Yahsas Hellas, Ciao Italy! Goodbye Greece, Hello Italy!

It is my last few hours in Greece. Some of the highligts and memories of Greece are as follows:
The food is wonderful. You can get a Gyro (Souvlaki with Pita) for about 1.50 Euros that are always really good. If you go to a restaurant, the Greek Salads, the chicken, the pasta, and pretty much everything is good. If you go to greece, and Grilled Feta is on the menu, order it. It is SO good. The fish and chicken and produce are also always quite fresh. You can taste the difference.

The showers, like most of Europe are kinda "eh". Most of the time there is no upper shower head. you have to just hold it as you shower. It's a bit of a pain, but oh well. While we're on the subject, for some reason here, the toilets never seem to flush right. They are all 'low flow', and there always seems to be a bit of paper left in the toilet from the last use...that is, if you're allowed to even throw the toilet paper into the toilet to begin with.

The sunsets here are beautiful. On the islands, especially, people come from all over right at sunset just to watch it and enjoy it.

Reading greek has gotten easier. It's good that I know most greek letters from the combination of fraternity/sorority names with the fact that I've taken a million engineering classes, and every variable is labled with some greek letter. Greek is read just as it looks - as opposed to English, there are no silent letters, etc.

In general, everything is a bit more expensive than I remember it from last time I was in Europe three years ago. The prices have all gone up a bit, and the exchange rates are also horrible for the US dollar right now. with one American dollar, you get about 75 Euro cents.

For the days since I last posted, we left Athens on a 6am train (yes, we got up before sunrise to catch that) for Patra, which is the port city. We stayed in a hotel in Patra and planned to take a few day trips. the 28th, the day we arrived, we arrived in Patra around 10:30, and located a hotel, had lunch and then left for the two hour ride to Olympia. The train left at 12:30, and arrived at 2:30. The plan was to spend the day in Olympia, look at all the ruins from the original Greek olympics, and then see the Olympic museum, and the historical museum, and whatever else Olympia had to offer. Our guide book said that the sites would stay open until 7:00, so we weren't worried. Upon arrival in Olympia, we got a map, and began heading to Ancient Olympia. We arrived at about 2:40, and noticed that at 3:00 they close. we freaked out, and convinced us to let us enter, and that we'd hurry. The site was huge. We sprinted, taking as many pictures of the ruins as we could, and attempted to take pictures of their descriptive signs along the way so we could read them later. We made it through about 2/3 of the site at with our sprinting, and we were out at 2:55 when they were locking the gate. It was quite frustrating when we then found out that it wasn't just the archeological site, but also the museums, etc. that ALL closed at 3. So, at this point, in our frazzed state, we missed the 3:00 bus back, and had to wait for the 4:00. It was frustrating to take a 2 hour ride each way to just be there for 10 minutes.

On Sunday, we'd hoped to go to Delphi, which is another site that our book said was good to see. Unfortunately, there was only ONE bus going, at 8:30 AM, which would've been fine, except that there was also only one returning bus, also coming back in the morning, and since it was a 3 hour ride, we decided there was no way humanly possible to get there and back, so we decided against it. Instead, we went to the Clauss vinyard, a bit south of Patra, and took a quick tour and tasted some wine. Not too bad.

Today again we didn't have much to do, but we did get our laundry done, and hit up this internet cafe now. We'll get on the ferry in a bit, and while Greece was Jacob's job to plan, Italy was mine. So upon arrival in Italy, we will begin in Naples, and I will keep you posted of course.

GOOD NEWS!! Though I can't seem to upload from any internet cafes almost ever. my pictures from day One of my trip are finally up. I'll keep you posted if I upload more.

They are located here: http://www.jacobbrand.com/gallery/bela

I miss you all, and would love to hear from you - either by email or comments to my posts =)

"Is come from the Greek word for..."

Yes, I find myself again in an internet cafe. It houses both computers and a 24 hour travel agency, so we had to talk to the agent to get some things settled, and since we weren't hungry for dinner yet (even though it is 10pm now), we stopped off in the cafe. As much as I don't like spending my time on the computer, I know there is no way I'll be able to sort my pictures once I get home after 8 weeks of travel, so each time we stop at a cafe, I have been diligently naming every single picture I've taken. So far, I am at about 300 pictures that I haven't deleted. Everything is named. Let's hope I keep up on this. When I am not at cafes, I take notes in my journal to try to make sure every detail is posted so I can have a running history of this trip. This is more for my own benefit than for anyone else's, so bear with me.

Yesterday was our last day in Santorini, and we spent the day hiking to the top of a mountain to see an ancient city, and then hiking back down, eating lunch, renting a car and driving both to the red beach and to the lighthouse, watching a sunset, and coming home. Renting the car was quite the experience. None of us were too proficient in driving a manual, but the boys handled it pretty well (minus the few times they stalled or forgot to hit the clutch. The main island of Santorini looks like the shape of a backwards L, and the lighthouse is at the very bottom west point. It was like we were standing on the edge of the world. And for the third time since being on the islands, we saw another beautiful sunset. I couldn't have asked for a better first week abroad.

Today the ferry ride back to Athens took significantly longer than the one to the island. I suppose it was going against the current. We spent from 10am-7:30 pm on the ferry, but from 8-8:30 en route. Tomorrow we leave to continue westward in Greece to Delphi and Olympia, and finally end in Pireaus to take the ferry to Bari, Italy.

In the Greek Isles...

Well, after waking up at 5:00 am the other day, everything has been pretty good. We caught the ferry at 7, and took the 7 hour ride to the Greek island of Santorini. Greece ranks third in the list of countries primarily made up of islands. As the ferry was approaching the land we immediately noticed that every city was up at the top of huge mountains. When we arrived, the person from our hostel actually came to the port and picked us up (as did most of the other hostels), and took us to the top. We stayed the night in Fira, which is the largest city on the largest island (Thira) of the Santorini island group. We walked around a bit, and saw the city, but didn't do too much on the day we arrived. The following day though was our big tour day. We reserved our spot on one of the many boats that goes to the different islands of Santorini. The history of the island group is that a volcano split it from one island to many islands. During our boat "tour", we went to the volcano island "Nea Kameni". We climbed to the top, and had a wonderful view. In the pictures, it looks like a black rock island. After that, we went to some hot springs by "Palea Kameni" where we just jumped off the boat and swam to the springs and swam back. The water here is really cold, so your heart almost stops when you jump in, and when you get to the springs, I think they really are just "warm"springs, but they feel hot in comparison to the water. From there, we got back on the boat with horrible brain freeze headaches, but managed, and went to the next island, called Thirassia, which we climbed to the top and had lunch with an incredible view. To get to the top of each of these islands or cities, you go up a zigzag cobblestone step road, which is quite steep, and difficult on the body. For your "convenience", there are scores of donkeys, that for "just 4 Euros" will take you to the top. We opted against paying it a few times, but going up and down those steps does a toll on your body, and the concentration required to avoid all that donkey poo is exhausting. So, upon arrival at Ia, the fourth stop before the boat's return to Fira, we opted to take the donkeys once. It was worth it. Ia is known for its beautiful sunsets, and though the night before, we'd seen the sunset in Fira, we decided to get off the boat in Ia rather than taking it back to Fira, so that we could stay for the sunset. We didn't really have anything to do for the four hours we had to kill in Ia, but we relaxed and met some other travelers, etc. We waited and waited, and by the time the sunset had come around, the skies were cloudy, and they didn't quite live up to our expectations. We took a bus back to Fira, and instead of going out to dinner, we went to the market by our room and got some pasta and cheese and spinach pies, and made our own dinner. It was quite good. Jacob was the chef this evening.

On 5/25 we left Fira to go to the southern part of the island, Perissa. for 1.60E we caught a bus to go to the beach there. The ride was generally pleasant, except sitting behind me was a group of Grecian teenagers who decided that a busride was the perfect time to select a new ringtone for their cellphone. This consisted of playing every tone on her phone over and over for most of the ride to the beach. I was only slightly annoyed...once we arrieved at the beach we walked to our room, which was pretty nice. I'd say we've had pretty good luck in the sleeping department so far this trip. Since we were going to be here for two days, we figured we'd go to the beach one day, and tour the sites the other day. It was a beautiful day out, so we decided it would be the designated beach day. (Good thing too, because the reason I'm updating at 10:30 am is because it is pouring rain out on day two) The unique thing about the beach here is it's sand. Perissa is known to have a black beach, and a red beach. We went to the black beach, where the sand is a dark grey. We relaxed for pretty much the first time in a week. The sand, as expected was quite hot, but the weather was perfect - breezy and warm. We hadn't eaten a real meal all day, so we splurged at dinner at 10E each. for that, totalling 30E we got a plate of brushetta, a huge greek salad or thick stew, for the main dish we split a mushroom chicken, a pasta dish, and mousaka, and then once we were done, they topped it off with a shot of Ouzo for everyone. During dinner, after the salad, we were already pretty full having eaten only half the dish, so Jacob asked if he could take the rest of the salad home with him (we have a fridge in the room).They sent over three different waiters just to make sure they understood that ideed, we did want to take it home. They finally came back with a plastic container with no lid, and said that was all they could find. I guess they don't get too many take-home requests there.

This morning we got up planning to tour ancient Thira, and a monestary, and the red beach here, but it is raining, so we found cover at an internet cafe. The perfect place for three techies to stay dry...

until the next time it rains, take care! (publish time is greek time)
Bela

Bela has gone International

greetings from Greece Everyone!
Here is my first post since I've arrived here, and I have been having a pretty good time so far! For reference, the time on the posts will be in American time, which is 7 hours earlier than Grecian time. We arrived Friday afternoon after a grueling plane ride. However, on the trip from Paris to here, the man sitting next to me was Greek, so he helped me practice my greek! In the airport, Jacob and my seats were far apart, and a lady at the Air France counter was very nice for a long time and helped us out. So, here's a shout out to Air France =). On the other hand. I am not too tall, and I have no idea how anyone taller than me could sit comfortably in those chairs. They were SO close together on the overseas trip. The one from Atl-NY was normal, and Paris-Athens too. but man, I have no idea how people manage to fit in those seats. When we arrived at the airport, Austin (the third in our mini-group) met us there, and took us back to the hostel. He arrived 5 hours earlier, so he'd had time to get back to the city (a 45 minute ride), and find a hostel and take a nap. When we arrived, we took the bus (which was packed like sardines), and made our way back to the hostel.

The hostel is pretty cool. When I'm able to upload pictures, you'll be able to see the hostel. We went downstairs after dropping our bags off, and found a restaurant and ate some wonderful Greek food. At night, we walked around the town, and took some pictures, most of which looked like black background with small light dots for me, and planned to relax for a few minutes before going to sleep. We have a balcony, so it's pretty neat to look over and watch the people going by (see pictures).

As I was getting ready to go to bed, completly tired from the previous 30 hours, I opened my bag only to discover that my shampoo bottle had opened. I am talking a full size shampoo bottle, which when I took it out of my bag, had about 1-2 uses remaining. I had an entire bottle of shampoo seeped into my clothes, into my backpack, into my toiletries, and just all over everything. Needless to say, that was not a good start on my arrival, but after an hour of rinsing and hanging things to dry, I finally went to sleep.

Yesterday, we got up around 9:00ish, and conveniently, there is a travel agent in the hostel. We booked rooms for the next two nights, and booked our trip to the Greek island Santorini. We'll be going there on Monday, until Friday. Once we had that all figured out, we headed out on the town. We went to a lot of the main tourist attractions, which I hate doing, because I hate standing out as a tourist. Anyone who has traveled with me before knows that I really like to act, dress, and pretend like I'm part of the culture I'm in. Unfortunately, 1) I don't speak greek, 2) we were going to touristy places 3) I don't look like anyone here 4) though I was careful to bring no shorts, but lots of capris and skirts, jacob and Austin are dressed in shorts and English teeshirts and baseball caps =)

We toured the Acropolis which was really cool. Seeing the Greek theatres, the Parthenon, and all of the other ruins there was pretty cool. The way the Parthenon is depicted in all the postcards and pictures is incorrect though. Much has remained, but a lot of it is not there anymore, and they're trying to rebuild it. After we left the Acropolis, we went to lunch at a gyro and kabob place, which was really good. We made a decision to spend our money at no more than one meal above 5 Euros per day. After we ate, we hung out walking around for a bit, and then went to ancient Agora, which used to be a market of some sort, and now is pretty much just ruins. For all of the sights, we bout a ticket that at student rates, was 6 Euros for everything. We then sat outside for a bit and people watched. At night, we ate at a cool restaurant that you pay for what you order on your sandwich. So for example - if you want a piece of turkey, that is .60, mayo is .10, cheese is .50 feta cheese is .60 or something like that. So you can get a sandwich, toasted for about 3 Euros. If you are one of those peole that goes to subway and orders your sandwich with "everything" though, you might be paying more like 4/5 Euros for a sandwich. Anyway, pretty good.

Jacob bought a small bottle of Uzo on the way back because they sell it everywhere, and we were all curious what it tasted like. Well, for public knowledge- it tastes horrible. If you know what the green nyquil tastes like, it's like that, but worse. I think it is supposed to taste like licorice, but either way, I think we've all sworn it off.

