Halloween Costume

I went wearing a Sari (not looking at it's best in this picture), a tech cap, and a phone headset.

I was "Indian Tech Support". Get it???!! Laugh. Julie lent me the sari. hers stayed on much better than mine did.

Homecoming Proposal

I went house shopping today. It is exhausting, and I really am not 100% what I want yet. But it was nice getting out there and taking another look. I spent last week talking to a few different lenders, and so I was in the housing mood.

This weekend was also homecoming weekend at Tech. Leah and her (cute) friend Josh came up, and we hung out a lot this weekend. We went to the game on Saturday afternoon (which we won 10-9), and it brought back lots of memories seeing the mr. and ms. GT candidates on the field. So the best story of the day is this: Kevin was one of the five finalists for Mr. Georgia Tech. He was escorted on the field by his girlfriend Chris. Kevin and Chris are dear friends of mine, and fabulous people. But I digress. Kevin was named Mr. Georgia Tech - Congratulations Kevin! in following tradition, he had to kiss the winner of the freshman cake race. Once completing that duty, he returned to his place on the field and promptly got on one knee and proposed to Chris right there on the field at halftime of Homecoming!!! Right after though, he had to hop in the wreck with Ms. GT (saira), and ride around the field celebrating. YAY!!!! I am so excited for them. They are sooo cute together, and so I suppose now chris is going to be Mrs. GT ;-) or at least the first lady!

Qualifications

Alright. You asked for it, so I am putting it out there.
What kind of guy do I want to date? The following are not in any particular order, though some are exponentially more important than others, because I don't want any "self rating" going on for my system. Though you don't have to have all of them for me to date you, the more the better ;-)

Male.
Jewish - affiliated
within 6 years older than me or 1 year younger
Educated
Driven
Dancer - as in partner, not "shake your ass"
agreeable (aka not stubborn)
Kind
Funny
Dark hair, light eyes
Likes sports - specifically Baseball and college football
Nerd
non-smoker
Friendly
Low maintenance
Taller than me
Interesting
Cook

I reserve the right to add to this if I feel like it. Post comments, I'd like to see them =)

Stay off your feet.

Ack! so after getting home from Wisconsin, my foot started hurting. On wednesday it was just kind of sore, thursday a bit worse, friday pretty bad, and today it is awful. I've been taking advil to ease the pain, but it really hurts! Turns out, It is probably a stress fracture. Not only does that stink just because it hurts to walk, stand anything, but that definitely impairs my ability to dance and run - two of my favorite things!!!! I'll have to see what I can do to fix that, but I am very frustrated right now.

Squeaky Cheese and Exchanges.

So much has happened since my last post, I can't believe I haven't updated!!!

Let's see. First off, I went to synagogue for Yom Kippur, and while I've been fasting for 26 hours, a cute guy in shul introduces himself, and it turns out we have a lot in common! Not sure if he knows that yet, but I'll make sure I pass on that information ;-). Maybe something will happen with that, I'll keep you posted. Don't want to say anything else in risk of jinxing anything.

Friday I went to work and straight from work headed to Knoxville for a Lindy Exchange. The exchange was a blast! For those of you who don't know what a lindy exchange is (which I assume is most of you), you can read about it on that website, but the jist of it is that most major cities host an event once a year where all night and all day for 3 - 4 days, there are venues, bands, djs, and swing dancers. Coming from another city, you pay an exchange fee, usually 50-70 dollars, and other than that, you don't pay much. You get there (a plane ticket or driving), and the dancers in the hosting city house you in their homes and show their city's hospitality. Anyway, I ended up staying with Chris, who I met a few times before at different events in Atlanta over the past year, and he was very hospitable, and a lot of fun. Susan and Liia also stayed there, and we had a blast. I danced a lot, and learned a bit, and though as usual, the leads sometimes were creepy or frustrating, overall it was a lot of fun.


On Tuesday I left with work to Wisconsin, and although it was chilly, I think the trip overall went well. Upon arriving, I realized the airport here in Appleton has I think 6 gates and three luggage carosels. I went for a nice run with my co-worker, Paul, and then all of us went to a nice steak restaurant for dinner. Today was an all day event at the plant. I think it went well for my first project that I have been the lead engineer on. Well, I am not the lead. There is a project lead. but I am the only design engineer, and am in charge of doing most of the actual work, which makes me a bit nervous, but I have backup if I need it. It's nice though, I can finally *hopefully* prove myself =)

I am going back home tomorrow, and have a very busy evening planned. I just hope I don't have to go into work once we return. I don't want to.

Forgiveness...

So you hate your job? Join our support group, it’s called EVERYBODY! They meet at the bar. –Drew Carey

It’s not that I hate my job. I love doing the task my job requires of me, it’s just not quite as much fun as school was. I am about to leave for Wisconsin next week, so hopefully this new project will have me up and running in no time. Ryan (the guy who sits next to me at work) and I spend a few minutes a day marveling at the amazing fantasticness of Google and their products. Every day they're coming out with some new cool program. "If Google made a virus I'd probably install it the day it was released and marvel at how efficiently and quickly it categorized the information it destroyed on my hard drive."

Over this past weekend, I had quite the array of matrimonial events. I went to John J. and Marilyn C’s wedding. It was honestly one of the more fun weddings I’ve been to. The combination of knowing both people in the couple, and a fair number of the guests made it more fun, but the atmosphere in general was a blast. Buzz even came to the wedding for about an hour and danced =) Sunday was Jess’s bridal shower, also a lot of fun, but about 10 minutes in, I realized I was the only one in the room that wasn’t married or nearly married. Oh well. I surprisingly didn’t feel left out at all, so no complaints on my end.

I am still taking my dance classes, and salsa is still fun, and ballroom is pretty good. The ballroom class is much more challenging than the salsa, but I think I’ll use salsa more. We shifted from Waltz to Tango in the ballroom class, and T-A-NG-O is pretty fun. I need to find a venue that I can practice these all in though.

Monday night I went swing dancing, and it was the night of my b-day dance, which was alright. They held it really early, so a lot of the dancers weren’t there yet, but I suppose it was for the better since after about 45 minutes, the power in the neighborhood kept flickering and eventually blew the system, so the night was called early.

On a totally different note, tomorrow is Yom Kippur, and for this, we are supposed to apologize and ask forgiveness for all we’ve done to other people over the year. I am really bad about this and did not save/make the time to call everyone, so if you are my friend, know that I have forgiven you for anything you’ve done to me, wittingly or unwittingly, and I hope you can forgive me for the same. If you have an issue please let me know if there’s something we need to work out. I can work a payoff or something ;-)

My Birthday

So, today was my birthday. I must say, nothing too exciting happened at all. But, last saturday night I had a shindig of sorts at my brother's house, and that was a lot of fun. The theme of the party was "2nd grade", so there was pin the tail on the donkey, a pinata, party favor bags, etc. it was a lot of fun, and great seeing everyone together. I have friends from so many differnet random places, none of them knew each other, but I think it still went relatively well!

pictures from the party are at:
http://www.belanaomi.com/photo.htm
there are some funny ones.

My parents framed my diploma for me, which is what I asked for, and my sister chipped in with them and bought me a straightening iron for my hair that I wanted, but didn't want to actually buy. Not much more to update right now, but thanks to everyone who sent/called/emailed/IMd birthday wishes =)

here is what my big sister left me on my voicemail:
"just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and I hope you're having a lovely time, and doing something that Mom would just not understand"

Construction after 5 weeks

My parents are doing major construction on the back of our house. Our contractor is hammersmith (http://www.hammersmith.net/) .

here are some pictures of the progress as of today on the back of our house:

Don't mess with me.

