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Monday, September 11th, 2006
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I start classes in a couple hours... woohoo? I'm not really sure why I'm up. I've been up for a couple of hours but I just can't sleep. Maybe I'm just THAT exciting about my first day of classes. It's like Christmas or something! Yeah. Right. Ok... anyways, so I've been back for a while but haven't really been up to much. I spent a couple days in London at my aunt's house which was full of cute babies. Both of my cousins have 6 months olds that are the most adorable things ever. They're perfectly behaved too- they just sit there and smile and giggle at you like they have these little baby secrets. So now I'm on Tori's case about having babies. I don't want to be a mom, I want to be an Aunt!! That way I can leave when they stop being adorable.
So my first night back (and last night being a teenager! let me say I really went out with a bang) in Jersey I went to this party in Trenton which was basically a house full of people I didn't know, the biggest bag of weed I've seen in my entire life (they actually hotboxed THE HOUSE), and beer pong. The combination of jet-leg, lack of sleep, this annoying as hell cold that I still can't shake and 3 strong screwdrivers made me ill by 10:30. John drove me home just in time for my parents to witness me stumbling out of the car and throwing up all over the street. What a night!
Fortunately I suffered no hang over for my birthday. Not to say there weren't any repercussions- I doubt I'll ever live that night down.
What else? what else?
I got tickets to Wicked, which was AMAZING. And so much fun! NYC is just completely on it's own level as far as cities go. Honestly, after a short stint in Eastern Europe I'm more aware of that then ever. You'll never have a hard time finding something to do there- or getting food after 10 pm. We were suppose to go to MOMA, but ran out of time which was kind of sad.
The next day I cheated the NJ license system. And now have a license!! Without ever taking a driver's test! It's a bit frightening that it's that easy to get a license, but meh.
Friday I hung out with Rachel. And it just wasn't enough time. Don't get me wrong... it was quality Rachel time: bookstores, starbucks, applebee's and tv. But, considering I haven't seen her in 3 months, it really wasn't enough time. And Rachel, being the big whore that she is, is too good to come to Key West. Meaning I won't see her until SHE COMES TO KINGSTON (no, no. there was nothing subliminal in that. nothing at all) or until Halloween when I'm hoping to get back to Jersey (to go see the Dresden Dolls in Philly!!). Hopefully Rachel will come to Kingston before halloween.
Oh and now I'm back in Kingston. And my fucking computer isn't working. It's less then a year old, and somehow spending the summer in a box in NJ was too hard on it. So it won't even turn on. And it's SO annoying, because everything is on that computer. All of my coursework, my resume (which I needed yesterday for a job application), ALL of my music and pictures and movies. I'm not computerless or anything, but it is still really fucking annoying.
And that is not a happy way to end this post. So happy 6 am Monday Morning! Have a good one.
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Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
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So I've come back to bratislava to find a bunch of random boys in my room. Not my room room but in my suite. And I think they're annoyed because their friend was suppose to get my room but I'm still here. haha!
Not for long thank God. I leave tomorrow! I'm so excited, back to english speaking people and food that isn't pizza or fries. Not that I haven't absolutely loved being here- this summer was amazing. But I'm ready for it to be over... it's been a long summer.
So today they checked my ticket on the bus back from the train station, and of course my stupid bus pass expired YESTERDAY. So I had to pay 30$ to ride the skanky public transportation... and the man was really mean about it too. And my stuff doesn't fit in my luggage anymore. Which is a problem. It's actually more then a problem, being I'm not willing to leave anything else behind. I'm already not taking Risk, and a bunch of notebooks, and my sheets and my towels and a pair of shoes (just flipflops, nothing grand). So it's got to fit. Grrrrr. And I met this strange boy on the train from Lebeon to Vienna- his accent was wrong. He sound like he was American trying to be British or something. I mean he was really nice, but the accent just wasn't working. Maybe he was too British. That could be it... like super posh british. Anyways, yeah that was my trip back. Sounds fun doesn't it? And I leave in 9 hours for the airport! And I get back to Toronto in 26 hours.
Now I just need to try and stay awake for the next 9 hours... then hopefully I can nap through the plane ride home. That way it won't be super painful.