Today we bought a 24 hour bus pass, but right after buying it discovered that the line we wanted to take wasn't running today. We walked to what was supposed to be some wonderful bazaar, and never found it. Either our map was labled with it in the wrong place, or it didn't exist today. Almost everything is closed on Sunday, but supposedly the flower part of the market is at its best on Sundays. They also sell fish, meat, tourist stuff, household items, etc. Oh well, I'll have to see it on my next time to Greece. We continued walking, all the way to the National Archaeological Museum. There were so many things kept SO well over the last 2000 years. Most were statues of all different types, but VERY well maintained over the years. After that, we went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. All that was left were about 10 columns, but they were incredible. There was one that had fallen, I'm not sure when, but it laid on the ground in pieces, perfectly aligned. We then went to climb the hill of muses (Philoppapos). We walked to the top, and took a few pictures both of the monument at the top, and of the surrounding city of Athens. We were awed at ourselves too, because we've already walked much of the city. As we decended, we stopped by the Parlaiment building just as they were changing the guards. Supposedly it's a huge honor to be chosen as one of these guards, but man they looked silly both with how they marched and how they dressed. They were wearing a traditional uniform of some sort, and similar to the guards in England, they stood for one hour and did not move a muscle. We watched them for a long time, and they didn't even blink! After we watched the changing of the guards,we stopped by the botanical gardens for a bit, and saw their little animal zoo, and then after seeing all that, we stopped in the internet cafe for a short bit before dinner. After dinner, we'll probably try to get to sleep early because our ferry ride to Santorini tomorrow leaves the dock at 7:00am, whcih means we have to leave the hostel around 5:30. yak!

By the way, I have made the sights bold so you can easily skim my entries =)

So, there you have it. I am not sure how detailed all my posts will be this trip, or how often I'll be able to upload pictures, but I will be sure to maintain consistency with these updates (as I do at home)

My First Blogger Blog

Well, it occured to me that I wouldn't be able to easily update my webpage from Europe, I finally got a "real" blog. This post is more of a test to see how this program works. Just so you all know, I will try to update this as often as possible both for your own reading pleasure, but also so that I have good notes and records of my trip. If you would like to contact me on my trip, the best option is to email me at belanaomi@gmail.com

So far, this is the itinerary, subject to change. I will be gone May 19-July 12.

Athens
Santorrini
Greece somewhere
Naples
Pompei
Isle of Capri
Rome
Florence
Venice
Munich
salzburg
Vienna
Prague
dresden
copenhagen
stockholm
Herrang
Stockholm
Airplane home

If you have any non-typical or non-tourbook suggestions of where to go in or around any of these destinations, I will be happy to hear them =)

Old Blog Posts from 8/04-5/05

Thursday 5-19-05: I AM IN EUROPE!!!
TO VIEW MY PICTURES, GO TO http://www.jacobbrand.com/gallery/bela
I hope I will be updating these often. I will be back at the end of the summer.


Sunday 5-15-05- Over the past week, I have done many totally insignificant things. At least, they're probably insignificant to my three faithful blog readers. I I have done a million errands, eaten meals with lots of different people, and done a lot of unpacking, repacking, and of course planning for my trip. Because this page requires too much effort to post entries from a computer other than my own, I started a site to post all my Europe entries. Beginning this thursday, May 19, I will post from that page only. the webaddress is http://www.belanaomi.blogspot.com/ Once I figure out how to post my pictures from abroad, I will do that as well. If you'd like to hear updates via email, send me an email, and I'll add you to my list. most of the stuff will be posted to the blog as well though, so no worries, you don't have to miss out on a split second of my ever so exciting life! =)


Monday 5-9-05- I moved out of my apartment today. It was quite the milestone. Every year I've been moving from dorm to dorm, trying to squeeze all of my belongings into the new small room. This time, I moved it all home. Since my last update, I have tied the loose ends on all of my campus activities, and walked at graduation.
Graduation deserves a paragraph alone. Throughout the weekend, I have spent just about every waking minute checking out my residents, or going to their rooms only to find that they are not nearly ready to check out. So the day of graduation, I was already checking out residents at 6 am. At 7:00 am, the graduating CAs of ULC gathered to take a picture before we left. We headed down to the Georgia Dome, which was the location of graduation. For the past who knows how many years, graduation took place in the Thrillerdome AKA Alexander Memorial Coliseum (AMC). However, seeing that our class was (of course) the largest graduating class in GT history, we just could not fit into AMC and allow people to bring any guests. So, to the dome it was. It was a little sad, not getting to graduate in a place that holds tech memories and traditions, yet they managed to set it up nicely, and the process went smoothly. Upon arrival, there was absolute chaos. All the graduates were all over the place, filling out surveys, taking pictures, and exchanging contact information. Eventually people started hoarding the graduates into the parking deck, and there were large signs to divide us by major. All I could see were signs for each college. Meaning, there was a sign for the COC, for the COE, COS, COM, IAC, COA. However, anyone who knows anything about tech knows that the COE (College of Engineering) is comprised of a significant majority of the students at Georgia Tech. So most people are just milling around the COE area, while a few sporadic graduates hang out under the other five signs. Soon we found the lists and the lines, and lined up. At exactly 9:00, the first line entered the dome, followed by the dozens after them. All week, I hadn't said "goodbye" to any of my graduating friends. I just said "I'll see you at graduation". I knew I probably wouldn't see everyone, but I really didn't realize how crowded it would be, and how few of those people I actually saw that day. Once inside the dome, there were a number of speakers who were alright, followed by PhDs, then master students, and finally, the undergraduate class. Unlike many other Universities that are our size, Tech prides itself on keeping graduation in a one-stop shop. Everyone graduates together, everyone's name is called (along with their honor), and everyone gets to shake the hand of our president, Dr. Wayne Clough. As my turn to go on stage approached, I decided that unlike everyone who shook his hand, I was going to give him a hug. Hey, you only graduate once! A guy a few graduates ahead of me gave Dr. Clough a high five, which was pretty funny. As I walked across the stage, I saw many of the teachers and administrators I'd crossed paths with over my years, and many of them stopped me and congratulated me and we exchanged hugs. I must say, it was kind of cool, as everyone else walked straight across the stage, being stopped by deans and college chairs. The full ceremony took over four hours. People were antsy in their seats, and eventually walked around a little bit, heedless of the suggested etiquette. I remember when my brother Moshe graduated three years ago there was a reception afterwards where everyone took pictures. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything of the sort, and so everyone pretty much peeled out right after the singing of "Ramblin' Wreck". I was a bit disappointed, since I didn't have a chance to run into most people before the ceremony but still wanted to get pictures and say goodbye. Who knows if I'll ever see some of these friends again!!
After graduation, I was exhausted, but I packed a little and then hung out with Lisa since it was her 21st b-day, and then went to Jeff's for a bit to hang out. Sunday, my parents threw me a graduation party. It was mostly family and family friends, but I had a few friends over too, so it was nice. I should have parties more often, because I got some fun presents =)


Thursday 5-5-05 - Cinco De Mayo! this is the one that comes once every hundred years - 5-5-5. kinda cool. I went out to dinner tonight with Scott, Chris, and Kevin, and it was fun catching up. The past 9 days have been slightly eventful, but not really. It was finals week this week, and I have gone through all of my classes and taken all my finals and turned in all my final papers. as I was nearing the end, I really felt the apathy kicking in, and I must say, it was difficult to fight it. I am not sure how the classes went, but at this point, I am pretty sure it won't affect my graduation status, so I'm OK.
This past weekend was Mystery Bus Ride, with JSU which was really fun, and we also had the JSU end of the year board dinner, which was also very fun. I take advantage of Dead week and finals week every semester to catch up with friends I manage to not see all semester. I really end up having almost every meal with someone else to catch up. I've eaten in five different breakfast restaurants this week already. Some of course are more enjoyable than others, but it's been fun.
Over the past few months I have really enjoyed the friendship of a few people who really came out of the woodwork this semester. Either people here on exchange programs, or people who are normally very busy and managed a few extra mornings off to have breakfast with me, I have really been enjoying your company, so thank you. Of course, there are all the people that have been out of the woodwork for a long time and who I know care for me so much that they know when something is wrong before it goes wrong. So to all of my friends, new and old, thank you for a wonderful semester, a wonderful year, and a wonderful college experience. I have experienced five incredibly amazing years here at tech, and really feel like I've gained an extra family. You have been the support, brought the excitement, enjoyed in the fun, and worked through the rough times, and for all of those things, I thank you. I love you all, and I expect everyone to keep in touch. I know we all graduate and say we will, but I think we need to take the extra effort and do it. you all are moving all over the country and around the world - to Baltimore, to Miami, to Texas, to California, to England, to France, and to many other places around the world. Please don't be a stranger and know that you're always welcome to come and stay with me, and I would love to see you. I promise, for all of you who have ever called me "mom" on a road trip. I will be hospitable. There will be juice boxes and Chewy bars ;-)
This weekend I graduate. I am going to take the quote "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." and change it to "That's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for man." I don't think my graduation is going to affect anyone as much as it will affect me, but for me, it is a big deal. The bonds with peers, professors, and administrators have been so meaningful to me. I think I've gotten a little too sappy here, but I had to get it down.
For all of you who are graduating and moving on, please send me your new contact information, and Congratulations on your graduation!!!
I love you all.


Tuesday 4-26-05 - It is Passover. I really like the first few days of Passover, where we have a couple Seders filled with wonderful food and great people. After that though, I feel like I am in a constant state of hunger for the following 6 days. For those of you who don't know, there are a lot of restrictions on food during Passover. No leavened bread - basically, nothing with wheat, oats, rice, rye, barley, or corn in it. That might not sound bad at first, but think of what you eat that has corn syrup alone. Then, get rid of pasta, cereal, cookies, cake, bread, crackers, bagels, pizza and sandwiches. Blah, I suppose it isn't honestly all that bad, but I want something yummy to eat.
On another note, after all the interviewing and job offers I went through this semester, I ended up choosing to work for E2M. For those of you wondering, that is the same place I interned at last summer. So, I start the real world August 1. wow. Meanwhile, planning for my trip is underway, trying to get everything set up before I leave. I still need a travel buddy for part of the trip, but I think the trip will be amazing.
And on top of everything going on in classes and finals in the upcoming weeks, I broke my toe on Sunday, and it is not pretty. I just hope it heals in time for my trip. On a side note, in my Econ class this morning, we had a wine and cheese party, which was fun. there were all sorts of cheese types, fruit, cider, wine, and crackers (which I couldn't eat). But it was a lot of fun.


Sunday 4-17-05 - A lot has happened over the last few weeks. After ATLX, I was in serious Job interview mode. I did a lot of my final interviews, and since then have struggled with what job I want to take, and some other frustrations within the process. I have a hard time thinking about the fact that whatever job I take could be the job I work in for the rest of my life. I want it to be the right decision. I will post up this week when I make my final decision
The semester is ending. With only three weeks left, all the end of semester banquets and closing events are in full swing. We had ODK's Freshman Leader Reception, which was fun, and I got to speak in a panel. There was also the CWT end of year banquet where we gave all the host awards and had a yummy meal, and Ramona and I got the Outstanding AB member award (we shared it). That was cool. Connect With Tech has been such a big part of my life for three years, it's strange that it is over.
This past weekend was AEPi's beach weekend, and it was a blast. There were a lot of people there my year, so it was fun to sit on the beach, play volleyball, and of course, to hang out with my friends. It was in Panama City Beach, and luckily, the spring breakers were gone, so it was pretty peaceful. I have posted pictures on my pictures page.
The coolest thing though, that I have been working on these past few weeks is my trip to Europe. Going on this trip has been my plan for years, and will be my graduation present to myself. I just got my tickets, and I am pumped. I will be gone for two months, and I am so excited to plan it. Different people are coming at different times to travel with me, which will be cool too. At the end of the trip, I am hoping to end up in Sweden to go to dance camp.


Monday 4-04-05 What a week! after having a busy week returning from spring break, This past weekend was ATLX - The Atlanta Lindy Exchange. The idea behind an exchange is that the dancers in a city decides to host an exchange, and plan events ALL weekend long. Our exchange went from Thursday until Sunday, totaling 10 dances! I counted that I danced over 30 hours this weekend, and it was a blast. about 250 people from out of town came in for the event, and were all hosted by dancers here in Atlanta. Dances were scheduled Thursday night, Friday 8-12pm, 1-6 am. Then Saturday beginning at 1:00pm at Centennial Park until 6am. and then again Sunday, 1:00 pm- 5:00 am. It was a LOT of dancing. But I love dancing with new people, and having new leads to learn from. Dancing this weekend made me both realize how much I love it, but also how much more I need to learn to get better. I will post pictures once I get a little rest.


Thursday 3-25-05- I have been so productive this week. Tuesday alone, I ran about ten errands, and went dancing. The Dancing venue is the new Tuesday night "hot jam". I had a lot of fun, and we went out afterwards. I had this idea a few months ago to make a quilt out of tee-shirts that were memorable to me. I have a million tee-shirts that I don't wear, but that I don't want to throw away. So After taking Miles's quilt to use as a sample, and emailing Michael's mom for ideas, I was on my way. I cut up 20 tee-shirts into squares, and I was ready to start sewing when I discovered that both sewing machines at my house were broken. I made some phone calls, and ended up going out to Jacob's house in East Cobb to use his mom's machine. We spent 6 hours at his house, and jacob really helped a lot with ideas and pinning. lo and behold, at the end of the day yesterday, I had made the part of all the tee-shirts sewn together. I went today to the fabric store to buy cloth for the border and backing, and I didn't realize how expensive that would be. The cloth alone set me back almost $50. Oh well, I suppose it's worth it if this'll be a keepsake. At this point now, I am stuck as to how to put it all together. I want it to look nice, but I also got some ribbon to add a little flare to the border. I just have no idea how to go about doing it. I will probably not finish this project over break. I need a full day of dedicated work to get this done, and I'm not sure if I'll have that.
Last night was "good Jewish girls gone bad" at Park Tavern, sponsored by Hillel. It was quite a show- a poetry, music, burlesque, comedy show all combined into one. Quite funny I must say. Afterwards Martin, and three of his friends and I went to cafe Opre Diem. We hung out for a while. The three of them were all med school students at Emory, and pretty nice. It was a refreshing crowd from my normal friends. Definitely a different demeanor. Not sure that I can put my finger on it, but it was fun.
Tonight is Purim, and I think I'll be going out to Athens to spend time with Rochelle.


