Sunshine & Smiles

In case you had somehow managed to forget:

The All You Need Is Love Blog Challenge

starts tomorrow!!!

I know I can't wait! Topics can be found here.

In other news:

the sun is shining

and the skies are blue

here in what I've often called

'Gloomy Budapest of February'

Too bad I'll be doing a lot of work all day,

but I've got my window open

and the sun is shining in,

so that's more than nothing, right?

I hope the sun is shining where you are,

and that you are happy today,

even if there is no reason to be,

just let it be!

[all images from weheartit]

The Fall [Brendan James]

Last year it was October that got me really choked up. The weather here had turned to nonstop rain from nonstop sunshine; to grey, angry skies from bright, hopeful blue ones. Lat year it was October that made me wish I was home again to rejoice in the New England autumns I have loved so much for all my life.

This year it's September.

The weather since arriving in Budapest has been atrocious. It rained pretty much nonstop for the first two weeks I was here (minus the two days of the field-trip, but that wasn't in Budapest, so I think it doesn't count). The air was cold, my feet were constantly wet, and it felt as though winter was banging pretty loud on the front door.

The last few days have been nice though; scattered sunshine and some blue skies peaking through fluffy (instead of angry) clouds. When the sun was out

from behind the clouds you could take off your sweater and feel its rays dance over your skin. When it would hide, you put your sweater back on and all was still well. It's a dance played between you, the sunlight and the shadows; one where you are the follower waiting to be lead, the cadence and the steps dictated by mother nature.

That's my favorite autumn feeling; the sun kissing your skin in the crisp air. It always feels like a promise to me; a promise that though days like this may be gone for a while, it will return. Days where you can embrace the feel of its warmth across your body and soak in its beauty will not be gone forever.

And it makes me miss my autumns in New England. With its sometimes old world feel, New England, in my heart (and probably many others) is truly in its element come September. It's the one place in the world that seems to always get autumn perfect. The beautiful colors that we all know and love so much; the flavors of pumpkin and apple infuse themselves with almost everything you can eat; the temperatures that always seem to border on justquiteright; autumn, to me, is the seasonal personification of perfection.

Oh, and in reference to the title of the post:

Meet Brendan James, a favorite artist of mine.

UNC Grad, NH native

He's positively amazing; really.

You should get his album on iTunes.

oh, and all pictures are from we[heart]it

What's So Amazing, That Keeps Us Stargazing?

So, it didn't rain yesterday at all (and it wasn't supposed to even), but still when I looked out my window around sunset time (which is holding out until about 5:30 now! Score!) there was a rainbow.

And of course, I have to share. Rainbows are one of those natural beauties, a rare and magical event, that you can't really keep to yourself.

I was fist drawn to the beautiful orangeish and golden hues that were scattered across the rooftops of Suburbia, Budapest. It was the sort of colors you'd expect to see on a crisp autumn day, but there they were, heralding in Spring to this dreary city. And when I pulled out my camera to take some pictures it was only then, through the lens of my Nikon, that I saw those beautiful colors in the sky.

And I was happy. Just plain happy.

It's the little things in life!

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day.

May songbirds serenade you every step along the way.

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.

And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.

[An Irish Blessing]

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