Wishing I were catching a snitch in quidditch instead of reporting (a month and a half late) on the sitch.

Here’s the sitch:
I ended up dropping Persian after being rejected from the Critical Language Scholarship Program. I have the entire book and CDs if I plan to continue on my own. I dropped my linguistics class in French because it was basically all information I’d already learned and, worse, it was taught by the most boring professor ever. Ever. On the bright side of things, I really enjoyed both of my Masters courses in English: Language and Space and Racial Discourse in Britain. I’ve finished both essays for the latter and my take home essays/exam is planned out for the former. I’m basically done here with my ISEP academic year! Just forms to turn in, really!
In other news, I’ve been sorting out my finaly year at the University of Iowa. I’m more than pleased to inform those still reading my happy little blog that I have been selected to be a summer orientation guide for the Honors Program! I’ll get to talk to incoming honors students about all sorts of fun stuff during the orientation sessions! It’s a job I’ve been interested in since my own orientation in the summer of 2008. I’m really looking forward to it. :) Also related to academics, I’ve begun the process of applying for a Marshall Scholarship. Marshall Scholarships are awarded to about 40 students nationally every year for 2 years of graduate study in the UK at the institution of the recipient’s choice. In order to even compete nationally, I have to first apply to be a nominee for the University of Iowa. This means sorting out references, writing essays/statements of purpose, and researching UK universities to select 2 to apply to with the scholarship if I were to get it. It’s a fair amount of stressful work, trying to make myself sound as awesome as possible via papers, made more difficult by my academic nonsense and lack of involvement this year. But there you have it: consider this my asking for your thoughts, support, prayers, etc.
In the immediate academic future, I also have some plans. Inspiration has struck for an honors thesis for my French degree. Hoorah! My advisor sounds really interested/supportive as well, so I’m looking forward to working on it this summer and fall. I’ve also selected my courses for Fall 2011. They are as follows:
Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic
The Structure of English
Introduction to Islamic Civilization
The Bible and the Holocaust
Religion and Women
Ballroom Dancing (!)
I’ve decided to complete a Teaching English as a Second Language concentration for my Linguistics degree and have switched my Ancient Civilizations minor to Religious Studies. I’m pretty excited about all of it, especially ballroom dancing! I’m also working on being admitted to an online environmental science course with Reading Area Community College that I can do while being an orientation guide for Honors!

I believe that’s all for now: information overload and a tired hand.

(Oh, as an aside, I’ll be going to Edinburgh on 29/4 and returning to Lille 5/5. I’m moving out of my residence 6/5 and meeting my family in London 7/5.)

The end is near.

Freiburg, Germany

Freiburg, Germany

In retrospect, my 10 hour bus ride from Prague, Czech Republic to Freiburg, Germany wasn’t so bad. I munched on my pre-made nutella + raspberry jam sandwiches, listened to my iTouch (Mr. Touchy-feely) read some Harry Potter et la coupe de feu, and managed to fit in a nap or two. In fact, all went quite well until I watched a man drop off his daughter and her friends: he came onto the bus, talked to them a few minutes, waited outside next to the bus for another 15 minutes, and watched and waved goodbye as the bus pulled away from Nürnberg. I immediately could picture my dad doing it. In fact, he has done it several times at airports. Anyway, in my growing homesickness, the whole scene made me miss my dad something awful and my eyes began to water. I decided to just go in for the kill and listen to Ben Fold’s “Gracie” and cry for 3 minutes. Afterwards, I felt a bit better. Right. Anyway, I got to Freiburg around 7pm Friday. Trev came to pick me up and head back to his residence, coincidentally located in an area of the city named after a French general who designed Lille’s Citadelle. I was too sleepy to be very exciting, so we mainly ended up watching “Goldeneye” (my third James Bond movie!) and falling asleep. We started Saturday off right with eggs + toast for breakfast. Trev took me on a tour of the city, complete with the market outside the Münster, the Münster itself, the Haribo store (!!), a stone alligator, Erasmus’ house, the 2 towers of the city, ad a sweet lookout point from a mountain. Oh, and bratwurst from a vendor at the market. Delicious! We walked to his friend’s residence, located just next to a really awesome park. We had a small cookout, hamburgers included! I met more of Trev’s friends and I’m very pleased to report that they are all very friendly, funny, and likeable. After sitting in the park for hours, we ended up switching between apartments for hanging out, chatting, and general fun. Until 5:30am. Yep.
We took the tram home to crash and woke up late (read: I took too long getting ready) so had to runt o the tram stop to go have Easter Brunch at Ashley’s apartment. Ashley happens to be a linguistics major at Iowa as well, so we talked a bit about courses and spent the day watching movies (Zodic and Quantum of Solac (in German)). When Trev and I got back to his place that night, I was able to skype with my family!