Monday 3-21-05-For only being in Miami for 48 hours, it was pretty fun. We arrived Friday afternoon, and before we stopped to unload at my aunt's, we went to a kosher store down there. Now that my family has made our home kitchen kosher, it is much more difficult to get some of the foods we used to eat often. The two prime examples are some of the Cuban seasonings and dishes, but also cheese. We use all different types of cheeses in our family's cooking, and good kosher cheese is hard to find in Atlanta. So anyway, we went to this store, and my parents had a ball buying all sorts of different products. Now the funny thing about this store...A lot of my friends in Atlanta joke with me that I know everyone, everywhere I go. I'm not going to argue that I know a lot of people, but I think they might exaggerate a little. Well, I am standing in line at this store with my family, and I hear "Bela??" I thought I must've been imagining it, but then I heard it again: "Bela?" So I turned around, and Rahel was in the line next to me. She said "now, I know what I'm doing here, I live here. But what are you doing here?? It was funny.
Friday night we had Shabbat dinner at my Tia Matty's, and most of the family came by for dinner. My Tia Matty's condo is right on Miami beach. it is great. So, I woke up at 9:30 Saturday, and I spent the entire day at the beach. 6 hours of cancer giving sunlight. It was great. That night was my cousin-in-law?'s 40th birthday party. They took about 40 people to this steak place called Morton's. Supposedly it's a chain, and very expensive. I couldn't believe how much they probably spent on that. Then Sunday morning was the unveiling. In Jewish custom, within a year of someone passing away, you have a ceremony to unveil the gravestone. There were about 25 people at the cemetary yesterday morning. The sun was beating down, and the crowd was ansy and hot. The Rabbi showed up thirty minutes late, but eventually we all went back to my Tia Rosi's house and had a nice big lunch. After lunch, everyone sat around talking for a while, and then we left.
Every time I go to Miami, I can always expect these comments: So, are you seeing anyone? , "may the next time we get together be for a wedding", let me tell you how I can help you with your __[insert here : skin, weight, etc.]__ Sometimes going to visit with family makes me so thankful for my own family. Now, I do love my extended family very much, and we're all very close (you get that with the Jewish and Cuban all mixed together. For an example, see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", and substitute "Jewban" for "Greek", and the name Jaime or Isaac for Nicholas.) Anyway, I love them all, even though they always want to help in every way possible.
We're in the car on the way back, nearing I-75. I think that we'll stop for a couple hours at the outlet mall on the way back if we have time. That's it for now!


Thursday 3-17-05- St. Patrick's Day. The day that Christianity was brought to the Irish. What more could a Jewish girl want? It's amazing how Americanized and ridiculous this holiday has become. I suppose every month needs a design for the generic calendars, but really, decorations? candy? green beer?? Not that I'm complaining, I wear green with the best of 'em. But honestly, I think this is a holiday more out of control than even Valetine's Day. At least V-day has some goal in the marketing - show the one(s) you care about that you love them. But St. Paddy's day is just a generic "get drunk on green beer" day. Though, a good excuse to drink is also convenient ;-). If you get married on St. Patrick's day, do you wear something old, something clean, something borrowed and something green?? ok, enough about that.
Today marks the beginning of spring break for me. I am right now in the car on the way to Miami, Florida. We are driving in the family mini-van, or the "funmobile". I am in the car with my parents and sister for the long haul. As I was getting home, they were making the decision of whether or not to bring the family dog, Reuben. As attached as we've gotten to the dog, I had to resist. Seeing as I'd be the one in the backseat, I was not sure I wanted to share it with our fifth sibling,. Reuben. I mean, don't get me wrong, he is a wonderfully sweet, smart lovable dog, but he de doesn't usually fasten his seatbelt when he gets into the car. Because of his stubbornness, when there is a sudden break, or really, anything besides cruise controlled driving, he goes flying across the car. And keep in mind, he isn't a small dog. Weighing in at about 55 pounds, it isn't fun when he lands on you after one of his "in flight" experiences. Back to 'vacation'. I just finished my turn to drive. I always forget how often my dad makes sure to let me know he's watching my driving. At the same time,. he takes every opportunity to remind me what defensive driving is, and how I need to be doing it, and that I'm not. For as much family bonding time we have the 'opportunity' to spend in the car, once we get to Miami, we're pretty much picking up and turning back to Atlanta. Joy.
Last night was JSU elections. I now know in whose hands I am leaving the organization. Orit, Sarah, Rachel, and Mike are the new executive board. I am sure they will take care of JSU and keep the organization going strong, and perhaps take it out of its current "cruise control" state and do something great!
This week was filled with all sorts of projects, homeworks, and tests - so that I can say now, that I am truly ready for break to begin. I had a test this morning that I'd been studying for all week, and my problem is that I really not only didn't understand what the professor had taught, but really was at a loss when trying to speculate as to what he'd ask on the test. So, I was pretty much entering the test cold-turkey.
ok, time to switch drivers. I'll update more after the trip.


Sunday 3-13-05-I wish I was one of those people that could pour my heart out on paper, and not only have it be satisfying for me, but it would also be satisfying for the reader. I can sit around for hours a day just daydreaming, and not get bored, taking every situation I am in, and imagining different outcomes, different possibilities. But if I try to put it down on paper, it really de-emphasizes the amount of thought and toil that went on in my head about a subject before it was transcribed to writing. It really loses a lot in the transfer. So I rarely write what I think, because either, it just doesn't sound as good on paper, or more importantly, the thoughts are about specific people, and I wouldn't dare put the thoughts in writing, in risk of embarrassing myself, or worse, the subject of the thoughts. So, in conclusion, here is my post, boring and to the point, and not about any people in particular.
Another week passed. I did almost no school work the whole week. I kept busy with an array of other events and meetings, but didn't get any studying done, that I needed to do. So now, Sunday rolls around, and I am neck deep in work. This past weekend was fun though. I spent most of Friday evening and Saturday with my family. It was my dad's 60th b-day Saturday, and at the same time, he retired a couple weeks ago, so there was a party in his honor last night. Everyone who ever worked for my dad came to the party, and everyone had wonderful things to say about him. I know they're right. He's a great guy. Today I had brunch with Jeff, which was really fun, and then did CWT all day. I am burnt out from CWT, but alas, after tomorrow, there is only one remaining session! as of right now, as long as I can make it 24+24+24+12 hours (I didn't feel like adding it), then I will be done with my classes and ready for spring break. within that time though, I have a bit to get done.
On a non-academic note, I always fall for guys who are great guys, minus the whole religion thing. If you've been tracing my blog, It's happened a few times before. Well, I'm sick of it. Why do I always like the guys that are wrong for me? All the nice guys say "why don't girls like the nice guys? they always go for the jerks". Well, I go for the nice guys. Unfortunately, it is never the *right* nice guy. Oh well. I can keep dreaming.


Saturday 3-05-05- Well, this was, for the most part an uneventful week until Wednesday. Wednesday I attended a dance class and then went out dancing. then Thursday night, Andrew and I taught a dance class for AGD's Date night. it was really fun. But what was really cool, was during the dance class we were giving, was CampusMovieFest's finals at the Fox Theatre. My friend Scott and his roommate Jared made a really cook video to submit to the competition. It was stop action, with legos (think claymation), and took over 50 hours for them to do. They put my name, along with a few others who helped a little bit on the team list as "supporting". Anyway, the movie, "what mocks a good movie" won FIRST PRIZE for all of Georgia!!! Scott called me on the way out, after my dance class, and told me, and so we all went out to celebrate. it was fun. We don't know exactly what we won yet, but it's really cool. Quite an exciting evening.


Sunday 2-27-05 - What a week. I am into this whole searching for a job thing. I interviewed with UPS, Dell, and USPS this week. I really liked specific things about each of these companies, even though each of the jobs are very different. I am basically sitting on the edge of my seat waiting now. I am really interested to see which companies choose to give me second interviews. I have a hard time judging which interviews go well, and which don't. I suppose it really just depends on the interviewer. I can't wait for the job search process to be over. I want some stability in knowing where I'll be next year.
I went dancing this weekend. I miss dancing a lot. I have gotten back into it much more this month than over the past year or so, It always feels so good to go out dancing. I get such a rush from it. Sometimes, at school, I feel like everything I do around certain people I interact with is me proving that I am a cool kid. As if it is high school again, and I have to create a proof that it's worth their time to hang out with me. But on the dance floor, it's the opposite. I feel like I'm on top of the world.
oh, on a third note. Boys are dumb. Girls are so very complicated, but man, can't boys pick up on signals ever?? it's like they try to not see them. oh well. I guess that is how the world works - based on certain inalienable principles, one of which is that boys are dumb.


Monday 2-21-05- Every time I decide to update this thing, it is when I have the least amount of time. Maybe it just feels like that since I always have no time. I've got to say, this last semester has been jam-packed full of events. I am of course still in all my organizations, I am doing countless job interviews (none of which have been fruitful yet), and then at the same time, trying to be as socialable as possible in my last semester. I calculated out what I need for my GPA, and realized that I can afford to not stress out too much about classes this semester. As long as I get passing grades in all my classes, and a few A's in the easy ones, I should be good to go to graduate with the GPA I want. yeah. I'll keep telling myself that.
One of my professors, Joel Sokol, talked to us today about IE grad school. I must say, it peaked my interest. I wasn't planning on going to IE grad school, and even now, I feel like it's too late to apply (even though it isn't), but it's definitely something to think about if I don't like the working world =)
I gave an engineering session today to about 100 students. They (unlike us) were off from school and grabbed the opportunity to be responsible, mature young adults and do college visits....ha, I wish one day I'd be that responsible and mature!! =) Afterwards, I went into Juniors to eat and hang out for a bit before my studying needed to commence, and man, I felt like a movie star walking in there. I ran into a million people at once that I knew!! it was great. I will definitely miss that when I leave Tech.
I took a 2 week sabbatical from working out (mainly, I got lazy), but I realized I really needed to get back in it. I went back today for the first time. I rationalized that of the 6 days I missed my workout, I went dancing three times, so really I only missed 3 =). Also, I have gotten a bit more back into dancing. It is so fun. I would say "I don't know why I gave it up", but I do, it was the semester I raked in a 2.5 GPA. It's taken a lot of work to bring that up almost a full point higher!
Alright, there are meetings to attend, homeworks to do, papers to write, and party's to attend still all in the next 4 hours. Phew!
oh, I posted GT dance Marathon pictures on the page. I am waiting to hopefully get some better ones. Go to the photos page and click on friends spring 2005.


Sunday 2-13-05- Last weekend I went to Mardi Gras. What an event. I went with a bunch of people, and it was overall a fun time. there were some small disagreements within the group at times, but in general I think everyone had a good time. At one point, I got hit in the head with beads at a parade, but other than that, I was good =). You can see pictures on the pictures page. Mardi Gras is something that I'm glad I've experienced. I can say I've done it, but I don't know that I'd do it again. I'd like to visit New Orleans on a non-mardi gras weekend sometime.
This week was pretty crazy. I had a lot of stuff due, and was running on no sleep from the weekend. Friday night was also Dance Marathon, which was a blast. Andrew T. and I did a dance demo which turned out pretty well, and then we taught a class, which was really fun. It was the first time I'd really danced solo for non-dancers, especially as a real performance, so that was really cool for me personally. Saturday was GT Leadership Conference, which I thought turned out really well. I'd say the best I've been to since I've been at GT.
Then Last night, I went out for Valentines Day with Ross. He was so sweet. He asked me a few weeks ago if I didn't have a date for Valentines day, would I like to go out with him. So I said yes. Of course, I didn't get asked, but maybe it turned out for the better. Ross wouldn't tell me what we were doing, or where we were going, just to be ready at 6:30. He picked me up and gave me 2 dozen roses, which were beautiful. I don't think I've ever gotten a bouquet of red roses before. Then we went to Spice for dinner, and had some really really yummy food. The place was really neat inside too. Then from there, we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens Orchid Nights. It was really pretty seeing all the flowers in bloom, and walking around the gardens at night. Afterwards, we came back and watched a movie for a while. It was a fun time, and I couldn't have asked for a better Valentines (aka Singles Awareness) Day date. thanks Ross!
Today was the first Connect With Tech session of the semester, and it was a little rocky behind the scenes, but I think it looked ok from the bystanders perspective. However, I am exhausted, and am going to go to sleep now so I can get up in time to enjoy Junior's Grill breakfast in the morning...mmm...


