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October 20, 2011
October 19, 2011
Study Abroad Transcripts
My application to the University of Bergen required me to choose my classes already. It's flexible and I can change things later (hopefully), but still its a little yikes-y. I just checked everything I might want to take and submitted the form, basically. If they get mad I'll claim I don't understand. After all, it wasn't an especially impressive translation. I expected better from the Norwegians. The housing information told me "White Goods" were included.
Anyway, this, while I still don't have my transcript from last semester in Bonn. This actually matters, because there is a small but real chance I failed one of my classes (everything riding on one exam, and fatally misunderstanding that exam, for the fail)... and I am basically totally unsure of how my credits are going to transfer. And whichever ones didn't transfer well, need to be obtained in Bergen.
Most of the other schools seem to have gotten their grades in. Chicago did a few days ago and they are NOT happy. A lot of C's, apparently. Makes me pleased as punch to be from Missouri where when we're abroad, everything is pass-fail. Fingers crossed. But everything pretty much translated well and easily from Spain, so there's some optimistic precedent to look back at.
Anyway, this, while I still don't have my transcript from last semester in Bonn. This actually matters, because there is a small but real chance I failed one of my classes (everything riding on one exam, and fatally misunderstanding that exam, for the fail)... and I am basically totally unsure of how my credits are going to transfer. And whichever ones didn't transfer well, need to be obtained in Bergen.
Most of the other schools seem to have gotten their grades in. Chicago did a few days ago and they are NOT happy. A lot of C's, apparently. Makes me pleased as punch to be from Missouri where when we're abroad, everything is pass-fail. Fingers crossed. But everything pretty much translated well and easily from Spain, so there's some optimistic precedent to look back at.
October 17, 2011
Fresh as a Missouri Morning
I do not like this commercial.
You might think I would, since it mentions Missouri, and that's rare enough and is usually sufficient to earn a measure of my satisfaction.
However, the advertisement is annoying as hell and it's just not true!
There are a lot of reasons I love Missouri but 'fresh mornings' are not one of them. In summer mornings are muggy and gross. Year round morning means orange haze on the horizon's low hills that make me think of city fog. Give me a Missouri afternoon or evening or middle of the night over morning anytime.
October 16, 2011
Gear Shopping
I just spent $450 at the REI sporting goods store in St. Louis. That's a lot of money, especially when I'm trying to save up for Norway next semester. But this stuff is for Norway, and for post-Norway as well! I took the time to think about each purchase and I think I ended up with some good stuff. This is what I got -
A.) A lifetime membership to REI stores - the savings for this already paid for themselves three times over today.
B.) A sleeping bag - one that's rated 20F/-6.5C for 'comfort' all the way down to -26F/-32C for 'survival'. It's down, compresses very small and was also one of the lighter ones available - definitely in the 'backpacking' category. There were surprisingly much warmer ones, but this was a good mixture I thought between quite warm/very light and not insanely expensive.
Also - A self-inflating 1.5 inch sleeping pad, a waterproof compression sack, and a liner that adds 14F/8C to the comfort rating of the sleeping bag.
C.) A backpack - a barely, barely big enough one, but it's lightweight, it fits great, and it was on clearance and I had a coupon for additional $$ of a clearances item.... so it was 1/4-1/3 the price I expected to pay for the backpack. With some creativity I figured out a way to tie my sleeping back onto the outside, leaving enough room inside for some clothing, etc. It's not overly spacious but it should just do, its a huge upgrade over what I've used in the past anyway.
Also - A waterproof cover big enough to fit over the bag even when I have the sleeping bag tied onto the outside.
So yeah, lots of money but also lots of nice things I'm sure to be using for a long time! :)
A.) A lifetime membership to REI stores - the savings for this already paid for themselves three times over today.
B.) A sleeping bag - one that's rated 20F/-6.5C for 'comfort' all the way down to -26F/-32C for 'survival'. It's down, compresses very small and was also one of the lighter ones available - definitely in the 'backpacking' category. There were surprisingly much warmer ones, but this was a good mixture I thought between quite warm/very light and not insanely expensive.
Also - A self-inflating 1.5 inch sleeping pad, a waterproof compression sack, and a liner that adds 14F/8C to the comfort rating of the sleeping bag.
C.) A backpack - a barely, barely big enough one, but it's lightweight, it fits great, and it was on clearance and I had a coupon for additional $$ of a clearances item.... so it was 1/4-1/3 the price I expected to pay for the backpack. With some creativity I figured out a way to tie my sleeping back onto the outside, leaving enough room inside for some clothing, etc. It's not overly spacious but it should just do, its a huge upgrade over what I've used in the past anyway.