On Monday, Trev, Alyssa and I hopped onto a train to go to Schluchsee, a beautiful lake in the black forest. We attempted to get some schoolwork done, but I mainly watched other people and ate the cookies that I had brought for our picnic. Following Alyssa’s dramatic recapturing of my notes as they blew away, we went back to Freiburg. Later on, we went to O’Kelley’s Irish Pub, had some beer, and participated in the pub quiz, which I found to be loads of fun.

Trev has class on Tuesdays, so I did some preparation for my takehome exam while he was gone. After I made potato wedges and we watched a few Law and Order episodes, Trev took me back into the city to get ice cream. I had a cone of chocolate hazelnut and Bailey’s. Mmmmmmmmmmm. We walked a bit, returned home for a strange variation on schnitzel (that was yummy all the same, I assure you), then went to David’s. Or we tried to. He wasn’t checking his phone, nor buzzing us up, and the park was fairly empty. Trev and I walked most of the way home and realed. We unsuccessfully tried to watch Dr. No, but gave up and went to sleep instead. Now, as I write, I am on my train from Strasbourg to Lille. TGV are fast. I mean, that’s the point: train à grande vitesse. High speed train. But seriously,it’s amazing to watch the scenery go by once the train really starts chugging along. We actually slowed to a stop earlier and waited 5-10 minutes due to a security threat of some sort. There’s still about 2.5 hours left of my trip and it appears we’re just now arriving at Lorraine station. Mmm, quiche Lorraine… And mmm, Mumford and Sons on Mr. Touchyfeely… My window is starting to be splattered with rain and it’s nice. My plan is to continue working/studying/planning. I do believe an academic update is in order for this blog…

A plus tard!

Prague, Czech Republic. 20/4/11-22/4/11.

Prague, Czech Republic

Getting to Prague was well frustrating. No trains from Lille made it to Charleroi Airport early enough in the morning for my flight, so I had to spend the night in a Belgian town, Mons. It was actually a pretty adorable little city, with a neat main square and huuuuge cathedral. The hostel itself was probably the nicest I’ve been in. I tried to get to sleep early so I could be to the train station by 5:45 for my train. I fell asleep and then couldn’t manage to continue. Then, at the station, I waited 15 minutes next to some disgusting kid listening to some awful death metal sans headphones. Anyway, the rest of the trip was fine except missing the shuttle bus and having to worry about missing my flight. But I made it. Eventually.


Mons. Mons.