During Lunch yesterday, David, Richard, and I decided to go to the shooting range down the street from work. Now , the only weapon I’ve ever shot was a black powder civil war era rifle back in High School. So, the weapon of choice yesterday was a 22 pistol, and Richard and Dave each got 9mm guns. Once I got the hang of it, I was actually pretty good, hitting the center target about 15 times! I took a shot each with Richard’s and Dave’s guns, and with dave’s, I hit close to the center on my only shot, and with Richard’s, I nailed the goal (the middle of the guy’s head) dead on! It was pretty cool. I came home and told the ‘rents about it, and my dad commented “That’s good, everyone should know how to fire a weapon”. My mom said “that’s nice….wait, that was a REAL GUN??? WITH BULLETS???” “COULDN’T YOU HAVE GOTTEN SHOT!!! I DON’T LIKE THIS”… funny.

Well, I am assigned to my first project out of town! I am going to Wisconsin in a few weeks (yeah, I know…not in my top 10 places to visit either). But it is just for a few days at a time I think. I am excited though, because it is my first real project, and I am the only Design engineer assigned to it. So it is sink or swim for me.

I’ve decided to buy a house. I was teetering for a while between condo and town house, and then decided on a townhouse, and now I’ve decided it just isn’t worth $250 a month to have someone mow my lawn and fix my roof if it breaks. I’d rather set aside the money into a bank account earning interest, and then pay for the mishaps and upgrades when they need to be taken care of. On the same note, I am sick of people telling me what “they think” is best for me via homes. If you got your place on daddy’s money, don’t tell me where I should/shouldn’t live or what is too cheap/expensive unless I ask you about it =)

I’ve started researching joining the JCC, and I think I’ll join. There is an offer that members can use the Emory U workout facility on Clairmont. That is right by where I am living right now! So, when the weather gets a little cooler and it’s too cold to run outside, I’ll suck it up and pay a membership fee.

My laptop that I got a little under two years ago is full. I thought I bought it with 60 GBs of space, but it actually just had 30. I have less than 500 mb left on it, and that is after clearing out a lot of stuff. So, I bought an external hard drive yesterday with 120 GBs, and now I am queen of storage. I can do it all now on my computer!! =)

So, you think you can dance?

So, you think you can dance?
Well, I don’t. I must say, that until I started college, I’d pretty much have to be paid to set foot on a dance floor. Even now, unless it is something I know how to do (AKA partner dances), I am still not one of the first on the floor. I guess I am just self-conscious and unless I am being “told” what to do on the floor, I don’t want to be out there. It’s funny because for a long time, I thought I was the only one out there that didn’t like dancing, and now more and more, I see people not wanting to get on the dance floor. It doesn’t count if you’re drunk, people. But conversely, when I meet people that are afraid or unwilling to try learning how to partner dance, I am almost insulted! It’s like this: I can talk until I am blue in the face about how much fun dancing is, but I think a lot of people have the same perspective on partner dancing as I do on “club” dancing. They’re just not interested. I wonder why that is. I suppose as a guy, it is more understandable, because really, the ball is in their court. They are the ones responsible for knowing what to do, how, and when. But what they also don’t realize, is that with a lesson or two, they can be pretty decent at it! It’s a great learning curve =). People say things to me sometimes like “you must be really good at swing dancing”. And to me, I’m not. I just watch people and drool over their style, technique, and grace – hoping I can be half as good one day. But then I realize that with how long I’ve been dancing, there are people out there thinking that about me (not many, I’m sure, but I’ll flatter myself with one or two)! The funny thing is that if someone takes just two lessons, someone who has never seen them dance before thinks they’re amazing!! So people, get off your butts, and give it a try. Just twice! (once tripping over your feet, and once actually learning). I bet you’ll like it!

I decided to break my mold and learn other dances besides swing era ones (IE Lindy Hop, Balboa, east coast, etc.) So, this semester, I am taking two classes. Every Sunday. One set of classes is beginning salsa, and the other is beginning ballroom (where we’ll go over Waltz, Tango, and foxtrot). So far, they have been pretty good. I like my salsa class better, but they are both informative, and both my teachers think I can dance, so I like it =). I am someone who likes what she’s good at, and doesn’t like what she’s not. So, it took me a bit of time to really enjoy dancing, and now you can’t tear me away from it. Come to think of it, I am going dancing tonight!

Attached Earlobes

It’s amazing to me how much we depend on certain people in our lives. Yeah, with that first sentence you probably thought I was going to talk about “significant others”, but no, I am talking about Football team’s quarter backs. It’s their fault when something goes wrong, and you want them desperately to be OK when they’re gone. Ok, I suppose it is kind of like a boyfriend! Georgia Tech has gone 3-0 so far this season, whooping every team we’ve played. It has been exciting and fun, and everyone ends up in a better mood at the end of the day. But our dear Reggie Ball, the QB for my beloved Yellow Jackets, was hospitalized last weekend, and had to sit out the game. Luckily, our second string man did the job beautifully, but on the other hand, we were playing the University of Connecticut – Not exactly known for their football team. But this weekend we’ll be playing Virginia Tech - currently ranked #4 I believe (we're #15). Yikes. I hope this weekend goes well!!

Work this week has been a bit slow for me. My boss is finally back, but I haven't really been feelin' it this week. I pack up as early as I can get out. Yesterday, I left work at 3 to go to the doctor. This sounds ueber strange, but my left ribcage, near the top, has felt really weird for about a month...like my rib is poking me or something. Well, I thought it would go away, but it is still there, and it is not pleasant. So I went to the doctor, and after taking an X-ray, he (like he always does) told me I'm fine, and to go home and if it still bothers me in a week, to come back. He did however say that it was strange because my rib cartilage, instead of caving up, caves in. but that it is "nothing to worry about, just 'different'". I have all these weird health quirks, and I am always sent out saying keep track of it! or there is nothing wrong with you! for example, every few months, I get this shooting pain in my left shoulder for about 7-10 seconds, so painful that I can not move or think, just horrible. It is so random though, that he has no idea. Another weird thing: I don't have asthma, but sometimes I can't take a deep enough breath, or I feel like I need to, and gasp. if you have spent any amount of quality time with me, I've probably scared you with my gasps once in a while =). I think I must be a quirky person in general because hey, I do have the striped eye, red hair (in a family of brunettes), and of course, attached earlobes! =)

Totally differnet thought: I have been SO good lately about working out. I count going for a run or going dancing working out. Last week, I worked out 6 times, and this week so far, I am 4 for 4. I think I'll be going 7/7 too! I am going to nip this work munching habit in the bud!

Have you ever seen the TV show HOUSE? I just started watching it (beginning with like 6 saved episodes on the TIVO). It is like ER mixed with Law and Order. I really like it! if you haven't seen it, you should watch! it is on at 9:00 on Tuesdays.