Saturday 1-29-05-Well, I have continued to ignore my blog, so maybe I’ll just say this: expect an update every two weeks. That way, I have leeway, and I don’t have to apologize every time I finally update!
School has been going well. That’s all I have to say about school. There are 14 weeks until I graduate. I have been thinking a lot about graduating lately. I really love being at Georgia Tech, and everything about Georgia Tech, but really, I must admit, it is time to move on. Many of my friends have graduated, and I’m starting to get the “you’re still here?” questions from more people than I’d like, so as all good things must, my time at tech must come to an end.
Look up. See the web address? Thanks Ross for such a rockin’ Hanukkah present!!! Now, when I want to let people know how nerdy I am, it takes much less brainpower for them to remember my website!! That’s it. file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Bela/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/www.belanaomi.com so simple, so direct. Thanks Ross!
Last weekend I went out of town and got to see my fair share of snow for the whole winter. It was pretty cold, so I barely went outside the whole time.
This week was a little stressful with getting my work done, but I have to say, I have gotten used to my procrastination techniques. I do this really great thing that I have perfected exactly. I talk a lot about something I have to get done. I make sure everyone knows I have to do it. Even I think I have really gotten a head start on it, but then when I really have to kick back and plow through it, I realize I have barely started on it. Then I work for a while, stress out a little, and then it’s done. That is the way I have gotten through 4.5 years at Tech. It seems to have worked, at least somewhat. I am (as I’ve mentioned a few times) very proud to have never pulled an all nighter, and I have always handed everything in ontime. I know, I know, where’s the fun in that? But really, I know a few people that do their work weeks in advance, never even go to sleep late, and have a much higher GPA than me. But you know what? I feel like I’m having more fun. If I’m not, I’ve done a darn good job of convincing myself – yet again- that I’m right.
During the week, I got to spend time with a few of my great friends – once at the coffeehouse, and once out on the town. Both nights were a lot of fun, and I am happy that I was able to spend that quality time with those people. Thanks for being such great guys!!! During this time, I was introduced to two new places I’d never been. One- Octane coffee house. It is right off of Howell Mill and 8th street, and it is a cute little place not yet taken over by the corporate coffee companies. Not only is it a cute, convenient place to relax, I happen to know some of the people that work there, and they have free wireless internet access. The other place is Moondogs. If you go to tech, you’re probably thinking “she’s never been to Moondogs???” well, indeed, I hadn’t. I definitely thought it was a much shadier place than it is, but ended up having a really good time when we went. Too bad I never went earlier. I’ll have to make up for lost time by making good use of it this semester.
Friday night, I came home for dinner, and was planning on heading back either Friday night after dinner or Saturday afternoon. We were hit by this impending ice storm on Friday night, and it turned out I didn’t end up leaving Saturday either. I tried to, but the inch thick layer of ice on my car just wouldn’t budge. Randy cancelled his party, and I just missed Jeff’s. I was looking forward to Saturday night all week, and then I ended up typing this blog instead of leaving the house.


Tuesday 1-18-05- Oh, faithful blog readers! I am sorry I have left you hanging on the edge of your seats for so long! Almost two weeks!!! Well, here's the rundown of what's been going on in my always ever so interesting life. When I came back in town from Chile, I immediately went to housing training for the weekend. Again, you'd think that after being on staff this long, I would be able to skip training, but unfortunately, that's not how it works. It was alright. The first week of school went ok. I am taking a lot of classes: Advanced Microecon, an IE honors elective, Reel History, The Musical Mind (research class on music tech/psycology), Circuits Lab, Orchestra, and Spanish. Phew! That is a lot of classes. The one so far that seems like the most work is the Musical Mind class, and the one that seems like it'll be the hardest is the Advanced Micro class. So far, everything has actually been pretty interesting (I know, I should keep my mouth shut).
This weekend, We had a super turnout at the JSU friday night services, and then I went to Eoin's 22nd B-day party, and also to the swing dance, and then out on the town with Eoin and others. I slept late saturday, and then saturday night got dinner with Lauren, who I hadn't seen in a while. It was nice - catching up and hearing about her married life =). Then I went to Sarah's b-day party also that night. Sunday was fun day. We had ice cream and beer and invited friends to join us to watch the basketball game. Laurel moved in, but we didn't see much of each other last week, so this was a great opportunity. About 15 people came over to hang out, and I don't think we could've fit any more. After the game, Eoin, Daniel, Marilyn, John, Miles, Adam, Laurel and I all went out to dinner and had a blast, and then came back here and hung out for a few more hours. It was a really fun night, I must say. Monday I went to the Career fair at CNN center. It was this fair that you needed to be invited to, so I guess it was cool that I got an invite...until I found out that everyone and their grandma got an invite, so oh well. I hate career fairs. I got an interview right there with Lutron though, so that was cool. I am not sure I want to work for them though, because it would be in PN, which wouldn't be cool. I want to get some experience interviewing though, and have a few offers by spring break so I can make a decision.
Now I'm back in school and it's the beginning of another week...stay tuned!


Thursday 1-06-05- The flight was long. It was on Lan Chile, which works with American Airlines. There were a few things I noticed about this flight (I had time to notice, it was over 8 hours long). First off, the seats were really comfortable. The little head rest thing bent so that you could sleep against it, but it was actually better than the ones I'd used before. But, there was no leg room. sitting up straight, MY KNEES hit the chair in front of me. That is too close for comfort seeing as I am not that tall! Each seat did however, have its own TV, and you could pick what movies you wanted to watch, and when. I watched Terminal, with Tom Hanks, which was good, but I was so tired at this point, I didn't watch any other movies (which were all surprisingly good looking movies). The Airline industry has sunk to a new level. The blankets, which come on each seat on these international flights, had those clips attached to them. The clips you see at stores so you don't steal the clothes. yeah, same ones. I mean really. If you're so desperate to steal the little blanket, they should just give it to you. And you wonder why airline prices have gone up. Another funny thing: I went into the bathroom during this flight, and on the sink was "Lan Chile Au de Toilette" (I am not sure if I just spelled it right). ok, so you're on a flight, sitting next to some people you don't know for 8+ hours...I am SURE that they would LOVE IT if you went to the bathroom, and dabbed on some cheap cologne, and then had to sit next to them for the rest of the flight. Those Airlines, always taking the best interest of their passengers to heart.
I got off the plane in Miami at 5:55 am. From there, I went to customs, and I waited about 30 minutes to go through immigration. After that, I had to pick up my checked bags to go through customs. My bags, I think, of the 300 or so bags on the plane, were number 298 and 299. I finally got a hold of my bags at 7:10, went through customs, and then hauled it over to my gate. I was right outside the gate at about 7:30, when I realized I had to go through security check again. I had to unpack my laptop, take off my shoes, take off my belt, take off my jacket, and check everything through the little x-ray line. To make matters better, I was carrying a paper bag with handles with some stuff as a carry-on, and it tore during this whole process between planes. So, I am juggling all this stuff on top of it all. Now, keep in mind, my flight to Atlanta was due to depart at 7:54. My boarding time on my ticket was 7:09. I was quite nervous I was not going to make it, but in the end, I got on just in time. I got home, and long story short, everything is back to normal. I will recap my trip soon, but for now, I'm done with updating.


Wednesday 1-05-05- D-day. We still don't have much to do, so we came to the hillel house, and Lea is giving me like a million CDs to copy to my computer. There are some really cool ones that I am bringing back with me. We watched "under the Tuscan Sun" and hung out for a while in Hillel. I went upstairs and put some closure upstairs, and around 6:00, Lea said that there was a Hillel meeting, and that I should come to it. I came downstairs, and everyone was down there with food and drinks and said "surprise!" It was so neat, I definitely didn't expect a party!!! It was really cute. They said I had to make a speech in spanish. I tried, but I am not sure how it came out. Diana (the director of the Hillel) gave me a gift from the Chile hillel. It is a necklace charm that says "Chai" (which means life) in hebrew. It was made with Lapiz Lazuli, which is a famous chilean stone (used in almost everything). On the back, is engraved "Hillel Chile". I am touched. It was a beautiful present, which I definitely didn't expect. The boys also got me a little gift, but you'll have to ask me in person what it was. I left Hillel with Lea, and we made a stop on the way home because she said she wanted to get me a gift to remember her by. The whole time I was in Chile, she kept telling me I needed to buy a pair of Havaianas, which is a flip flop brand that she says "all the south americans wear". I never ended up buying a pair, because they were a little expensive for plastic flip flops, so on the way home, she bought me a pair. I have to say, they are actually pretty cute. We got home, ate dinner, and then I headed to the airport. It took almost an hour to get there. I got to the ticket counter, and first, the lady said that she didn't have my name on the flight list. I didn't bring a copy of my itinerary (I know, I know, I should've), but after 10 minutes of her not really *doing* anything, she realized she was typing in my first name as my last name, or something like that ; I didn't really understand. So next, she asked me for a sheet of paper they gave me when I got to Chile. Now, I remember getting that paper, but I think I threw it away since it was just the carbon copy. Who knew, I needed it when I got back to the airport. Then, her computer was "slow" or something, and I ended up having to stand at her travel desk for over 30 minutes. This procedure is a 5 minute procedure, jeez. In the end, I easily got a new one of the papers, and I made it on the flight.
Tuesday 1-04-05- Because this was my last full day here, we decided to go and spend some time in the city. We got up and went to the school, and I went for a run for a bit. Once we were both back and ready to go, we took a walk around and I bought a couple presents for people. We walked around until we were tired, and then came back and rested and had dinner. After dinner, we finally went to the Jazz club, and a guy we met a few nights earlier, Ami, came with us. It was fun, but the jazz wasn't superb. It was a nice night out.


Monday 1-03-05- It's back to Hillel for me, I haven't been here in a while. This afternoon, Charles and I went on a wine tour. We went to the Maipo valley, and had a blast going through the vineyard and learning about how wine is made. at the end, there was a wine tasting, which was pretty cool too. At night, Lea and I went to the school for a speaker and open house, and I met Joel's friend Rafael, and his wife, and that was really nice. It was neat meeting other IEs in other countries. There was also a really cool chocolate fountain for fondue. I felt like I was in the Charlie and the Chocolate factory story!! yumm...


Sunday 1-02-05- Another relaxed day. I think Charles is taking today to tour Santiago, but Lea and I are going shopping. we went to an outdoor shopping area by her house that was pretty cool, and just walked around and relaxed. later, I tried to make Meringue, but you wouldn't believe how hard it is to make. The mixture never hardened, and it turned out horrible. Oh well. I'll have to try again another day. We also went to the pool for about an hour and relaxed. At night, Lea again made some great food (as she has been every night), and then we went out to a restaurant and got a drink with Charles and her Israeli friend Adi. It was a quiet, relaxing day.


Saturday 1-1-05- Everything was closed today. Everything Everything. The only thing I saw open was the McDonalds. Charles and I spent the day at Lea’s, and we all sat around reading and resting all day. I read an entire book – well, it was more of a beach read anyway, and not a very great book, but since I had all day, I read all of it. At night, Charles said he was tired, so he went back to his hotel, and Lea and I decided to go to a Jazz club. On the way there, a friend of hers called, and said he and two of his friends were at a bar, would we like to join. So Lea and I postponed the Jazz club and went and hung out with these three Israeli guys (who were pretty cute). Although, we were not sure if they were more interested us, or each other. It was fun, and by 1:00, I was exhausted, so instead of going to the Jazz club, we went home to sleep.


Friday 12-31-04-Today is the day we are scheduled to check out. By noon. So, we got up early, packed up, and convinced them to watch our bags while we went to the beach so that we wouldn’t have to be back right at noon. The past two days, the beach was PACKED with people – of every age. But this morning, the beach was deserted. No one in Chile does much of anything before noon. We were on the beach from about 10:00-12:30, and when we got there, it was actually still pretty chilly from the night before. It quickly got warmer though, just in time to leave. We went and ate lunch, got our bags, and headed back to Santiago on a 2:45 bus. We arrived in Santiago at 4:30, but the bus was stuck in some sort of non-moving bus traffic for 30 minutes, just down the street from the station. We finally just talked the driver into letting us walk, so he let us off and we walked to the station. We ended up at Lea’s so I could shower and change before doing any new years stuff, and then we went to Charles’s hotel so he could do the same. The hotel was really nice, and he got a really good deal on expedia. Dana came and picked us up, and so began the new years celebrations. At home, I would expect to go in the evening to a new years party, maybe even party hop a bit, and then after the countdown, stay a little longer, but by around 2:00, be home (or at least had enough to drink to stop partying). But here, everyone starts at their house, and celebrates the new year with their family, and then goes out and parties. So, we went to Dana’s, and there were a few of her friends visiting from out of state, another family, and us. We sat around, talked, and had Shabbat dinner. At midnight, we went outside and watched the fireworks right from Dana’s house because we were so close, we didn’t have to go anywhere. At midnight, her mom put pineapple ice cream mixed with champagne into a glass, and we all drank that. She said it’s a Chilean tradition to drink that. Around 1:30 or so, we headed out to go to Tania’s party. It was at Vero’s (her brother’s girlfriend) house. It was a nice party, with probably about 40 or 50 people there. Around 4:30 or so, we called a cab to leave because we were both pretty tired (since we got up at 9 am that day).


Thursday 12-30-04- I slept horribly. Because there was no AC, we slept with the windows open. I was up all night from car alarms, birds, people partying etc. At least we got a whole room that is normally a 4 person hostal room, but since they didn’t fill it up, we had it to ourselves. In the morning, we got to a bad start when Charles’s contact (not disposable) went down the drain. We poked and prodded to get it out, but then it fell to its miserable death down the hostal drain. But then we went and ate some breakfast, and headed to Valparaiso. It was a nice little town, and we walked around there all morning, and then after lunch, came back to Viña to go to the beach again. We got to the beach once again in the late afternoon, around 4:00, and spent a few hours. The weather is warm, almost too hot, but the water is the Pacific Ocean, and it was freezing. Only the little kids were brave enough to face the water. We ate dinner at an “italian” place, which was ok, then stopped at an internet place, and then went to get a drink at another restaurant. It is very chill at Viña, and everyone stays out quite late drinking and relaxing.