Arrival at airport. Take out some Czech crowns to pay for my bus and metro tickets and my hostel. Try to buy ticket. Fail as lady demands I go acquire coins somehow since she can’t take a 1000kc bill. Ok. Go to money exchange. Wait 10 minutes. Endure bothered look fro guy as he counts out my change. Go back to metro/bus ticket place.Give lady a 50kc coin for a 26kc ticket. Still not good enough. Whines and berates me and complains she can’t give me the rest of my change. Tell her it’s fine and get out of there. Onto bus, enjoying 3 college girls talk and laugh very loudly. Enjoy some more of this on the metro. Right. I made it to my hostel, but the room was all dark, the door was locked when I tugged the handle, and no one came when I knocked. So. I went to the attached restaurant to ask for assistance. The girl working didn’t speak boatloads of English, but eventually she called the front desk to prove they were there. Confused, tired, headachey, and upset, I went back and pushed the door open. Ooops. Push, not pull. Really, after checking in, I just wanted to sleep. I was in a bad mood about coming to Prague alone anyway, and the morning was not a great way to start. After then deciding I was being a serious party pooper, I went out to explore Prague. I bought a coke at a newsstand, then found my way into the Old Town Square and… EASTER MARKET! Hooray! I bought myself some lunch. I have no idea what it was, but I certainly enjoyed it. Tyr Cathedral and the astronomical clock tower loomed on either side of me.


Tyr Cathedral.
Old Town Square.



Astronomical Clock.
Whatever I ate for food ..

After staring a while, I wandered on to see the Karolinium and Charles Bridge. Across the bridge I meandered through the streets and eventually happened upon Prague Castle and St. George’s Cathedral. I took it all in, staring at the cathedral for a while, sat upon a stone wall. I decided I wanted to cross the River Vltava by another bridge so walked in that general direction and discovered the Lennon wall! It was genuinely cool and the only place where I plucked up the courage to ask for a photo. I did indeed cross that other bridge, finding a neat park and odd sculptures along the way.

Charles Bridge.

Lennon Wall.

After crossing, I lost myself pretty badly but somehow made it back to the Old Town Square again. I stopped for a kielbasa. Mmmm. All I have to say is “Mmmm.” While sitting at the base of the old town hall/astronomical clock, 2 American guys sat next to me, one of whom looked just like my brother Alex. Then these two homeless Czech men started yelling and shoving. I was terrified, but the two Americans were acting lke the situation was nothing short of delightful, apparent by their “wow, wouldn’t it be AWESOME if they fight?!” “Man, I hope they fight!” “How great would it be to see hobos fight in Prague?!” I left, walked across the bridge and back again. I forgot how late it would be until the sun set and wasted time sitting and watching people Took some pictures at night and went to the hostel. I tried to sleep early and was able to, thankfully.

Today, I had breakfast and talked with an American and an Australian. They were both very nice and Harry Potter fans (which would have been a wholly redeeming quality even if they hadn’t been nice.) I walked to the Royal Gardens, found myself a rock, and OWNED it. I mean, mainly my leg fell asleep no matter which way I positioned myself while I thought, planned, wrote a postcard or two, and rocked out to Adele. As one does when sunbathing (see: sunburning) on a rock in a garden (see: small wooded area) outside a palace wall (see: …a palace wall, really.)

I went back to the hostel, then shopped at Lidl for things I can eat on my 1 hour bus ride to Freiburg tomorrow. I bought the following:
bread, potato chips, raspberry jam, nutella, “milk”, cereal, trail mix
I decided I could just eat cereal for dinner. No big deal. Except I got to th kitchen in the hostel and found no bowls. After checking and double checking, I made the decision to eat it out of a pot. I poured in half the bag of cereal. Then the “milk”. But it wasn’t milk. I don’t know WHAT it was, but it was thick and more like the consistency of yogurt. Unpleasant. I angrily ate as much as I could before washing it down the sink. I decided I then should try some of my jam, nutella-knock-off, and bread. Raspberries aren’t my favorite anyway, but this stuff was completely unappetizing. Even the bread tasted funny, overly sweet or fake or something. At least the nutella spread was okay. I prepared a few sandwiches for tomorrow, organized my stuff, and now am in some tiny little park. The light is fading; it’s almost 9. Hard to see what I write. I wanted to stay out at night to try and get a photo of both sides of the river all lit up. It smells of grass and there’s a crispness in the air.

Upset about my food purchases.