Since my last post, Moshe left for Spain for the year, and my mom is flipping out. I saw she saved the comics this weekend after reading the paper (the comics are all Moshe reads), and she put them on his bed at home. I said "mom, he's gone for a year. I think you can get rid of the comics". She responded saying that she will save the comics every week until he gets back. Before he left, Moshe took some pictures with leah in the yard....actually I took the pictures with his camera. Every time I see this picture:

I crack up laughing.
OK, I also wanted to see if I could post a picture here since I never had =)

Spanglish

Well, since the last post, I went to 6 flags which was a lot of fun. IT’s cool hanging with all GT students, alumni, faculty, and friends. I rode a lot of the roller coasters, and when we were one step beyond exhausted, we drove home. Ross and I stopped at the Majestic Diner on the way, and the food was much better than I remembered it…or I was much hungrier. Of course, there were other people that we knew there who had also come from six flags, so we chatted a bit, and then headed for my house. Finally got to sleep around 3 am and woke up the next morning to head out to GT to tailgate and get tickets to the game. Standing up for 3 hours before the game and 4 hours in the sun at the game drained my system. I came home and changed to go out to a dance on the other side of town, and stayed a few hours (I had to work the dance for a couple of those hours). The dance was part of an all balboa exchange weekend, and I am not much of a bal dancer, but it was cool watching anyway.

Sunday I was still tired, but I ran a few errands and then went out to Moshe’s for his going away party. He is leaving tomorrow to go to Spain for a year to teach English. The party was fun, and he had some cool friends over.

In keeping up with the non-stop schedule, I went to work yesterday, and left a little bit early to hit a reception at GT for Dean Boyd leaving. It was nice catching up with some of these people. After the reception, I had dinner with Billie and Richard, which was nice as well. From dinner, I went to Hot Jam to dance, and it was a lot of fun because there were still some people in from out of town from this weekend’s shindig of an exchange. I especially liked dancing with Josh from Chicago. He is a good dancer. Julie, a girl I met last week at the Hillel event, showed up as well, so that was cool!

I will try to be more humorous in future posts. I think work fries my brain.

In the real world

It's funny. I thought I had exhausted the entire Jewish datable population of Atlanta, and last night I went to a Hillel GAP (Graduates and Professionals) event, and met so many new people! it was a lot of fun. Like I've mentioned over and over again, I am really trying to get out there and meet new people. So far, I've been keeping up with it.

Tonight I am going to GT night at six flags. I am excited. I am going to meet up with ross and probalbly then meet up with other people that we'll run into. I'll give the full update after the event.

I am going to keep a book blog too. I will post up which books I've read and what I think of them, and people can post suggestions or whatever. That will be at http://belabook.blogspot.com/

so you can start enjoying that. Meanwhile, GO JACKETS!!! Have a great weekend!

Military people are cute.

Well, it's been a while. A lot has happened since my last post. Mostly things that are probably not of interest to you, but since they're of interest to me, I am going to write about it.

I just returned from spending the long weekend in Pensacola. I went to visit Leah Weber, who if you haven't met her before, is a friend of mine from GT and has since joined the Marines and is right now stationed in Pensacola for flight school, etc. Anyway, Leah is one of the few people who gets (and laughs at) all my corny jokes - mainly because she makes the same ones, and there I am, laughing too. I have a lot of respect for her. It takes a lot of guts doing what she does, and being proud of it. I know I don't have the same kind of strength. She and another of her friends that is in the USMC with her, Josh, were talking on Saturday night about regular stuff that they do each day, and then they mentioned about how they've made their wills and who they left things to. It was an eerie conversation that I was sitting in on. I for one, rarely think about death, and when I do, it frightens me. It is a selfish fear as well. Of course I feel bad for people who might miss me, but ultimately, I think - wow. There are so many things I wish I could've done or that I could've done better. I don't want to die. And here they are, Leah and Josh, proud and seemingly fearless of how their future could turn out after training is over and they're deployed into whatever struggle the US is meddling into at the time. I'd just like to say that I am truly amazed and grateful that there are people like them, to stand forward, and protect the wusses like me. You guys rock (oh yeah, and if I learned anything this weekend, it's that the USMC is way better than Army, Navy, or the Air Force).

On a brighter note, the weekend was fun. It was a lot of fun catching up with Leah. We watched a lot of movies (and went to see 40 year old Virgin), read books, chatted, went to the beach and the pool, and really just relaxed. She invited over a few friends to hang out as we watched Georgia Tech upset Auburn at our season football opener, and I have to say, she did have a pretty cute friend join the crowd that night, so that was fun. Overall, it was nice to catch up. It's too bad Leah lives so far, because I like hanging out with her.

I've been spending random evenings with different friends over the past few weeks. It sure does take a lot of effort keeping in touch with people when you don't see them on a daily basis anymore. I hope I don't lose my network of friends because we just don't happen to run into each other. I'd like to think that I've built relationships that are stronger than that. But on the other hand, as I still have the opportunity to see people, others have left town and are starting new. I'm sure they're having a much harder time. It's been a weird transition from college to the real world for me. Maybe it's because I am still in town, and I can still cling to my old relationships for support, or maybe it's just that I really loved my time at GT, but I don't think I have really adjusted into the working world. I still feel like eventually this "semester" will end, and I'll be back in school.

Those are all my latest thoughts. I could think of something witty to put here, but I have nothing. I think my lack of social interaction is melting my sense of humor (or lack thereof)

Crash and Burn

Well, This was a pretty fun and lesson filled weekend!! Like I mentioned earlier, I went to a Balboa workshop all day Saturday, which was pretty helpful (considering I didn’t really take anything too formal before), and that night I went to the dance. The dance’s theme was “Footloose”, and so though the music at the dance was ok at the beginning, at the end, it was 80’s themed, and not fun to lindy hop to. Oh well. Also that night I went to my friend Miles’s going away party. He is leaving this week for grad school at UCSB, and will be in CA for the next five years.

Sunday, I got up really early, picked up Rochelle, and we drove up to lake Lanier to Robbie’s lake house. I’d never been up there, but it was a lot of fun. His parents, his girlfriend Andrea, and another friend Jonathan were up there, and later in the day some more of his family friends came. We went out on the boat in the morning, and I attempted to learn to water ski. I had never done it before, but I got into the water and gave it a go. I was having a lot of trouble getting up. I would pretty much crash and burn every time Robbie started the boat. In the afternoon, I gave it another go. This time, his dad was driving, and on my first try, I got up! I got up most of the times after that, but didn’t make it too far standing. I am not sure if I got up then because of the morning practice, or because Rob and his dad drive differently, but it was cool. I never did stay up for long, but it was neat to learn. Maybe I’ll go up another time and give it another try. Today though, my whole body is sore. Maybe I should’ve stretched before taking off yesterday…

My mother's dreams of me having kids...

The back room in our house (if you’ve ever been over, the room we call the back porch) currently is the room we LIVE in. We have the couches and TV in there, the dinner table, and basically, if you’re ever looking for someone at my house, that’s where they’ll be. My mom has this idea…well, it’s more of a wish for the time being, that one day all of her kids and grandkids will come home and all have Shabbos dinner together every week. And naturally, the back room is not big enough for that right now unless we shift around furniture. So, instead of waiting until we have kids, get married, or for heavens sake, date somebody, she is renovating it now. We have been working on the plans for a while, and finally signed the contract a few days ago. The current back room has now been emptied, and well, it seems a lot bigger without furniture in it! They have boarded up the wall between the original back of the house, and the back room (it was an addition originally), and construction take down starts today. It’s kind of sad. My dad and grandfather built that room when I was born, and I sure know dad is crying on the inside that it’s being torn down (or “remodled” as my mom puts it). The new plan is as follows: looking at the room from the kitchen door, facing the back yard…the left side of the room will be expanded about 8 feet, then there will be two steps, and then there will be a large sunroom attached to it – all open. From the left side of the room going rightward, there is a constructional division so it feels like another room, but no doorway or walkway or anything, also open. The other room goes out a few more feet than the first part of the left side, and that will still be where the couches will hang out. The far right wall, which originally is where our TV entertainment center stood, is becoming home to a new fireplace. Hopefully, we’ll get a flat screen plasma TV to hang above the mantle. Well, I’ll keep you posted on that construction, but for now, it is just an empty, lonesome room.

