Hendaye for example has a Wednesday market, and I liked the idea of going there just for the hell of it, grabbing a few photos. I didn't do that very often - or really at all. If I decide I needed those days to recharge and get a few things done, there's no shame in that. But I wonder if part of it was me hesitating to travel alone.
This is something I've been thinking about a lot. If I want to be a travel journalist, I'm going to have to get used to travelling alone. I'm going to have to learn not to depend on other people to have a good time, etc. I think I'm making progress, in a way. I've travelled alone several times - most notably in Asturias and when I went to Foz de Lumbier. In the first case, it was an impulsive thing on the way to meet up with Sara and Colleen in Galicia. In the second, I realized that I might be looking at the last day of wonderful weather this season, and I just couldn't waste the opportunity, even though none of my friends could be bothered.
Did I spend those trips scared, lonely, feeling threatened, regretting that I'd ever set out alone? Basically, no. I went to safe places and was rarely out of sight of other people, never after sundown. I took more time to take nice photographs and really appreciate the sights, without looking back and thinking, 'wow, that was such a nice spot, but we were talking about high school traditions then so I pretty much missed it.' I was bolder, not in the sense of being rash, but in the sense of trying random things - I was only accountable to myself if things went wrong. In Oviedo, I decided to go for these two churches way up on a hillside, and found out once I was there that they were World Heritage Sites - and the entire trip to Foz de Lumbier was a gamble - I couldn't find any confirmation online that my idea of walking from Liedena to Lumbier was feasible. In the end, though, it was quite easy.
I felt strong and independent. The people around me opened up a bit more, since I obviously wasn't busy talking to someone else, and in some of them I caught a bit of respect - they didn't know how I was, going at it alone, but it set me apart from the typical bus tourist. In Oviedo I went into a restaurant alone with my big camera over my shoulder, and the server went out of his way to accommodate me, telling me what their specialities were, what dishes were typical to the region, etc - maybe a total coincidence, but maybe not. When I got off the bus in Liedena, an older woman got off with me and asked me twice, "You want Liedena? You want Liedena, really?" When I told her I was going to walk to Lumbier, she smiled and gave me directions while we walked down the road together - she also pointed out the best vantage point to photograph her town. "Now you'll have a memory of Liedena," she told.
I've had great experiences every time I've set off alone. That's not to say I necessarily prefer it to travelling with friends - they're both nice, and both different. There are a lot of things I would never do alone, for example, like party in Barcelona or cross the Pyrenees on the Camino de Santiago. I have to be more careful when selecting things I think I can manage on my own, because after all it does make me more vulnerable. Still, I think it's something I'm getting more and more comfortable with, little by little.
November 20, 2010
Which Movie am I Watching?
Maybe it was the fact that it was in Spanish. Maybe it's just been so long (5 years?) since I've seen an installment of either series that shaped my childhood. Maybe I was just tired. But a few times during Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part One, I had to remind myself which movie I was watching - whether it wasn't a remix of The Lord of the Rings.
I'm not saying that the Harry Potter books copy Lord of the Rings. I think that would be rediculous and silly - just because both play on certain archetypes, and one might be able to find a few cursory coincidences, the stories are fundamentally and radically different. (Do we find out Gandalf was involved in the death of his little sister in a gay affair? Where is Hermione in Lord of the Rings? etc etc etc etc) But the film brought out certain similarities that weren't as obvious in the books... maybe because the writing style of the books is so different, while a movie at some level is a movie.
When it struck me:
The scene where Harry leaves the Burrow in the middle of the night, with a backpack, and Ron goes after him: Where to begin? This was exactly like Frodo taking off from the Shire with Sam. I realized for the first time that Harry and Frodo, and Ron and Sam, look a bit similar (dark hair, red hair). They're walking through a cereal field in both movies, and Ron/Sam is giving a speech about not letting Frodo/Harry go off on his own.
Weasley twin scenes: Fred and George reminded me a bit of Merry and Pippin - always having a sense of humour, although they too are subject to danger. Just as Merry, Pippin, and Sam are Frodo's hobbit companions (although Merry and Pippin are not as important characters), Fred, George, and Ron are all Weasleys and sort of fall into a group as such.
Harry's flashback of Dumbledore falling: I almost expected Frodo to wake up yelling 'Gandalf'... the scene at the beginning of The Two Towers is just too similar.
Dumbledore's Will: This reminded me a bit of the Galadriel gift giving scene in the Lord of the Rings, most notably when Ron recieved the Illuminator. I don't remember the exact words in Spanish, but it sounded eerily similar to a translation for "May it be a light for you when all other lights go out," which is what Galadriel says when giving Frodo the Phial of Galadriel.
Voldemort when flying around: This one is more subtle, but something about the way that Voldemort races around as a black cloud, and the way he will suddenly whip around when sensing something, as well as certain accompanying sound effects, remind me of the Great Eye and the Ringwraiths.
The Locket: This is the most obvious one by far - an evil object containing part of the dark lord's soul that the characters keep hanging around their neck, where it messes with their thoughts and tries to corrupt them/prevent them from destroying it? Does that sound like a certain integral part of The Lord of the Rings to you?
Harry's Scar: This is also like the ring in the sense that it connects Harry to Voldemort and leads him to have odd moments of freaking out because Voldemort is angry, etc... just as it makes Frodo freak out when Sauron is close to seeing him.
I'm not saying that the Harry Potter books copy Lord of the Rings. I think that would be rediculous and silly - just because both play on certain archetypes, and one might be able to find a few cursory coincidences, the stories are fundamentally and radically different. (Do we find out Gandalf was involved in the death of his little sister in a gay affair? Where is Hermione in Lord of the Rings? etc etc etc etc) But the film brought out certain similarities that weren't as obvious in the books... maybe because the writing style of the books is so different, while a movie at some level is a movie.
When it struck me:
The scene where Harry leaves the Burrow in the middle of the night, with a backpack, and Ron goes after him: Where to begin? This was exactly like Frodo taking off from the Shire with Sam. I realized for the first time that Harry and Frodo, and Ron and Sam, look a bit similar (dark hair, red hair). They're walking through a cereal field in both movies, and Ron/Sam is giving a speech about not letting Frodo/Harry go off on his own.
Weasley twin scenes: Fred and George reminded me a bit of Merry and Pippin - always having a sense of humour, although they too are subject to danger. Just as Merry, Pippin, and Sam are Frodo's hobbit companions (although Merry and Pippin are not as important characters), Fred, George, and Ron are all Weasleys and sort of fall into a group as such.
Harry's flashback of Dumbledore falling: I almost expected Frodo to wake up yelling 'Gandalf'... the scene at the beginning of The Two Towers is just too similar.
Dumbledore's Will: This reminded me a bit of the Galadriel gift giving scene in the Lord of the Rings, most notably when Ron recieved the Illuminator. I don't remember the exact words in Spanish, but it sounded eerily similar to a translation for "May it be a light for you when all other lights go out," which is what Galadriel says when giving Frodo the Phial of Galadriel.
Voldemort when flying around: This one is more subtle, but something about the way that Voldemort races around as a black cloud, and the way he will suddenly whip around when sensing something, as well as certain accompanying sound effects, remind me of the Great Eye and the Ringwraiths.
The Locket: This is the most obvious one by far - an evil object containing part of the dark lord's soul that the characters keep hanging around their neck, where it messes with their thoughts and tries to corrupt them/prevent them from destroying it? Does that sound like a certain integral part of The Lord of the Rings to you?
Harry's Scar: This is also like the ring in the sense that it connects Harry to Voldemort and leads him to have odd moments of freaking out because Voldemort is angry, etc... just as it makes Frodo freak out when Sauron is close to seeing him.
November 17, 2010
Älvdalska
Stefan!
Jag har just kommit hem från den amerikaniska flickan som kan typ 1000 språk
och vi pratade om boken den lilla prinsen eller vad den heter på svenska
Le petit prince
Bysheon sagt:
Ååååh....
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
och hon sa
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
"Som jag vet, är den den enda boken som blev översättat till älvdalska"
Bysheon sagt:
SA HON?!
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
JA!
haha
Bysheon sagt:
ja, jag vet att den blivit det!! men hur i helvete....
HON vet det. Att hon ens känner till Älvdalska!
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
hon vet om älvdalska!
hahaha
Bysheon sagt:
herregud
Vem är hon?
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
en maskin
Jag har just kommit hem från den amerikaniska flickan som kan typ 1000 språk
och vi pratade om boken den lilla prinsen eller vad den heter på svenska
Le petit prince
Bysheon sagt:
Ååååh....
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
och hon sa
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
"Som jag vet, är den den enda boken som blev översättat till älvdalska"
Bysheon sagt:
SA HON?!
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
JA!
haha
Bysheon sagt:
ja, jag vet att den blivit det!! men hur i helvete....
HON vet det. Att hon ens känner till Älvdalska!
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
hon vet om älvdalska!
hahaha
Bysheon sagt:
herregud
Vem är hon?
Nadine ʚϊɞ sagt:
en maskin
Language Day
Today was quite the language day. First I tutored this guy in English in the morning. I thought it went quite well - and I made a few euros too. In the afternoon I headed to an Ikastola in the neighboring town with Ainhoa and her mom. Her mom was so nice and fell straight into my archtype of super-nice, late-middle-aged, European teacher. I met with the head of the English department and we figured out a few days for me to come in and help with the different English classes - I'll come in on four different days in all, and help with 10 different classes. It's just about perfect. I even got a tour of the school today, and heard more Basque in an hour than I'd heard the rest of the semester (at least actively). The kind of thing that really motivates you to start studying!
