Sprrrring!

For once, I had a hell of a weekend.

Friday was my grammy's 80th birthday and I surprised her by showing up at her doorstep in Brooklyn with flowers (and with Corey) around 8PM. I can never have enough of grammy's house, it's always a warm feeling.

The way I got to Brooklyn was an event in itself. Bridgewater sent a private limo service to pick me up from Dartmouth and drive me all the way down, I felt like royalty.

Saturday was the Bridgewater new hire event - watched Spamalot on broadway, had dinner at Bar Americain Restaurant, then a "party" at Hudson Hotel Penthouse. Corey met up with me for the after-dinner party at the penthouse, but we didn't stay till the "after-after-party", whatever that was supposed to be. It got pretty boring without any dancing, people just standing around drinking. The view from the roof was nice and the weather was great, but you can only listen to cheesy background music and stand around drinking cocktails for so long...

Sunday was a gorgeous day for a BBQ in Wolfe Park in Staten Island. We woke up a bit late, but made it over there (after getting a bit lost) around 1pm. Since I had a long ass drive back to Hanover ahead of me, we left before 4pm, but it was good to see my bro who flew in from Wisconsin for the weekend... and my parents of course. After a late start and hours of traffic I made it back to Dartmouth around 2AM.

There was a little incident at the BBQ with my parents friends' ambushing me in their drunk state in regards to some personal matters that was pretty damn rude and made me more than uncomfortable, but that's a different story... and I sure as hell didn't let them ruin my day.

Had a very lovely weekend overall with Corey and my other family :)

Life goes on...

So what's going on?
My hands are now officially registered as lethal weapons. Yup that means if I kick your ass you can say I assaulted you with a weapon and get me locked up.

Preeeeeeetttty

I tested for my recommended black belt in August (at summer camp) and for my decided black belt in March (at winter camp). Good times.

In other news I'm going to South African in June to volunteer at a baboon sanctuary for 6 weeks with Corey.
After I come back from South Africa, I'll be moving to CT with Corey and starting my new job with Bridgewater Associates.

Life's good. Can't complain.

New Year Fun

Wobbles Wobbles

My less than 3 year old Fujitsu laptop died (well the screen did) and I switched to a Mac this week. Now I'm looking around for the best Lunix distro to try, seems like the next step.

I've passed the NYC road test and got a license last week. Now I'm car/insurance shopping and hoping to learn to drive stick.

I'm finally paying for my own rent/food this summer. Though not paying for my own tuition next year.

My brother is moving to Wisconsin to start a full time job on September 1st. My little (big) brother? Full time job? Wisconsin?? Bring home some cheese, brother.

Oh and Alana's in Australia. Alana... in... Australia? What? Don't forget the koalas, Alana.

And... I'm testing for my black belt in tkd on August 4th.

Then, I'll turn 21.

This summer's bringing lots of change and lots of growing up. I guess I'm not nearly as grown up as some... some of you are getting engaged. Some of you are getting married. Congratulations, friends.

I wish I was able to keep in touch, but seems that this is my only means right now. Updates and stories from friends make me smile, and I hope they always keep coming. I'll try to write more often here, just to let you know I care :)

Updates!!

Sooo I'm still alive. I don't have much time to write since I'm getting kicked out of school (at least for now) and don't have internet access at home, BUT here's a quick run down of what's been going on:

I saw Corey in Paris and it was wonferful! I miss you babe! (Pictures to come soon.)
I went to Rome for Thanksgiving and saw Pompei on a day trip from Rome. Got to see lots of interesting history and gorgeous stuff... I'd have to say Rome impressed me more than Paris, but maybe because I had such high hopes for Paris and it turned out to be much like NYC. Took tons of pictures in Rome, those are to come soon as well.
Finally, I'm going snowboarding in the Austrian Alps! Leaving tomorrow night, I'll be back in Budapest Dec 25th, just in time to catch my flight home on Dec 26th. I won't have internet access from tomorrow till the 26th, but when I get a chance to breathe a little I'll be updating with pictures and stories.

That's it for now, time to go study for my last final and PACK for my snowboarding trip.
Yikes.

Oh and Merry Christmas! And Happy Chanukah!

Parents Weekend!