Also - A waterproof cover big enough to fit over the bag even when I have the sleeping bag tied onto the outside.
So yeah, lots of money but also lots of nice things I'm sure to be using for a long time! :)
October 14, 2011
Nervousness
I have no regrets about Spain.
Initially I thought, I might go to Portugal, or North Africa, or at least Southern Spain with its old Muslim palaces etc. Andorra for a certainty. More of the Camino. Burgos.
I didn't do any of that.
But I have no regrets.
* - Okay, teeny tiny regret about Andorra. Only because the plans were all laid and cancelled at the last minute due to events outside of my control. It's hard to come so close!
I have no regrets about Germany.
Initially I thought, I might go to Denmark, or Lithuania... go up high in the Swiss Alps, see Neuschwanstein. Maybe go back to Spain for Las Fallas or the Running of the Bulls.
I didn't do any of that.
But I have no regrets.
* - Okay, teeny tiny regret about the Alps. But only because I went all the way there and the situation screwed me out of my prize. If I'd simply not gotten the chance to go, I don't even think I would regret this.
Before leaving, there were infinite possibilities. It was easy to get stressed trying hopelessly to plan ahead. Worrying about getting this or that done. But in the end, once I arrived, all my lists of possibilities were was a quiet reminder of... possibilities.
And my life filled up in amazing ways. New friends, new experiences.
My days were so rich with both the quiet, every-day life in another country things, and the huge, once-in-a-lifetime moments.
The things I did, that I didn't expect, far outweighed what I 'missed out on'.
Canyoning in the Pyrenees, mushroom hunting in the Selva de Irati, multiple visits to lovely Koblenz, learning Basque, Germany's Wattenmeer, climbing Ben Nevis, biking to the grocery store every week in Germany, multi-culti foie-gras sushi in Alsace-Lorraine, the car train, heading off alone to Asturias and Foz de Lumbier, Venice (enough said), living in an old communist building in Krakow, scary roads in the lake district and peak district of England, Spissky Hrad in Slovakia, Lake Bled in Slovenia, Halloween in a little Galician town, Gianfranco's 'Spanish' and duets with Jaime, the 'horrible' rainy great glen way, the lovely sunny day in Inverness at the end, Budapest's hot baths, the huge paellas at UNAV, getting lost looking for the old abbey ruins near Bonn, existentialism in Alicante, climbing Arthur's Seat at night, the fire dancers in Madrid, Opus Dei and Basque style Christmases, just walking magical Pamplona and bits of the Camino, the Rhine River Castle Cruise, Spanish parties, German parties, Going to France (just for lunch!), Prague in sunshine and in rain, (and the guy peeing on the stairs in our 100 person-per-room, 7 euro-a-night hostel!), the Irish priest in the little border town who drank beer for breakfast, the terrible night in Mannheim, walking across Liechtenstein, Luxembourg (enough said), Heaven-and-Earth plate at the oldest restaurant in Bonn, Finding that flea market in Hungary, Kinder-Schokolade Crepes, Vappu and Easter in Finland, Tomatina, the wild horses stopping our car in eastern Navarra, Staying with Bostjan and family in Slovenia, leaning into the wind in Pikatua, perfect weather in the Hebrides Islands, The Prado, Crossing the Slovakian border, Surfing in Biarritz, the Industrial Parks of NRW, finding out months later what that obelisk in Amaiur-Maya was all about, walking on water with the swans in Keukenhof, the candy-smell of the air there, the absolute freedom of my weekend in Belgium... I could go on forever with those unexpected, wonderful events!!!
... And yet, here I am again. I'm looking at Norway. I'm so excited I can't contain myself. I'm hyper and nervous and twittering and putzing around and all I can think about is a big, happy, wonderful, exciting, amazing - void. A hasn't happened yet. An uncertain future.
And that's hard! It's hard to obsess about something that's still so unclear! I want to plan, to have something concrete to be excited about! I should know by now that the real wonders unfold once you arrive, the possibilities you never expected, the friends you couldn't have imagined, the adventures you fell into serendipitously. I should know, I should, but it's not helping me now.
Instead I'm making lists again. Checking prices and schedules and more. Making lists of possibilities that excite and amaze in one moment, and then in the next moment make me pathetically nervous, grasping, greedy... a sense that if I don't check off everything on the list, I'll go home sad, crying, unfulfilled.
Rubbish!
Why can't I learn better?
Initially I thought, I might go to Portugal, or North Africa, or at least Southern Spain with its old Muslim palaces etc. Andorra for a certainty. More of the Camino. Burgos.
I didn't do any of that.
But I have no regrets.