My social outlet...(not to be confused with "shopping with friends at an outlet mall)"

Ok, enough about dance. Lately, on Thursday nights I have been going to Neighbors. Throughout college, I never had a steady weekly friends hang out night because I was always so occupied. But for the past 3 weeks, we’ve all gone out to this bar in the Highlands called Neighbors. By “we”, I mean, Me, Becca, Rochelle, Heather, Greer, Stacey, Sarah, and at times, others. We’ll just set up shop, and other people start showing up and hanging out. It’s gotten to the point that we just go individually and assume everyone else will meet us there. It is a heavy Jew hangout on Thursdays, so you’re always likely to bump into someone you know anyway, but at our area of the patio, often there is also Robbie, Daniel, Jonathan, Brett, and always a few friends to join. It’s nice because everyone meets everyone (meanwhile, inserting a few Jewish geography questions), and it’s cheaper than an online dating service (read: Jdate). It is a nice social outlet for me too since I am the youngest one at my office, and many of the people close to my age that aren’t shipped out on site somewhere, are married, or close to it. So, I’m not exactly getting social interaction overflow at work.

This weekend, my friend Dave is getting married. I am not going to be able to attend the wedding (long story), but he is my second friend to get married this summer. It’s a teeny bit weird too, because Dave was my first real boyfriend. Eeeek…oh well, such is life.

Late night, come home Work sucks, I know...

Well hello my faithful blog readers! It’s been a while!! You guessed it; work has been taking up most of my time lately. I have been working specifically on one project for the past few weeks, pretty much non-stop, and at the end of this week, the project managers went to present it on site. I heard back today that the presentation went really well, and that they really liked some of the things that were on my plate last week. I am excited that my first major contribution went well. On another note, my mom has started prank calling me at work. It’s pretty funny, she calls and pretends to be a customer (as if I can’t recognize when she tries to disguise her voice – not to mention the Cuban accent…)

Since my last post, for the most part I have spent my days at work, and my evening doing different things. On Mondays, I go dancing. It is great. For $4, you can go and get a quality evening of dancing practice in with really good DJd lindy music. I really like going. Monday night dances are called “Hot Jam”, and for those of you who have known me for a while know that I used to usually dance on Wednesday nights, but the reason I like hot Jam better is for a few reasons: 1) it starts an hour earlier than the Wednesday dances, and it is closer to home, so I am not tired the next day. 2) it is cheaper (by $3/night) 3)Every 6 times you go, you get a free entrance 4) the music is way better.

This weekend I am doing a Balboa workshop all day, and also a dance on Saturday night. If anyone wants to join, let me know. This will all be held at Emory.

The beginning of the rest of my life.

Well, I have now officially started work. The first day for the most part was taking care of paperwork – tax forms, healthcare, my one million dollar bonus…oh wait…

They are always nice here anyway, but everyone seemed exceptionally nice on my first day. They probably all have a crapload to do and immediately realized that they had a new gofer to do their work. We went to lunch which was fun, but the day still went a bit slow. My "office" is actually a corner cubicle. Most people here have cubes except for the higher up people, and Dave, who thinks when he starts out full time that he's going to get an office. We shall see.

Today is my second day, and I've had some work to do today, but since I am not totally in mode yet, I still have a million questions. I think because I was here before, people kind of expect to be able to throw me into things…what they don't remember was that I was not a co-op, but just an intern, here for one semester. The co-ops that are starting full time start next month, so they'll probably remember more than me. They're trying to train me so that since we have a bunch of on-site things coming up, I can go ahead and be part of a site team and be useful. If I am put on site, it might mean I am gone for up to a month, maybe more. Maybe it'll be exciting though, and at least everything is paid for when I'm on the road.

On another note, I went condo shopping Sunday with Greer and her mom, and saw some great (expensive) condos, and some cute (not as expensive) townhouses. I will still wait a few months before deciding on anything, but I will most likely move to the Dunwoody area since it is close to work, close to the JCC, close to where I dance, and near a mall, and all the highways. I can't wait to have my own place. Especially since I've been living at home, I get so excited about decorating and furnishing a place of my own. I will be looking for a roommate for my place, so if you'll need a roommate any time soon, let me know =) I'm going to buy a place that has at least 2 bedrooms and two bathrooms.

I didn't realize how lonely being out of college is. I am not really friends with anyone at work since almost all of them are married and older than me, and of course my school friends are all now either out of town at new jobs or grad school, or in-town working long hours. I have been trying hard to keep up with my friends in-town especially, but "grabbing dinner" together starts to get expensive. I'll have to have a new plan soon so I can save my money to buy a place. It is nice though, not having homework at night. I can come home and do whatever I want. I say that, but really all I want to do is take a nap. Last night, I didn't even want to go out to dinner. I hope that it is just a "jet lag" of changing to an earlier wake-up time.

Back in town, let's do lunch!

I am back in the country. After a wonderful two months, I arrived in Atlanta on Monday night after countless delays. My luggage decided that two months wasn’t enough, and stayed in Detroit for a few extra days to do some sightseeing. I got my luggage a couple days later, but the mugs I bought as gifts were destroyed, which was sad. So sorry everyone, no presents.

On Wednesday night, my friend Lauren, who got married last summer had a great party. She invited over a lot of her girlfriends, and told us to bring all the clothes that have been sitting in our closets for a long time that we haven’t been wearing and that we’re ready to give away. So about 15 chicks came with all their old clothes, put them all around the house – shirts in one room, pants in another, skirts in another, etc. Then we had a free for all where we went through all the clothes and picked what we wanted. It was great! Everyone found some “new” clothes to bring home, and cleaned out the closets at the same time. And everything that no one wanted, Lauren took to goodwill. Fabulous idea! Kudos.

I spent a little time this week catching up with friends, but mostly just catching up on my sleep. On Friday morning, I left for NYC, and spent the weekend there. My friend Sara got married on Sunday night, so I arrived in NY Friday afternoon, spent about an hour with Will, an old tech friend who now is at Columbia, and then after much commotion and wrong turns, I made it out to sara’s friend Judy’s house for Shabbat. All of Friday night and Saturday there were between 12-15 females at Judy’s house to spend the time with Sara. It was relaxing and a load of fun. I don’t get to see Sara too often, so it was nice to catch up. Judy was also really cool, and Saturday night when Sara left to sleep in the hotel before the wedding, I stayed at Judy’s an extra night and we went out to hang with some of her friends and go to a few clubs, which was fun. We were out pretty late though, and then slept until noon Sunday. Sleeping through Judy’s nail appointment and almost through the hair appointment. We went to the hair place at one, and got our hair done a bit, and then came back home for it to just be ruined by the rain, but then headed for the wedding. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. Everything was incredible. Sara and her new husband Shloimie were so cute together, and Sara looked beautiful. I caught up with a few Atlanta people that I hadn’t seen in a long time, and spent hours dancing, drinking, and eating.