In the evening Nadine came over. So sad that I've met her with only a month left in Pamplona, but at least we've met! We spoke mostly in Spanish, since that's already our default (and why not? It's neutral, and we're in Spain), but we not only share 5 languages, we have roughly equal levels in all of them (obviously I'm a bit better in English, and she's worlds better in German... but our Spanish is similar, as are our Norwegian and Basque!). Way too fun. We played with Basque a little bit, I introduced her to Uni, (as she's interested in Faroese - she's even heard of Alvdalska/Elfdalian, and was pleased as punch that I had!), and then we watched a half hour of Norwegian comedy followed by the Norwegian dub of Treasure Planet.
She reminds me a bit of my old self, but more organized, and marginally more resources as a European. It's a dangerous combination and it sorts of scares me. :P And makes me happy. I told her, I used to have your kind of motivation, in high school, but it's fallen off a little bit, somewhere along the way... but talking to you now about these things makes me excited again...
In the evening Nadine came over. So sad that I've met her with only a month left in Pamplona, but at least we've met! We spoke mostly in Spanish, since that's already our default (and why not? It's neutral, and we're in Spain), but we not only share 5 languages, we have roughly equal levels in all of them (obviously I'm a bit better in English, and she's worlds better in German... but our Spanish is similar, as are our Norwegian and Basque!). Way too fun. We played with Basque a little bit, I introduced her to Uni, (as she's interested in Faroese - she's even heard of Alvdalska/Elfdalian, and was pleased as punch that I had!), and then we watched a half hour of Norwegian comedy followed by the Norwegian dub of Treasure Planet.
She reminds me a bit of my old self, but more organized, and marginally more resources as a European. It's a dangerous combination and it sorts of scares me. :P And makes me happy. I told her, I used to have your kind of motivation, in high school, but it's fallen off a little bit, somewhere along the way... but talking to you now about these things makes me excited again...
Basque Flags
Long hair on the boys too, lots of black leather. They look and act like high schoolers. They move in mass, and quickly, laughing and giggling a little. One carries a big Basque flag, twisting in the wind and rain. Another carries a flag of Navarra.
A little further, down past the station and through Ciutadela, I see a second and bigger group. This group is carrying five Basque flags, a new one every thirty or forty students. My curiosity overwhelms me, and I ask the last girl why she's carrying it.
"It's the flag of the Basque Country." She tells me in English, in what sounds like a rehearsed line, giggling nervously with her friends. Silly foreigner doesn't even recognize their flag.
"I know," I tell them, in Spanish, "But why today?"
"Hoy? Pues porque hoy hay una huelga."
Of course.
A little further, down past the station and through Ciutadela, I see a second and bigger group. This group is carrying five Basque flags, a new one every thirty or forty students. My curiosity overwhelms me, and I ask the last girl why she's carrying it.
"It's the flag of the Basque Country." She tells me in English, in what sounds like a rehearsed line, giggling nervously with her friends. Silly foreigner doesn't even recognize their flag.
"I know," I tell them, in Spanish, "But why today?"
"Hoy? Pues porque hoy hay una huelga."
Of course.
Laughter in 16 Frames
I've got thousands more photos to sort through, but I'm making progress.
In Whiting, Iowa, Liisa was eating a watermelon, and I caught her laughter in 16 frames.
In Whiting, Iowa, Liisa was eating a watermelon, and I caught her laughter in 16 frames.
Skyping with Laura
I Skyped with Laura for what must have been a solid two hours the other night. We laughed, we cried, we covered a lot of ground. The conversation represented all of my reasons to want to go home, and all of my reasons to stay abroad. She didn't have an accent - except for that little extra bit of country earthiness. And talking to her, mine returned to normal from a deviance I hadn't noticed it had attained. We jumped right in, wasted little time with trivialities - you can do that, when you've known someone for longer than a single semester. We spoke frankly and confidently, trusting the language and the culture enough to know we could express anything we wanted, and that what we were expressing was what we wanted. It looked so cozy and insulated in Laura's house, and the walls were a familiar, comfortable, safe drywall white, and I wanted to sink my toes into the carpet. Laura's got a boyfriend and a new puppy, and I don't have the stability for anything like that... and sometimes I think about it.
Laura hasn't done much this semester, except long drives up to see her boyfriend, and homework, and work, and glee. That's what I gathered from her facebook statuses, but I didn't really how representative of the total they were. She brightly adds that she had lunch with other Laura a few weeks ago. That counts as an engagement nowadays. When I was home I was often the one kicking them out the door, so maybe things would be better if I was around. Or maybe not. They're settling. There are advantages and disadvantages to that, I suppose, but we have all the rest of our lives to fossilize. You're still young, I want to say, and still a student. Go break yourself against each day as if life's a demolition derby.
And that's why I'm abroad, until further notice.
Laura hasn't done much this semester, except long drives up to see her boyfriend, and homework, and work, and glee. That's what I gathered from her facebook statuses, but I didn't really how representative of the total they were. She brightly adds that she had lunch with other Laura a few weeks ago. That counts as an engagement nowadays. When I was home I was often the one kicking them out the door, so maybe things would be better if I was around. Or maybe not. They're settling. There are advantages and disadvantages to that, I suppose, but we have all the rest of our lives to fossilize. You're still young, I want to say, and still a student. Go break yourself against each day as if life's a demolition derby.
And that's why I'm abroad, until further notice.
Naughty Miranda
Apparently I used her favourite, special breakfast cup. It's kept with all the others, and she never told me not to use it. She admits as much, and tells me therefore not to worry about it, but I still feel scolded and uneasy. I'm sick of living with 'a superior' of whatever sort. I thought I'd already moved out.
November 16, 2010
The Woman with the 5 Elephants
That silly movie about the linguists chasing down dying languages was supposed to be a mainstream movie making linguistics/language study look awesome. Thanks to weird directing choices and the two linguists being whiny and annoying, it basically failed. This one looks better. :)
Semester vs. Year
In the last week, I think I've lined up two paid jobs tutoring English (just little, 1-2 hour a week things) and a volunteer position at one of the Basque ikastolas. On Saturday I had two separate dinner invitations - from Spaniards. I actually have people to sit with in class now. And on Sunday I met this girl I share five languages with - she's German, and learning Norwegian (about my level), interested in Faroese as well, and trying to learn some Basque while she's here). So fun.
All this, now, when I have only five weeks left in Spain.
I guess this is why they say you should stay for a full year.
All this, now, when I have only five weeks left in Spain.
I guess this is why they say you should stay for a full year.
The Gianfranco Family
Dinner with Gianfranco's parents last night. Ana served tortilla de patatas, black sausage (like in Scotland! ^^), and something I believe she called 'rellenos' that were little disks of very saffrony rice with a little tomato sauce. Todo tipico de aqui.
Gianfranco's parents were nice. Sometimes Gianfranco was translating, other times we were all managing to bridge the gap between the languages, narrow enough sometimes that particles can leap between them. I haven't thought about Italian since Italy - was that five years ago now? - and when I first entered I remembered nothing, but I snatched back a word here and a word there, and I had a few basic sentences by the time I left. Likewise 'mama' and 'papa' were trying their best to hispanicize their Italian. They invited me again and again to come stay with them in Rome. May do.
I took several group pictures. I used the tripod for the first time since getting to Spain. I put the pictures on Gianfranco's computer and signed his Spanish flag, said goodbye. Ciao, Gianfranco, it's been interesting. :)
Gianfranco's parents were nice. Sometimes Gianfranco was translating, other times we were all managing to bridge the gap between the languages, narrow enough sometimes that particles can leap between them. I haven't thought about Italian since Italy - was that five years ago now? - and when I first entered I remembered nothing, but I snatched back a word here and a word there, and I had a few basic sentences by the time I left. Likewise 'mama' and 'papa' were trying their best to hispanicize their Italian. They invited me again and again to come stay with them in Rome. May do.
I took several group pictures. I used the tripod for the first time since getting to Spain. I put the pictures on Gianfranco's computer and signed his Spanish flag, said goodbye. Ciao, Gianfranco, it's been interesting. :)
November 15, 2010
Touching Earth
"Fra min råtnende kropp, skal blomster vokse, og jeg er i dem, og dét er Evighet"
Not now, Edvard!
It's not the beginning of the end, just the end of the beginning. But I am greedy enough to find even that frightening. Is there no meaning beneath ultimate meaning?
Words cant save me anymore.
But maybe the sound of the egg sliding into the frying pan.
My tether tonight is made of seaweed and sesame oil and gochujang.
Not now, Edvard!
It's not the beginning of the end, just the end of the beginning. But I am greedy enough to find even that frightening. Is there no meaning beneath ultimate meaning?
Words cant save me anymore.
But maybe the sound of the egg sliding into the frying pan.
My tether tonight is made of seaweed and sesame oil and gochujang.
November 14, 2010
Last Days of Gianfranco
Gianfranco's going back to Italy on Tuesday. The house will certainly be quieter without him. I don't know if that makes me happy or sad. At least things will be cleaner. At least Ana won't blame Jaime or me for his dirty pots and pans anymore. But today for example he's watching Formula One in the living room and I'm doing some homework in the kitchen, its a rainy day and Jaime's off in Dublin and Ana's gone out, and it's nice to have him around. He's a nice guy, really. I almost start thinking I'll miss him until I realize that, even not in the room, he takes up 3/4 of the kitchen table with his box of cocoa krispies, the bag of cocoa krispies (laid beside the box and left open), a USB stick, two cell phones, a dirty spoon, a dirty mug, some sort of container, two used tissues, a receipt, the instructions for his cough medicine, his cough medicine, a marker, a camera, and a watch. So close to the end, it doesn't bother me anymore, almost makes me laugh.
November 09, 2010
Melissa ^^
Melissa posted this on my wall:
It is COMPLETELY impossible to wrap up all the things i like about you in a wall post, but to sum it up, your amazing, i miss you soooo much, i can't wait for you to come spend some time with me down here, your the smartest person i know and i feel like i can ask you anything. Thanks for always being there for me sis!! come home!