Anyways- the rest of our trip was wonderful. We went to the Zoo in Zagreb (yeah I seem to really like zoos. nothing wrong with that). Then got to Ljubljana pretty late Sunday night. Monday we saw the sights in Ljubljana including the castle, the dragon bridge, the triple bridge etc etc Then Tuesday (aka yesterday) we went to Bled which is this cute little town in the Julian Alps. We did some more walking, hiked up a hill to see another castle which had an AMAZING view of the lake. We then rowed across the lake to this little island in the middle. The main feature of the island was this big old church with a wishing bell. You ring the bell and make a wish and the wish will come true. It was fun. I rowed back which was kind of messy, the boat kept pulling to the side because I ama way stronger in the right arm then the left. But we got back safely! woo!
Then we took a ski-lift up the hill and rode down it again on this little tiny sled on a track thing. It was pretty cool- although you got to control the brake which made it less fun. I kept pulling back on it unintentionally and slowing down which was just no fun at all. And that is just about everything.
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Sunday, August 27th, 2006
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I am very very tired. We woke up at 4am to catch a flight to Zagreb. And now we´re here messing about on the internet. You´d think I could have stayed in Bratislava to do that.
But!!! This is actually day 5 or 6 or something of traveling and it´s been great. And I hate this keyboard. When I want an apostrophe I get a bloody: Ć. Sheesh.
Anyways! Budapest was gorgeous. The only bad thing was the graffiti. The buildings were all beautiful, even completely random ones. And there were cows everywhere. Not real cows... some promotion or advertisment or something. I really have no idea why there were cows, but I took a picture of every single one. Yay for cows.
I think Budapest may be my favourite Eastern European city thus far (barring Bratislava which holds certain sentimental value of course).
The parliment building was much prettier then the castle, which was kind of sad... but we went in this underground labryinth where Catherine was going to find herself. Unfortunately she was locked out of that specific life altering experience. And we saw fossils of Homo Consumers. Which was a bit funny since it took us a while to get the joke.
Hmmm... what else what else? The hostel was fun... although we roomed with these two pompous `I´ve travelled the world so I´m better then you` Americans. They´ve been to Szeigt 5 times!! Bully for them. (has anyone noticed yet that I just don´t like people? think that´t a problem?)
Drubrovnik was pretty. Exactly what I would imagine a Mediterranean city to look like (although it is not actually Mediterranean): windy roads, stone everything, smelling like fish. The beach we went to yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. It was kind of hidden and took a lot of effort to get to, but real sand (most of the beaches are pebble) and waves! My kind of beach. Plus it was mostly deserted.
Anyways!! Off to explore Zagreb and try to stay awake.
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Saturday, August 19th, 2006
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I am going to make a better set of mood icons- because these are just ridiculous. Why do restless people have big noses? Exactly!
So I can't sleep and it kind of sucks because I want to sleep because I want to be awake tomorrow because it's the last day with everyone. I think I just destroyed the english language- there should not have been that many becauses in a sentence. Quick Aside: I did not know that Simple Plan was from Quebec- they don't really sound french.
It's light outside- sunrise is actually really pretty from my window. And holy shit is Björk ever scary. It sounds like my computer is chanting to the devil.
Taking into consideration that it's already 5:30 am, I think I may just stay awake. I've got coffee and sugar- that pretty much covers all my basic all nighter needs. And I'll just be so much fun tomorrow, when I'm wired on coffee and lack of sleep... yeah okay maybe that's a bad idea.
Anyways! I might have fooled you into thinking that this had a purpose other then a way to curb my boredom... but sadly it's just not true. I've got nothing.
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Tuesday, August 15th, 2006
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So this random man just barged into my room- I'm not quite sure why. I told him I didn't speak Slovak so he proceeded to talk to me in German- which strangely I actually understand less then I understand Slovak. He came in, gestured to my huge mess and left. Maybe he was upset that I'm using the sheets they gave me as curtains...
In other news: Budapest was lovely. I saw the castle and the parliment building from really far away- in the dark.. but they still managed to look beautiful (I will be returning the city to actually site-see and take pictures and all that jazz). Then we spent about an hour trying to decipher the worst directions in the history of the world- and finally we got to our hostel. At this point it was me and two cranky brits- which meant searching for foodstuffs immediately before Catherine murdered one of us. (Just kidding! You guys are lovely when you're cranky... really!!)
The festival was really fun and full of random stuff. First off- I think there was more Canadian flags there then any other flag. Mostly because there was this sign for some random Canadian company (not sure what they were selling) that was made up of happy maple leaves. But it made me really happy- yay Canada!! And they had booths for absolutely everything you could imagine- little trailers where you could get a tattoo or piercing, the IntimaZone where you could get condoms or learn about vaginal fungus, UniCum Next- which was a restaurant or club or maybe a brothel in disguise, the nerdy tent where a million people were playing chess... and yeah the list goes on, but you get the gist. Basically everyone could find something to entertain themselves. Including us! We drank cocktails out of a big bucket. While watching really bad karaoke- most of which was in a foreign language. Although two guys did some hungarian rap song which was actually pretty cool.