Wednesday 12-29-04- Charles crashed at Lea’s last night, so it was much easier this morning to figure out what we’re doing. We headed over to Hillel because Lea and I had to be at a meeting there at 11. During this meeting, Charles ran some errands and checked out a hotel for him to stay in when we got back from the beach. He found it on Expedia, and it was actually really really nice, and right down the street from the Hillel house. Finally, the meeting was over, and we headed out to go to the beach. We took the metro to the stop that had the bus station, and for 5,500 pesos, each bought a round trip ticket to Viña Del Mar. The Bus was at least air conditioned. It was about a 2 hour ride there, so I was glad it was not sweltering. We arrived in Viña around 4:00, and walked about a mile to the hostel that I had proudly found and booked online. It was the closest and cheapest hostel to the beach. We found the building, and lo and behold, it was closed. Not just closed, it was abandoned – broken windows, newspaper over the windows, the whole shabang. That was quite upsetting, since we were about as pretty far from the station as possible. Right next door, there was a “Arabi Restaurante y Hostal”. So we walked over there, and asked them what happened with the hostel. She said that it happens all the time that people book on the internet and show up. Lucky for her, they probably all end up staying at her place. I asked her how much the hostel costs, and if she had a room, and she said 35 (the other was $40), so we thought that we had had a lucky break! It wasn’t until after I paid, that I realized I’d just paid 35,000 pesos!! Which is about $65. I was kicking myself all day for that. I felt dumb. But, at least we had somewhere to stay, since most places were booked for the week because of new years (everyone goes to Viña for new years). We finally went and changed and went to the beach around 5:00, which was perfect, because the sun is up there until about 8:30, and it stays light there until almost 10:00. Then we went back to the hostel, and got ready for dinner. We went out to this mexican place, and got there around 10:00. Viña is known for drinking, so almost everywhere has a happy hour for a good part of the day. The restaurant we were at had happy hour all day until 11:00, so not only were drinks half price, so was all the food. We ate a yummy dinner, and Charles had 3 drinks, and I had 2 and a water, and we got all that for 11,000 pesos (like 20 bucks). Not too shabby!! We went and looked at the beach at night, which was really pretty, but really cold, and then came back to sleep. What a day.


Tuesday 12-28-04-I got up and went to Hillel this morning, and expected Charles to come in and visit. He had caught the flight the night before, so he arrived at Hillel just before noon. I took him around “El Centro”, and then we ate lunch and went to a museum. At this point, we had to head back to Lea’s to be ready for the ballet at 8. Lea lives pretty far out past the Metro, so we had to catch a bus. This was also my first bus experience, so it was quite interesting. The busses here work on commission, so it’s based on how many passengers they pick up. So they pretty much stop at every single bus stop. There aren’t specific stops for specific busses. As long as there’s a stop on that block, if you stand there and raise your hand when your bus is coming, he’ll stop. It’s funny though, because sometimes, if there’s just one person that wants their bus, the driver will often just pass them by, hoping it will be worth their while to get to the next stop before the other busses. So, in short, it takes a very long time to get anywhere. The busses are also quite hot, and of course not airconditioned, so it can get miserable. The bus ride took an hour, which in the car, takes about 15 minutes. That’s what we get for not having a car. We got back to Lea’s around 5:30, showered, and had to head right back out at 6:30 to be back to the theatre in time for the show. The ballet was a “family ballet”, so it wasn’t that great. There were a lot of little kids, and the performance was about ten numbers from lots of different ballets, but it was still neat, getting to see it here. After that, we went and ate a light dinner, at a little restaurant. Everyone here eats avacado with just about everything, so Charles wanted to try it. I told him to order his hamburger with “Ave”. I didn’t realize though, that Palta is avacado, and Ave is chicken. So, he was a little upset when he got his hamburger topped with chicken. Oh Well. We then opted for a taxi back since we were both exhausted, and didn’t want to take the bus.


12-27-04- I haven't been to my computer in a few days, so I am going to divide it by days within the entry. It is always easier to remember things as they happen instead of days later, but I'll try.
This morning, Lea had to go to the school to get some work done, so I went with her and took a run on the track. By the time I was done, she too was ready to go. we went back, I showered and ate, and then we left for Hillel. On the way we stopped for gas, and I figured I'd mention that here, you don't pump your own gas. You tell the attendant the amount of money you want pumped, and they do it for you. Full Serve everywhere =) That's the life. I got here to Hillel, and I spent some time uploading pictures and checking email for a while. Then I got to work, but the pictures should be uploaded onto the pictures page. Go here if you have no idea how to navigate my page. I wasn't feeling great today, so I went and took a nap when we got back. Lea cooked some fabulous food for dinner (salmon and potatoes, but ueber good salmon). At night, Lea and I went to a movie "Al final del Tunel" which was made by Dani, one of the guys that works at Hillel, and was having it's opening at a theatre. The camerawork was horribly unsteady, and I already was not feeling great, so I had to sit outside the theatre for a bit to pull myself together. When I got back, Charles let me know he was going to come here for a few days to visit, so that should be cool.


Sunday 12-26-04- I slept till noon today, I was exhausted. Lea wanted to be my tour guide of the city, but I had already seen a lot of the city this past week, so we walked around a bit, and she was going to take me to a market by 'el centro', but when we got there, it was closed - for the day after Christmas, or some other lame excuse ;-). So we just walked around. We met up with one of her Israeli friends, and wandered into a fish market, which smelled horrible, but was FILLED with hundreds of people at a half a dozen restaurants. After leaving, we walked around another shopping area, and then went back to an ice cream place by where we parked. The Ice cream was really good, and as we were eating, the couple behind us was speaking English, and started talking to us. They were a middle aged couple from outside Philly, and taking one look at the wife, I knew she was Jewish. I am not sure if it was her mannerisms or how she talked, but later in the conversation, she mentioned she was, so I guess my 'jewdar' is calibrated correctly haha. After that, Lea and I went to the mall to get tickets to see Ocean's 12, or as they call it here "la nueva grand estafa". It was unfortunately sold out, so we got tickets to the next one, and hung around the mall for a little while. They have a great store here called Casa & Ideas, which is kind of like Bed Bath and Beyond, but much more fun, and cheaper. made me wish that I had a real house or apartment to decorate - not like I have the space to bring anything back, but, still. Dana's boyfriend, Estevan, joined us for the movie. Then, Lea and I went home, ate dinner, watched a little TV, and then went to sleep.


Saturday 12-25-04- At 9:30, we got up, still sleepy, and got ready to walk to shul. There was a sponsored lunch after services were over, so that was cool. It was quite a large meal, and we were there 'till 3:00. Then we went home and relaxed and talked and read some, and then later ate some dinner. That night, I talked to my parents on the phone for the first time, which was nice. Then Lea and I went out to get a drink and just spend some time "out on the town". Because we were keeping the Sabbath, we barely noticed how quiet the city was because of Christmas.


Friday 12-24-04- I woke up early and went running around Tania's neighborhood. Ever since I've been here, I've noticed that the men whistle at girls and hit on girls like crazy. girls, you know when you walk by a construction site, and the workers whistle, etc? well that is how everyone is here. It is normal. anyway, running has never been so ego boosting. Everyone was whistling. It was kind of the same feeling I get when I'm at tech, outnumbered by a lot of guys. Anyway, I got back, showered, and was ready at 11. long story short, I didn't leave till 4:00, but didn't know that at the time; so I was just bumming around the house pretty much all day. In the afternoon, Lea picked me up and we went to drop my stuff at her apartment, and then to the grocery store. Lea keeps strict Kosher, so she showed me which foods were OK to buy, and which weren't. That night, we got ready and left for shul (synagogue) around 8:30. We ate at a family's house here, who Lea claims are her adopted parents. They live in a GORGEOUS house, and are really nice. because of how late the sun goes down here, Shabbat didn't start until quite late, and dinner was at around 11:00 pm. It was a great dinner, with lots of yummy food and company. After dinner, Lea and I walked back to her apartment, but because we couldn't take the elevator, we had to walk to her 11th floor apartment. What a workout! We got to sleep around 2:00 am.


12-23-04- Santiago, like probably just about every city in most of the world, is hustling and bustling today to get the last of their Christmas presents and finish up work. I have two days of stuff to update you on, but first, I want to clarify something. I sounded in some of my previous posts, like I was having a bad time. I am NOT at all having a bad time. I was struggling a lot when I arrived with the culture, the speech, and not being able to be too independent. I have worked through, gotten used to, or ignored those obstacles, and have gone on being a live-in tourist. After I updated on Tuesday, I met a girl, Elisheva that is here from NJ on a Spanish immersion program. She is here the same amount of time as me, but will learn much more Spanish. I wish I had thought of that. She and I traded books, so now I have some new books to read! none of them seem exactly my style of reading, but hey, it's reading still.
This morning, I went to tour again for a little while. I went to the Museo de Bellas Artes finally, and it was alright. I guess I am not much of an art person. They did however, have a photography exhibit on the bottom floor, where I went last. I enjoyed that more than everything else combined. There were some superb photos. I wish I could do that. I went from there to walk around a little bit, and I stopped in a park and read a little bit of one of my 'new' books. It is called "the world according to Garp". Like I said earlier, it is quite different from my usual reading, but it is alright. I went to a place that I think might be something like their version of KFC for lunch. It was really good, and I had a blast watching the waiters and cooks making the food. Spending the whole day alone let me daydream and think with no one to bother me. I spend so little time alone normally, I love that time to myself. Now I am at Hillel, and will be here probably for about another 5 hours. wheee!!!


12-22-04-Today was my all-day tourist day. I went with Danit (Tania's cousin) to do the Santiago touristy thing. both Tania and Danit herself described Danit as dependant and me as independant. They couldn't believe how easily I was taking the metro, and going where we needed to go, exactly the right direction (I guess I take after my dad in that sense). We started off the day taking the metro to the stop by the National Library. It was an incredible building, but then again, so were so many of the buildings we saw yesterday. we continued on to see the Teatro Municipal (aka Municipal Theatre). I looked in by the ticket office and noticed that there would be a ballet there next week. I asked Danit if she'd be interested in going to the ballet. She quickly declined. For a moment, I thought about how I wish I had been traveling with someone else who would love to go to the ballet with me (also, because that's the only way to see the inside of the theatre). But then I said to myself - hey, go by yourself! so, I walked up to the ticket window, and to the surprise of the distributor, asked for one ticket in section 4. Section 4 is 4/5. section 5 is the cheapest possible available seats, making section 4 the second cheapest - or fourth most expensive if you look at it like that. The ticket was 3000 pesos (about $5.50). I couldn't pass it up! So, next Tuesday night, I am going to the theatre. alone. and I can't wait. Anyway, after the theatre, we wandered around downtown Santiago for a bit. I like knowing where I'm going, Danit wanted to "get lost in the city". I agreed to get lost for a little bit, but what bothered me, was that Danit was walking very fast. If I have nowhere to go, why rush getting there? so I slowed her down and took in the city atmosphere. Though, with all the smog here, it's hard to take in too much of the atmosphere. Walking aimlessly brought us to the front door of the Casa Colorada, which used to house the governer, but now houses a museum of the history of Santiago. After visiting the museum, we made our way towards the Plaza de Armas, the main plaza in the city. Two of the sides of the Plaza are arcades of stores, shoppes, etc. On the third side, there is the Cathedral, and on the last side, the post office and Municipalidad. We took some pictures, went into the Cathedral, and were on our way. On our way where? we didn't know. We did know, though, that we were hungry. Danit insisted on McDonalds for lunch. Let me regress for a second and explain my view on McDonalds. In the states, I will once in a while, stop and get fries there. However, I almost NEVER eat there. In other countries, I HATE eating anywhere that even resembles American restaurants. I just love going to little small hole-in-the wall restaurant, and pretend that I am a local. But, Danit would have it no other way, so McDonalds it was. Yuk.
During lunch we planned the afternoon part of our trip. We took the metro a few stops down to get off about 8 blocks from one of Pablo Neruda's houses. Pablo Neruda is a famous Chilean poet, who men looked up to, and women adored. Watch the movie El Postino (the postman) to find out more. Anyway, we went to his house here, which is called La Chascona, and took a tour. Again, the tour was completely in spanish, but I managed to understand almost all of it. His house was unique in many ways, one of which was that he built it to resemble a boat. My favorite part though, was when we walked through the dining room, and the guide showed us two small shakers. One said 'morphine' and the other 'marijuana'. This was a bit peculiar. She said that in actuality, they had salt and pepper in them, but he did that to see the reactions of his guests. HA. maybe I'll try that. After the tour through the house, we walked across the river to get to the bottom of a very large hill - Cerro San Cristobar. On the way, we saw a sign that said it was 35 degrees -that's in Celsius). I said to Danit that it was quite hot, and she said she has no idea what the conversion is. Now, that is my specialty! I love math! so I quickly worked out that it equaled 95 degrees (I checked later that I was right) and was feeling quite smug that I did that without paper (I know, I am a math nerd). We paid to take the funicular (kind of like a train) to the top of (and later back down) Cerro San Cristobar. Once we got to the "top", we had to climb still another 200 or so uneven stone steps to get all the way to the top, where stood a statue, maybe 75 meters tall, 'The Virgin'. You can see this statue all over the city (since after all, it is at the highest point), but until we got to the very top of that statue, we had no idea how large it actually was. It's kind of like seeing the statue of liberty from a distance, and then realizing people are standing in her crown. From there, we could see the whole city, all the way to the beautiful mountains. By the time we got to the top, we were tired, hot, and hungry again. We took the funicular back to the bottom, staggered to the metro, and headed back to Tania's house. What a day.