November 05, 2010
Magic Peanut Butter Cookies (3 Ingredients!)
They're fast. They're easy. They're super cheap, too, unless you're in Europe and peanut butter is marked way up. :) *ahem*
I'm not super into baking. I like cooking a lot, but baking takes the fun out of it for me... no experimentation (at least not at my level), no tasting as you go - just measure it all, mix it together, throw it in the hot oven, wait, and hope for the best. I do occasionally get a craving for cookies or brownies, but not enough to invest in a mixer, baking soda, flour, etc. The problem is worse when I'm abroad and can't buy mixes and premade dough to satisfy my occasional cravings. Well, I've found an answer to all of the above: Magic Peanut Butter Cookies (with only three ingredients!)
I found this recipe online and tried it out - it's pretty darn good! Several people told me it was the best peanut butter cookie they'd had in their life, and several international students, normally wary of peanut butter, swallowed it whole and happily without ever suspecting the MAIN ingredient! I'm actually less enthusiastic than some - I think a more complex recipe would probably result in a slightly better cookie, but the work-to-product ratio is excellent. They are /very/ dense - you really only want one, but in my mind that's the mark of a good dessert.
Easy to remember, easy to measure (or even guestimate), and even an almost empty pantry probably contains the necessary ingredients. Really something you can make anytime. You don't need a beater or anything like that, either - it only takes about a minute to mix the ingredients together with a spoon. As a bonus, they're gluten free. And did I mention they bake in 5-10 minutes?
Without further ado -
Magic Peanut Butter Cookies:
(about) 1 cup of Peanut Butter
(about) 1 cup of Sugar
1 Egg
Mix ingredients together with a spoon. Place onto ungreased baking sheet in small balls about an inch apart - the mixture should make twelve. Flatten the balls slightly with a fork, making a little tic-tac-toe design on top. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes (some recipes show less, mine took 10). Done!
----------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
1.) They will look and feel very raw when you take them out of the oven. They firm up fast but are still more delicate than many cookies. No gluteny-glue keeping it together.
2.) You can add chocolate chips. :) Even better for tricking people who claim not to like peanut butter.
3.) A few recipes say that you should try adding a bit of baking soda (and/or salt or vanilla). If you have them on hand, why not? But it's nice knowing they're not needed. The baking soda makes them a bit lighter, apparently, and the vanilla I'm sure adds a certain richness. I'm not sure I would go for the salt, as the peanut butter is already pretty salty - but that might depend on brand, some people are probably making this with 'natural peanut butter' etc.
I'm not super into baking. I like cooking a lot, but baking takes the fun out of it for me... no experimentation (at least not at my level), no tasting as you go - just measure it all, mix it together, throw it in the hot oven, wait, and hope for the best. I do occasionally get a craving for cookies or brownies, but not enough to invest in a mixer, baking soda, flour, etc. The problem is worse when I'm abroad and can't buy mixes and premade dough to satisfy my occasional cravings. Well, I've found an answer to all of the above: Magic Peanut Butter Cookies (with only three ingredients!)
I found this recipe online and tried it out - it's pretty darn good! Several people told me it was the best peanut butter cookie they'd had in their life, and several international students, normally wary of peanut butter, swallowed it whole and happily without ever suspecting the MAIN ingredient! I'm actually less enthusiastic than some - I think a more complex recipe would probably result in a slightly better cookie, but the work-to-product ratio is excellent. They are /very/ dense - you really only want one, but in my mind that's the mark of a good dessert.
Easy to remember, easy to measure (or even guestimate), and even an almost empty pantry probably contains the necessary ingredients. Really something you can make anytime. You don't need a beater or anything like that, either - it only takes about a minute to mix the ingredients together with a spoon. As a bonus, they're gluten free. And did I mention they bake in 5-10 minutes?
Without further ado -
Magic Peanut Butter Cookies:
(about) 1 cup of Peanut Butter
(about) 1 cup of Sugar
1 Egg
Mix ingredients together with a spoon. Place onto ungreased baking sheet in small balls about an inch apart - the mixture should make twelve. Flatten the balls slightly with a fork, making a little tic-tac-toe design on top. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes (some recipes show less, mine took 10). Done!
----------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
1.) They will look and feel very raw when you take them out of the oven. They firm up fast but are still more delicate than many cookies. No gluteny-glue keeping it together.
2.) You can add chocolate chips. :) Even better for tricking people who claim not to like peanut butter.
3.) A few recipes say that you should try adding a bit of baking soda (and/or salt or vanilla). If you have them on hand, why not? But it's nice knowing they're not needed. The baking soda makes them a bit lighter, apparently, and the vanilla I'm sure adds a certain richness. I'm not sure I would go for the salt, as the peanut butter is already pretty salty - but that might depend on brand, some people are probably making this with 'natural peanut butter' etc.
A Quiet Weekend
I've been posting more exciting things on my study abroad blog, but least this one become nothing but a pit of despair and moody thoughts, just a little taste of life studying in Spain -
Last weekend I went to Galicia and Asturias, and next weekend I'm taking a road trip up to the tiny Pyrenean Principality of Andorra through northern Spain, and back through southern France. So, this weekend is a quiet one - just a few classes this morning, then a picnic with my friends (note: in a fortress), going out tonight for pintxos and a concert with some Spanish students... tomorrow a day-trip to the castle of Olite and the desertland in the south of Navarra, and on Sunday most likely walking a day of the Camino de Santiago. It's a hard life, but someone's gotta live it. :)
Last weekend I went to Galicia and Asturias, and next weekend I'm taking a road trip up to the tiny Pyrenean Principality of Andorra through northern Spain, and back through southern France. So, this weekend is a quiet one - just a few classes this morning, then a picnic with my friends (note: in a fortress), going out tonight for pintxos and a concert with some Spanish students... tomorrow a day-trip to the castle of Olite and the desertland in the south of Navarra, and on Sunday most likely walking a day of the Camino de Santiago. It's a hard life, but someone's gotta live it. :)
November 04, 2010
Rain and Shine
Much better today but still not 100% well. The weather is brilliant and will be again tomorrow. After that it's nothing but rain for a week, and might might might improve for next weekend and Andorra. Isn't it great how it's always nice when I want to stay inside, cook, be cozy, and get well... and rains when I want to be out and about? :P
November 03, 2010
Tetris
I'm barely able to deal with Heart of Darkness right now. I'm taking short breaks and reading Kristine's blog and stuff like that. It's so mundane and comforting. Taxes. Immigration. Stay-at-home moms. Makes me think of and long for Fischer Price and suburbia. Who am I? Right now I'm a little bit sick and I'm almost comforted by the slight haze of congestion and the funny non-smell in my nose. There's no one really to take care of me but I feel cozy just thinking about it.
----
There's so much I thought I'd run forward to meet, but now I feel like it's coming down on me, perhaps before I'm ready. Am I ready? Will I be ready? I'm growing fast, but sometimes I worry it's not enough. Then I think of the playground in fifth grade, and I look at everyone around me. You'll do fine, I tell myself.
------------
I vascillate between normality and the old me, and the new me who doesn't know anything. I agreed to play by the rules and that's what I'm doing. I'm searching for a middle ground, but right now the gap just seems too big. An example: In the last week I've heard from or about Stian, Jorge, Matt, and even Cody. Amusing. But most of the time that still seems far away. Stian's parents are getting divorced, Matt's dressed up like Tony Stark for Halloween and is sorry, Jorge's country is being torn apart by drug wars. I'm drifting. And having the time of my life. And drifting. Up? Away? I don't know. When I'm with other people it's much easier than when I'm alone. You become what you pretend to be. It's not even intentionally constructed, I just slip back into my old habits. It's good.
-------------
Two year olds are geniuses. The miracle of learning those first things is tremendous, but there is also the miracle of forgetting everything else.
----
There's so much I thought I'd run forward to meet, but now I feel like it's coming down on me, perhaps before I'm ready. Am I ready? Will I be ready? I'm growing fast, but sometimes I worry it's not enough. Then I think of the playground in fifth grade, and I look at everyone around me. You'll do fine, I tell myself.
------------
I vascillate between normality and the old me, and the new me who doesn't know anything. I agreed to play by the rules and that's what I'm doing. I'm searching for a middle ground, but right now the gap just seems too big. An example: In the last week I've heard from or about Stian, Jorge, Matt, and even Cody. Amusing. But most of the time that still seems far away. Stian's parents are getting divorced, Matt's dressed up like Tony Stark for Halloween and is sorry, Jorge's country is being torn apart by drug wars. I'm drifting. And having the time of my life. And drifting. Up? Away? I don't know. When I'm with other people it's much easier than when I'm alone. You become what you pretend to be. It's not even intentionally constructed, I just slip back into my old habits. It's good.
-------------
Two year olds are geniuses. The miracle of learning those first things is tremendous, but there is also the miracle of forgetting everything else.
Life
An essay tonight about Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I can read it now. But I'm glad it came no sooner, gave me some time to recover first. Still I had to watch the movie, and in Spanish, and they pronounce their words with such a strange rhythm that even though I'm generally getting better at understanding movies, I was often lost in the darkness of the shadows even when the characters spoke, and when they didn't it was worse, and I found myself wondering why people watch such things, read such things... and the director! How could he have wanted to capture such darkness on film? It's funny that I go home and tell Jaime a small peice of what I was thinking - how could the director just go home after a day at work and put it all aside? Oddly enough she'd seen a movie about the director's experience directing the movie. He'd almost gone crazy, she said, living out in the jungle with his family and all the stress of what was almost the industry's biggest flop. And the darkness... maybe.