And then of course we come to the purpose of the festival: Radiohead. Radiohead was pretty good. Of course I had to pee (and breathe- I hate crowds) in the middle of the set so I missed a couple songs. But they were good. I'm not so sure I like the new funky music as much as classic radiohead but meh. I saw Radiohead. I can say that now. woo!
Other then that we only saw one other band: Sons and Daughers, which was actually really good. I'm not even sure how to describe it- maybe screechy indie rock?
And now there are only 5 days left of Bratislava. Which is a little crazy...
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Thursday, August 10th, 2006
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( How I fucked up my sleep schedule just a little bit more: )
So wasn't that just peachy? I'd recommend not reading it unless you're bored... because it pretty much says absolutely nothing about me. And most of the questions are crap. So why am I posting it? Because I just spent 40 minutes of my life searching my soul for deep answers to really important questions so I damn well will post whatever I want. Man I get really cranky when I'm sleep deprived. And Canadian Indie Bands SUCK. honestly people- please don't share the fact that you're canadian if you sound like a deranged crazy person, because it makes me sad. (I'm listening to last-fm, and everytime I open it to change a sucky band the blurb is like: "...blah blah blah is from herethereandeverywhere, CANADA") Although there are some really good bands- I should keep track but I'm too lazy. Maybe I'll just randomly type band names in the middle of my post. Ahem: INTERPOL.
So I'm going to a festival in Budapest this weekend, and Radiohead is playing. woo! I thought the Presidents of the United States of America were going to be there, but apparently not. They will however be in Piestany the weekend after, so I'm thinking about going to see them. I really really seem to like the word "apparently". I should stop using it- it sounds a little absolute. hmmm no, absolute is definitely not the word I'm going for. I don't know how it sounds, but it sounds like it shouldn't sound. so there.
Okay I really need to go to bed so let me finish this up quickly. I've decided to stay longer and go traveling for sure. The travel plan is:
August 22-24: Budapest
August 24-26: Dubrovnik
August 26-27: Split
August 28: Zagreb
August 29-30: Ljubljana
August 31: Home!!!
Which puts me in NJ around the 1st or 2nd of September. And yes I'm aware that you have probably never heard of most of those places-
It took us a couple hours just to get that much planning- which means it's going to be an amazingly spontaneous trip. Which is awesome because I don't really like plans anyways. (which is actually a little ironic seeing that I am the official planner of EVERYTHING.)
Okay.. what else? I think that's it.
My parting wisdom: When bowling always look at the pins before letting go of the ball. Otherwise you might break the game... twice.
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Taylor Bjorkland got married. As of this afternoon he was happily wed. And will soon be the father of a child. How crazy is that? This is the boy that spend 2 years living my basement because he was fighting with his family, or couldn't get a job, or something. God I have NO idea why he was living in my basement. Although it was the topic of many family feuds. It's strange- everyone grows up. Who know? maybe one day I'll be getting married and be pregnant with lots of children. Hopefully not anytime soon though.
I can't believe that he's married. And I can't believe I wasn't there to see it- I kind of feel like I'm missing out on a lot being away from home for so long. My parents and Lauren went though- and supposedly it was really great. And now my mom is being all sad because all of her babies are growing up. Tori is next though- I see her getting married to Brandon within a couple of years. Strangely I actually like Brandon, which I think is a first among my sister's boyfriends. John was definitely the worst- and still deserves a kick in the balls. Actually, Lauren will probably marry Justin. They've been dating for a million years. So what if they're only 17? They're still able to be sickenly mushy, which sadly bodes well for their relationship.
I really don't like this whole growing up charade. It just makes you miss all the things that you're too old for. And now people expect you to be all mature and worldly. Why? Because I'm 20 (almost) years old so I should have all the right answers. Well screw that. I'm not ready to have the right answers, I'm having way too much fun making mistakes.
I think I'm ready to go home though. 9 weeks... 10 weeks... however long I've been out here is way too long. I'm just so tired and want to snuggle up in my own bed and have one normal day. I don't think that's too much to ask for. Besides next year is it. My last year of university before I really leave home. I feel too old.
