Painting The Roses Red

So, yesterday:

- Latin Class

- Meet with Advisor

It wasn't the best of mornings, and

it wasn't the worst of mornings, either.

But, it really sucked.

Latin was fine,

(as it usually is)

but my advisor has decided that

all the work I did over break

(yeah, remember those long hours in Starbucks?)

were not useful, and therefore needs to be

redone in a new and, supposedly, "better" way.

Ugh!

Well, I guess that's grad school for you, right?

Have any of you out there in Grad School had similar experiences?

So, needless to say I was bummin' a bit on the way home.

So, I stopped first to get myself some mini-chocolate stuffed croissants from the cheap bakery type place that is all over Hungary (called "Princess"),

and seriously, they're the best things ever. Someday soon I will take a picture of them and their deliciousness, promise.

Then I stopped and bought myself some roses from the local florist.

Seriously, flowers automatically can make a bad day, a good day.

And, so can buying yourself small presents.

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Then I got back to the dorm, vegged out for a little bit

and then decided to go to Bikram.

Best. Decision. Of. The. Day.

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And God! was it hot in there this time - so, so, so humid.

But also so, so, so, amazing.

It was packed - the room was full of men & women,

sweating, stretching, yoga-ing.

Sometimes I still felt like this:

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But, it was exactly what I needed after a day like that.

It got my mind back somewhere in my body.

I was so much better after I left than when I walked in.

I think I am going to make going at least 2-3 times a week

part of my routine, no matter what I have to do,

or how much work feels like it's piling up.

I need more "me" time this semester!

Have you guys tried Bikram?

If not, I totally recommend it.

Oh, and again:

Keep your eyes pealed

Sam, Neely, & I have a surprise!

HodgePodge & Giveaway Reminder

****Just a quick reminder to enter my give-a-way! You've still got some time, but let's be honest here - I love seeing new comments pop up under there. So, in my time of need (these exams and final papers may just do me in.... but fret not, somehow the giveaway will go on!) make this girl happy!***

I am one gigantic ball of stress. Here's my to-do list:

Due tomorrow: Paper on Medieval Science

Monday: Latin Exam (yes, the exam that you HAVE to pass to get your degree. Yes, it holds more weight in that department than the actual blasted thesis!). (9am)

Monday: Presentation for Medieval Science (1:30pm)

Tuesday: Exam for Religion & Authority (11am)

Wednesday: Oral Exam for East Central European Renaissance

Okay, so written out it doesn't look so bad, but I swear that Monday Latin Exam line is glowing and taunting me. Why must Latin and I be on such unfriendly terms? I like it! I just wish it was more willing to work with me rather than confuse me. [As a side note, I have learned more about the English language, grammar, and structure this year than all of the rest of my schooling combined. Strange, hunh?]

Oh, and I'm seriously having a love affair with WeHeartIt. Hence why I am overloading you with pictures I did not take (super-stress-ball-courtney does not carry her camera with her, because super-stress-ball-courtney takes really bad pictures). How did I not know about this website earlier? Also, why did I learn about it right before my exam/paper stress period? No good!

Also, I feel like I'm back in high school - Mom got me a Napster gift-card for Christmas, and I seriously love it. Now, it's not as fun as when you used to get all sorts of free music and had to play roulette as to which songs would download faster (remember the little red, yellow, and green lights it used to have to tell you which ones would download best?), and whether what you were downloading was actually the song you wanted or not. Now it's like the little annoying sister to iTunes. But it does have one feature I just love. Radio stations. Specifically one that plays awesome jazz. Studying has never been so chill.

Sunshine & Grading

Before I begin what is sure to be a post full of complaining, let me start with the positives: I am THRILLED that it's moving towards spring here in Budapest. Slowly, yes. But you can really see that it's on its way. The sun is out (or if the skies are not blue, which they're still usually not - there is sunlight through those big grey clouds!) past 5pm which means I get to see it a lot more than in previous weeks. And that is enough to make me happy on most days. That picture over there is from the Fine Arts Museum when I went a few weeks back to see the Botticelli to Titian exhibit. That was the first day I really noticed the extending light of day. See, that picture was taken at roughly 5pm. Can you still see the daylight in the background?!

