Back in Canada

Sad not to be in Europe anymore. Glad that I don`t have to experience another squatting toilet for a very, very long time.

Blip 17: Frankfurt

On my way home to Canada, I had a layover in Frankfurt. Their airport was really cool. It was like being in the future. Everything was super shiny and clean; even the janitor had a segway with brooms and stuff attached to it. I took a nap in one of the recliners you see in the picture. Immediately after, I won the seat-lottery. I sat about as far away as you could get from the wailing baby that seems to be a fixture on every long haul flight I've ever been on.

Blip16: The Girls of 402D and the Case of the Stinky Cheese

My European roommates made this cheese recipe the other day, and while I'm sure it was really tasty, the smell was pretty strange.

Maybe it's an acquired taste, but the smell kind of reminded me of gasoline mixed with sweat mixed with yogurt. It's long gone now, but sometimes I think I still can catch a whiff of it here and there. It's like the smell is permanently seared into my memory.

Blip15: Defenestration

(n): The act of chucking someone out of a window with the intention of causing bodily harm.

Writing my Cultural History paper right now. My topic is Comenius, but maybe I should have chosen defenestration. The Czech Republic is actually credited as the birthplace of this particular kind of punishment. Although, I'm pretty sure people have been getting shoved out of windows for centuries. The famous "Defenestration of Prague" started the Thirty Years War, so maybe that's why the CR gets the credit.
 

Blip14: Strike

Got to the philharmonic the other day, and had to argue with the Czech ticket ladies into giving us our student discounts, only to have them stop mid-argument and tell us flatly the concert had been canceled. Thinking that this was just a bluff to get rid of us, we stuck around defiantly.

Turns out, the concert was indeed canceled. The orchestra decided to go on strike about an hour before.

Blip14: Procrastinating

just Googled "Are bees really going extinct?" and "What do those random white spots on your fingernails really mean?", and watched a YouTube video about Naked Mole Rats.

I should probably get back to work.

Blip13: Smetana's "Vltava"

When Julie and I were in Vienna, we got ourselves 5 EUR tickets to the symphony. Mind you, they were crappy standing-room tickets that we had to wrestle with other tourists for.

This was by far my favorite song of the night. I didn't know the name of it though, on account of running out of enough euros to buy a concert program.

I have been searching for it for weeks now. Turns out, this is a very famous Czech song. The Czech name is "My Country," and the English name is "Vltava," which is the river that runs through Prague.

I just found out that this is the song that they've played for the last 400 years to open the Prague Spring Classical festival, which starts this coming Wednesday.

Bedrich Smetana - Ma Vlast Vltava

Found at: - FilesTube

Blip12: Prague Highlight

Ambushing Martina (Austrian flatmate) at 12am for her birthday.

Then, as we were sitting around drinking champagne, Myriam (my flatmate from Lyon) put on a music video. It's a techno song set to fat guys playing ping pong with their stomachs.



While all of us were all kind of freaked out (you will be too), we also COULDN'T LOOK AWAY.

Blip11: Creep in Ostrich Uniform

This man is permanently stationed in Wenceslas Square (it's Prague's main downtown square), promoting Thai Paradise, the massage parlor behind him.

I hate him. Every time I walk by, he calls out, "You want a full body massaaaage?" while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. I often consider pushing him over to see how long it takes for him to get up again in that ridiculous costume.

(the other person is my friend Tamas; not employed by the Thai massage parlor).

Blip10: OMG WTF FML !

Don't worry, I have not run out of money. The stupid Italian train website just won't take my money.

Blip #9

Note to self:
Pick up a cobblestone from Old Town Square before leaving Prague.

(I rue the day when I go from being an "innovative student traveler" to just a kleptomaniac)

Blip #8: Sabre

This morning, on the way home from N2N, I saw a man carrying a sword on the tram. He wasn't wearing a ninja costume or anything; he looked normal except for the fact that he was casually carrying a three foot sabre in his lap. No one else looked very alarmed. I was too hungover to switch trams.

Blip #7: Purple Sweatpants

I was on the tram home from Tesco yesterday (looking for neon stuff to wear to the 80's party. Then I remembered that 1, the 80's were a smear in the face of modern fashion, and 2, I look sickly in neon) and this teenager in purple sweatpants was sitting in front of me. In addition to the purple sweatpants (?!), he had on rollerblades.

He got up for his stop before the tram fully stopped, and I guess he forgot that he had on rollerblades on, because he wasn't holding onto a pole. The motion of the tram propelled him backwards, and he nothing to hold onto. And with an amazingly smooth, single zip, he rolled to the back of the tram while flailing his arms, falling against the rear window.

People helped pick him up and dust him off. He was fine. People on the tram thought this was pretty funny, and were chuckling to themselves. I almost cried trying not to laugh aloud.

Other Stuff I Find Funny:

1. Matching father-son mullets

2. The word "Ausfahrt"

Blip #6: The Infant Jesus of Prague

A teensy little wax doll that was given to Bohemia as a gift in the 1600's. This doll is said to have curative powers. Famous and normal people alike make pilgrimages to visit this doll from around the world. Beside the altar was a picture of the Pope kneeling in front of it.


There are several ceremonies each year to change the doll's clothes. You can view his outfits in the free museum in the church. Also, you can light up the alter by paying 10 crowns in this little machine beside the pews.