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Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
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So apparently I've made a new best friend. Guess who was banging on my door at 11 o'clock this morning looking to use the internet? Everyone's favourite guy: Jakub! Yeah, I know it's not that early- but early enough to wake me up. I don't think I've slept through a whole night in an entire month- these dreams are fucking up my sleeptime.
So anyways, Jakub is this polish guy that has no respect for women and likes to argue about absolutely nothing all the time, and doesn't get the hint when I flat out told him I didn't like him and thought that he shouldn't talk to me ever (which was admittedly mean, but necessary at the time. There is only so much pointless arguing I can handle in one sitting- especially with someone I don't like in the first place) And now, now he is planning his life around what we're doing. "Oh, so you want to have another party tomorrow? No? How about Saturday?" "Catherine has to work this weekend." "Oh! That's okay!! She can drink all Saturday night and wake up to work at noon on Sunday!"
Seriously? One night was quite enough. And as selfish as it may be I've only got 2 more weeks with my friends: I'd really prefer them without a side of Jakub.
But all in all last night was pretty fun. We watched Shaun of the Dead and Simba watched (Simba is this short, fat, black zombie that Catherine use to work with- he only appeared like 7 times throughout the movie which made for very little alcohol consumption).
So that was yesterday. Tonight is Angela's going away dinner which should be interesting. I think the last time I even SAW Angela was 2 weeks ago. But if we're going to be the good guys we have to make an effort I suppose. Besides the UFO is fun!
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Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
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1) Start speaking in cockney rhyming slang. e.g. "Bees and Honey, Give Me the Money" BUT only do this when you are explaining the football hooliganism ways to foreigners. Especially 'Yanks'.
2) Wear collared shirts with the collars ALWAYS up. No matter how bad it looks the collar needs to be up.
3) Have a proper job on the side (e.g. an Airplane Pilot, a webdesigner, a elementary school teacher) but NEVER let it get in the way of starting a football related bar brawl.
4) Stand your ground and fight. Even if it's 6 against 40. Sensibility is NOT a factor in the live of a football hooligan.
5) Have a passionate hatred for journalists. It's even better if you call them "Journos".
6) Plan elaborate ways to attack football hooligans from another firm. This can include stealing cars and starting false alarms on public transportation.
7) Never ever grow out of it. It is perfectly acceptable to be a 50 year old football hooligan, as long as you continue to act really angry all the time. And eventually you'll be revered like a mob boss.
8) Don't worry about the cops or the laws of lowly common people- they won't affect you. Even if you kill someone or commit arson, football hooligans are above the law.
9) You don't actually have to like football to be a football hooligan.
10) And finally: It's okay to turn on your gang members if they really upset you. Especially if they made a new friend that you don't like. Football hooligans are all emo at heart.
This post is dedicated to Catherine The Bored.
In other news, I slept for maybe 12 hours last night and am still exhausted. I spent most of the night tossing and turning, and having really messed up dreams. And now I don't feel like moving. I think I might be broken. Ah well- at least I went out with a bang.
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I actually went to Prague!
It was beautiful- but insanely crowded and full of foreigners (mostly Americans and Brits). We got there around 10:30 Friday night and spend 30 minutes lost in the train station where little old ladies were trying to hawk accommodations- not perfume or magazines but accommodations. How weird is that?
So after arguing with sleazy taxi drivers who wanted to charge us 30€ to take us the equivalent of a 10 minute walk we decided to try and find our way to the hostel. We get there without incident- we stayed at this cute little hole in the wall hostel called Hostel Elf. It was a really cool place- everyone was super friendly. The first night we were all pretty tired so we hung around the hostel chatting with random backpackers. There was this guy from NYC so I got all excited- someone to talk to who DIDN'T only talk about the UK. But of course I was out of luck: he went to school in Oxford. I always feel so dull in these situations- everyone is having these random conversations about british politics or tv shows or something and I have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation- so I'm always quiet and withdrawn when I'm really not like that.
Anyways- so the next day we wandered around the city. We walked over the Charles Bridge (of which I'm positive I took a ton of pictures of- but my camera disagrees. I am seriously the worst tourist ever), and checked out Castle. We saw the Astronomical Clock do it's thing, and continued to wander aimlessly for the rest of the day.
That night we checked out this pub/club that looked really cool in the guidebook, but was kind of disappointing, so we headed back to the hostel and found a fun funky bar down the street from our hostel.