12-21-04- I got up "early" this morning, at around 9:30, and left the house around 10:30 to walk to the artisan market. It is probably about 2 Km from Tania's house. I walked around the market, seeing all the different things they were selling, and thought there were some beautiful things, I didn't buy anything since everything I liked was either too big or too expensive.
I went back to the house, and packed my bag for the day. I went to the metro and aimed for Palacio Cousino. It is a royalty palace used to house many kings, presidents and prime ministers on their visits to Chile. on my way there, around 1:00, I realized they close for lunch from 1:30-2:30, and decided to get off the metro and walk around and have lunch to kill time before going to the palace. I ate a little bar type of place, and then walked around to another market type of thing. I bought a few souvenirs to bring back, and looking at them again, I like them more, and may get more for gifts. The necklaces, though marked at 1500 pesos each, I bought two for 2000. (that is like $3.50) they're worth more, and they were handmade by the guy there. After purchasing my great buys, I finally went to the palace, and got a tour just for me, since I was the only tourist there. The tour guide was gonna give me the tour in English, but I asked her to give it in slow spanish. I understood 90% of the tour. I was quite proud of myself. My favorite thing in the palace were these chairs that sat three people, kind of in a circle, but each chair faced the side of another...hard to explain. Anyway, this was so that when the daughters were courting, there would be a chair for the girl, a chair for the guy, and one for the chaperone!! haha I'm glad no one chaperones my dates.
On another note, THREE people asked me for directions today, and I was able to give ALL three correct directions!!! I was so excited. That means 1) my spanish isn't HORRIBLE, just Bad. 2) I don't stand out like a foreigner.
So, Tania lives in a district where a lot of the embassies are located. Right down her street, there is the Palistinian embassy. Supposedly, Chile has the largest population of palestinians[sic] than any other country outside the middle east. What gets me though, is, how can a country that doesn't exist, have an embassy?? crazy palestinians.


12-20-04- I was having a really rough time here Friday night. Thanks to y'all for trying to help. you know who you are. Anyway, we had Shabbat dinner with Tania and her siblings and friends because her parents were out of town. After dinner, everyone was hanging out, and I get really frustrated when I can't understand what's going on, so around 1:30 or 2, I went to bed. On Saturday, we spent the entire day setting up for the big Hillel party. They said they were expecting 400-600 people. I really have a hard time working with the people from here. Being a Type A personality, I wanted to go, set up, and go home. They went, they sat around talking, they smoked a cigarette, they hung up one thing, and then did it again. I couldn't even do my trademark nagging because I was having to difficult of a time conversing regularly to even attempt nagging, so I just kinda hung around. I read a little more too. Finally, 7 HOURS later, we were "done". at least, done enough to go home. we were wiped. At least, I was. I was on my feet pacing for a lot of the dead time during the setup. So we went home, and I read a little and rested a little, and showered and got ready for the party. It called for 11:00, and although we got there around 10:15, it really didn't get started till about 12:30. Unfortunately, they didn't meet their goal, and only about 250 people showed. I left the party around 4:30, and Tania was there till 5:30 cleaning up. Then yesterday, we got up, and Tania and I sat out in the sun for a little while and relaxed, and then I went to the mall to check out all my favorite 'non-American' stores that I miss oh so much since being in Spain. Then last night, they had a party at the house, since their parents are out of town, and that was fun too, but again, eventually I got bored with pretending to understand conversation, so I went to bed around 2.
Today, we got up to go to la museo nacional de Bellas Artes (the art museum). Right before we left, I looked at my handy guide book that I hadn't glanced at since I've been here. Lucky I did, because on the front page, it said that all museums are closed on Monday. Darn. So, we instead went to the Jewish School to pick up some things, and then over to Hillel. We're going to go to the museum tomorrow.
This weekend I walked a little around Tania's neighborhood, and found a little park and read some there. I have finished three books since I've gotten here. I am just devouring them. I am going to have to find some books to borrow, because I don't have the suitcase space to buy any more.
Oh yeah, I am REALLY sick of going to sleep with my hair reeking of smoke, and all my clothes smelling of smoke just from being in my suitcase.


12-17-04 again - Dan asked me to post about the life here and how it might be different from life in the US/ Spain. First off, in answer to the question, there aren't as many thongs, or black thongs with white pants, etc. Sorry boys. The city is very Americanized. They have TGI Fridays, McDonalds, blockbuster, ruby tuesday, subway, and just about every other fast food you can think of. There are a lot of cars here, few motorcycles, and a lot of pollution. There is a public transportation, but there are only a few lines - slightly better than Marta. Here however, people use it. They use the busses too, but they are slower. People live at their parents house pretty much till they're married, which often makes the parents much more open minded since they have their kids, their kids boyfriends and friends all over all the time. more to come in this section...


12-17-04- Dana left with Diana yesterday for the US to go to an International Hillel conference, so I moved my stuff to Tania's house. Tania's family is quite unique. there is Tania, her older brother Arie, and her little 8 yr old brother Eitan. When Arie and Tania picked me up from Hillel, as we were driving back, they warned me that their house was "different". It turns out, their dad is a Kabbalist, and teaches Kabballah classes every night. Last night there were probably 80 people at the house in multiple levels of classes. It was quite strange, but basically, they run an "institute" out of their house. After the classes, Tania came back (she had to go to a play or something), and a bunch of her friends came over. It was pretty fun, but I was tired. There was quite a difference between Tania and her friends compared to Dana and hers. I think it's mainly the age difference, since she is just 20. Something that I've noticed is that everyone has at least one live-in maid. But for me, I am used to doing things like clearing my place, making my bed, etc. At both Dana and Tania's homes, the maids do most of the housework, including cooking. I suppose that's what they're paid for, but it was weird for me. I will be living at Tania's house for the next week. Her parents are leaving today out of town, so I get a feeling there'll be a party there Sunday night. Tania and her brother are different from me, as are many of the people here. Everyone around here smokes, and I just don't worry about it, and endure it. I took my first metro ride this morning to Hillel too...typical metro, but cheaper than Marta. It is 310 Pesos which is about $0.50. The exchange rate is 1 dollar = ~575 Pesos...cheap, but difficult conversion in my head.


12-16-04 - I hear it's going to snow in Atlanta this weekend. here's Santiago's weather for this week:
(I'd posted a screen shot from www.weather.com that showed it being 75 and sunny every day...It didn't show up when I transfered the blog)


12-15-04 (afternoon)- I spent today at the Hillel House. It is frustrating because the internet was down for 9/10 of the time. I began researching some programs, and honestly, it was pretty boring. I am having a really hard time understanding everyone's speaking. They speak quite sloppily, slur words, and here at the Hillel, they sometimes even mix it with Hebrew, which just screws me up a little more.
By the way, if you're a faithful reader, the pictures I kept saying I was working on...they're up. You can now visit my newly formatted and newly updated pictures page.


12-15-04- One thing I've noticed here, is that on every corner, someone will approach your window. it might be to give you a flier, or sell you something, and sometimes, (about 1/3), you'll have a clown at the front of your car, juggling for you so you'll give him money. Sadly, sometimes, these are children.
I will be working at Hillel to find out about international programs for the students here - specifically in Jewish studies. They're not being very descriptive, but I have a few weeks to figure it out =) The internet goes down here a lot, which is already frustrating since that's how I'll be doing most of my research. Hopefully it'll get better.
The city is very similar to an American city. Many people drive, and almost nothing is walkable - different than I expected. I just got my computer set up at Hillel, so I will be now uploading on a constant basis. Stay tuned, I don't think my entries will be this long as time goes by =)


12-14-04 (evening)- I feel like I've been here for days, and it's just been a few hours. I think it's because I am so tired. I got to the hillelhouse at about 11:00 today. I met Dana, who I'd been emailing with for the past month. I am actually staying in her home for the next few nights. She lives with her parents, which is normal until someone gets married here. Dana is 26. I have been a bit overwhelmed with all the new people along with trying to learn the way of life and the language all at the same time. Dana's mom is Israeli, so Dana, along with a few of the other hillel staff members, including Lea, speak this mixture of spanish and hebrew. Similar to spanglish, but their own version. I am getting by. I have not eaten yet, even though they keep offering me food. I think I am just too tired to eat.
I brought one book with me to Chile, and managed to finish half of it before I even arrived in Miami, so I spent a little money and bought two books in a MIA newstand. Hopefully those will keep me occupied for a while. Otherwise, I'll have to go shopping here. The exchange rate here is about 550 pesos to the dollar. it is a little difficult converting it, but not too bad. I went with Lea to the mall to pick up a few things, and I really liked their mall. I will have to go back. It seemed the clothes and shoes were much less expensive, and much cuter =) but I have time.
Lea and I talked about the Chilean boys today. She says they're not goodlooking. But there is a party on saturday night at the Hillel house. If I want my pick, they'll all be there, supposedly. Then, I went to Dana's house and brought my stuff and dropped it off. Her mom Miri is very nice, and made me feel right at home. I spent a little time by the pool reading, and then came in for a short nap and shower. Tonight we went to dinner and the movies - me, Dana, Dana's Boyfriend Estephan, and Lea. We saw a pierce Brosnan american movie, but I'm not sure of the US name of the movie. Now I am back home, it is 12:30 Chile time, and I am wiped. It is time to sleep. Tomorrow will be my first day at work.


12-14-04- I am still on the plane on my way to Santiago as I write this update. I flew from Atlanta to Miami, and Miami to Santiago. Santiago time is two hours later than Atlanta, which means I'll be able to go to sleep two hours earlier tonight, since I pretty much didn't sleep on the plane. Usually on the long flights, I'll sleep with my head on a pillow on the traytable, but it seems the seats were closer together, because I couldn't fit. That did not prove for a comfortable or relaxing flight. Also, once I got on the flight to Santiago, they served us "dinner". it was about 12:30 midnight. I wasn't hungry, and wasn't really sure what to do with my plate since I didn't really want to eat it (I mean really, even if you are hungry, how much do you want to eat that??). Then, around 8:00 am Santiago time, they came around with breakfast. It was an egg with ham omelet. darn. I asked to switch it out, so they brought me a package of corn flakes. It wasn't until I took the first bite that I remembered that I was entering a foreign country. The milk was room temperature. yuk. soggy cornflakes in warm milk. Just what I would love to awake to.
Another thing that has bothered me so far on this flight is the stereotyping. The ticket agents at the gate at the Miami airport, along with all of the flight attendants on our plane decide if they should speak to you in Spanish or English, just by taking one look at you. I mean really, we're going to a South American country. Everyone's going to have to get by on Spanish, so speak to everyone in Spanish. OR, because we're leaving the US, speak to everyone in English. I don't like this discrimination...


12-13-04-I spent the past few days doing housing check out stuff, and packing, and cleaning. It's been relaxing. I also had a little shindig at my apartment saturday night. It was mainly for everyone graduating and leaving. I didn't realize how different it'd be next semester until I had everyone over. A lot of my good friends have just graduated, and then a few more are leaving for the Australia study abroad. It has just conveniently happened all at the same time. sad. Well, this is my last update from the states. I am bringing my laptop, and will hopefully be updating the blog quite often, and possibly posting pictures as well, so keep your eyes out for it.
keep me occupied and send me emails telling me what you're up to over break. gte357v.
I will miss you all over the next month, take care of yourselves and of each other. love to all.


12-10-04-Finals are over for me. I am not sure yet how my grades will be, but I am still pressing to maintain or raise my GPA. I will not, however, speculate as to what grades I think I got in each class.
I am however, going to tell you about a funny event that happened tonight. I went tonight to the student center's bagels thing around 11:00. they have free bagels until 12. At 12, jeff was cleaning up, and he asked if I wanted to go with him to give the leftover bagels to homeless people. I agreed, thinking we were going to run the bagels by a shelter. I was wrong. we started driving around downtown atlanta at about 1:00am looking for homeless people to give the bagels to. There were 5 bags of bagels, and we wanted to give each bag to a different set of people. The trip started out easy. We stopped at the wachovia by tech parkway and there were homeless guys in the drive through teller areas. They graciously accepted a bag of bagels. From there, we tried to go near the tunnel on the other side of east campus. We drove in, and saw a whole bunch of people, and we both got pretty scared, and hightailed it out of there. We continued toward the real downtown. This is where the story gets interesting. We slow down by a homeless person, and ask if he'd like a bag of bagels. He said "I don't eat bagels". That's right, our free bagels were turned down by a homeless person. If that wasn't enough, the next person we asked turned us down too. are we that scary? At least the second person had an excuse. He said he couldn't eat them because he had no teeth. From there, we met a fair share of really scary people, but got rid of all the bags. The most surprising thing we noticed tonight, though, was that almost no one said thank you, but almost everyone asked for money in addition. I mean, really, be happy that we're giving you a bag of free bagels!!