The weather's taken a turn from the better but I've taken a slight turn for the worse, all the fighting against hurricane winds and rains in Galicia, the long travels across Spain alone, have caught up with me and I'm just trying to stay in and quiet and take lots of vitamin C to get over it as quickly as possible. All the Erasmus kids here are sick and so far I've been by far one of the healthiest. It's no time to be sick. Mostly I just stayed in and read, but I did take a quick walk to campus, both because I needed to walk a little bit, and because the fall colours were so beautiful yesterday when I didn't have my camera. Some of the trees that were so brilliant yesterday were already a bit faded today, but others had jumped into their prime. I got a few pictures. None of them amazing.
The debit card situation is a pain in the ass for me, my mother, my landlady, my friends. I've carried a card for five years and never once lost it, but now, when it's the most difficult to replace, I carelessly left it in my pocket or something and it's probably in a sewer somewhere now. At least it was old and wearing out anyway. The new one will take 7-10 days to get to Florida, and then some time to get to me from there. Lovely. Ana is being flexible, Allan can bring me cash, Lea's offered me a loan very willingly, and I have a credit card too... but I'd prefer to do the best I can by myself. I gave Ana all the big bills I had, and that will keep me paid up on rent until Allan arrives. Hopefully the card won't be too late in coming after that anyway. The credit card I can definitely use for groceries, but it's a pain as I'll have to pay back my parents in dollars what I pay in euros.
So I'm trying not to spend too much, I should be able to make my small bills and coins last for groceries for a while. Grocery list for the week is basically two jars of lentils, three cans of pureed tomato, 8 cheap yogurts, 3 boxes of peach juice, 4 loaves of bread, a package of mushrooms, two lemons, an onion, a bag of frozen peas, a bag of croquettes, and a bottle of oil (the fryer ran out, I should be good for my contribution now). I'm angry with potatoes right now since the last bag I bought was moldy and nasty.
I've continued simplifying my Eroski curry recipe. I tried it with lentils and loved it. So so so cheap and so nutritious. A whole thing of lentils costs only about 45 euro-cents. The result is about halfway between curry and chili. What's the fundamental difference between the two, anyway? I need to start eating more rice. I've got loads of it. I'm used to it being the easiest carb to make fresh in my dorm room, but here bread is so much easier and goes better with more foods. The toasters here have a little lifted part for you to make bread toasty and warm and amazing. I love it.
With the last long weekend behind me, I need to settle down more and concentrate on school. Allan and I are going to Andorra next weekend and I'm super excited. I'll still do things on the weekends most likely, little things around Navarra. There's still so much I haven't seen close to home. If things work out just right I might hop over to Madrid again and hit Toledo. If they don't work out that's fine too.
The weather's taken a turn from the better but I've taken a slight turn for the worse, all the fighting against hurricane winds and rains in Galicia, the long travels across Spain alone, have caught up with me and I'm just trying to stay in and quiet and take lots of vitamin C to get over it as quickly as possible. All the Erasmus kids here are sick and so far I've been by far one of the healthiest. It's no time to be sick. Mostly I just stayed in and read, but I did take a quick walk to campus, both because I needed to walk a little bit, and because the fall colours were so beautiful yesterday when I didn't have my camera. Some of the trees that were so brilliant yesterday were already a bit faded today, but others had jumped into their prime. I got a few pictures. None of them amazing.
The debit card situation is a pain in the ass for me, my mother, my landlady, my friends. I've carried a card for five years and never once lost it, but now, when it's the most difficult to replace, I carelessly left it in my pocket or something and it's probably in a sewer somewhere now. At least it was old and wearing out anyway. The new one will take 7-10 days to get to Florida, and then some time to get to me from there. Lovely. Ana is being flexible, Allan can bring me cash, Lea's offered me a loan very willingly, and I have a credit card too... but I'd prefer to do the best I can by myself. I gave Ana all the big bills I had, and that will keep me paid up on rent until Allan arrives. Hopefully the card won't be too late in coming after that anyway. The credit card I can definitely use for groceries, but it's a pain as I'll have to pay back my parents in dollars what I pay in euros.
So I'm trying not to spend too much, I should be able to make my small bills and coins last for groceries for a while. Grocery list for the week is basically two jars of lentils, three cans of pureed tomato, 8 cheap yogurts, 3 boxes of peach juice, 4 loaves of bread, a package of mushrooms, two lemons, an onion, a bag of frozen peas, a bag of croquettes, and a bottle of oil (the fryer ran out, I should be good for my contribution now). I'm angry with potatoes right now since the last bag I bought was moldy and nasty.
I've continued simplifying my Eroski curry recipe. I tried it with lentils and loved it. So so so cheap and so nutritious. A whole thing of lentils costs only about 45 euro-cents. The result is about halfway between curry and chili. What's the fundamental difference between the two, anyway? I need to start eating more rice. I've got loads of it. I'm used to it being the easiest carb to make fresh in my dorm room, but here bread is so much easier and goes better with more foods. The toasters here have a little lifted part for you to make bread toasty and warm and amazing. I love it.
With the last long weekend behind me, I need to settle down more and concentrate on school. Allan and I are going to Andorra next weekend and I'm super excited. I'll still do things on the weekends most likely, little things around Navarra. There's still so much I haven't seen close to home. If things work out just right I might hop over to Madrid again and hit Toledo. If they don't work out that's fine too.
October 25, 2010
Settling Down, Settling In
By reading my own blog posts, I can see how much I'm settling in now. Fall and winter are bringing their own challenges, but the initial panic is gone. And I'm thinking that maybe my Spanish is improving after all. Not as drastically as the people who need to learn fast to survive, nor those who are fulling immersing themselves and sharpening their slang. Somewhere in the middle. But it's good. People correct me sometimes now. That's good.
I feel legitimate checking out in the grocery store. I rarely get flustered by a new and creative way they ask me if I want a bag or how I want to pay. Sometimes I have short conversations with the other residents of my building in the elevator or the foyer. I relax.
Today I went to campus an hour early to study for the To Kill a Mockingbird exam with Sofia. She's Italian, but we always speak Spanish together. The exam was brutal, but I laughed about it with Sofia and Florencia (from Argentina) and Marta (from Pamplona). Sofia and Florencia and I were staying for the exam, so we ate a quick lunch together in the cafe first, speaking mostly Spanish but occasionally switching into English, since we all three spoke it. Switching between English and Spanish is getting easier and easier. Sometimes I forget which one I've just spoken. We went in to watch the movie and I had no real problem understanding it, just like I was able to understand X-Men and Fantastic Four and Anna and the King on the bus ride from Alicante. I laughed at Florencia putting her feet up on the desk. Hadn't we been told a half-a-million times in Kiser and Altadonna's classes that Hispanics and Latin Americans would kill us for even thinking of doing such a thing?
At the end of the day I put on my coat, swiped out at the door along with a flood of Spanish students, not slowing anything down, not confused, not sticking out in any way. Just moving out with the crowd into the dark night that wasn't scary or chaotic any more. It didn't unnerve me to be alone in a strange country, in a strange city. They're just not that strange any more.
October 24, 2010
Homecoming
An admission: I'm actually a little bit sad to miss homecoming this year. Normally I don't give a damn, but this was supposedly the best homecoming in 100 years... and that's for the school that invented the tradition. The best homecoming and it was all on national news and EVERYONE was there and they stormed the field afterwards. Yeah. Kind of wish I was there. Sports be damned, it sounds like it was epic.
Inverse
I was fascinated by the unknown. I chased the mysteries down as they vanished, one by one, until there were none left. And I thought - this is it, the truth, there are no mysteries.
But everything is a mystery.
Å Være Koselig
I used to laugh at all of them. I would never, ever long for home. Just don't think about it, I said.
But it's harder when it's your favourite season. When Halloween and Thanksgiving just... won't exist. When it's cold in the house and I'd give anything to be snug by the fire in my fluffy pink robe, with Tidbit and Tootsie and Melissa, maybe all playing a board game, maybe with the Christmas tree already set up and nice smells from the kitchen.
I put on my (sg.) sweatshirt and (sg.) pair of wool socks. The radiator is actually on for once, so I get up close to it. I write this blog post and shed a single tear and eat a Reese's Peanut Butter cup that my family sent me.
And then I move on.
October 20, 2010
Old Facebook Notes
Looking at my old facebook notes, partly because you can't trust Facebook nowadays and who knows if they'll be there next time I look. Also because they're amusing. :D
First: May it Be
03 November 2008
This is a game where you put your itunes on shuffle and then put each song as the answer to the next question. :D Oddly enough, even my answer to the last one is somewhat fitting as a name for the thread.
1. How does the world see me?
Strangers Like Me
That’s really weird, there’s a line: I see myself as people see me.
But that aside, well, the song is about trying to learn from others, and seeing similarities with them, so hopefully the world sees me as open and eager to learn.
2. Will I have a happy life?
Shout To the Lord
Well, it’s a happy song full of praise for God, so maybe that says good things for my prospects? I didn’t see myself as becoming a religious fanatic, though… :S
3. What do my friends really think of me?
I Walk the Line
*I keep a close watch on this heart of mine, I keep my eyes wide open all the time*
They think I’m a stalker, or afraid of intimacy… or? :S None of this sounds remotely like me.
4. Do people secretly lust after me?
Desert Rose
/Definitely/ yes, teehee.
5. How can I make myself happy?
455 Rocket
… Awkward. The secret to my happiness is cars and sex.
* Well, who's junk pile piece of Chevelle is this?
Did you boys come here to race or just kiss?
mmm now don't ya want to know what I got underneath my hood*
6. What should I do with my life?
God Help the Outcasts (Mandarin)
I should go help disadvantaged people. Probably in China.
7. Why should life be full of so much pain?
Histoire Eternelle (Tale as Old as Time in French)
Because lives have always been so full of pain?
Maybe something to do with a weird love story too, but this seems a bit too happy for the question.