After the wedding, I went back to Will’s, and we showed each other pictures from our recent traveling adventures (which took a long time), and then finally went to sleep around 5, and then today I woke up at 10 and worked on some stuff until I had to catch my plane. I took the M60 bus, which goes from Manhattan to LaGuardia airport, and I took it with 2.5 hours to spare before my flight. The highway was so congested from construction, that we took about an hour to go about 3 miles, so I was pretty worried I’d miss my flight, but luckily the flight was delayed, and ended up not leaving until an hour after it was due to leave. Phew!

This week is my week to catch up with all my friends at home who I haven’t seen in a few months. If you want to get lunch, let me know ;-)!

Did you miss me?

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've posted, and I am sorry.

On July 1, I saw museums in Berlin, and went to some special exhibits and then went to synagogue and dinner before catching the night train. I took an overnight train from Berlin to Malmö (which had to cross water, so the train actually drove right onto a boat) and then from Malmö to Stockholm Sweden, and then took the metro and 3 busses to get to Herräng (about 120 km north) for camp. Camp was a lot of fun. I am sure I won't remember a quarter of the stories or things I learned there, but I will try to give an explanation of what I've been doing for the past week.

I arrived at camp, and it was nothing like I've ever seen. It is housed in a small city called Herräng, and throughout the year, the city's population is about 600. They have a small store and a bus stop, but other than that, not much. I learned that in the four weeks of camp, the store and hamburger stand earn enough money to stay open the rest of the year.

The camp is housed in the buildings of the school there. We use the schoolhouse as a dorm, the gymnasium, the patio, and the stage area as dance floors, and there are also 4 temporary dance floors outdoors, covered with tents. The dorms are packed with as many bunk beds as could possibly fit, and the showers are in the Gym - communal with privacy not existing, and hot water a desired ammenity. So basically, since 300 people showered at least twice a day for a week, using 6 showers, you can imagine the excitement when you got a hot one.

Anyway, enough about the buildings. The camp was awesome. Directed and run by Lennart and the Swedish "Harlem Hot Shots" - their swing troupe, the camp has an environment like nothing I've ever seen. The classes offered this week were Lindy hop, Boogie, and tap. Regardless of which classes people were taking, nearly all of them knew lindy hop. Each day, you would take three or four eighty minute classes, and by late afternoon, you'd be exhausted. After a cold shower and a filling dinner, there was the nightly meeting.

The meeting was something that everyone looked forward to each day. Led by camp director Lennart Westerlund, it was something that can't even be explained how funny it was. Lennart simply runs meeting, talks about history of the dance, shows videos along with many of the explanations, etc. But the amout of humor in these meetings is incredible. For the teachers, it is quite the honor to be asked to attend, and besides the hot shots, there were many other teachers, from the states, and around the world.

Frankie Manning, who is 91 years old, and the only remaining member of the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers" troupe was (as he is every year) in attendance. He is revered as a legend in the land of Lindy Hop. I had the opportunity to take a class from him on Tuesday during camp, and it was wonderful. At night, there are social dances going on from immediately after the meeting until the last dancer goes home. I was one of the last ones out many nights, staying out until 3 or 4:00 some nights, and as the week went on, was out until almost 5 am dancing. The difference between dancing that late in Sweden vs. dancing that late in the states is that it DOESN'T GET DARK. The sun sets around midnight, and there is this dim dusk period for an hour or so between 1-2am, but then it starts getting bright again. By the time I left the dances each morning, the amount of light outside was equivalent to the light at 11am in Atlanta. It was crazy. during the day there it got quite warm - about 85 F. But at night, it would get down to about 40. the contrast of temperatures was like being in a desert.

On Monday and Tuesday night, there was a band at the night dances, which made it even more fun. On Wednesday night, it was Blues night, and everyone gets all dressed up to go dancing, and they play only jazz blues music that night. Immediately following the meeting each night, they have an optional class or two that anyone is allowed to take, so I took the beginner blues class that night, and learned a bit before making a fool of myself at the dance.

Thursday night was another regular class day, but at night after the meeting I went to an Aerials class, and it was really cool. you had to come with a partner, so I went with another one of the guys in my class, Ivan, from Barcelona. After stretching out, they started us out with a lot of balance excercizes where the girl had to climb up on the guy and keep balance. I felt kind of like a cheerleader, it was funny. But then we learned two aerials that were really cool - a jump and a flip. It was a lot of fun.

During the blues night, Frankie Manning was there, and I got to dance with him!!!! I was so excited. Since he is so old, I expected him to be much weaker and more frail, but when I danced with him, it was almost like dancing with someone my own age (with celebrity status)

The last night was a bit sad with people leaving, but the theme was a birthday party for the camera-man, and it was really fun. Again, people got dressed up, but this time, more to the theme. I stayed up dancing until about 5 am, and then the next morning I got up early and got a massage and then took a private lesson from Naomi and Peter, which was fun and useful.

The camp runs for 3 more weeks, each bigger than the previous, so even though I was there in the smallest week, I was happy with that. The dance floor was manageable, and the class sizes were adequate. I hear that in the later weeks, you have to nap 10pm-3am and then get up and go to the dance because if you go earlier, there's not room to dance.

In week one, there were 25 countries represented. In my corner of the dorm, I was with people from Lithuania, England, Sweden, Holland, France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and Spain. The highest represented countries at camp ar 1-Sweden 2-Russia and 3- US. that is overall. US represents more in the later weeks though. There weren't too many this week.

You know the saying "The more you know, the more you know you don't know"? well, after dancing with so many fabulous dancers, seeing so many great performances, and taking all these classes, I have just been exposed to what kind of dancer I am FAR from becoming. Many of the fabulous dancers were my age!! But the nice thing was that the camp was filled with really nice people, and everyone was always willing to help and support everyone else throughout the classes and dances. I'm not going to say that there was no one that I tried to avoid...after all, at this event just as in many other dance events, there were the dirty old men that you wonder if they come to learn or just to dance with the 20 year old girls...but other than that, it was great.

In the meeting on Monday, we watched live as a documentary on the camp was broadcasted on Swedish national television. It was an hour long special recorded last year during the camp, and it was great to watch. A quote that sums up the camp is that

"It is the Mecca of Lindy Hoppers. when you are in Herrang, you are in heaven."

En route - CR to Germany...then to Berlin

5-27-05
Our second day in Prague, and we got up to go to the Castle on the other side of town. We arrived just as the castle opened because the guide book said it would get busy later in the day. Seeing the castle was neat, and we’re lucky we went that early because by 10:30, there were so many tourists, we couldn’t see two feet in front of us. By lunchtime, we were done seeing the castle and its gardens, and had lunch coming back down the hill. We’d also heard that there was a violin shop in the center of the city, so we went out scouting that. We thought it was a violin maker’s store, but it was just a shop where they also repaired…no creating involved. But the violins there were nice, and the prices were fractions of what one would pay in the states for the same quality instrument. The owner let me "test drive" a few of the violins too, which was nice, but seeing that I haven’t played in months, I think he was probably disappointed he even let me touch any of his violins haha =)

Later in the day we walked to Wencelas Square and had some ice cream and planned the next few days. In the evening, we walked around the town some more, and went to two different parks and read our books. It was nice just sitting around and not being spotted too quickly as tourists.

