Scervusc from Pest

Hello all. I'm currently in an internet café on the Pest side of Budapest. The Hungarian currency, the forint, has been very kind to us and has been a large factor in redeeming Budapest after arriving on the first discouraging night. As is usual, darkness makes everything look a little bit sketchy and the fact that we had zero money due to no ATMs and almost no ability to communicate upped the stress level.

That said, most everything else has been flawless. Well... besides a lot of stuff being closed due to a transit strike on our first full day of exploring, ha. Spring has sprung in Hungary! It's the first place I've traveled to where I can really just wear a t-shirt and jeans. The food is great and it's nice not to have to sell a kidney to support a diet including meat other than tuna from the can.

Walking around is, in one simple word, pleasant. Just walk. With my handy post-it from my friend Gabor, we've managed to try Hungarian dishes. Soft cabbage stuffed with pork, venison stew, and goulash. We still need to try the bean soup. Butttt we bought some Hungarian wine to try later at our flat. Our hostel is no hostel... it's a full-fledged apartment with kitchen, bathroom, breakfast nook/bar area, and bedroom. All ours! So nice to have our own space again.

Alright. I'm having a great time and overall, it's practically zero stress. We're heading to Zahgreb in 2 days and I'm not sure if I'll have internet there. Haven't had much access so far. Hope everyone is well. Vislat!

...And We're Off

A week back in London, while academically unproductive, was at least socially productive. Time has flown and with 2 weeks left of my 6 week break, I'm off to Austria tomorrow.

Just for all you curious folk, I'll be traveling to Salzburg tomorrow, followed by Vienna, Budapest, Zahgreb, Rovinj and surrounding areas, and Pula. I might update on the way to avoid a 2-week summary post when I get back, so check back in if you want to know what I'm up to.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Family Vacation! (With the Medveds)

First, a bit of business. I have reached the limits of a free Flickr account and rather than upgrade to a pretty account, as pretty as they are, I'm switching to my dormant Picasa account. Shockingly, I encountered a fair amount of problems uploading the web albums and had to resurrect my troubleshooting skills. Who knew there was any flaw in Google at all?

So now I'm in the process of organizing albums from past trips. Here's Sardinia and the Amalfi Coast in pictures and from a while back, Amsterdam, Paris, and Gtown's Spring Break in London.

Now onto the Amalfi coast vacation. Much like Sardinia, this trip offered an experience that differed from the typical student travel that I've been doing and will be doing for the rest of break. There weren't really museums to visit, although we did visit the Archaeological Museum in Naples. Never before have I been surrounded by so many phallic images. Penis pendants on necklaces, penis earings, flying penis statues WITH penises, penis wall adornments, and of course erotic frescos and statues, all from Pompei. Naples was the only real city we went to on the trip, and I think we were all glad that it was a brief visit. Besides for the garbage on the streets, check out this TIME photo gallery to get the full and shocking picture, I was a little taken aback by the traffic. Never before have I heard sustained honking and beeping for such a duration of time. It was a fun experience though.

Naples was only one day out of ten, but it's hard to recap where I've been. Most of the towns on the Amalfi coast are very small and vertical with windy roads connecting them and they tend to blend in my mind unless I have a certain restaurant or villa to distinguish one from the other. We stayed in two villas in a town called Positano, supposedly the most vertical town in the world? In Italy? Facts are fuzzy. Right outside our door (literally) was a hike to Ciello (I think), an extremely small town directly above us. 2000 steps later, we were there and having lunch in a small trattoria where we could see the three famous rocks of Capris. Ok, I won't go through everything and everywhere I went, but highlights include Pompei, the small hike up and around Mt. Vesuvius, the stair hike, and the drive around the island of Capri. Food and gelatto were another major highlight. I was constantly well fed, tummy well-stocked with local seafood, pastas, tomatoes, and mozzarella.

The Medved's know how to vacation and have a good time, and I was lucky enough to be along for the ride. I've got to say, I haven't laughed that hard on a daily basis since I've been back at Georgetown and that was a good feeling to have again. It was also nice to be around "family" again; they weren't mine but I felt adopted for the time being.

So now... I rest for a week and sort out my business. In good news, I will be back in DC by June 16th and semi-employed. Alright. A picture says a thousand words, so check 'em out. Hope to talk to everyone while I'm back in London.

Sardinia (and more) Recap

Hello loyal readers (aka immediate family, select Gtown friends, and facebook stalkers)!