8. How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?
Stirb Nicht Vor Mir
Okay, I have to find a German lover who I have never seen, who sings about me in German while I sing about him in English, and we pine away for our dream lovers. Eventually we will meet and have great sex. The line “With his hands around my neck” might also be a hint. XD
9. Will I ever have children?
Love Will Find a Way (Russian)
Yes, I think, and maybe with a Russian. XD
10. Will I die happy?
The Voice of Ireland
*I am the voice of the wind and the pouring rain, I am the voice that always is calling you*
Maybe this means that when I die, I’ll hear a voice like this, and become a part of everything. Not unhappy.
11. What is some good advice for me?
Colours of the Wind Multilingual
All of Pocahontas’ advice to John Smith, plus learn a lot of languages. :D Sounds good!
12. What is happiness?
I Give To You This Heart
… No idea what to say to this, I’m not even sure what it means. Some lady loves her baby so much that she’s giving him away to God, because it’s the only way for him to live.
13. What is my favorite fetish?
The Unicorn and Prince Lear
Trans-species love stories? Or just Unicorns? XD Either way, mildly weird.
14. How will I be remembered?
Weg Van Huis
This is Dutch for Leaving Home. So maybe for travelling far away from my home/comfort zone? Not bad.
----------------------------------------------------
How am I feeling today?
Humanity
Good, I guess? *I wonder what life has in store for me…. Mix the black with the white on the canvas of life, create the artistry, the picture is humanity!*
Will I get far in life?
Svět nádherný (A Whole New World, Czech)
I’ll make it as least as far as the Czech Republic. I’ll find myself in a whole new world.
How do my friends see me?
Du Schreibst Geshichte
They see me writing a story. XD As just a drop in the ocean? Don’t understand the words quite well enough to analyze this properly.
Where will I get Married?
Mieleeni Linnan Tein
Um… Finland? XD
What is my best friend's theme song?
En Mi Corazon
Well, for Lucia – she speaks Spanish and is from a different country, so maybe sort of appropriate.
For Stephanie it’s not at all appropriate, so maybe I should pick a new song for her? XD
For Liisa, who gets honorary mention because I think we might be best friends if we lived closer, it works decently too.
Ameno
This doesn’t have any deep meaning, but I can see it as Stephanie’s theme song. XD
What is the story of my life?
Llegare a Mi Meta (I Can Go the Distance, Spanish)
I’m moving towards a goal, and finding where I belong. Could be worse.
What is/was highschool like?
Hope Fails
(Possibly the darkest song on the LOTR soundtrack)
Okay, I have to laugh. But honestly, it got better as it went, so maybe not entirely appropriate.
How can I get ahead in life?
Zo’n Vriend Als Ik
Find a Dutch speaking Genie. No problem.
What is the best thing about me?
The Colour of My Love
Um… the title? XD Haha, but this isn’t bad. I soothe people’s fears and stuff. *I’ll paint a sun to warm your heart*
How is today going to be?
Oh Lonesome Me
*Everybody’s going out and having fun, I’m just a fool for staying home and having none*
Okay, I have to laugh. XD
What is in store for this weekend?
No Trabajo, Solamente Diversion
Means: No work, only fun.
Sounds good!
What song describes my parents?
The Siren
Totally starts with a jaws-esque theme. XD No bloody idea what this is supposed to mean.
To describe my grandparents?
The Battle Hymn of Love
Wow, that’s so sweet! But who really deserves a song this good? XD
How is my life going?
Something Unpredictable
*Another Turning Point… so make the best of this test… it’s not a question but a lesson learned in time. It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right, I hope you have the time of your life*
So I’m still in an exciting turning point? XD
What song will they play at my funeral?
The Leave Taking
Creepy-Cool
How does the world see me?
Sommer På Jorda
That’s nice! I’m the happy, optimistic one!
What do I think my current theme song is?
Sunrise at Guilin
Beautiful place, lovely song, but dunno how it relates to my life. :D
What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
You Are Holy
Why, thank you! XD
What type of men/women do you like?
A Pirate’s Life For Me
……………
WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Once Upon a Dream (in Spanish)
Hispanohablantes that I meet in my dreams.
HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
We Are One (Japanese)
I guess I think that I am becoming one with my roommate.
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
You.
That’s really the name of the song. You think about it. :D
WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Amaranth, The Spirit Revived
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
As The Deer
Gaelic Hymn… Dunno. :P
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
The Safety Dance
I want to… teach sex education?
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Todella Kaunis
So beautiful… :P
WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Memories Lost in the Storm
Hmm…..
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Ieri era Zero
Yeah! :P (They think I’ve become a lovely young woman from being a terrible disappointment of a young child.
WHAT SONG WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Come, Now is the Time
Hmm, maybe.
WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The Court of Miracles
… Gee, I hope not.
WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Dancing Feathers
Traditional Native American Dance?
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Why Not?
Definitely, seeing the Lizzie McGuire Movie Again.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Cadence of Her Last Breath
….
WHAT SONG WILL BE THE SUBJECT WHEN YOU REPOST?
May It Be
1. How does the world see me?
Strangers Like Me
That’s really weird, there’s a line: I see myself as people see me.
But that aside, well, the song is about trying to learn from others, and seeing similarities with them, so hopefully the world sees me as open and eager to learn.
2. Will I have a happy life?
Shout To the Lord
Well, it’s a happy song full of praise for God, so maybe that says good things for my prospects? I didn’t see myself as becoming a religious fanatic, though… :S
3. What do my friends really think of me?
I Walk the Line
*I keep a close watch on this heart of mine, I keep my eyes wide open all the time*
They think I’m a stalker, or afraid of intimacy… or? :S None of this sounds remotely like me.
4. Do people secretly lust after me?
Desert Rose
/Definitely/ yes, teehee.
5. How can I make myself happy?
455 Rocket
… Awkward. The secret to my happiness is cars and sex.
* Well, who's junk pile piece of Chevelle is this?
Did you boys come here to race or just kiss?
mmm now don't ya want to know what I got underneath my hood*
6. What should I do with my life?
God Help the Outcasts (Mandarin)
I should go help disadvantaged people. Probably in China.
7. Why should life be full of so much pain?
Histoire Eternelle (Tale as Old as Time in French)
Because lives have always been so full of pain?
Maybe something to do with a weird love story too, but this seems a bit too happy for the question.
8. How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?
Stirb Nicht Vor Mir
Okay, I have to find a German lover who I have never seen, who sings about me in German while I sing about him in English, and we pine away for our dream lovers. Eventually we will meet and have great sex. The line “With his hands around my neck” might also be a hint. XD
9. Will I ever have children?
Love Will Find a Way (Russian)
Yes, I think, and maybe with a Russian. XD
10. Will I die happy?
The Voice of Ireland
*I am the voice of the wind and the pouring rain, I am the voice that always is calling you*
Maybe this means that when I die, I’ll hear a voice like this, and become a part of everything. Not unhappy.
11. What is some good advice for me?
Colours of the Wind Multilingual
All of Pocahontas’ advice to John Smith, plus learn a lot of languages. :D Sounds good!
12. What is happiness?
I Give To You This Heart
… No idea what to say to this, I’m not even sure what it means. Some lady loves her baby so much that she’s giving him away to God, because it’s the only way for him to live.
13. What is my favorite fetish?
The Unicorn and Prince Lear
Trans-species love stories? Or just Unicorns? XD Either way, mildly weird.
14. How will I be remembered?
Weg Van Huis
This is Dutch for Leaving Home. So maybe for travelling far away from my home/comfort zone? Not bad.
----------------------------------------------------
How am I feeling today?
Humanity
Good, I guess? *I wonder what life has in store for me…. Mix the black with the white on the canvas of life, create the artistry, the picture is humanity!*
Will I get far in life?
Svět nádherný (A Whole New World, Czech)
I’ll make it as least as far as the Czech Republic. I’ll find myself in a whole new world.
How do my friends see me?
Du Schreibst Geshichte
They see me writing a story. XD As just a drop in the ocean? Don’t understand the words quite well enough to analyze this properly.
Where will I get Married?
Mieleeni Linnan Tein
Um… Finland? XD
What is my best friend's theme song?
En Mi Corazon
Well, for Lucia – she speaks Spanish and is from a different country, so maybe sort of appropriate.
For Stephanie it’s not at all appropriate, so maybe I should pick a new song for her? XD
For Liisa, who gets honorary mention because I think we might be best friends if we lived closer, it works decently too.
Ameno
This doesn’t have any deep meaning, but I can see it as Stephanie’s theme song. XD
What is the story of my life?
Llegare a Mi Meta (I Can Go the Distance, Spanish)
I’m moving towards a goal, and finding where I belong. Could be worse.
What is/was highschool like?
Hope Fails
(Possibly the darkest song on the LOTR soundtrack)
Okay, I have to laugh. But honestly, it got better as it went, so maybe not entirely appropriate.
How can I get ahead in life?
Zo’n Vriend Als Ik
Find a Dutch speaking Genie. No problem.
What is the best thing about me?
The Colour of My Love
Um… the title? XD Haha, but this isn’t bad. I soothe people’s fears and stuff. *I’ll paint a sun to warm your heart*
How is today going to be?
Oh Lonesome Me
*Everybody’s going out and having fun, I’m just a fool for staying home and having none*
Okay, I have to laugh. XD
What is in store for this weekend?
No Trabajo, Solamente Diversion
Means: No work, only fun.
Sounds good!
What song describes my parents?
The Siren
Totally starts with a jaws-esque theme. XD No bloody idea what this is supposed to mean.
To describe my grandparents?
The Battle Hymn of Love
Wow, that’s so sweet! But who really deserves a song this good? XD
How is my life going?
Something Unpredictable
*Another Turning Point… so make the best of this test… it’s not a question but a lesson learned in time. It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right, I hope you have the time of your life*
So I’m still in an exciting turning point? XD
What song will they play at my funeral?