12-03-04- The website has been down. That is why you haven't seen updates for a while. I have been posting, it just hasn't been online, so here it is. everything is a little vague, but as the time passes, I'll add details.
The last couple weeks were good. Stressfull, but good. Thanksgiving was nice. We ate at the ghertners, and I spent some quality time with family and friends. I also went to the UGA game. Now that, was an experience. It was freezing cold and raining, and just not fun. The fact that we were losing wasn't that great either. We left after halftime (later than many of the rest of the fans), and watched the rest from Rochelle's apartment. Other events went on that evening, but I will not embarrass the subjects of that story so much by posting that on my page.
This past week was dead week. I had 2 projects and my senior recital. Everything went smoothly. I don't think any of them went super, but they were sufficient. I think everything came out at B level. I managed to exempt my Statics and Dynamics exam. I am excited. That means I got at least one A this semester. I'd like to get at least two. I played in my recital last night, and I was blessed with having my great friends come and support me. I needed it. I was really nervous, and you could hear it in my playing, but it is overwith, and Pete took us all out to Tamarind afterwards to celebrate. yay! So, now that this week is over, I only have one remaining final. Phew!
I have been spending a lot of time on my Junior's Grill project. It started with an innocent round table discussion, and has since tornadoed out into bigger things. We had a photo contest, and some superb pictures were turned in. I also sat down with Tommy, the owner of Junior's, and came up with a new layout for the restaurant to help the flow and increase seating space. That has been my passion for the past couple months. Some people have been really instrumental in helping me, so thank you. Austin A. did the wonderful website. What a great job!
On another note, I am going to Chile, S.A. over winter break! I will be there for 3 and a half weeks, and spending most of the time in Santiago. I will be helping out at the Hillel there, and have received some generous grants from Hillel to help me pay my way. I'll be bringing my laptop, and hopefully have blogs and pictures posted periodically while I'm there.


11-24-04- Do you ever go to an event, and just really have a pleasant time? especially an event that you weren't particularly expecting to have an exceptional time at? Well, tonight, our conductor, Ron Mendola invited the entire orchestra to his place for a dinner party. It was absolutely a blast. I will post pictures up from this event soon, but I always leave orchestra social events with my cheeks hurting from laughing.
The past few weeks have been rather hectic. Every class has had a test, and most of those tests have been rather rough for me. Hopefully though, I will achieve my semester grade goals, and not have to worry too much. I realized the other day, that after spending my priority registration creating a fantabulous schedule for fall, I completely failed to register for one of my only remaining required classes. Now, I will register for it, and it will pretty much ruin my perfect schedule. Oh well.
On another note, I had a meeting the other day with Bernie Marcus (the billionaire creator of Home Depot) and a few other big-wigs. I felt quite important and was lookin' quite spiffy in my new suit.
This past weekend, I pet-sat at my house. I got to take care of Reuben all weekend. He is such a cute, sweet, smart dog...aww =)
to my dear friend who is having a particularly rough week, I am thinking of you, and I expect to see you grinning again soon ;-)


11-9-04- I was taking a nap today for the first time, and I thought of something. I always sleep either on my stomach or on my right side. I wonder if that affects things. I wonder if all my organs have slowly been shifting to that side. I heard it isn't good to sleep like that. What about in a few years when I'm married, and I am pregnant. How will I sleep??? I really like sleeping face down. oh well. that was my random thought of the day. The Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra paired up this weekend with the Atlanta Lyric Opera to play a weekend of Gilbert and Sullivan. it was a good show, but I had to miss a few fun things I would've liked to do otherwise - namely road-tripping to the NC State game or going to a semi-formal. Oh well.
Newest news - Lisa has decided to study abroad in Australia this spring. That is way cool for her, I'm sure she is going to have a super time, but that leaves me with no roommate in spring. After searching long and hard...ok, maybe just searching, I was put in contact with Laurel, who I'll now be living with in Spring. Rock on. I think it'll be a fun time and I'm excited - though, Lisa, I'm sad to see you go!!
I spent hours a few weeks ago revamping my pictures pages, and I just haven't had time to shift them all up onto my webpage!! Hopefully, they'll be up soon. I'll make sure to let you know when it's all posted.
On another note, this semester has FLOWN by! I can't believe it is almost over, and I will just have one semester left!! Here is my poll of the day: should I buy a class ring? IM me what you think.


11-1-04- Another relatively relaxing weekend. Friday I went home for Shabbat dinner, which was really nice. I love going home for Shabbat, and though I used to make it home every week, it's been more scarce lately. I went to a bit of the Women's leadership conference Saturday, and then went to parties at night. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my non-usual crowd for a bit. Sunday we had a mad volleyball game in honor of Leah W.'s birthday, and then I went to orchestra rehearsal for the remainder of the afternoon/evening. After all that, I opened my room for trick or treating for my residents, which was a blast. I have been working on revamping my webpage to make the picture pages better, and just haven't had the couple hours I need to get it finalized...I guess it'll have to wait. 5 weeks till the end of the semester, 6 until finals are over. yipee! Oh yeah. I love daylight savings time...fall back baby, and get an extra hour!!! =)


10-25-04-I finished off last weekend relaxing, and getting things done. No matter how little schoolwork I have, I still have organizational stuff to catch up on. Anyway, the week went well, and I got back a couple tests that went OK. I am running solid B+'s this semester. As long as one of them turns out as an A, I'll be happy because I'll be able to maintain my GPA hahaha, and that's all I'm worried about as of now. I really should be interviewing for jobs, but I just haven't had the time. With all the JSU stuff, and ODK selections going on, I haven't had a second to spare. This weekend, friday we had JSU services and trivia, which was fun, and then Saturday night was the big JSU social event, going to a Maize maze. 35 of us drove all the way out about 50 miles outside the city, and as it turns out, the Maze was on fire!! so we turned around and went to startime entertainment. We walked around a little fair, and then went to the batting cages, which was soo fun. I hadn't done that in years. Then, when I got back, I went by the party in 229, and had a lot of fun just hanging out with the guys. then on Sunday, I went to Team Buzz, which was fun, once they got their act together at the site, and then after that, we had an ODK social and selections. As I was cleaning up from selections, Tony called and said he had an extra ticket to go to the FOX to see the Moscow Symphony perform, so I went spontaneously. It was fun. and now, the week starts again...


10-17-04- Yesterday was the Homecoming game. Friday was a lot of fun. After school stuff ended for the day, I went shopping with my mom to buy a suit for the game Saturday, since I didn't own a suit. When I got back to school, I went to buzz bash and hung out with random alumni, and then at the end, they introduced the finalists for Mr. and Ms. GT to the crowd. After Buzz bash, I went swing dancing for a little while and then came home to go to bed. Game day was a blast. In the morning I went to AEPi to pick up my ticket (which I ended up not having to use), and then went to MARTA to pick up my parents for the game. They got in the car, and then, to my surprise, Rochelle and my sister Leah had come from Athens to cheer me on at the game!! I was so excited. anyway, as I went to an alumni BBQ thing, my parents went for a few minutes to a Technique reunion, which my dad really enjoyed since he was the editor-in-chief of the technique when he was here, and got to reminisce for a little bit. After that, we met up at the BBQ, and then headed for the game. We spent the first half of the game in the third floor of the Wardlaw building, overlooking the field. It was really a lot of fun hanging out with the other finalists, and being a little nervous together. Right before halftime, we walked down to the field, and after the band played their first couple pieces, we took the field. It was surreal standing down there. It was something I had seen every homecoming for 4 years, and couldn't believe I was standing there. They called each of our names, and said a little bit about us as we were escorted into the football field. You can check out the pics on my photos page. I had my dad escort me, and I think he was even more excited about this whole event than I was! The winners, who might I add, I had predicted from round one, were announced: Paul S. and Ashlee M. they got into the Wreck and drove around the stadium, and surprisingly, when the rest of us went back, it was strange. I think we were all so excited to have gotten to make it on the field, we weren't upset about the outcome. It was truly a great experience, and quite humbling to be placed there. Although, it was pretty cool to be on the jumbo-tron - though, I didn't get to see it. Fun times...now for the rest of the long fall break weekend, I think I will relax :-)


10-15-04-Well, Last night was the talent show. The way that the Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech competition goes is as follows: One is nominated by a campus organization, usually a Greek organization, and submits an application, delineating what you have been involved with on campus, what awards you've gotten, and your future plans. If you also meet the minimum GPA requirement, you move on to the interview round. At the interview, you are asked questions by a panel of faculty, administrators, and alumni. They ask you things about Georgia Tech, involvement, leadership, and yourself. You're graded based on: Communication skills, Self Assurance, Activities/honors, Clearly defined personal and career goals, Enthusiasm and school spirit, Campus and community involvement, and Leadership ability. After the interview, they narrow it down to ten female and ten male semi-finalists. At this point, voting goes online, and any student has the opportunity to vote once for one male and one female. During the voting process, all of the candidates had to go to a video shoot, where we had a semi-interview on video. This year, because the homecoming theme is superheros, there were a lot of questions like "if you could be a superhero, what would your power be?" etc. But there were also questions like "sing your favorite part of the GT fight song" or "what does Georgia Tech mean to you?" Anyway, I said that GT meant "opportunity" to me, and I elaborated on that. I also sang the second verse of the Ramblin' Wreck - "If I had a daughter sir, I'd dress her in white and gold, and put her on the campus, to cheer the brave and bold; but if I had a son, sir, I'll tell you what he'd do, he would yell 'TO HELL WITH GEORGIA' like his daddy used to do". Well, this video was edited, and then on Thursday night, during the homecoming week talent show competition, they showed clips of each semifinalist between acts. Yes, they definitely showed me singing on the big screen! At least when I yelled "TO HELL WITH GEORGIA", everyone in the crowd yelled it too, so it was cool =). During intermission of the talent show (which really isn't intermission, just a break in the acts, so they can do this), they introduce all of the candidates on stage, and say their name, major, and hometown. everyone sees us, and then we go and sit back down. At the end of the show, they announce the winners of the talent show, and then what we've all been waiting for, the 5 male and female finalists for the Mr. and Ms. GT competition. When they called my name as a finalist, I thought I was imagining it. I was sooo excited. I was excited just to have made it to the voting round, but this topped it off. Being a finalist meant that tonight, I'd go to Buzz Bash, the alumni event, and then on game day, I get to go to the Alumni BBQ, and then for the first half of the game, sit in the president's box. At half-time, they will present each of us on the feild, and I will have my dad escort me (which is one of the coolest things, because I think he'd LOVE that, especially since he's a Tech grad himself). They will then announce the winner, who will get to drive around the field in the Ramblin' Wreck. The winner is announced to the contestants at the same time the rest of the football stadium hears it, so that is a little nerve wracking. Though, the homecoming committee already knows the winners.
Incase this post didn't convey it, I am really excited, and THANK YOU to all my friends who voted and coerced other people into voting for me. It really meant a lot to me, and I am thrilled to have had this opportunity. I love you guys.


10-11-04- Keep the emails coming! so, I am really trying to rally for some votes for Ms. GT because I am not involved in some of the "typical" things, and I am not greek, nor am I sponsored by a greek organization. So, in my inbox today, came these emails, which I am sooo appreciative of... (by the way, if you send out an email with my name in it, I'll post it here as well!, just send me a copy of it!)
From Andrew Howard, President of RHA, to the exec board:
Hey Guys,Aparently Bela, our wonderful RHA Treasurer of the past, is running forMs. Georgia Tech. If you haven't already voted for someone else, youmight consider casting your vote the red head's way. Currently she servesas the JSU President and a very involved CA in HArmFul. I think she is agreat candidate.Thats my two cents,Andrew
From Marcus Smith, fellow Housing staff member:
Dear All not from England,
In the interests of maintaining a democracy and a "fair and balanced" (in the words of that austrialian news network) election.....
VOTE BELA JACOBSON!!!!!!
as President of the JSU and a CA with Housing (amoungst many other thngs) she works tirelessly for the well being of students and especially her residents at Georgia Tech. She worked for me this summer and I can strongly recomend her for Ms Georgia Tech.
Get voting!!!
file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Bela/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/www.elections.gatech.edu
Cheers
From Ben Nathan, to his chem fraternity, AXE:
WARNING! this message is from me, so it's a little odd :-PHey. As most of you bela know, it's time for Ms. GbelaT elections. So really, all i'm saying bela here is that you should bela go to http://www.elections.gatech.edu/ and bela vote for teh bela candidate that you bela know best. That candidate is one bela Ms. Bela Jacobson. Everyone of you bela knows her and so therefore every one bela of you should bela vote for her. So hopefully, you bela will vote for bela. The reason I'm bela sending this one is that bela doesn't have a fraternity or bela sorority to back her up, so she's just relying on those that know her. I know we have people who are in organizations that have other candidates, but if not, please consider bela :)THANKS!Ben N.P.S. there was no subliminal messaging in this bela e-mail
From Bill Tice, officer in the Orchestra, and emailer extraordinaire:
Hello you Tech geeks who love symphony freaks,
I'm sending this e-mail to all of you in the orchestra so that we might rally behind one woman. This woman has done a lot for the Orchestra and right now she needs us. She has also been working on a cure for cancer, dined with heads of state and royalty of ancient lineage, been the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in an inflatable pool, and been a tireless supporter of exaggeration in e-mails. She is Bela Jacobson and she is running for Ms. Georgia Tech. Ms. Georgia Tech is an elected position which requires her to marry whomever is elected as Mr. Georgia Tech and create the next generation of Super-Techies. It's a hard job, and one that few are fit for, but Bela can do it.
Ok, seriously- it's like the Homecoming Queen for Georgia Tech and it is a big deal and it won't take any time to vote- just go to http://www.elections.gatech.edu/ and vote for Bela Jacobson. You can vote any time until Thursday at 4.
Bela Jacobson
Your name has five syllables
Oh how convenient
It's a crappy haiku- but verse could be worse.
From Michael Abraham, Drum Major of the band:
Hey, Band! Since Lisa isn't an option for voting anymore, I recommend casting a vote for Bela Jacobson. Bela is the only candidate I recognize as being active in the GT Music program. So, if you don't have anyone in mind already, vote for Bela. She's the next best thing to an actual band candidate. file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Bela/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/www.elections.gatech.edu
From Sarah Jacoby, on exec board for JSU:
Hey guys!
As some of you already know, JSU is sponsoring our president, Bela Jacobson, in the Ms. Georgia Tech competition this year. She has made it into the top 10, and now it is up to us to make sure that she moves on to the next round. Go to file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Bela/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/www.elections.gatech.edu and vote for Bela right now!
Thanks!
From Eoin Grosch, Badical founder, and dear friend:
hey, you know what's cool and smart these days? voting for mr and ms. georgia tech. to join the sensation that's sweeping the campus, go to: http://elections.gatech.edu/
then vote for BELA JACOBSON and PRANAV KOTHARI. both are totally amiable, to the extreme!
From Jacob Brand, to the Drumline: (who thinks he'll get action from this email)
So, this has nothing to do with presidential elections. It has to do with a personal favor to me, and you will do it because it takes approximately 25 seconds and i've provided plenty of alcohol and entertainment to you all as well as taken a lot of shit. http://www.elections.gatech.edu/
Mr and Ms Georgia Tech are being presented during homecoming, and one of my lady friends has made it to the voting round. Most of you will not know anyone who is included, so just do me a favor and vote for Ms Bela Jacobson. http://www.elections.gatech.edu/ I think if I can secure some 30 votes or so, I might be able to pull some actoin out of it at least,and I think Craig has made it quite clear how much I need that. So for the love of god, just click on the link below, type in your gt crap, and then click on the little bubble for
BELA JACOBSON
Thank you
jacob