Sunday we all woke up pretty late (I got about 3 hours of sleep) and went back to old town to do some more wandering. We ended up in Wenceslas Square which was full of very strange sculptures that I think were meant to be life altering but were mostly nonsense. They all had these deep blurbs about how the artist was trying to capture the meaning of life, and how his/her sculpture showed the truth about humanity and God and the marvels of the world... when really it was just a deformed lump of rock. Don't get me wrong- there were some very cool pieces of art (of which I, of course, did not take pictures) but they didn't really give me shocking revelations about the world. After that we met up with an old friend of Conal's who brought us to this pretty garden hidden in old town with a wicked view of the city- then it was time to come home (home?? well you know what I mean. It's actually gotten to the point where pulling into Bratislava station creates that feeling of familiarity and comfort that returning from a trip causes.. since I do it EVERY weekend). We went back to the hostel to grab our stuff from the teletubby room, and headed back to the train station. Spent 20 precious minutes trying to figure out which track had our train on it and realized Oh Shit! We're at the wrong station.. Then we had about 25 minutes until our train left for Bratislava, and we had to hurry onto the metro to get to the other train station (which thankfully was only 3 stops away). We ran through the station and made it onto our train with time to spare. The train ride home was fun but not long enough- I wasn't ready to return to my crummy hot room in Bratislava.
All in all it was a pretty awesome weekend. I might even go back to Prague- Catherine has invited me to go backpacking with her and a couple of her friends after our work term. It's kind of up in the air at the moment... I'd love to go (especially to Germany), but I'm not sure if I have the time. Plus I have SO much shit and I really don't want to tote it all across Europe. But it would be awesome, and how often does someone give you a chance to wander aimlessly through Europe? Besides I'm not sure if I'm ready for this summer to end- I only have 27 days left here. It's strange: I originally set up my countdown because I hated being here and couldn't wait to leave, now I kind of wish I could slow it down and have more time.
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Wednesday, July 19th, 2006
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Today I woke up to a ginormous textbook falling on my head. No wait. That was Catherine. Nothing so exciting happened to me. I woke up when it got too hot to sleep in my room then proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon. It was thrilling. I watched Welcome to the Dollhouse which is a lot more fucked up then I remember. I wonder if being a middle child automatically makes you a bit crazy. That doesn't bode well for me then, does it?
So I read High Fidelity today which was actually a pretty good book. It was a little frightening to see how guys view the world, but I'm going to hold on to my (naive?) notion that it's not all guys. And in fact it's not any of my guys. Because this means we can still be friends.
So I have a million plans and am running out of time very very quickly. I want to go to Budapest and Transylvania and Germany and Prague and back to Vienna and I really really should complete enough work to make my contribution to the project even minutely noticeable just so I can feel like I did SOMETHING, since technically I am out here to work not play. But I'm not really partying anyways, I've been good... mostly. I am going to Prague on Friday so that mostly may change into a sometimes. It should be an awesome weekend though- so far the only plan is to get really really trashed on friday night. Which is always great fun. We even got stuff for the train- tequila with salt and limes. They don't know how to shoot tequila here- they do it with cinnamon and oranges which is just gross. Believe me, I tried and I would rather shoot straight tequila then do it again. Wow I sound like a lush. Maybe I am... I'm going to return to Kingston with a huge alcohol problem and will need to spend years in rehab jut to get it all out of my system. I can forsee it now and it's not pretty. Although 3 drunken nights over the course of 7 1/2 (holy shit I've been here for a really really long time) is really not that bad. Anyways- I am way too tired to try and write anything substantial, so this ends my "boys suck- drink tequila!" rant.
**Disclaimer: this is a quote from a movie. meaning it has nothing to do with you- and is not directly or indirectly related to you in any way. at all.
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So apparently barbeque and bonfire are synonymous in Eastern Europe. And British people do NOT know how to make proper smores: marshmallow and chocolate chip cookies my ass- everyone knows it's milk chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallow. That's just... the way it HAS to be done. But it honestly wasn't bad done the british way so I won't complain.
The bbq/bonfire was fun- I love the smell of fire it's so primal. That's a weird word: primal. I kind of like it.
I think my most favourite thing about hanging out with the entire crew of IAESTE trainees is getting a first-hand glimpse at the culture clash. It's just crazy to see the tiny things that seperate people. Like guys saying sexist comments that no guy in North America who valued his testicles would say. Or the look of absolute amazement the Irish girl had on her face when the guys started to build a fire. The classic comment of the night:
Leslie- "How are you suppose to cook on that???"
Jakub- "With a stick- have you never had a campfire before?!? Where are you from?"
Leslie- "Ummm... The 21st century?"
Sorry maybe that's not funny- but honestly it really really was at the time.