I'm back from my week in Sardinia and following a 15-hour sleep, I'm ready to discuss. Let me start with the week leading up to Sardinia, which was a bit of an adventure in itself. Only four days after the hospital visit, I took the Eurostar to Paris with Jared. I know what you're thinking. Questionable decisions in the wake of sickness. BUT Jared and I had already bought tickets weeks earlier and I was feeling okay to eat, so there was no sense in wasting our tickets. We hopped the yellow tour bus for convenient site-seeing and hit up Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Monmarte, Musee D'Orsay, and the Arc de Triumphe. We did drive-bys of the Champs Elysee (walked it a little), the Paris Opera House, the Louvre, and lots of things that I would butcher the pronunciation of. We witnessed a fun little scuffle between what I think was a gypsy and a French couple. Unfortunately, the only word I could understand was "Fuck" but fisticuffs nearly erupted. There was wrist-grabbing and fist-shaking and purse-pulling and money-thrusting... all you can really ask for as a spectator. Our French breakfast was top notch. Bread with more bread and coffee. Mmmm.

We met up with a Gtown friend, fellow D6-er Reed, who's studying in Science Po for the semester. We went to dinner with him... and then we missed our Eurostar back home, the last one leaving for London that night. After running through the streets of Paris to find a cab and rushing to the platform, I was a little flustered and disheartened. But my sad face plus Jared's earned some French sympathy and they did some magic with our tickets so that we wouldn't have to pay for new ones the next morning. We made the most of the unexpected night in Paris, catching the Eiffel Tower as it sparkled and squeezing another crepe into our bellies. But... I will say that I was completely exhausted the next morning arriving to London at 8AM. Whew.

Onto Sardinia. I don't necessarily know what to say about it, because the anecdotes come as naturally when the setting is nature versus cities. But it has definitely been my favorite trip of this year abroad. The other cities have been good, but it was nice to not have any sites that I was obligated to see, etc. Also, the whole trip was kind of arranged for me and I didn't have much thinking to do. I got in the car when I was told and followed the leader when we hiked to climbs. Other flatmates did the cooking (whew) and I tried not to be a bum with cleaning and other helpful activities.

I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (I'm the climber in the picture above). I did 5 days of climbing with 1 rest day, but some days I literally sat around the whole time and climbed only 1 route. One day we had to hike uphill for an hour and a half... and I huffed and puffed the whole way up but it was good for me. I was away from the internet for the longest time in a while and it was refreshing, for the most part, to have other things to do and think about. It softened the blow of the Hoyas loss to Davidson in the Tourney, because my heart wasn't in it for the whole thing.

I just enjoyed hanging out and eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner with people again. It felt good to have that kind of community feeling again compared to the daily isolation of life at LSE. The group that came on the trip was really international. In my flat alone, there were two Norwegians, a Polish girl, and a French girl. Other climbers were Finnish, Colombian, American, Canadian, German, Belgian, Chinese, and British. You definitely don't get this in the states, as "international" as Georgetown is.

Alright, so enjoy these pictures if you feel like looking. They're not in order somehow... but you'll get the idea. Also, if you can't recognize me from behind, I'm always wearing khaki or grey trousers with a brown-ish chalk bag and yellow shoes; my helmet is blue. Next stop: Positano, Italy. Ciao for now.

Sardinia Pictures

Sardinia

Hello all.  I am (I would type I apostrophe m but Norwegian keyboard gives me iæm) leaving for Sardinia tomorrow morning and will be gone for a week.  I am a little nervous about it for some reason.  Even so, I am really excited to see how it is.  I hope everyone has a good Easter.  

Recap

The Georgetown invasion of London is over and I'm recooping before the craziness of my 6-week Easter Break. That's not a type-o. 6 weeks. I'll be traveling for approximately 4.5 of those weeks, not quite consecutively (thank god).

So as usual, in anticipation of all the excitement of visitors, I got sick. After a trip to the local clinic doctor and several days of feeling worse, I headed to the hospital. I've got to hand it to the NHS. I was only in the waiting room for 1.5-2 hours. Then I was in my own little room for 45 minutes. And then I felt pretty taken care of by doctors and nurses. Also, lucky for me, Kate and Andrea were there for essential moral support.

I've seen many sides of the NHS and I'm really fortunate that all of its services are free. But if you dare to open a little pamphlet about how it is funded, you'll notice that the NHS consumes roughly 1/3 of the entire budget for England. With VAT and high income taxes, is it worth it? I'm going to say... overall, no. Had the doctor at the clinic been more thorough and less efficient with my initial visit, I feel like I wouldn't have had to go to the hospital. Or if I had more faith that a GP could do something for me if I went back, I wouldn't have bothered to go to the hospital. But because efficiency is the main goal of the GPs, I knew it was a dead-end and hence diverted to the hospital. Still, care at the hospital was top notch. They took an X-Ray of my stomach/intestines, a urine sample, and two blood tests all without the hassle of me worrying how much it would cost.