One thing I noticed while in Prague, was that it is easy to tell that this was a country that has been under communism for some time. You could feel it when you came into the country, but then notice it both when talking to people, seeing buildings built both before, during, and after the communist era, and see the difference in the amount of décor, and how ornate the buildings were. In comparison to the rest of Europe, the clothes people wore were twenty years in the past. Trendy stores found all over Europe had obviously just reopened in the more recent years, and many of the shoppers were tourists. The prices were high for Prague, too. In general, costs in the Czech Republic are about a half to three quarters the price of the same thing in the Euro countries. Unfortunately, the big name stores don’t change their prices for where they are.

6-28-05
In leaving Prague, we stopped at two places on the way out. We took a bit of a detour to Mlada Boleslav which is a city northwest of Prague, and their claim to fame is housing the Skoda (car company) factory. The reason we went though, was that during WW2, all the jews of the town were wiped out, but the Torah of this prominent Jewish town was actually saved, and my synagogue back home has kept the torah for safekeeping for the past ___ years. We decided to take a trip to the town, and see what (if anything) is left of the Judaism in the town. We arrived to find that the plot where the old synagogue was is now housing a government building, and the only way to recognize the plot is that the paving stones outside are still there in the shape of a Mogen David (a Jewish star). We also went and visited the cemetery, which is kept up by a Christain woman whose home is on the property. By the size of the cemetery, one could tell that at one time the city had a flourishing Jewish population, but now of course, it is empty.
After that, we continued on our Jewish history tour of Europe, and stopped in Terezín, which is a city also a bit outside of Prague, and housed the "demo" concentration camp. Basically, when leaders of nations, or reporters or really anyone wanted to see a camp, or get an idea of what a concentration camp was like, they would be taken here. The prisoners were treated a little better than in the other camps (still not decently of course), and there were things like swimming pools and other amenities that were built not for the people to use, but solely for show or for the Nazi officers to use with their families. Disgusting.

We arrived in Dresden in the mid-afternoon after a few ubiquitous road detours that slowed us by about an hour. They have a lot of projects that require highways to be closed, and instead of doing the construction at night, they do it during the day so that everyone is slowed by hours. They have these signs though, for example, if you’re going to be stuck in traffic for the next 12 km, they will put that on a sign, and the sign will have a huge sad face on it "L" . Then it gets a little less sad at 10km, and by 6 km, there’s a face ":-/" and then continue to a smiley "J" and then a smiley with a tongue sticking out that looks REALLY happy when there’s only 1km left. They are funny signs.

Anyway, we arrived in Dresden, and we were happy. Dad was happy because he could finally speak German again, and I was happy because we arrived to a Holiday Inn, and it was BY FAR, the nicest hotel I’d stayed in over the past 6 weeks. They gave two towels per person, put mints on the pillow, and there was shampoo in the shower. This was the first place to have any of these three things. Luckily, throughout the rest of my trip, I have had my own towel, my own shampoo, and usually I passed up having the mint on my pillow. I was happy to be there though. We spent the evening seeing the town. Dresden was bombed during the war, but they’d rebuilt a lot of it, so it was neat to see. It was in East Germany after the war though, so again only recently was it changed from communism. We had a good dinner, and dad couldn’t get over how good the beer was, or that he could talk to people again.

6-29-05
We left Dresden, and headed to Meissen, which is a small town well known for the past 200 years for their porcelain. It is where the European porcelain was first discovered and produced. The factory again produces all of the porcelain there, and we took a tour where they showed us the process for creating any pieces. It was neat to see the whole process. We left Meissen and headed for Berlin. Again of course, there was traffic on the highway due to construction. In all our time here, we have driven the Autobahn many times, and never once seen an accident to blame for the traffic. Only the construction zones all over the place.
Once in Berlin, we drove around a bit accidentally, just trying to get to the hotel, and once we checked in, we returned the rental car and got an unlimited day pass for the metro system which is REALLY good there. The first place to where we ventured was dad’s old apartment from college. We found it quite easily (which surprised me since I sometimes wonder if he remembers he has a daughter). And one of the students let us in the building so we could see it. Dad was reminiscing a little, but couldn’t remember which room was his or anything, so it was a quick visit. From there we went to the infamous Brandenburg gate. This gate has been standing through many of the changes in Berlin over the years, most recently both a bombing of Berlin, and was a gate of the Berlin wall. It was where the speeches were made just before the wall came down as well. There was an exhibit there with the history of the square, and it was neat to learn. Down the street we went to the Denkmahl. That is the new Holocaust memorial that was just opened in May. It looks like about 200 grey stones, the sizes ranging from gravestone to coffin size, and placed within an entire square of the city. Also down the street from the Brandenburg gate was the bundestag, which is where government senate things take place. It is housed in the Reichstag building. We went to the top of the building into the dome, and got a good view of the city. Later in the night, we went to the Kaiser Wilhelm gedächtnis. It is a church that was bombed during the war, only parts of it are left, but it has been left in that condition to remind the people of Berlin, and from around the world, the horrors that took place in WW2.

6-30-05
This morning we first headed to the synagogue which was also bombed during the war, and they have recently rebuilt it. We were going to take a tour of it, but decided to come back for services Friday instead. We also went to KaDeWe (Kaufhaus Des Westens) which is the largest department store on the continent. Kind of like Marshall Fields is to Chicago. Anyway, it was pretty cool inside, especially floor #6 which is the food floor. The presentation in there was just incredible. We checked out of the hotel after noon, and headed to dad’s friend Martin’s house. We got there and rang the bell, but no one answered, but within two minutes, his wacky neighbour from across the way told us to come over and sit in his garden while we waited. He had a beautiful garden in the back, growing everything from vegetables to fruits to flowers to herbs. He brought out some beer and watermelon, and we sat around and talked for a while. He has a Bulgarian guy staying with him who looked in his mid twenties, and we were all sitting around the table and he said to him in German "you always wanted to meet an American girl, now there is one sitting here in our garden!!" it was funny. A few minutes later, he’d called Martin (we’d been at his house for about an hour now), and as it turns out, Martin said he couldn’t come over because he was waiting for his American friends. Turns out he was there the whole time and just didn’t hear the buzzer. It was great sitting around with everyone, even though I didn’t know what they were talking about most of the time. After catching up a bit, Martin took us on a tour of the city, pointing out both historical landmarks and personal ones. He pointed out where many of the synagogues were, as well as the Jewish cemeteries. He took us to the place where the first holocaust deportation took place, which was just next to what used to be a cemetery where Moshe Mendelssohn was buried. After our drive around town, we came back to the house and martin cooked a wonderful dinner and the neighbors came back over for dessert. The evening was fun, but I think that tomorrow will be a full day, and I also leave for Sweden tomorrow, so I must get some rest. The house is quiet with everyone else getting some shut eye.
goodnight

Czeck, please.

6-24-05
Indeed today we did take a tour of the palace. It was of course huge, as a palace should be. It took half the day just to go through it! After that, we took a trip to the ferris wheel, which used to be the biggest in the world, and now it's just "big". We didn't ride it though, neither of us really felt like it, and it was 9 dollars a person. You didn't even get your own car! the cars were actually each the size of busses. It was crazy. Well, since we got a day pass for the metro today, we then took a trip to the other side of town where the cemetary is. We saw the graves of Beethoven, Strauss, Mozart, Brahms, and more. There was a whole section of just the musicians! We also went to the jewish part, and this part was really sad because the nazis came through and basically destroyed the cemetary only in the jewish part. There were lots of stones that were toppled over, broken, and missing. The city is trying to put out replacement stones for many of them, but it looks like arlington now with a bunch of stones exactly the same.