* - Okay, teeny tiny regret about Andorra. Only because the plans were all laid and cancelled at the last minute due to events outside of my control. It's hard to come so close!
I have no regrets about Germany.
Initially I thought, I might go to Denmark, or Lithuania... go up high in the Swiss Alps, see Neuschwanstein. Maybe go back to Spain for Las Fallas or the Running of the Bulls.
I didn't do any of that.
But I have no regrets.
* - Okay, teeny tiny regret about the Alps. But only because I went all the way there and the situation screwed me out of my prize. If I'd simply not gotten the chance to go, I don't even think I would regret this.
Before leaving, there were infinite possibilities. It was easy to get stressed trying hopelessly to plan ahead. Worrying about getting this or that done. But in the end, once I arrived, all my lists of possibilities were was a quiet reminder of... possibilities.
And my life filled up in amazing ways. New friends, new experiences.
My days were so rich with both the quiet, every-day life in another country things, and the huge, once-in-a-lifetime moments.
The things I did, that I didn't expect, far outweighed what I 'missed out on'.
Canyoning in the Pyrenees, mushroom hunting in the Selva de Irati, multiple visits to lovely Koblenz, learning Basque, Germany's Wattenmeer, climbing Ben Nevis, biking to the grocery store every week in Germany, multi-culti foie-gras sushi in Alsace-Lorraine, the car train, heading off alone to Asturias and Foz de Lumbier, Venice (enough said), living in an old communist building in Krakow, scary roads in the lake district and peak district of England, Spissky Hrad in Slovakia, Lake Bled in Slovenia, Halloween in a little Galician town, Gianfranco's 'Spanish' and duets with Jaime, the 'horrible' rainy great glen way, the lovely sunny day in Inverness at the end, Budapest's hot baths, the huge paellas at UNAV, getting lost looking for the old abbey ruins near Bonn, existentialism in Alicante, climbing Arthur's Seat at night, the fire dancers in Madrid, Opus Dei and Basque style Christmases, just walking magical Pamplona and bits of the Camino, the Rhine River Castle Cruise, Spanish parties, German parties, Going to France (just for lunch!), Prague in sunshine and in rain, (and the guy peeing on the stairs in our 100 person-per-room, 7 euro-a-night hostel!), the Irish priest in the little border town who drank beer for breakfast, the terrible night in Mannheim, walking across Liechtenstein, Luxembourg (enough said), Heaven-and-Earth plate at the oldest restaurant in Bonn, Finding that flea market in Hungary, Kinder-Schokolade Crepes, Vappu and Easter in Finland, Tomatina, the wild horses stopping our car in eastern Navarra, Staying with Bostjan and family in Slovenia, leaning into the wind in Pikatua, perfect weather in the Hebrides Islands, The Prado, Crossing the Slovakian border, Surfing in Biarritz, the Industrial Parks of NRW, finding out months later what that obelisk in Amaiur-Maya was all about, walking on water with the swans in Keukenhof, the candy-smell of the air there, the absolute freedom of my weekend in Belgium... I could go on forever with those unexpected, wonderful events!!!
... And yet, here I am again. I'm looking at Norway. I'm so excited I can't contain myself. I'm hyper and nervous and twittering and putzing around and all I can think about is a big, happy, wonderful, exciting, amazing - void. A hasn't happened yet. An uncertain future.
And that's hard! It's hard to obsess about something that's still so unclear! I want to plan, to have something concrete to be excited about! I should know by now that the real wonders unfold once you arrive, the possibilities you never expected, the friends you couldn't have imagined, the adventures you fell into serendipitously. I should know, I should, but it's not helping me now.
Instead I'm making lists again. Checking prices and schedules and more. Making lists of possibilities that excite and amaze in one moment, and then in the next moment make me pathetically nervous, grasping, greedy... a sense that if I don't check off everything on the list, I'll go home sad, crying, unfulfilled.
Rubbish!
Why can't I learn better?
October 07, 2011
Autumn in Missouri
Next to Rollins, there's a beautiful tree with black branches and golden leaves, more beautiful by far than any of the homecoming decorations. Besides the medical building, the birches are nestled into their bed of grey-green grasses that wave spirit-like in the wind. On the MKT, the trees just beyond the cliffs are brilliantly yellow and arch overhead like an impossibly high and weightless roof. Bees and summer still cling to the colorful flowers around Lowry and Jesse hall. Over grindstone trail, vultures swarmed dark beneath a pale moon that matched the clouds in a blue sky. From the top of the cliffs, the woods seemed delightfully painted and rusted over. Orange, yellow, red, brown...
I love my campus, I love my state, I love autumn...
It's nice to be home for this. <3
I love my campus, I love my state, I love autumn...