I think this is 1, just a little bit crazy, and 2, SO. AWESOME.

Blip #5: New Friends

I was in Barcelona by myself for a night. I arrived late, at about 10:30, and after perfectly following the route I highlighted on my map, I still couldn't find my hostel. Turns out it was in this sketchy little alley off the main street. Which was annoying, because their website said that they were "safe and centrally located," when it really should have said "safe and centrally located except for that last part where you have to jump over a dumpster and grope around in an unlit alleyway."

Blip #4: The Secret

My marketing professor, who I swear is a member of the Russian mafia, does not like teaching. He prefers talking about corruption in the Czech government, and alcohol. He also wears the same brown vest to class every week, which I find irritating.

Anyway.

He showed us "The Secret" in class the other day, saying it would change our lives (it didn't).

Basically, the trick to becoming successful in life is positive thoughts. Because positive thoughts attract good things. So, apparently, the billions of people living in poverty are poor because they do not think positively.

Blip #3: The History of Love

Found this book on the deck one morning during spring break. I didn't pay attention to it at first because I assumed it was one of those shitty Harlequin romance novels that middle aged women read to fill the void in their loveless marriages. But then I thought it might be kind of fun to see how quickly I could read it.

It was a great, great book. Funnily, it was partly set in Poland, which I just visited. It's about this old man who wrote a book for his childhood sweetheart. But when he flees Poland to escape the Nazis, the book is lost. Someone finds it and publishes it, but the man goes through his life not knowing that his book is changing lives.

It's written by Nicole Krauss, who is only 35. 
I left it at my hostel in Barcelona, which I regret.
For the record, I finished it in 3 hours.

http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/books/reviews/11916/

Blip #2: Cortado

An espresso with milk. Had one my first morning in Barcelona. That, and a croissant was only 1€ at this cafe I found on my way to the airport to pick up my mom. The old man working there was really nice. He thought it was funny that I was Chinese but from Canada. 

Holy Crap it is April 25th Already (& the introduction of Blips)

Only a month left. Can't believe it. Then I must go home and be an adult again.

Just got home from spring break with my mom, and realized there are a million little funny things that happened that I won't remember because I never wrote them down. Soon the semester will just become one big mush of a happy memory, with no specifics to speak of.


BLIP NUMBER ONE:

"Opportunity" Girolamo da Carpi

After visiting what seems like a million art galleries across Europe (with more to come), this was my favorite painting.  It's the Greek god of opportunity, Kairos. He represents the "brief moment in which things are possible."

He's running on a ball, representing the way you have to keep on your toes for opportunities. In his right hand is a dagger, representing the way one must be sharp to catch him. He only has one long lock of hair, which means he is "easy to catch as he approaches, yet, when he has passed by, the moment of action has likewise expired, and that, if opportunity (kairos) is neglected, it cannot be recovered."

The sad lady on the side represents missed opportunities.
Missed opportunities are my least favorite thing in the world.

La Traviata

Stayed in Prague this weekend on account of feeling like an invalid. Let's just say that I'm lucky to be living in an era where the concept of "survival of the fittest" is no longer relevant.

Thursday night,  after excessive begging on my part, my Hungarian friend Tamas let me in on a secret to getting cheap Opera tickets. How cheap? 2 dollars. Although, we almost didn't get them, because (as expected), the Czech ticket lady was being very difficult (indifferent, cold service is ubiquitous in the Czech Republic). After some impressive insistence by Tomas, we found ourselves on the the ground floor, in the 9th row. Quite a change from the last row, second balcony view I'm used to.

            This photo taken by Tamas

La Traviata was amazing. Romance. Lies. Courtesans. Pretty dresses. Read on!

Absinthe

So as you know ("you," as in the whole four people that I know read this blog), I'm sick. I have taken this as an opportunity to test out various, potent alcohols such as Palinka (gross), Becherovka, (okay) and Absinthe (read on). Such logic was derived from the following conversation:

Budapest

Just got back from Budapest for the weekend. It was so, so beautiful. It certainly deserves the title of being the Paris of eastern Europe.  I have a newfound love for cobblestone streets, misty rain, and Hungarians in general.

The mist, the Danube, and Buda

Other Budapest-y stuff I enjoyed:

Six Girls and a Bathroom

When I first arrived, I had a bit of a breakdown. Several months prior, we had been given the impression that we would be moving into brand new, fantastic dorms. So you can imagine my brief bout of panic when I walked in to found that, a. the door opened against my bed, b. my desk was broken and was threatening to collapse at any second, and c. my bedside cupboard was also broken.

I've since moved my bed, had my desk fixed, and have come to find my broken cupboard saga enduring. I've named her Gimpy. The dorms are indeed quite nice.

Praha-a-Go-Go

Hello! It's already been two weeks in Prague. The pace of living here is fast and non-stop. It seems there is always something going on, and if you get lazy, you will miss something amazing. Case in point; yesterday was Fat Tuesday, and the City of Prague had an event called Candelion happening in the city centre. Fireworks, performers and masked attendees were featured. I missed it! I heard about it on the tram ride home, and by the time we got back downtown, it was over. That said, I still found myself in possibly the most beautiful historical square in the world:

 

Not too shabby.