Quite the HodgePodge

I went fencing tonight! It's the first time I've gone since early October (before all the stuff with my Great Aunt and my trips home) and boy could I tell how long it's been! This girl is out of practice (and shape too, but who's keeping track?!)! I'll write more about this later - as I am exhausted right now! So, I'll leave you with two awesome things:

day three with aly and molly! “the best gift you’ve ever received”

this is an easy one.

the best gift i ever got (and keep getting) is the ability to go home for Christmas.

i’ve realized it even more this year - more and more of my friends are unable to go home to their families at the time of year that we all want to be surrounded by loved ones.

so that’s it - my best gift is my family and friends.

and Wednesday HodgePodge with Joyce

1. If you had known what they knew then, would you have boarded the Mayflower?
Totally - I love adventure, and what a bigger adventure than going somewhere completely unknown to anyone?

2. How far have you traveled on a boat and how do you feel about boats in general?

I’ve traveled around a few lakes on a boat. So, not too far, but I do love them!

3. What traditions have you kept, acquired thru marriage, and/or tossed? If you're single what are some of your family's favorite Thanksgiving traditions?

I love curling up in front of the TV watching the parade with the smells of the dinner cooking floating around me.

4. What time is dinner and how many will be round your table? And what is the one side dish you cannot do without on Thanksgiving day?

Dinner is usually around 2:00. As for the side dish: STUFFING!

This year, with not going home, there were about 15 people around our “table” at our ex-pat party. However, at home my little family ranges from 3-7, depending on the year and where we’re eating dinner!

5. Have you ever used a fire extinguisher? Do tell....

Thank God no!

6. Tell about a situation that caused you dreadful trepidation and feet dragging, only to realize later it was a true blessing.

Coming to Budapest. You can read all about the past two years right here on this blog :) Needless to say, coming has been a life changing experience, even if the changing of life was scary!

7. Baked, sweet, mashed, hash browned or french fried...which one's your favorite

SWEET! :) All the way!

8. Random thought: I wish I was home for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

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Hodgepodge!

Joyce, one of my favoritest bloggers, has taken up doing a Wednesday set of questions. What better way to take a break procrastinate on this rainy day where I should be preparing for two presentations!

So, here we go!

1. Do you think you're more like your mom or your dad?

I really feel like I'm a good combination of the two.

No, really.

Somehow I've managed to meet in the middle.

Does that count as cheating?

2. Do you like roller coasters?

Yes.

In that holy crap i'm gonna die! i'm gonna die! yay! sort of way.

The bigger, the taller, the faster, the better!

3. How did you name your blog and do you now wish you'd thought about it maybe another five minutes before you hit publish? Would you change your blog title if it were not a huge pain in the derriere?

I honestly don't really remember. I imagine that I like to view my life as a means of sorting out all the chaos and making something meaningful out of it. Who knows if that's what I was thinking or not. I contemplated changing the name for a while, but at this point, it's settled with me, and I like it.

4. What is the best wedding gift you received? Not married? Didn't get any gifts? Then what is the best wedding gift you've given?

I gave a friend of mine some really awesome steak knives; him and his wife use them constantly.

I think that's the mark of a great present - do they use it or not.

It wasn't on their registry either. Go me!

5. What is the one bill you most hate to pay?

Well, since I'm not really paying bills right now...

The one I will hate to start paying again is my School Loans.

Because, really, they always look like there's no end in sight.

Sigh.

6. Is the glass half full or half empty?

What day is it?

7. What is your favorite word? Okay okay. Calm down. How about one

of your favorite words?

wicked.

as in "I'm wicked tired today"

not "what a wicked woman!"

because it reminds me of New England.

8. Random thought:

I've re-read yesterday's post about 15bazillion times.

I wicked need it right now.

Finally Some Answers

Oh, I'm a bad blogger. Sorry.

Remember way back when when I wrote this post?

Well, yeah, I'm going to get to that now :) Finally, three months later. No biggie. I mean, I got sidetracked by the arrival of the sunshine, school, surviving final papers, trips to North Carolina, and Paris. Can you really blame me?

Also, I'm hoping that you will use me answering these questions to ask me some more. Please? And I promise, next time I will not take three months to answer them. Pinky-swear.

Okay, here we go:

Emily, from "Adventures Through Life and Love," asked me:

Why did you decide to go to Budapest?

Coming to Budapest was a real random decision.

A professor of mine had come to the university I presently study at in Budapest to be a part of a summer lecture series. He was perhaps my favorite professor at Carolina and one of the only ones I've stayed in contact with since graduating. While working at Carolina I was granted the opportunity to take a class each semester on the University's budged (an awesome perk of working for the state!) and took a few classes with him. He, unsatisfied with my decision to just pick up a job after college, recommended this program as a way to keep my brain from atrophying.

I, on a whim, threw an application together. And long after forgetting about it, got a response for a phone interview, and then an offer of acceptance (for two years, instead of the one year program I applied for). Now, Medieval history is not exactly what I picture my life being about - as my posts on going on to medical school will show, but there was no real reason to pass up two (relatively) free years in Europe.

About a month later I resigned from my job and moved all my worldly possessions back into my parents house (oh, what an adventure that was), and packed my bags for Budapest. The rest, as they say, is history.

How long are you planning on staying there?

Though this city is growing on me day by day, I can't see my stay here extending beyond the two years of school. It's a great city, but I'm partial to the States and American food :)

Joyce, from "From This Side of the Pond," asked me:

What do you hope to be doing in three years?

Woah, yeah, this is a loaded question. I think of my life as an example of a John Mayer lyric:

I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for.

That doesn't answer your question? Well, I'm hopefully going to be applying for some post-bacc programs so I can apply to medical school in a few years. That would put me on the verge of starting med school in three years. Part of me just wants to move to LA and run into some famous director who would just love to have me star in his next feature flick (for some reason, moving to Cali has been on the back of my mind for the past two weeks. It came out of nowhere and it won't leave my brain). So who knows, maybe I'll forsake medicine for a chance at fame. Or maybe I'll go to Cali for a post-bacc and just stumble into the other dream? Or maybe I'll get conned into a PhD from someone or somewhere?

The short answer? I have no freeking idea.

So, that's that, for now. Please, ask more questions. I like this, it's fun!

What About Everything? [Carbon Leaf]

I've been having a bit of a hard time trying to find the motivation to sit at my computer and write out a post. It's not that I'm busy, or that there's something going on that stops me from posting. But rather, the exact opposite! I've been busy reading for classes, trying to read some texts so I can figure out some direction for my thesis, and trying to find a place to fence. There are a few things I'm trying to plan for the next month or so, but I want to wait to write about them (you know, the whole knock on wood thing).

So instead, today I am going to ask you for your questions. This is something a lot of people have been doing on their blogs, and frankly I think it's excellent. So far I've told you what I want to tell you about me. Now I want you to ask me what you want to know. These questions and answers will go into my "About Me" section of the blog that I discovered how to create after being posted in a main post as well.

I'll put reminders in future posts as well, to keep the conversation going!