Also, let me refer you to my last post - ask away with your questions :) Maybe my next post I'll answer the ones I have received so far. You can comment with the questions on any post too, don't worry about having to go back to that one!

Okay, so let me get onto the real reason for this post. The most agonizing hardship that comes along with going to school.

Do you ever feel as though you work really, really hard for something and they payoff for it is nil?

That’s been happening to me a lot lately. (Cue over dramatic sigh after that intense overstatement.)

Let me explain, today we’re going to talk about grades.

Well, more specifically about one grade for one class. Remember last semester, when I was taking nine classes? Not that the stress of taking that inhumane workload wasn’t enough, please factor in the fact that some of the classes were useless. Particularly one class which shall-not-be-named just in case someone of any importance were to stop by and read my rantings. Let’s just put it this way - the class was poorly organized and taught us nothing about the subject matter it was supposed to teach. Oh, and here I can mention that the final paper, oh it was to be written about the topic that we were never taught about (and were still required to write about it, even after the professors admitted in class that we never once touched to topic of the class). So, on our own we had to trudge our way through a vast amount of un-discussed theoretical knowledge with no guide on how to construct the paper, let alone the actual topic of the paper.

So after a few weeks scouring sources and fighting with this paper I turned something in over Christmas break. It was about 300 words shy of the suggested word limit (who suggests word limits? really?) and read like a coherent document. Yes, in the end it was a work of complete bs, but it was bs based on research I tried to accumulate and explain to myself.

While the final grade wasn’t bad (per-say), it was bad for me and has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. You see, I didn’t earn this grade. This grade wasn’t a reflection of hard work and dedication to the class. This grade was the result of their poor teaching and their inability to convey understanding.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I am royally ticked off.

Have you guys had any similar experiences?

Hello World [Lady Antebellum]

Okay, yes, my last entry was pretty depressing (to which my dad commented: "do you need me to send you some valium?" see, the hilarity runs in the family.). But it was depressing here! I wasn't kidding when I suggested I'm part plant: the sun and me, we're just made for each other!

Take this past weekend for example.

I slept in Saturday until about noon (yes noon! I've still got it!). After stretching and taking my sweet time getting out of bed I shuffled to the window and drew back the curtains. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was wishing to be met with a sunny blue sky. However, I was met face to face with a sheet of white. An honest-to-goodness white-out in the back streets of Budapest.

And it was amazing.

Why, you may ask? Because white was not grey. Because white was just like home (actually, NC - my home away from home - got a good half foot of snow the same day. The northerner in me giggled as the state shut down - it was like the Apocalypse came early down there!). Because white brought with it the promise that the grey would end.

So Sunday morning the same thing happened - woke up around noon and was welcomed by some freshly falling snow. Ah the beauty of a blank slate poured down over a dreary city (to use an overused cliche). It was just perfect. It's still just perfect. It may be cold, but it is dang

beautiful out there.

But today. Today was perfect. The sun was out and burning so bright I had to bring my sunglasses to school with me. The wind may have been blowing, and I may have been freezing, but I soaked up that sunshine for all it was worth. See, part plant.

Saturday night was fun too - the Student Union hosted a party at a bar called Mumus (translation: Monster). I was there to help collect money for a fundraiser I have been heading to collect money to send to Haiti. It's been pretty successful so far - we've raised about 600 Euros. Which, for a school of about 1,000 students, is pretty good I think. But the party was fun - it was nice to get out of the dorm and out into the city. Granted the space was small and the DJ was pretty bad. But it was fun, and fun was something I've been needing.