The Leave Taking
Creepy-Cool
How does the world see me?
Sommer På Jorda
That’s nice! I’m the happy, optimistic one!
What do I think my current theme song is?
Sunrise at Guilin
Beautiful place, lovely song, but dunno how it relates to my life. :D
What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
You Are Holy
Why, thank you! XD
What type of men/women do you like?
A Pirate’s Life For Me
……………
WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Once Upon a Dream (in Spanish)
Hispanohablantes that I meet in my dreams.
HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
We Are One (Japanese)
I guess I think that I am becoming one with my roommate.
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
You.
That’s really the name of the song. You think about it. :D
WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Amaranth, The Spirit Revived
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
As The Deer
Gaelic Hymn… Dunno. :P
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
The Safety Dance
I want to… teach sex education?
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Todella Kaunis
So beautiful… :P
WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Memories Lost in the Storm
Hmm…..
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Ieri era Zero
Yeah! :P (They think I’ve become a lovely young woman from being a terrible disappointment of a young child.
WHAT SONG WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Come, Now is the Time
Hmm, maybe.
WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The Court of Miracles
… Gee, I hope not.
WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Dancing Feathers
Traditional Native American Dance?
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Why Not?
Definitely, seeing the Lizzie McGuire Movie Again.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Cadence of Her Last Breath
….
WHAT SONG WILL BE THE SUBJECT WHEN YOU REPOST?
May It Be
Second: 25 Things About Me
01 February 2009
Everyone Else Is Doing It... So Why Not?
1.) I have a new rice cooker, my first ever, actually, and I have an unhealthy obsession with it. Add that to having a Japanese roommate and sometimes I think I'm turning Asian. (Miso soup for breakfast, rice for lunch and dinner...)
2.) I studied Latin for 4 or 6 years, depending on how you want to look at it. I started late, but caught up to the rest of the Latin students by senior year. It's nice to sometimes have flashes of genius regarding the root of a word, or even be able to understand a motto... and yes, I have read the Carpe Diem poem in the original Latin. But all in all, kind of a waste of some of my life, since it was hard and we had teachers who understood that and didn't push us. ;) But I do have good memories from that class, and from our trip to Italy, and we actually learned a lot about Roman history and culture too...
3.) I love walking barefoot and feeling things with my hands. People with all five senses tend to neglect touch, I think. At home I always went barefoot - at Uni I have to be a bit more conservative, which is a bit sad...
4.) Garlic is my favourite vegetable. I can eat roasted garlic cloves whole. My favourite kind of Pizza has pine nuts, roasted garlic cloves, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, two kinds of yummy cheese (AND feta on top), and kalamata olives on it. And that is pretty much my definition of happiness.
5.) I have a few unusual writing habits. To start with, I have a strong sense for keeping in the same person or tense, and it really bothers me when other people don't do that. I also prefer British spelling as a rule, and I like capitalization a lot. I would never capitalize every letter in a word, that's obnoxious! But when I'm instant messaging, the first letter is always a capital. And I like to capitalize all of the words in titles, too...
6.) I have weak ankles, so you would think that I'd be really bad at Ice Skating, Wake Boarding, and Skiing. Well, I'm not going to go pro any time soon, but I hold my own with all three of them. I hold the record within my family for the longest ride on the Wakeboard, although I didn't try any tricks or anything, and my first time skiing, a month ago, went really well - the instructor was actually impressed!
7.) I love to go hiking. Nature for me is an incredible thing, and I don't mean just incredible seascapes and mountain views (though more about that later). The green of the grass, or even the soft straw colour of grass in the winter, is beautiful to me. And if I look up and see the naked branches of trees stretching against the sky, I think that's amazing too. I can't help but look up as I pass Stankowski field, and the lights there, shining like 100 moons, are outlining all the branches of the trees with silver, and as you pass you can see the dark sky behind them
8.) On pretty much any hot topic for debate, I have an incredibly fluid and complex opinion that tries to encompass all of the data that I have on the subject. This exhausts me too, actually, because I can't really summarize my opinions in a discussion without feeling like I'm not saying what I believe. Usually all of the opinions exist and are different on various levels (like what I believe would be best for me, or my family, or my country, or the world...), and contain plenty of thought out exceptions.
9.) I never play video games nowadays. But I still love them. And if I get my hands on some free time and a game simultaneously, things get obsessive and bad very quickly. It's my dirty little secret.
10.) I want to be a cultural journalist. That is to say that I want to go all over the world and spend some time with people who are living all sorts of very different lives, write about them, take pictures of them, etc. I would prefer this to 'travel journalism', because I would prefer to actually go deeper than the typical tourist, and it seems to me that reading travel journalism just makes me jealous and angry without actually teaching me anything. But if I get an offer to get paid to go on cruises and stuff, well, I'm going to take it. XD
11.) Writing used to be the most important thing in my life. I wanted to write novels. Now things have changed a bit. I'd still love, when I'm older and have more life experiences behind me, to write a wonderful novel. But when I was in high school, languages and anthropology took over, and I really neglected writing. Now I am getting back into it, but in a different way - more as a journalist. The transition has confused me at times, but I think that I'm happy with it in a way as well.
12.) I don't have a favourite genre of music, nor do I really have a way of finding new music. Instead, I just stumble onto things accidentally, or through friends, and when they sound good, I add them to my small collection. Country, Heavy Metal, Italian Lullabies, Soundtracks, Pop... It doesn't matter, just so long as it speaks to me.
13.) I'm seriously thinking about expatriating after Uni. If I go through with it, I think that I'll be able to leave the United States without looking back. But Missouri? That will actually be harder, strange as it sounds.
14.) Some little girls dream of living in castles. I have always dreamed of mountains. It seems almost impossible to me to dream of living in view of them. When I lived in Indiana the land was so flat that when I came to Missouri I stared in wonder at the 'bluffs' on the sides of the roads. When I was in the Oslo-Fjord region I kept getting excited by the 'mountains'... only to be told that those were mere hills. :) But someday...
15.) I have been in love exactly once.
16.) I have the best little dog in the world. Her name is Tidbit, and she is a miniature dachshund. I have had her since I was eight years old, and now her face and paws are grey, but she still acts a little like a puppy sometimes. She knows about Christmas and birthdays and tries to open the presents. She loves to lay in the sun that streams through the front door in wintertime, and I love how she falls asleep in my arms.
17.) I am mildly obsessed with Scandinavia. Currently number one on my list of places to visit is Iceland, and I have been to Sweden, Finland, and Norway. I speak Norwegian reasonably well, and I am learning Faroese and Finnish as well, when I find the time. :) I am going to study abroad in Norway, and I'm seriously looking at a summer program in the Faeroe Islands.
18.) I have the best penpal in the world. Her name is Liisa and she is from Finland. :D I went to see her last summer and I had the time of my life. Finnish sounds amazing and the country is, as Liisa said once, "Filled with hidden beauty".
19.) I live in the foreigner dorm at Mizzou, and my roommate is Japanese. Since we have 7 Japanese girls living on our floor, our little room is frequently invaded by the peculiar sound of that language, and the peculiar smells of Kim-chi Ramen, Miso Soup, and Natto.
20.) Charbonneau, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was my great great great great great great great grandfather, and it is not impossible that Sacagawea, his wife, was my great great great great great great great grandmother.
21.) Genetically, I have quite a bit of French blood, but surprisingly the language just doesn't fit in my mouth or my brain properly. XD At my high school, French was the only language offered which I never studied. (Although I usually did list it as an alternate elective, I got lucky and my schedule almost laways worked out). It became quite amusing, as by senior year I had studied Spanish, Latin, and German, as well as Italian and Norwegian with independent study, but not French.
22.) I have two best friends. One is Stephanie - she and I could have passed for twins in Elementary School, and we were wearing the exact same clothes on the day we met! We've been friends forever and have never had more than the most minor of disagreements. The other is Lucia - she showed up my Junior year of High School and made things so much more enjoyable. :D The first time we hung out, we just talked for 6 hours and it felt like 30 minutes. I love you guys! ^^
23.) I like winter swimming. I am sad that there is no real way to do this at Mizzou... so when I go to visit my family at the lake, I always jump in. :D I can blame Finland for this particular madness... though I have to say that having a sauna nearby improves the experience...
24.) I love smoked salmon. My mom thinks this is disgusting, and once she was making fun of my buying Lox flavoured cream cheese, and said, "Oh yeah? Well, why don't you just buy some raw-fished flavoured cream cheese?" And my dad, sister, and I were like... "Um... that's what it is. XD"
25.) I don't like learning indiscriminately. Math and I, for example, have never gotten along. Still, I can't help but think that three majors (International Studies, Spanish, and Journalism) aren't enough. I'm really going to regret not studying Psychology, Anthropology, Photojournalism, and Linguistics too... And that's not to mention Italian, Russian, and German... Though I am taking a few classes in German. :)
1.) I have a new rice cooker, my first ever, actually, and I have an unhealthy obsession with it. Add that to having a Japanese roommate and sometimes I think I'm turning Asian. (Miso soup for breakfast, rice for lunch and dinner...)
2.) I studied Latin for 4 or 6 years, depending on how you want to look at it. I started late, but caught up to the rest of the Latin students by senior year. It's nice to sometimes have flashes of genius regarding the root of a word, or even be able to understand a motto... and yes, I have read the Carpe Diem poem in the original Latin. But all in all, kind of a waste of some of my life, since it was hard and we had teachers who understood that and didn't push us. ;) But I do have good memories from that class, and from our trip to Italy, and we actually learned a lot about Roman history and culture too...
3.) I love walking barefoot and feeling things with my hands. People with all five senses tend to neglect touch, I think. At home I always went barefoot - at Uni I have to be a bit more conservative, which is a bit sad...