From Moshe Jacobson, my Brother:
Hey folks,
I know this is a shameless mis-use of this mailing list, but my sister Bela is a final contender for the title of Miss Georgia Tech. Since she is not in a sorority like most of the candidates, she doesn't have those freebie votes and needs every vote she can get.
You can go vote for Bela at http://elections.gatech.edu/. Spread the word to any students you know!
Thanks!


10-10-04- I know I know, it's been a while. But thanks for coming back! the most recent update is that I am a semifinalist for the Ms. GT competition. If you are reading this and haven't voted, go Here to vote some time before Thursday!! So, for all the old news, what has happened over the last two weeks? Well, we got through CWT session two, and it went quite smoothly as well, then the next day, October 4, was my birthday!! I unfortunately had to spend it at meetings the whole time, but when I got back, Lisa, Rachel, Sarah, Daniel, Paul, and Julie were all here to surprise me with cake (and the fire alarm) !! I went through this past week quite quietly - no tests or anything, but got a fair amount of things completed.
This past Saturday afternoon, I went to the mall with Adam, and (if you've been reading this long enough) did the same thing for Adam that we did for Sebastian last year- helped his sense of style. He got new pants, shirts, shoes, and tees, and even a new belt! he was lookin' spiffy at the end of the day!!
Last night also was my birthday party that Jacob threw for me. It was a lot of fun until I got sick at the end, but I am so lucky to have such great friends that really helped me have a super time. Thanks Jacob, for having the party at your place and for as always, being a great guy- (although, no matter how much you try to convince me otherwise, I will never like the speedo).
Today I just had a randomly busy day filled with meetings, but this morning was my interview for the semi-finalist round for Ms. GT, and I am uber excited to have made it to the voting round, and proud to be in the display with such a great group of people.
Follow-up to come this Thursday, when they announce the finalists.


9-28-04- Last week flew by, yet again. I feel like a broken record. everything happens so quickly. This weekend was Yom Kippur, which was alright, and then Sunday was the first Connect With Tech session. There were a few loose ends that we messed up on, but as a whole, the session went superbly. I was very impressed with the hosts and the rest of the advisory board for making it a great session.
Last night, I was of course in a rush to get to a meeting, like I always am, and slipped and fell down the stairs in the parking deck. Now, it was a very painful fall, and I am still really bruised and in a lot of pain, but I think the worst part about it, is something that everyone knows. Those parking deck stairs are the grossest stairs in all of GT's campus. They always smell like pee, and if you go all the way to the bottom, there is puke that has been there for at least three weeks. Ew.


9-21-04- I have managed to be so busy lately, that I don't have time to eat. For some people, that's no big deal. For me, it is. I like food. I usually have 3 meals and 2 snacks (at least) every day. So, since I haven't been eating as much, probably combined with the fact that I have consistently been working out three times a week, I think I've lost some weight. If I'm losing weight due to stress, then that is probably not healthy. if it's due to working out, then I'm alright. we'll see if it is still happening soon. My pants are a little big. And, in the words of Mitch Hedberg last night - "Belts are created to keep your pants up, belt loops are on the pants to keep the belt up...who's the real hero here??"


9-19-04- Yikes, you know those people that are old, that say "treasure your time while you're young because before you know it, you've gotten old"? well, it is before I know it already. Every day I'm like...wow! look how quickly this time passed! I can't even remember what I was doing for most of it! I mean, every second I have, I am either doing things for JSU, CWT, CA, or ODK...yeah, enough abbreviations yet? how about the classes? I spend SO little time with friends, it is crazy. Not to say that I don't have friends in these organizations, as a matter of fact, that is where most of my friends are. It's just that the time I spend with them is work, not play. I did however break away for a few hours this weekend to listen to GT lose to UNC, and then hit up my friend Jess's place for a bit. I met a really nice couple that just got married, and they are a completely untapped resource into the Jewish singles community. Even better, I really liked them! they were too cute together, and the husband actually went to tech and graduated right before I got here, and was one of the founding fathers of JSU at Tech. Cool stuff, huh?
People think that I am ready to get married. I get it a lot. People are like, "well if you didn't give off that 'I need to settle down' vibe, you'd be a little more approachable". To say that I can't wait to get married isn't true, but I can't wait to settle down and not feel like I have to always be looking. There's a difference, I promise. Boys, don't get scared, I am not ready to get married. No! Come back!
I like my friends. They are the greatest people ever. y'all, please remain to keep me in line and tell me how it is. I appreciate every single piece of advice you give me, regardless of if I agree with it or not, and if I follow it or not. Keep it coming, I love you all!!!


9-12-04- This week went by very quickly. It was a short week to begin with because of the holiday, but it was so jam-packed with stuff, it flew by. On Friday, We had services on campus, which went well, and then, Eoin, Daniel, and Matt came over, and after deciding to not watch one of Eoin's "great" movies, we came up with our own way of having "fun". I would suggest checking it out. After that, I went to AEPi for a bit. Saturday was fun also. I went to a family friend's for lunch, came back and played volleyball for a while, and then went to dinner for Heather's b-day, and Leah W. came because she was in town. After dinner, we stopped by daniel's to watch the second half of the Clemson game. If you didn't see it, you are missing out. It was a superb game. Today is all studying. (we'll see if I stick to that.)


9-06-04- Six Flags was awesome. Me, Lisa, Daniel and Paul had a super time. I even rode rollercoasters (which was a big deal for me)!! We got there at 6, and left at 12, and it was great because the whole park was filled with GT students and affiliates. So, everywhere I'd turn, there would be someone else I know. I think it started bugging the other three because around 9:00, they decided to keep count of how many people I stopped to talk to. But, they didn't tell me this until later in the evening. By the end of the evening, I had racked up a whopping 43 encounters! After the park, we got some food and then stayed up watching a movie on Daniel's big screen. That evening was fun times.
Well, all of you are probably wondering about "that guy" that I wrote about a few days ago. I am going to Call him Frank to protect his identity. Frank is really cool. From when I met him until now, we have gotten along really well, and everything has gone really smoothly. He is a guy that really exemplifies so many of the qualities I look for in someone. He is genuine. He is kind, modest, smart, and funny. He has a personality that gets along with everyone, and a smile that makes me melt. I have spent most of my free time with him these past few weeks, and have had great conversations and comfortable silence. He is someone who has incredibly strong family values while being dedicated to everything he does. He is honest, and thoughtful, and will always put a friend first. I look up to him, and will continue to be friends with him, but we decided for a few reasons that we should not date. I can not post up these reasons, but trust me, it was a difficult decision. I've been a little bummed about this decision, but it was for the better (I hope). Frank, thank you for being a great guy. I look up to you and can't wait to continue being friends with you.


9-02-04-It has been a really good week. It has been drizzly and cloudy all week, which is not much fun, but I am still having a good week. Thanks, if it was you who made this week a super week. I am a little overtired, but it's worth it. Tomorrow night is Six Flags night, and I'll be going to that with Daniel, Lisa, and Paul, and maybe some other people. I can't wait.
On another note, my family added me into their cell phone family plan. So, I now have unlimited cingular to cingular minutes, and I can call long distance, and I have more than 100 minutes per month! Joy! I am catching up to the rest of the world.


8-30-04- I have been told people miss my daily/bidaily updates, but honestly, there are other things I'd rather do than update this. I think that, until it gets to the point where I'm updating it and I wish I'd updated it earlier... (did that make sense? it did in my head.)
Anyway, school is going alright. I really am not interested in most of my classes this semester, but at least I have good teachers. On another note, I met a guy a few weeks ago that I really like. We'll see how that goes. I am not going to post about him because I don't want to jinx anything, but he is sweet, funny, smart, and incredibly good looking ;-). My mind has been a little preoccupied with a lot of stuff lately, but I'll leave my blog short and sweet this time. Maybe I'll figure stuff out and get it written down soon - if you're lucky.


8-19-04- If I only found the time to update this more often, I wouldn't be in such a difficult situation trying to remember what the heck I've done all week. Lisa is back, which makes my room a lot more fun. School started- which sucks all the fun back out. My classes seem alright. They are as good as they can possibly be for the classes I'm taking. I am taking IE- human computer interaction, Mgt - I dunno the title of it, but the number is 3150, CEE - Statics and Dynamics, CS 4400 - databases, Orchestra, and private lessons. I went to orchestra tonight only to find out that the weekend of our three Gilbert and Sullivan shows is the same weekend as AEPi semi-formal, and also the same as a CWT weekend. I could do both of those or play in the three shows. I hate having to make decisions, priorities, and sacrifices.
JSU has been a huge success so far this semester. We had about 60 attendees to our freshman lunch, including the freshmen and their families, and then at bagel break on Tuesday, we had almost 60 students in attendance. yay! I am very proud to be president of such a great organization. We had our board retreat, and we have been working really hard to make many improvements. I think this will be a wonderful year for JSU.
My new apartment is nice. I've been here about three weeks now. The only downside is that there is nowhere to store things. there are very few cabinets, and no closets. So, there is nowhere to put anything.


8-12-04 - I honestly have been so preoccupied lately, I haven't written! Since last week, I have mainly just been doing housing stuff. We had the end of training, and then we also have been working a lot of shifts. I love my new apartment. It is such a nice change from the dorms. It is just so nice having a kitchen. I have also been playing a lot of volleyball and a little soccer, which has been tons of fun too! Man, the longer I go without posting, the less I remember to post. I can't think of anything else to post right now. Lisa gets back tomorrow. it'll be nice to not be the only one here.


8-04-04- Wow, I'm a slacker. So much has happened since last week! I had my last week of work, which was fun, but at the same time, a little sad. I really enjoyed working there this summer, and the extra cash inflow didn't hurt either. I somehow managed four free lunches in my last week. Not too shabby, I'd say. On Thursday, they took us interns to lunch as our "last lunch" kind of thing. We went to Ted's Montana Grill. Now, if you've never been there, it is a pretty interesting place. Ted is Ted as in Ted Turner. Supposedly, he owns like, half of Montana, and raises lots and lots of Bison there. At the grill, every burger has the option of being a beef burger, chicken burger, or their most popular, bison burger! I had bison for the first time. It is actually pretty good! It is also much healthier than beef. In a beef patty that has 240 calories, an equivalent chicken patty has 140, and a bison patty has 85 calories. It is much leaner than cow too.
Then this weekend I moved. I hate moving, but it is always fun unpacking and setting up a new apartment. I moved to the Undergraduate Living Center, or ULC as we like to call it here at Tech. I am living in a 2-person room, which are mostly reserved for the housing staff, so it is pretty nice. We don't have any storage space like we did in Hemphill over the summer, but that's ok, we'll make do. Lisa is in Colorado, so it's really quiet at the apartment at night, so I try to go out and do stuff. this week began housing training. It is my third time going through housing training, and I feel like I could present all the sessions instead of being in them. Not that I'd WANT to present them, but I have sat through them so many times, it is really ridiculous to make the returners do it again for the full time. If we came halfway through, offered a bit of advice and did a challenge course to bond with the rest of our staff, that'd be cool. But, I can't change how it is. So, I am at training.
Tonight I went with some friends to play volleyball again. It was me, Nick, Skokie, Jeff, Eoin, and Eoin's friend Daniel. We played a group of Turkish grad students, and won four games in a row. However, we really shouldn't be gloating, because we were pretty bad. They just happened to be worse. Afterwards, Eoin, Daniel, Troy and I stood around talking for a long time, and it came up that I wanted a futon, and as it turns out, Daniel has one he's trying to get rid of! what are the odds?! so, hopefully soon, Daniel and I will go to pick it up. It will be a nice addition to our apartment, and a good surprise for when Lisa gets back. Unless of course, she reads my blog.