6-25-05
Today we made the drive from Vienna to Prague with a bunch of stops along the way. We got lost plenty of times, and were often quite frustrated especially in Czeck republic since we couldn't speak the language, but we ended up getting everywhere we wanted. After crossing the Czeck border (and getting a passport stamp), we got pulled over by the police saying we were speeding "somewhere back in the last town", and we had to pay 1000 kr for the ticket. Now, if you're up to date on my posts, you know that not only were we not speeding, I don't think we even hit the speed limit. Unfortunately, there's no way to get out of it, so we had to pay it. That sucked big time. Once we'd gotten over that annoyance, we stopped in Telc, a beautiful small town and had lunch, and then we went to Kutna Hora, where there is a church decorated with the bones of 40,000 people who died in the black plague. It was really eerie, and strange, but I guess that is what brings tourism money to the town, so keep it coming! pictures will be posted of this. In the evening we arrived in Prague, and we got an apartment there, so we checked in and went to sleep early since it was raining.

6-26-05
It was still raining this morning, so we got a late start in hopes of it letting up. We went to the Jewish part of town today, seeing all the synagogues and museums, and the old Jewish cemetary. The cemetary was kind of neat in that they didn't have enough space, so over the years, they brought new layers of dirt to have more room, so it is very high, with thousands of stones. The site was used from the 13-1700s and is now just viewable for tourists. We also did the obligatory walk through the old city and across the Charles bridge, and we will likely go back tonight to see it in the dark. Now I am doing laundry, so the cafe is passing the time =)

more to come...

Wienershnitzel

incase you haven't seen them, here are the pictures from Day 1 until Rome.
http://www.jacobbrand.com/gallery/bela

6-22-05
We got up this morning, and after breakfast, we loaded the car and headed out of town. Dad had these grand ideas of going to a bunch of small towns along the way from Salzburg to Vienna (Wien). We stopped at Mauthausen, which was a concentration camp during WW2. Even though I have taken countless Jewish History clases, and visited many holocaust museums, it is still almost a shock to my psyche every time I go to another memorial. This camp is still in the condition it was during the war, and it was eerie to be there.

We came to Wien around 6:00, and the guy that owns the hotel was really nice. He was a funny guy, and gave us great suggestions on where to go. Right outside the hotel (which is on the Northwest corner of the center of town), there is the "campus". I am not sure that there is actually a school there, but it is in the courtyard of a block of buildings, and it is this green area with five restaurants and a grocery and a park and a playground, all situated within the courtyard of this enormous block. We came in at 8:00 and couldn't find a place to sit, and then fianlly squeezed into a table that already had a few people sitting at it. I've never seen any restaurant so crazily crowded! We finally ordered around 8:30, and it was 9:20 before we got our food. We thought they'd forgotten about us, but I suppose with a restaurant that full, it takes a lot longer to get your food. But it was worth the wait. I got salmon, and dad got lamb, and they were enormous delicious dishes, and there wasn't a tourist in sight. We like to pretend we're not tourists wherever we are. So we loved it.

6-23-05
We got up early today (surprise surprise), and walked around town for what seemed like forever. We went to the synagogue, and took a tour after some very in-depth questioning about our reasons for being there. Security is high. We went and ate some bread and cheese and yogurt lunch (we have a fridge in the room, so that keeps the perishable stuff a while longer), and then we went to do some decision making about the next ten days. Here, coffeeshop life is the norm in the afternoon, so we decided to be locals, and sit in a coffeeshop. After that, we went and sat in a park, and then went and sat at dinner on the campus, and then came back here. Today was a day of sightseeing the town and the people of the town.

Tomorrow hopefully we'll be going to a palace, and taking a ride on the enormous ferris wheel here (it used to be the largest in the world before someone else decided they wanted one bigger).

The Hills are Alive...

I am going to fake it out and divide this into two posts, since it's been a while.

6-19-05-
This morning we went to the train station to figure out my ticket from Berlin to Stockholm for later in the trip, and man, I'm glad now I have my Eurail, because that trip alone was over 250Euros without the pass!! haha. Anyway, I am standing in line, and I see Javier Orraca, another Tech student. This is my fourth encounter with people I know from Atlanta. It is so funny! (not sure if I ever wrote about #3, where I ran into megan and two of her friends from UGA)

Anyway, during the day we went to the Alta Pinakothek and Pinakothek des Modernes museums (since on Sundays each are only 1 Euro entrance.

Around 1:00, we left on our drive to Salzburg. We took HWY 304 rather than the Autobahn for much of the ride so we could go through small towns along the way. We stopped and ate lunch at a river in Wasserburg, and near the end of the drive, we cut over to the Autobahn for a while. We rented a 4 for 4 smart car (bigger than the regular smarts), but it is a REALLY crappy car. Dad was afraid to take it above about 90 kph, and so the only things we passed on the hwy were trees. Every car went racing by us. It was both funny and sad at the same time =)

We arrived at Salzburg around 4:00, and we went to the Pension Lenglachtner, which was really a persons house with a few rented rooms, but the people were really nice, friendly, and helpful.

We walked around the city at night, and went to Mozart square (that is where Mozart was born and grew up), saw a few old buildings, and then we ate at Wienerwald - a chicken restaurant dad remembers eating at 40 years ago when he lived in Germany. Lucky we found it because everywhere else was either closed since it was Sunday, or only served pork products!

6-20-05
We got up and went on the Sound of Music tour today. It was a bit cheesy, but surprisingly interesting! we learned a lot of history both about Austria, and about Salzburg, and of course saw all sorts of Sound of Music filming locations. The whole movie pretty much was taped in and around Salzburg. Our tour guide, Steph, was pretty cool, and really knowledgeablele, but a bit impatient with us. He was about 24, and from Holland. After the tour, we ate baked goods for lunch and got dad's camera that he forgot at the coffeeshop from the tour. We also walked to the Nonnberg (cloister) where some scenes from Sound of Music were taped, but also where the real Maria was a nun, and where she married in real life. Supposedly it is the oldest continuously used convent in Europe - or one of the oldest, I can't remember, but it's been in use over 100 years. We came back and napped, and then we got dressed up, and at 6 we went to Wienerwald again for dinner, and somehow managed to get a whole chicken with vegetables and fries for 6.80 Euros!! Good thing during this part of the trip Dad is in charge of hotels, and I'm in charge of food! I think I win haha. After we ate, we went to a concert! It was at Mirabell Schloss (Mirabell Palace). The concert was 2 Mozart Sonatas and 2 Beethoven Sonatas. It was really cool seeing a concert in an old palace concert room. During the performance, two pigeons somehow got into the room though, and it was a bit distracting, both for the audience, and for the performers =) At night, we walked around and got some ice cream, and ran into Danny White - another GT guy who now lives in San Francisco. He made a funny comment that keeping in mind how many people we run into on the streets, keep in mind as well how many people we haven't run into just because we're on the wrong streets and the wrong time. haha!

A LITER of BEER???

I got your attention.