4.) Garlic is my favourite vegetable. I can eat roasted garlic cloves whole. My favourite kind of Pizza has pine nuts, roasted garlic cloves, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, two kinds of yummy cheese (AND feta on top), and kalamata olives on it. And that is pretty much my definition of happiness.
5.) I have a few unusual writing habits. To start with, I have a strong sense for keeping in the same person or tense, and it really bothers me when other people don't do that. I also prefer British spelling as a rule, and I like capitalization a lot. I would never capitalize every letter in a word, that's obnoxious! But when I'm instant messaging, the first letter is always a capital. And I like to capitalize all of the words in titles, too...
6.) I have weak ankles, so you would think that I'd be really bad at Ice Skating, Wake Boarding, and Skiing. Well, I'm not going to go pro any time soon, but I hold my own with all three of them. I hold the record within my family for the longest ride on the Wakeboard, although I didn't try any tricks or anything, and my first time skiing, a month ago, went really well - the instructor was actually impressed!
7.) I love to go hiking. Nature for me is an incredible thing, and I don't mean just incredible seascapes and mountain views (though more about that later). The green of the grass, or even the soft straw colour of grass in the winter, is beautiful to me. And if I look up and see the naked branches of trees stretching against the sky, I think that's amazing too. I can't help but look up as I pass Stankowski field, and the lights there, shining like 100 moons, are outlining all the branches of the trees with silver, and as you pass you can see the dark sky behind them
8.) On pretty much any hot topic for debate, I have an incredibly fluid and complex opinion that tries to encompass all of the data that I have on the subject. This exhausts me too, actually, because I can't really summarize my opinions in a discussion without feeling like I'm not saying what I believe. Usually all of the opinions exist and are different on various levels (like what I believe would be best for me, or my family, or my country, or the world...), and contain plenty of thought out exceptions.
9.) I never play video games nowadays. But I still love them. And if I get my hands on some free time and a game simultaneously, things get obsessive and bad very quickly. It's my dirty little secret.
10.) I want to be a cultural journalist. That is to say that I want to go all over the world and spend some time with people who are living all sorts of very different lives, write about them, take pictures of them, etc. I would prefer this to 'travel journalism', because I would prefer to actually go deeper than the typical tourist, and it seems to me that reading travel journalism just makes me jealous and angry without actually teaching me anything. But if I get an offer to get paid to go on cruises and stuff, well, I'm going to take it. XD
11.) Writing used to be the most important thing in my life. I wanted to write novels. Now things have changed a bit. I'd still love, when I'm older and have more life experiences behind me, to write a wonderful novel. But when I was in high school, languages and anthropology took over, and I really neglected writing. Now I am getting back into it, but in a different way - more as a journalist. The transition has confused me at times, but I think that I'm happy with it in a way as well.
12.) I don't have a favourite genre of music, nor do I really have a way of finding new music. Instead, I just stumble onto things accidentally, or through friends, and when they sound good, I add them to my small collection. Country, Heavy Metal, Italian Lullabies, Soundtracks, Pop... It doesn't matter, just so long as it speaks to me.
13.) I'm seriously thinking about expatriating after Uni. If I go through with it, I think that I'll be able to leave the United States without looking back. But Missouri? That will actually be harder, strange as it sounds.
14.) Some little girls dream of living in castles. I have always dreamed of mountains. It seems almost impossible to me to dream of living in view of them. When I lived in Indiana the land was so flat that when I came to Missouri I stared in wonder at the 'bluffs' on the sides of the roads. When I was in the Oslo-Fjord region I kept getting excited by the 'mountains'... only to be told that those were mere hills. :) But someday...
15.) I have been in love exactly once.
16.) I have the best little dog in the world. Her name is Tidbit, and she is a miniature dachshund. I have had her since I was eight years old, and now her face and paws are grey, but she still acts a little like a puppy sometimes. She knows about Christmas and birthdays and tries to open the presents. She loves to lay in the sun that streams through the front door in wintertime, and I love how she falls asleep in my arms.
17.) I am mildly obsessed with Scandinavia. Currently number one on my list of places to visit is Iceland, and I have been to Sweden, Finland, and Norway. I speak Norwegian reasonably well, and I am learning Faroese and Finnish as well, when I find the time. :) I am going to study abroad in Norway, and I'm seriously looking at a summer program in the Faeroe Islands.
18.) I have the best penpal in the world. Her name is Liisa and she is from Finland. :D I went to see her last summer and I had the time of my life. Finnish sounds amazing and the country is, as Liisa said once, "Filled with hidden beauty".
19.) I live in the foreigner dorm at Mizzou, and my roommate is Japanese. Since we have 7 Japanese girls living on our floor, our little room is frequently invaded by the peculiar sound of that language, and the peculiar smells of Kim-chi Ramen, Miso Soup, and Natto.
20.) Charbonneau, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was my great great great great great great great grandfather, and it is not impossible that Sacagawea, his wife, was my great great great great great great great grandmother.
21.) Genetically, I have quite a bit of French blood, but surprisingly the language just doesn't fit in my mouth or my brain properly. XD At my high school, French was the only language offered which I never studied. (Although I usually did list it as an alternate elective, I got lucky and my schedule almost laways worked out). It became quite amusing, as by senior year I had studied Spanish, Latin, and German, as well as Italian and Norwegian with independent study, but not French.
22.) I have two best friends. One is Stephanie - she and I could have passed for twins in Elementary School, and we were wearing the exact same clothes on the day we met! We've been friends forever and have never had more than the most minor of disagreements. The other is Lucia - she showed up my Junior year of High School and made things so much more enjoyable. :D The first time we hung out, we just talked for 6 hours and it felt like 30 minutes. I love you guys! ^^
23.) I like winter swimming. I am sad that there is no real way to do this at Mizzou... so when I go to visit my family at the lake, I always jump in. :D I can blame Finland for this particular madness... though I have to say that having a sauna nearby improves the experience...
24.) I love smoked salmon. My mom thinks this is disgusting, and once she was making fun of my buying Lox flavoured cream cheese, and said, "Oh yeah? Well, why don't you just buy some raw-fished flavoured cream cheese?" And my dad, sister, and I were like... "Um... that's what it is. XD"
25.) I don't like learning indiscriminately. Math and I, for example, have never gotten along. Still, I can't help but think that three majors (International Studies, Spanish, and Journalism) aren't enough. I'm really going to regret not studying Psychology, Anthropology, Photojournalism, and Linguistics too... And that's not to mention Italian, Russian, and German... Though I am taking a few classes in German. :)
Third: 25 Things About Me (Again)
06 October 2009
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)
1. I have strong number -> personality synesthesia, and weak number -> colour synesthesia. This means that 3 is a precocious, pre-adolescent male, and light yellow-green. And that’s a fact.
2. I’m pretty sure no one has ever admitted to being influenced by me on any count. Usually, if someone for example plays a game or reads a book I had spoken highly of, I get all happy that they read it based on my recommendation, only to have them vehemently disagree and make it very clear that their decision had NOTHING to do with me. That’s fine, I just wonder why they have to be so clear and firm on the matter. Is the idea that I influenced someone really so repulsive?
3. If I want to do something, I go for it. Unless I am so tired that I am not thinking straight, or I am in pain, being tired is no excuse to fritter a day away. I know I will only be young once – I want to use this time to its fullest.
4. Two of my all time favourite book series are The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire, but I am actually rather picky about the fantasy, and even the fiction, that I read. So much of it is awful, and I generally lean towards nonfiction these days.
5. I actually have a larger than average DVD collection now. I amassed it in just one year, without really thinking much about it, and the average that I’ve spent, per DVD, is hovering around 7 – 8$.
6. I can and have cooked almost anything in a rice cooker. Clam chowder, scrambled eggs, sautéed mushrooms, Japanese curry with chicken, and so on and so forth. It’s an amazing little device.
7. I like video games a lot. I haven’t had much time to play since I came to University, but there were periods of my life sacrificed to Battle for Atlantis, Banjo Kazooie, Gauntlet Legends, Zelda the Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy X, .hack/infection, Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance, Soul Calibur II, Final Fantasy XII, and others. Oddly enough, I just played a video game last night. Yes, an entire video game. Allan and I decided it would be smart to play all the way through a My Little Pony GBA game.
8. I count my RPing middle school days as a turning point in my life, not so much in the sense that I changed directions, but that everything I had done up until that point went into RPing, and everything I have done since can be traced back to it.
9. I want the number of countries that I’ve been to to, at some point, match my age. I am now 19 and have been to 14 countries: The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, the Vatican, Greece, and Japan. Still, I only got my passport at 14, so in 5 years, that’s not too bad.
10. I feel like I was so driven and motivated in high school that I’ll never be able to live up to my own reputation, if only because I am getting older, and more is expected of me, and I’m simply not progressing along with the rapid passing of days.
11. Every one of my prepubescent crushes turned out to be gay.
12. I’ve actually seen the Northern Lights from Missouri. That’s actually very uncommon, and, to be fair, they were nothing special this far south. I want to see the real thing someday.
13. I’ve inherited 95% of my family’s camping gear and winter clothing, since they decided to fly south to Florida. I also own a single sled – the only one we kept. I am so glad that I’m still in Missouri. I don’t think I would be able to manage without winter – it’s a psychological, cyclical thing. It’s every bit as horrifying for me as imagining moving somewhere with no summer.
14. I anticipate that the biggest choice of my life will ultimately be whom I marry, where I live, where I raise my children. The three are intermingled very closely, and also mixed in with a very healthy dose of chance. Anyways, that choice is still before me. And I’m going to need a lot of time to think about it.
15. I struggle a lot with understanding the value of human life. I tend towards believing that it is sacred and all important and all of that good stuff, but where exactly the value lies... it's not so simple. This single basic question influences how I feel about almost everything – and the problem is that I’m not sure how to answer it.