Anyways, I love how the Red Hot Chili Peppers use 'Dani' as the girl name in their songs. It makes me really happy. Does anyone remember when I was really really obsessed with By The Way back in freshman year? And use to get every guy EVER to sing it to me. Anyways how random. I'm in such a strange mood- it's wonderful =D
I have 2 weeks to read 2000 pages of random books before the British Council closes for the summer. The British Council is this amazing place in the middle of Old Town that is completely full of English. You won't understand how wonderful that is until you spend a day surrounded by non-english... then you'll know.
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| Subject: | Pohoda |
| Time: | 3:52 am. |
| Mood: |  chipper. | | Music: | Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Golden Lion. |
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Pohoda was AMAZING. The music was mostly mediocre, but it really really wasn't about the music.
We got into Trenčín right before sunset and headed out to the festival site on a very cramped bus- When we got there we learned that it actually pays to look like completely lost foreigners. We managed to get by without having security searching our bags (which made me happy, I don't like people shifting through my undies).
And then we hopped on a tractor to the campsite- that made my weekend right there, it was just so completely random.
We got to the campsite and James pretty much built our entire tent for us- yay for boyscoutery. They were still building stages and most of the festival ground was still blocked off- so that limited our exploring the first night. The festival grounds were beautiful, and the background was perfect. We were surrounded by mountains on all sides.
Sleeping in a tent is definitely a strange experience. You really don't get much sleep- over the course of three nights I doubt I got more then 10 hours of actual sleep. Night #1 was just way too noisy. Apparently drunk festival goers think they are monkies. All night the people around us were making the strangest noises. Night #2 was really really hot and sticky. And it doesn't helped to have plasticy sleeping bags and be sleeping in cramped quarters- it made for a very sticky night. Strangely Night #3 was freezing cold. I spend most of the night chattering. I think I'm just way too sensitive to temperature.
Friday and Saturday were spent wandering around listening to random bands. My favourites include a Slovakian Ska Band, Bajofondo Tangoclub: a very strange mixture of techno/tango/electronic from Argentina, and The International Noise Conspiracy- swedish rock! The Pixies were a major headliner- but they weren't great. I know a lot of people really like them, but I just don't see it. There was even a Canadian band/singer: Danko Jones- the man in the pirate patch. He was kind of annoying. The music wasn't bad but he just kept stopping to try and impart philosophical wisdom on everyone- like one day he's going to climb a mountain and look down on everyone... it was a little ridiculous. But if you tuned out the talking bits it was fun hardcore music.
And that was the weekend.
Now I'm playing around with Last.fm- I think I really need to expand my selection of bands- plus I have actual work to do which means I need SOMETHING to do while procrastinating.
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Wednesday, July 12th, 2006
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I think I might just have to stay an extra week. There is this awesome looking festival in the UK with too many good bands to name them all, but headliners include: Pearl Jam, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, the Dresden Dolls, Broken Social Scene etc etc.
See the sad thing is that I'm going to this major festival this weekend where I've heard of ONE of the bands, and I'd so much rather go to this other festival. Tickets are sold out, which means ebay aka expensive (although not really... Greenday cost what? 100$ for 3 hours in nosebleed seats- this will be maybe 300$ for 3 days tons of good music and camping, so really not that bad). But still... It looks amazing. Plus it gives me an excuse to kick around the U.K. for a week, and what would my first trip to Europe be without some crazy british culture?
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I've been here for 42 days and I've got 42 to go. It's kind of crazy that I'm right in the middle. So this past weekend I was in Vienna, which was awesome and exhausting all at once.
Friday night we went to this huge party with bad music and I got really really drunk on screwdrivers. It was a great night- albeit confusing.
Saturday they woke us up at 9 am which was cruel, I was still drunk and had gotten no sleep so I was pretty spacey all day. We ran around the city Amazing Race style solving clues and performing strange tasks. I waltzed with a cute boy from egypt who thought I was nuts because I made him spin me, and then I went home and slept for the afternoon. That night 4 of us went to a jazz club where the live music was most definitely not jazz and was actually kind of depressing- although it probably didn't help that I was completely introverted for other reasons by the end of the night.
The next day we went to this nifty palace where we hung out at the labrinyth/maze area which I'm sure was for little kids, and went to the zoo which was awesome. I took more pictures of zoo animals then of the city because I'm cool like that. Then we made the trek home and watched some of the final World Cup game (I CAN NOT believe that France lost!!!), and slept.