It's nice to be home for this. <3
October 05, 2011
Europeans and Hobbies
So it's Mikko's birthday today, he's a friend of Liisa's who I met in Finland. I went to write Happy Birthday on his wall and I saw all of his fancy-dancing pictures on his profile as well. And I thought, wow, Liisa and all of her friends are always so busy! Mikko dances, and Joel does dog sled racing, and Liisa has rock-climbing... any one of those is more interesting than the hobbies most of my friends in the states have. And thinking about other European friends that I have, to a lesser extent, they also have pretty well defined and serious hobbies. (But the Finns most of all, for some reason, or maybe its just coincidence.) I mean I tend to think of all of those as hobbies that you have to take somewhat seriously, get better at, etc. When I try to think of hobbies for my friends here, I come up with more categories... Nash is interested in politics and psychology... Tabi is interested in metaphysical stuff... Tina is interested in environmental issues... etc. Well of course I know they have other interests and so do the Finns, I mean Liisa also used to horse-back ride, and she is getting interested in wine tasting, she likes languages and she loves traveling, scouts, etc... but hmmm, this is so random (also it's 2 in the morning, I just finished a long paper, and I'm drinking cheap free wine in the hotel room). but yeah, I just have this feeling that they're taking their hobbies more seriously. I mean if you think to yourself, "rock climbing is my hobby," you might take it more seriously. And if you really want to do something badass like dog-sledding or figure-dancing (I don't even know the names for it, lol, thats how bad I am) then you need to practice and take it seriously. Anyway, it's just my sleep-deprived, Facebook stalking thought of the day!
October 03, 2011
Mark Twain on Travel
“20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the one’s you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover”
~ Mark Twain
~ Mark Twain
October 02, 2011
The World According to Me
Blue is for countries I've been to...
Green is for countries where I have a close friend...
Yellow is for countries where I have (or have had) a friend...
Grey is for countries that, for whatever reason, I feel some connection to (once planned to visit, strong desire to visit, learned a lot about in a class or for a project, etc)...
I find it somewhat interesting.
Obviously I've neglected Africa pretty badly, which is only partially my fault - there are comparatively few African students who study abroad, and who I would come into contact with.
I've had many friends from a variety of Middle Eastern and Latin American countries, but few close friends... Pretty much only Layla from Iran, Lucia from Chile, and Jorge from Mexico.
Since I've been to most of Europe, the map doesn't really reflect my friendships there - but rest assured, most European countries fit into multiple of the above categories!
I have a lot of close friends in Asia! It's up there with Europe in that regard, and that's why Asia is my priority after I finish studies in North America and Europe. :)
Green is for countries where I have a close friend...
Yellow is for countries where I have (or have had) a friend...
Grey is for countries that, for whatever reason, I feel some connection to (once planned to visit, strong desire to visit, learned a lot about in a class or for a project, etc)...
I find it somewhat interesting.
Obviously I've neglected Africa pretty badly, which is only partially my fault - there are comparatively few African students who study abroad, and who I would come into contact with.
I've had many friends from a variety of Middle Eastern and Latin American countries, but few close friends... Pretty much only Layla from Iran, Lucia from Chile, and Jorge from Mexico.
Since I've been to most of Europe, the map doesn't really reflect my friendships there - but rest assured, most European countries fit into multiple of the above categories!
I have a lot of close friends in Asia! It's up there with Europe in that regard, and that's why Asia is my priority after I finish studies in North America and Europe. :)
I like this map for where I've been way more than the ones who do it by country. For example, I haven't been to Alaska, but those maps make it look like I have... And if I'd been to St. Petersburg, it would make it look like I'd conquered the breadth of Russia!
No, this is a more accurate picture, complete with the revelation that I'm missing most of Mexico, most of the American West, Southern Spain, most of France, and large expanses of Scandinavia.
Plus, it's actually more clear than the other map when it comes to small Carribbean Islands I've visited and such... also in terms of where in America, Japan, etc I have travelled.
Here's a friend map I quite like... maybe because its design hides the embarrassing lack of African friends? :P It makes Siberia look lonely as hell, but then, it sort of is! :) I think this map makes it obvious that I've lived in a few places in the States (thus both random dots all over the country, and major centers where I have 100+ friends), participated in a lot of Erasmus type programs (remarkably even scattering throughout Europe) that also include a lot of Asians (especially the coast of Asia is perfectly peppered!) A problem with this map is that a lot of my friends aren't home right now. I have several Indian friends, but none of them are in India right now... Zahra from Mumbai is actually in London at the moment. And actually at least one of the South American dots is my American friend Ben, who's studying in Chile!
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