16. They say that either nothing or everything is a miracle. But I just think about how I met Stephanie, wearing the same clothing and feeling like I’d looked into a mirror…. How I met Lucia, she coming all the way from Chile and Brazil to my little hometown… How I met Liisa, just a random hook up on penpal.net… the bizarre set of circumstances that brought me to Norway… finding two other Faroese learners in mid-Missouri via Uni, who lives thousands of miles away from any of us… that I sort of have a Singaporean life-history twin… that so much in my life that could have gone in two different directions, went in the right one, every time.
17. I am an INFJ personality type. I have tested for it 96% of the time, although the tests I have taken have varied very widely. I have had several people who know me well guess that I am INTJ – perhaps because INFJ is the rarest type? I am a big believer in the Myers Briggs personality test after researching it quite a bit online. I checked out some friends’ and family members’ types and thought that the tests gave me some insight into our relationships. This was especially true for my last two boyfriends, both of which I am pretty sure were INTP. (For one of them, I actually found that they had taken the test on Facebook… yep, INTP!) There is a lot of information available about INFJ and INTP. Apparently they are very attractive to each other but not ultimately compatible. It actually startled me how true many of the ‘predicted trouble’ statements applied to my two relationships.
18. I really, really, really like food, and am frequently frustrated by my inability to eat as much as most people. I know they hate me for this same reason. I am especially obsessed with Indian and Thai food, but I also like Japanese and Italian food a lot, for different reasons. And really, anything as good, as long as there’s no cilantro! (I have a somewhat common tasting irregularity that makes cilantro taste like soap to me. Seriously.)
19. I am planning to study abroad for one semester in Bonn, Germany, one semester in Pamplona, Spain, and one semester in Bergen, Norway. If I can, I’d also love to do a summer internship in either Washington D.C. or Argentina.
20. I have been to Hell twice. Once was a small town in Norway, very near Trondheim’s airport. The second time is a miniature wasteland in Japan on a mountain called Osore-zan. It is traditionally considered a gateway to the underworld.
21. I have a very bad memory for numbers and a very good memory for language. Once I memorized several thousand verses of an epic poem. (I still remember roughly the first 1,000 verses well enough to recite them without much trouble.) And, if a conversation means a lot to me, I have an uncanny memory for what exactly was said.
22. Some random Norwegian man I met in Greece when I was 16 told me he thought I could learn to speak 10 languages. This has been my goal ever since.
23. I’m ordinarily a decent speller, but some words have just more or less refused to surrender. I have been struggling with character, for example, for about ten years. I think I might have it now, though… knock on wood.
24. Once I saw a man who could change his eye colour simply by looking at something of that colour. It wasn’t a trick of the light or reflection. For example, he could take an orange hat and put it under his eyes, and we could see the orange spread out over his iris, almost as if it was leaking out of his pupil. When we took the hat away, the orange lingered for a while but began to be replaced just as slowly as it had come. I have no idea what was going on there, and neither does anyone I’ve asked about it since.
25. I am probably not going to tag 25 people in this. I don’t think I know 25 people who care enough about me to read 25 things about me. Maybe that’s sad, or maybe I’m just being realistic instead of vain as hell, for once.
1. I have strong number -> personality synesthesia, and weak number -> colour synesthesia. This means that 3 is a precocious, pre-adolescent male, and light yellow-green. And that’s a fact.
2. I’m pretty sure no one has ever admitted to being influenced by me on any count. Usually, if someone for example plays a game or reads a book I had spoken highly of, I get all happy that they read it based on my recommendation, only to have them vehemently disagree and make it very clear that their decision had NOTHING to do with me. That’s fine, I just wonder why they have to be so clear and firm on the matter. Is the idea that I influenced someone really so repulsive?
3. If I want to do something, I go for it. Unless I am so tired that I am not thinking straight, or I am in pain, being tired is no excuse to fritter a day away. I know I will only be young once – I want to use this time to its fullest.
Carpe Diem! :D
4. Two of my all time favourite book series are The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire, but I am actually rather picky about the fantasy, and even the fiction, that I read. So much of it is awful, and I generally lean towards nonfiction these days.
5. I actually have a larger than average DVD collection now. I amassed it in just one year, without really thinking much about it, and the average that I’ve spent, per DVD, is hovering around 7 – 8$.
6. I can and have cooked almost anything in a rice cooker. Clam chowder, scrambled eggs, sautéed mushrooms, Japanese curry with chicken, and so on and so forth. It’s an amazing little device.
7. I like video games a lot. I haven’t had much time to play since I came to University, but there were periods of my life sacrificed to Battle for Atlantis, Banjo Kazooie, Gauntlet Legends, Zelda the Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy X, .hack/infection, Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance, Soul Calibur II, Final Fantasy XII, and others. Oddly enough, I just played a video game last night. Yes, an entire video game. Allan and I decided it would be smart to play all the way through a My Little Pony GBA game.
8. I count my RPing middle school days as a turning point in my life, not so much in the sense that I changed directions, but that everything I had done up until that point went into RPing, and everything I have done since can be traced back to it.
9. I want the number of countries that I’ve been to to, at some point, match my age. I am now 19 and have been to 14 countries: The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, the Vatican, Greece, and Japan. Still, I only got my passport at 14, so in 5 years, that’s not too bad.
10. I feel like I was so driven and motivated in high school that I’ll never be able to live up to my own reputation, if only because I am getting older, and more is expected of me, and I’m simply not progressing along with the rapid passing of days.
11. Every one of my prepubescent crushes turned out to be gay.
12. I’ve actually seen the Northern Lights from Missouri. That’s actually very uncommon, and, to be fair, they were nothing special this far south. I want to see the real thing someday.
13. I’ve inherited 95% of my family’s camping gear and winter clothing, since they decided to fly south to Florida. I also own a single sled – the only one we kept. I am so glad that I’m still in Missouri. I don’t think I would be able to manage without winter – it’s a psychological, cyclical thing. It’s every bit as horrifying for me as imagining moving somewhere with no summer.
I still have wintertime! Yay!!
Yay Wintertime!
14. I anticipate that the biggest choice of my life will ultimately be whom I marry, where I live, where I raise my children. The three are intermingled very closely, and also mixed in with a very healthy dose of chance. Anyways, that choice is still before me. And I’m going to need a lot of time to think about it.
15. I struggle a lot with understanding the value of human life. I tend towards believing that it is sacred and all important and all of that good stuff, but where exactly the value lies... it's not so simple. This single basic question influences how I feel about almost everything – and the problem is that I’m not sure how to answer it.
16. They say that either nothing or everything is a miracle. But I just think about how I met Stephanie, wearing the same clothing and feeling like I’d looked into a mirror…. How I met Lucia, she coming all the way from Chile and Brazil to my little hometown… How I met Liisa, just a random hook up on penpal.net… the bizarre set of circumstances that brought me to Norway… finding two other Faroese learners in mid-Missouri via Uni, who lives thousands of miles away from any of us… that I sort of have a Singaporean life-history twin… that so much in my life that could have gone in two different directions, went in the right one, every time.
With Liisa in Finland! :D
17. I am an INFJ personality type. I have tested for it 96% of the time, although the tests I have taken have varied very widely. I have had several people who know me well guess that I am INTJ – perhaps because INFJ is the rarest type? I am a big believer in the Myers Briggs personality test after researching it quite a bit online. I checked out some friends’ and family members’ types and thought that the tests gave me some insight into our relationships. This was especially true for my last two boyfriends, both of which I am pretty sure were INTP. (For one of them, I actually found that they had taken the test on Facebook… yep, INTP!) There is a lot of information available about INFJ and INTP. Apparently they are very attractive to each other but not ultimately compatible. It actually startled me how true many of the ‘predicted trouble’ statements applied to my two relationships.
18. I really, really, really like food, and am frequently frustrated by my inability to eat as much as most people. I know they hate me for this same reason. I am especially obsessed with Indian and Thai food, but I also like Japanese and Italian food a lot, for different reasons. And really, anything as good, as long as there’s no cilantro! (I have a somewhat common tasting irregularity that makes cilantro taste like soap to me. Seriously.)
19. I am planning to study abroad for one semester in Bonn, Germany, one semester in Pamplona, Spain, and one semester in Bergen, Norway. If I can, I’d also love to do a summer internship in either Washington D.C. or Argentina.
20. I have been to Hell twice. Once was a small town in Norway, very near Trondheim’s airport. The second time is a miniature wasteland in Japan on a mountain called Osore-zan. It is traditionally considered a gateway to the underworld.
Osore-zan (Mount Fear)
Hell #2
Hell #2
21. I have a very bad memory for numbers and a very good memory for language. Once I memorized several thousand verses of an epic poem. (I still remember roughly the first 1,000 verses well enough to recite them without much trouble.) And, if a conversation means a lot to me, I have an uncanny memory for what exactly was said.
22. Some random Norwegian man I met in Greece when I was 16 told me he thought I could learn to speak 10 languages. This has been my goal ever since.
23. I’m ordinarily a decent speller, but some words have just more or less refused to surrender. I have been struggling with character, for example, for about ten years. I think I might have it now, though… knock on wood.
24. Once I saw a man who could change his eye colour simply by looking at something of that colour. It wasn’t a trick of the light or reflection. For example, he could take an orange hat and put it under his eyes, and we could see the orange spread out over his iris, almost as if it was leaking out of his pupil. When we took the hat away, the orange lingered for a while but began to be replaced just as slowly as it had come. I have no idea what was going on there, and neither does anyone I’ve asked about it since.
25. I am probably not going to tag 25 people in this. I don’t think I know 25 people who care enough about me to read 25 things about me. Maybe that’s sad, or maybe I’m just being realistic instead of vain as hell, for once.
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