And now it's today, and I've slept through my Slovak class and need to be somewhere in 40 minutes when I still don't have clothes on- and I feel great.
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Thursday, June 22nd, 2006
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I’m going to learn Slovak. It’s a two week 3 hour a day class that I’m hoping will give me enough knowledge of Slovak to actually communicate with people. Maybe it will be a complete waste of time- but I’m hoping it will be a lot of fun. And give me a chance to meet some other foreigners. Well at least that’s the plan, maybe it will be full of old people and I’ll be bored out of my mind for two weeks. Ah well- got to take a chance. My work sucks- I do nothing at all, I don’t go into work, I don’t talk to anyone at work, and I don’t get paid. I mean, I guess I shouldn’t expect to get paid, but the work environment is completely unsuitable to actually get anything done. Blah.
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I don’t know why I don’t write- I have a million stories to tell, but there’s no place to start. This weekend Sheng-Zhou and I made our way to Zlaté Piesky (Golden Sands), a big lake on the outskirts of Bratislava, on our own. It was busy, and full of topless women and fat hairy men in speedos, but cool lake water and nice sunny reading = fun! And now we’ve got plenty of plans, so I’m hoping the boredom is done with.
I’m going to this awesome looking festival in the middle of July- Pohoda Festival. We’re considering getting a tent and camping out at the festival for the whole weekend. The city where the festival is being held has a huge old castle with a Medieval themed night that I’m dying to check out as well… three nights away from Bratislava- you have NO idea how exciting that sounds. I’ve been here almost a month now, and I’m just starting to get out.
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Last night was the first time I can remember ever having nightmares about a horror movie. Since I found out I was coming to Bratislava everyone I talk to says “Oh my god! Is that the Hostel place??” So of course I had to watch Hostel. And of course it was extremely fucked up. It was about these 2 American Boys travelling Europe in search (mostly) of good sex. So they end up in a hostel in Bratislava, Slovakia. But it’s like the death hostel or something… people there pay lots of money for travellers to cut up into itty bits. I’m not sure why they pay for that (the movie wasn’t so much about making sense as it was about grotesque scenes). So one of the boys is killed, the other one gets away and goes on a killing spree- pretty much murdering everyone he met in Bratislava that he thought could possible be involved. And then he escaped on a train. And that was the end of the movie. I didn’t say it was a good movie exactly, just not the best movie to watch when you’re mostly alone, staying in a hostel in the highlighted city.
I should pick up on Day 3, but if I continue to write essays on everyday I’ll never catch up to today. So a brief summary:
I went a bought a charger, and figured out how to get downtown all by myself. On the Thursday after I arrived I moved rooms to a much smaller room, with a shared bathroom. BUT! This room had internet. So it won. I was also suppose to start work on that Thursday, which of course didn’t happen. People here are really nice, but not particularly organized. So my first day of work was postponed until Monday, and I was pretty much on my own for the weekend. Wait, no that’s not true. A girl from Detroit named Julia arrived on Friday and we went to Devin castle, which was awesome. Then we went to a weird eastern indian concert that I slept through. She left on Saturday to go to another part of Slovakia.
Monday was my first real day of work, which consisted of meeting Professor Navrat, then talking to one of his PhD students about what my job is. I was at work for a total of maybe 2 hours. Luckily another trainee arrived that afternoon, so we spent the day at a Da Vinci exhibition at Bratislava Castle (a different castle), and downtown. I didn’t see her again until this past Saturday, and it turns out neither did anyone else. The IAESTE committee pretty much left her to fend for herself for a week- with no Internet set up and without her cell phone set up. Did I mention that the entire IAESTE committee went to a conference in the Tatra mountains this weekend? Without telling either of us mind you. The only reason I found out was because one member had to stay behind for an exam… but you’d think they might be kind enough to give us some idea that everyone is leaving, right? So anyways that brings up to today… almost. Before meeting up with Liao (the new trainee- who, by the way, goes to Queen’s University- Belfast) I hung out with some random british guy who got my phone number from an IAESTE committee member. It was fun. We had dinner at some cute restaurant in a little out of the way alley, and then he missed his 10 o’clock bus. So we went drinking- 2 screwdrivers and 4 shots of tequila (really really good tequila mind you) he missed his 2 o’clock bus. So he spent an ackward night over here and managed to miss his 6 o’clock bus too. I have no idea why the bus schedule is so random- but there we have it. And that concludes my first two weeks in this crazy country. Stay tuned for pictures- lots and lots of pictures.