Well, at least it felt like Parents weekend, like good old Dartmouth Days when parents get invited to come chill out on campus. Well this time they came to chill out in Budapest. Check out some pictures here.
I saw more of Budapest in that one weekend than I've seen so far the entire time I've been here (which is about to be 2 months! wow!)
We saw all the touristy attractions, went on a tour, had a good time in the thermal baths...
I could barely keep up.

In other news - I'm now done with 3 midterms! 1 more midterm and 1 paper to go, but that'll be AFTER Paris. That's right, I'm going to Paris - tomorrow! Wooohooo!

I'm excited. What's even more exciting is that Corey is coming to meet me there!
Wooooooooooooooooooooooo!
:)
Paris, here I come.

Saturday Fun Times

[Written on Sunday 10/16/05 3PM (Bud time)]

See entry below for the "detailed" narration behind these pictures...

What we're holding here is the "cultured" version of a tea bag (a contraption that holds the tea)


View of Basilica and Chain Bridge from the path leading up to the Royal Palace.

Royal Palace, from the side facing the Buda hills (not the side facing Pest)

Row of Hungarian flags at dusk
Royal Palce, lit up, with row of Hungarian flags (as I walk away from the palace and into the Old Town)


A cat with two fuzzy kittens and a shy little girl whose mom is trying to take her pictures next to the cat. This was underneat the row of Hungarian flags, as I was walking away from the palace.

No internet access, but I thought I’d write a little update anyway and post it up tomorrow (plus I don’t really feel like doing math right this second.)

Yesterday was pretty eventful for an average Saturday (an average Saturday in Hanover, middle of nowhere, New Hampshire anyway). It’s nice going to college in the city for once, especially a historical city with lots of touristy places to explore. If I had stayed in NY for college instead of going to Dartmouth I probably wouldn’t have taken advantage of it anyway (I didn’t take advantage of it while I was in high school that’s for sure).

So yesterday Kristen (my roomie) and I went to check out a cute café called Angelika at Batthyány tér. I read about it in one of the Budapest guides that was already in the apartment when we moved in. According to the description, it’s actually inside St. Anne’s Church, but sitting in it you wouldn’t really be able to tell except maybe for the stained glass windows - it looks like it’s just an attachment. What’s nice about Budapest (just like the rest of Europe I’m guessing) is that you can sit in a café for as long as you want even if you just bought a cup of tea and have finished it long ago. So I got a cup of green tea, a piece of cake, and we sat there doing homework for a while. I finished my Complex Analysis assignment, read over some of my notes… and then we asked for the check (they don’t bring it to you unless you ask, no matter how long you’ve been sitting there).

Then Kristen went back to the apartment to meet someone for a “Combo party” (i.e. to do Combinatorics 2 homework) and I decided to explore a little more of the Buda side. I’ve only been to the castle district/old city once up until yesterday and I haven’t gotten a chance to explore really.

I caught a tram two stops to Clark Ádám tér and climbed up a path to the Royal Palace (along the way stopping to take some pictures.) After wondering around the palace (where the Hungarian National Gallery also happens to be located) I made my way over to Disz tér over in the Castle Discrict. The guide book I used to find Angelika Café suggested a walk down Tóth Árpád Sétany, so that’s what I did. It was perfect timing too – the sun was just setting, so I could see pretty colors in the sky over the Buda Hills. Unfortunately my camera’s batteries died just as it started getting dark, but at least that gave me a chance to enjoy it through both my eyes (“no more 3 by 5…”).

I left the path for a little while to stop by and admire Matyas Church and the Fishermen’s Bastion on the other side of the old city, but then returned to my pretty route and finished it at the other end (where it met Anjou Bastya). (The castle district looks a little bit like a mini version of Manhattan island – it’s very thin across the middle, and elongated from tip to tip. So it was a very short walk to get from the far left of the district to the far right and a bit of a longer walk to get all the way from Disz tér to Anjou Bastya).

From there I walked down to Moszkva tér and caught the metro right back to the apartment. My whole escapade from the café all the way back to my cozy room took less than 2 hours.

Was going to write more, but gotta run.... The rest of the day saturday involved an outdoor concert with crazy lights, crazy hungarian rappers, and a crazy african band.