Maybe a smidge of social medicine mixed with private care? That'd be a happy blend. Easier said than done. I'm more than rusty with my knowledge of health care issues in the U.S. so I will stop here. When all is said and done, I'm doing well now. I'm eating normally and am back to attending class. Some class teachers were a bit more understanding than others . You drop the word "hospital" in an email and expect a little sympathy. Unfortunately, only human beings can exhibit such emotion.

I'm glad to be back in good health, because trips are rapidly approaching. Hopefully my body will hold up for me, although I'm confident it will since only 2 of the weeks will be tiring movement from place to place. The rest will be relaxing in what I hope is Italian paradise. Sardinia, however, is not the island I thought it would be unfortunately. I think "island" and I think warm and sunny, but Sardinia's high looks to be in the low 60s this time of year. Yet my the climbing club email for the packing list included both down jacket AND bikini. Hmm. So do I wear my bikini underneath my thermals to go for a "refreshing" swim after climbing? Interesting.

Starting Sunday, March 16th, I will be out of contact until the following Sunday (Easter). Then I am back for two days before having limited email access for the next week and half, but hopefully, I'll be checking in. Hope everyone is doing well.

Kate, Amsterdam, Gtown, etc.

Quick update for anyone that's wondering what I've been up to. It's been a little crazy lately with frequent visitors and other commitments. I'm on hiatus at Ellis Brigham due to friends and travel. Last Thursday, Kate came to visit and it was an amazingly relaxing time spent touring London. We went to some not-so touristy things... like the Apple Store in Brent Cross (Zone 3, man) to fix Kate's constantly afflicted Mac. Although the computer received a bad prognosis, all wasn't lost. We stopped at Camden Town on the way there and explored the markets and checked out the part that burned down. The British really freak out about fires, because I expected a huge part of the market to be gone after all the news it got. But when I looked, there were only 2-3 structures that looked destroyed, including the famous Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse watering hole, The Hawley Arms. Other highlights of Kate's visit include the Annie Leibovitz documentary at ICA. Maybe it was Kate's presence or just seeing a bunch of American icons on screen, but I loved it. So... if you have the opportunity, see the documentary Annie Leibovitz: My Life Through a Lens.

What else... I've been struggling to make time for climbing in the midst of visitors and trips. I've been practicing lead climbing to prepare for Sardinia and took my first fall (on purpose) on Friday to overcome my fear. I'm not going to lie... it was not glamorous and I spent a few minutes clutching the wall as my calves shook from fatigue trying to get the nerve to just jump. But hurrah, now I did it and I'm less scared and will look less stupid in the future!

Some quick thoughts about Amsterdam... so many canals. I'm really ignorant about world cities to the point where I did not even know that Amsterdam was famous for tulips. Of course, we strolled through the Red Light District, both during the day and at night. The first time I saw a prostitute in the window, I was immediately sad. But then I got over it because if seeing a prostitute caused sadness, then I'd probably be sad for the majority of my time in Amsterdam. What else... museums. We went to the Van Gogh museum and the Rijk museum. Thumbs up to the Van Gogh museum, although Jared and I both felt a little guilty/proud that the MoMa in NYC had Starry Night. Fun facts: Van Gogh painted a lot of Japanese-influenced pieces... lots of trees with cherry blossoms or other flowers and even imitations of Japanese woodblock prints. I wasn't that impressed with the Rijk museum, mostly because I'm not a huge fan of Rembrandt or Vermeer. It was also really small. Quickly... we used the trams a lot, even though city was really walkable. Finding genuine Dutch food proved to be a challenge, as Argentine Steakhouses dominate the culinary landscape in Amsterdam. I'm not complaining because the steaks were amazzzing. Maybe it's just because I've been deprived of quality beef for 5 months (U-S-A!). One last comment on Amsterdam since I've kind of gone overboard. The Dutch are extremely friendly and speak impeccable English. We walked into a butcher's shop and asked if she spoke English to which she replied, "A little." And then she proceeded to give us directions to a Dutch restaurant in what I would consider to be fluent English. Anyways. Amsterdam in a nutshell... not morally corrupt and actually quite quaint. It's more metropolitan than Prague and holy hell, do they ride bikes there.

Alright. I'm pretty behind on work and am set to head to Brick Lane in an hour. Still, life is good. I watched Georgetown beat Marquette at Bodeans BBQ in Soho with newly arrived Gtown friends (Claire, Nathan, Ashley, and Lauren) who are here for Spring Break. J-Wal saves the day... yet again. Ok, hopefully I'll be posting a little more frequently leading up the end of Lent Term but until then, I hope everyone is well.