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Yup I’ve been in Bratislava, Slovakia for almost two whole weeks now. And I haven’t written a word. Well actually I’ve written a million words… in a pen and paper journal my mom got me as a going away gift. So yes… you got snubbed in favour of that. But now I’ll catch you up on all the gory details of my first (almost) two weeks in Bratislava.
Day 1: Was pretty close to the worse day of my life. I got very little sleep on the flight.. I was too busy tracking our position on that little global map they show. I got really excited when the plane icon hit Dublin, Ireland. Anyways… so I got off the plane and was picked up by this guy named Marek. He was horrible. I mean… not really horrible horrible.. he was trying to be nice. But he was completely insensitive. First he made me tote my luggage (think 4 bags each weighing 50-100 pounds) around the ENTIRE city. On and off at least 4 buses, and through a huge crowd of movie goers. Not to mention the huge number of stairs into the subway station and back out of the subway station. Twice. I think he was under the impression that I needed to get everything done as soon as I landed. So in the first three hours of being in Bratislava I exchanged money, picked up a 3 month bus pass and got pictures taken for my hostel id. Fun fun. So after all that we get to the hostel. Wait 40 minutes in line and find out I don’t have a room. Yup… the story was that IAESTE booked me a room and it mysteriously became unbooked and I was not allowed to book another room because they were doing construction in July. I laughed it off. One mistake, no big deal. Besides I was getting a better room in a nicer dorm out of it. So we get to the nicer dorm. I pay my 5000 SSK (slovak crowns- 30 ssk is about 1 usd) carrying my bags up the stairs to the 5th floor (no elevator of course) and open my door to find someone else in my room. A computer glitch is what I was told. And unfortunately that was the last single room available. Would I like to try a triple room? Sure why not… So this room was on the 8th floor. Of a different building. More toting luggage up and down stairs. And as we get closer to my new room the building gets more and more deterioated. By the time we reach my room the floor is peeling, the walls are falling apart and the place smells like a NY subway. And the room is the same size as the single room. With three beds. Hell no I’m not staying there. I’m sorry- but I’m not living in such confined spaced with two girls who I can not communicate with. I can’t even live in confined space like that with Joel. So I waited for my parents to call (did I mention that my brilliant sim card wouldn’t allow me to make outgoing calls? So if I needed to talk to someone I pretty much had to wait for them to call me?) and we talked about getting a hotel. And Marek was getting angry with me. He didn’t understand why I couldn’t just stay in the triple room hell hole. Hello? You’ve carted me around the ENTIRE city doing random shit and don’t even have a room ready? And you’re MAD AT ME??? What the heck is wrong with that picture? Anyways.. I ended up in a very nice hostel on the other side of campus. Single room with a private bathroom (although the toliet tank was on the ceiling- it took me a while to figure out how to flush). And I pretty much dropped dead from exhaustion. So that was day 1.
Day 2: (in this world days are seperated by periods of sleep- not normal day boundaries. So day 2 starts around 11pm the day I got here). I wake up after semi-crappy sleep, still not able to call home. But I decide charging my cell phone might be a really good idea since it’s almost dead. I take my charger out of my bag and find out that one of the prongs has broken off. Great quality charger let me tell you.. although I’m not sure if it was build to withstand bouncing up and down stairs in my computer bag for hours. Anyways… so I’m tired and upset and so close to breaking down. I go downstairs to try and find some tape. (it really wouldn’t have helped, but I was frantic). Of course the people at the desk spoke no english- so trying to get tape was not working. They were very nice though. I showed them the broken charger and the man tried to help my make a phone call from the pay phones. It turns out they can’t make long distance calls.. but he was helpful. So I went back to my room showered and luckily my dad called before everything died. So the next morning a different IAESTE member came to help me settle in and he took me to the mall. They don’t call it a mall here though- it’s a HyperMarket. Anyways- I got a charger, got some groceries and went back to my room. Later I went out with two other guys for dinner. The menu was in slovak- so I asked them to point out vegetarian meals and I ended up with Potatoes and Jam. Yum! They seemed upset when I ate almost none of it.. but it tasted almost as bad as you would think. Then I was invited to an IAESTE meeting where everyone talked in slovak for an hour and a half. When I got back to my room my hair dryer blew a fuse, and I went to bed.
And I’m pretty sure that’s more then enough babble for a start. Nice job if you made it this far- I’ll continue with days 3-11 later. With Pictures!
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sick.
excited.
restless.
lethargic.
nostalgic.
tired.
sleepy.
content.
Random.
relaxed.