Other than that I got a bunch of work done - some readings, a powerpoint about snakes and their (mis)representation in North America (yeah, I'll let you know when I figure out what the heck that has to do with Medieval Studies) which I have named the file as "Snakes on a PowerPoint." Seriously. You have to get your kicks somewhere, right?

I also have a slight confession - I've started watching Vampire Diaries since I've run out of my other shows to catch up on. I use TV shows to reward myself for getting things accomplished. Finished the readings for one class? Sure, watch the new Bones! Finished the powerpoint? Sure, watch Numb3rs! Cleaned my room? Sure, watch Grey's! But this Vampire Diaries (granted, by "started watching" I mean I've watched the first episode), I'm not so sure about it. It's cheesy, but it's cheesy in a catchy way. Though, I don't know what high school those kids are going to - but we never had parties like that when I was in high school (and that was only 6 years ago!). I don't know if I'm more jealous of those, or that I never had cute vampires following me around.

And just to summarize this really really random post, I've finished two books (for fun) since I've been back: The Road [Cormick McCarthy] & Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment [James Patterson]. As soon as I finish the book I'm reading now (What The Dickens [Gregory Maguire]) I'll write up a book review post. Sound good?

XOXO

Place For My Head [Linkin Park]

A quick little post because I really, really want to go to bed before midnight tonight.

Should I go to bed before midnight?

Probably not.

I finished one of my last two papers an emailed it in about an hour ago (and have been lost in internets-land since then). I'm not totally happy with it, but it's done and that's all that I can really ask for at the moment. But I really should get a chunk of the other one written. Not that I can do too much of it just yet (it's a book review, and I haven't quite finished the book yet). So, instead I am giving myself an evening to watch some TV or a movie and get some sleep. The combination of Jet Lag and staying up too late working on this paper is catching up to me.

Oh, yeah, the Public Transit Strike. It's really, really cold. As in really, really cold. It's a long mile to walk in the early morning light and the buildings and the sky are all so grey. I'm just really glad I went grocery shopping before the strike - it would be a long walk with those heavy bags!

This is my (probably futile) attempt at the Project: 365 Photo Thingamabob.

Tuesday: So, I'm back in the dorm. I bought some of the ticky-tack-gum stuff to put up a posters (my lovely Tar Heel Basketball schedule/ Celebrating 100 years of Carolina Basketball!) and postcards so that it doesn't look quite like a white box. It's still tiny, but it at least has a little character. (Side note, I'd love to trade postcards with anyone who's interested! Live anywhere interesting? Got cool postcards from your hometown?)

Here's my lovely decorated wall:

Wednesday: This evening I recycled most (2/3) my materials for last semester. This includes handouts, PDFs I printed out, and papers I wrote that I'm not attached to the comments given on them and I have them on my computer, and other assorted paper things. I doubt I'll need them again, and if I do I'll have access to them still.

But still, it was a lot of paper.

I feel like the Lorax would be giving me a stern lecture if he could see. But at least I recycled them, right? I just cannot stand reading articles on the computer. My eyes hurt after a few pages, I get headaches (no, I don't need glasses, I went to the eye doctor back in August and I still have 20/15 vision, be jealous), and I just love making notes and highlighting the paper.

Here's some photo proof of the massive amount of trees I recycled. Let's home in Hungary the paper in the recycling bin actually makes it to a recycling plant.

In really sad news, a favorite professor of mine from my freshman year (yeah, I only took one class with him, but it was probably my most memorable class of that year!) passed away today after a long battle with cancer. Kenneth Strong was in a lot of plays at Carolina as well in some movies and TV shows - he was a somewhat but not really regular judge on Law and Order too!

My favorite part of his class was that every day we came in to the lecture hall he would have all 100+ of us stand up and he would blast some awesomely horrible song over the speakers and we had to dance for a good minute. I mean had to dance. He would come arond and force you to stand if you were sitting, grab your arms and twirl you around if you weren't dancing, and other things. It was such a great way to start class and I will never forget him for that. Please keep him and his family in your prayers!