Now that I am in Münich, or München as they say here, Things are a bit different. I arrived in the evening of the 15th, and stayed the night in a hostel. I had a chance to do laundry and relax and meet other students touring, and then in the morning, I was to meet my dad at 2:00ish at the hotel, so I had to kill time until then. So, I wandered the streets and found myself shopping. I love the stores here. I was so excited to get to finally shop in them since I wouldn't have to carry anything aroung, but instead put it in the suitcase and send it home with my dad when he left haha. Well, we met up in the afternoon, and after resting for a bit, we were ready to hit the town. We spent the afternoon getting some food (and beer), and then walking around town. There is a river in town that is diverted to create this random huge wave in the middle of the city, and surfers have a blast on the wave. We watched the surfers for a while, and went on walking. At 5:00, we were in the Marienplatz square to see the Rathaus (government building), and saw the clock chime 5:00, where the small figurines circled the clock and put on a bit of a show for the tourists. The next day, Friday, was our day to spend in the city. We instead spent ALL DAY at the Deutches Museum, which is an enormous museum with over 50 exhibits, including a special exhibit on Einstein since it is the 100th anniversary of his famous E=mc^2 discovery. We made it to about 10 of the 50 exhibit sections, and we were there pretty much from when the doors opened until they closed. One of the coolest exhibits was that on model trains, and they had this gigantic model train layout. There were about 15 trains going at the same time around the model, each representing what one might see on the regular tracks at various times in history. Everything from Steam engines, passenger trains, transport trains, hi speed trains, Diesels, electric, etc etc. It was really cool. Besides that, they had a video camera attached to a few trains and it was projected onto a video screen, so you could "ride" the train, and really see the intricacies of the model. It really looked lifelike as the train was stopping at platforms and picking up passengers, and blowing its whistle. So cool.

At night, we went to the synagogue here, and everyone was really nice and welcoming. We'd come earlier and paid for dinner, and really enjoyed it, especially since there was some sort of Jewish History convention in town, and so there were quite a lot of foreigners besides us. There were a lot of college age students too, and they were singing zmirot (jewish songs) all evening. It was touching to see such a strong sense of Jewish pride in a community that was not only disassembled, but endured horrific atrocities. Amazing. One of the women we met teaches Jewish history at the public schools here, and it is actually a requirement here not only to study Jewish history, but also to visit a concentration camp. It is nice to see that the country has taken responsibility for its history.

Dad has been having a blast practicing his German with anyone who will talk to him. He's a riot.

Today we went to pick up our rent-a-car and then drove out to Dachau. We took a tour of the commemerative memorial and reconstructed Nazi "work" camp. It is really eerie being there, and walking through it. We spent about 3 hours there.

After going, we went back to the city of Dachau, and had lunch in a park, and then headed back to town, and went to the AugustinerKeller Biergarten. "Beer Gardens" are literally what they sound like. Restaurants that serve more beer than any fraternity boy would know what to do with. We each ordered a liter. yes, a LITER of beer, and a pretzel. Now, you're probably wondering...Bela doesn't much care for beer, why would she order a whole liter of beer? well, that was the smallest one they offered. I could get a half liter, but it would've been filled with apple juice (used for the kids). It was pretty cool having a beer bigger than my head. The tables were big, so a while after we got there, some people from Germany and Switzerland joined us, and the guy asked my dad "does your wife speak German?" referring to me. Now, I am not sure if he said that because I look like I'm old enough to be married to a 60 year old, or if my dad looks young enough to be married to a 22 year old, or if they just thought he was dirty. Or, if that is just how they do things here in GERMANY...

Tonight, we went back to the Synagogue for the evening service and third meal, and before the service, we sat in on a Shiur, or a lesson, on Judaism given by the cantor. It was a nice class, and it was in English, which I was happy about, but I'm sure dad would've liked to have struggled through the other class.

Tomorrow we're going to the Pinakothek museums, and then leaving town en route to Salzburg.

Until then, I'll think of you while drinking a liter of beer...
Bela

Munchin in Munich...

I arrived in Munich yesterday. On the 14th, I headed to Lido, the beach by Venice, and it downpoured. It was my 'relax' day, and I spent all this time going to the beach to have it rain. It was about a 45 minute ride from Pl. De Roma in Vencie. Oh well. Since the goal was to relax, I headed back to the hostel and took a nap and read during the afternoon, and then in the evening, I got a roomate for the night, and she was really cool. Her name is Beth, 22,and she was from England, also recently graduated, but in speech therapy. We immediately got along famously, and talked non-stop for like 4 hours, through dinner, and after dinner, we sat downstairs with other people and hung out. There were a lot of people traveling alone that night too. There was Lindsey from CA, Inga from Canada, and another girl and guy from England whose names I can´t remember. we had a blast just chatting it up late into the evening.

In the morning, I checked out and went into town and got my ticket for Munich for 1:30, dropped my bags in luggage check at the station, and went to the Jewish Ghetto AGAIN. Because it had been a holiday for the past few days, everything has been closed, and so finally, I was able to take a tour of the old Ghetto. There were 5 small shuls in the ghetto, three of which I was able to see. Interestingly enough, the layout was similar to a church in that the pulpit was higher than the rest of the synagogue, making the person reading the Torah higher than the ark holding the Torahs, which is not a common thing found in Judaism. Turns out, jews were only allowed specific professions in the ghetto: money lenders, physicians, or second hand clothes sellers. They could not be craftsmen or artists, so christains actualy built all of the synagogues. After touring the Ghetto, I made my way back to the train station for the trip to Munich. Within the ride, a man from Sicily sat near me and we talked for a bit, though he struggled a lot with English, and we all know how much Italian I know ;-) Later, as we approached Innsbruck, a peculiar man entered my "cabin" on the train after seeing my copy of "The Da Vinci Code" on the seat next to me. We talked for a bit, and he asked me about why I thought Dan Brown would write the book, etc. etc., and then he left. Strange.

on another note,

Have you ever looked down the toilet on a train bathroom? I know you're not supposed to go when the train is in the station, but today I looked down, and realized that when you flush, it just goes on the track...interesting...

Venice

The other night's four seasons concert was wonderful. It was actually a student orchestra from some sort of conservatory, but they were incredible. The soloists were really good.

Yesterday morning, Miles and I took a train to Venice, and honestly, Venice is one of the cooler cities I've visited. Everyone parks their cars on the outskirts, because there are so many canals and small rivers, one can not navigate by auto. Everyone must walk, and the city is quite confusing. There are water busses - basically really big boats that everyone takes to get around the city. They are really expensive if you just get one ride (5 Euros), but you can get an unlimited 24 hour pass for 10.50, and it is well worth it. The city is pretty hard to navigate by foot, and this helps. Yesterday Miles and I walked around just seeing the city, and in the evening it was the jewish holiday of Shavuot, and so I went the the famous Jewish Ghetto here, and was invited to a wonderful meal put on by of course, the Chabad here. I brought Miles along, and though he said he enjoyed it, I think it might've scared him a little haha. It was fun though.

Today, Miles got his train ticket, and then we walked around the city for a while before Miles left. After he left, I spent a while more taking in the city, window shopping, and avoiding the touristy areas. I was considering doing some of the touristy things today, but honestly couldn't bring myself to see another church or museum, so I decided against it and just walked around.

I was supposed to be here in Venice for another two days, but I feel like I have exhausted what I'd like to do in the city, so while earlier today I was considering going to Switzerland, I think instead, I am going to go to the beach for a day to relax off the last 25 days, and prepare for the next 25.

After my last post, we were waiting in line to go into the Academia where the "David" is housed, and none other than Cressie T. from GT comes up and says hi. It turns out the GT oxford program was in town. It was crazy seeing GT kids in Italy!! The David statue is much more impressive than I'd envisioned. there are copies of it all over town, including two large copies in prominent areas, but this one was honestly incredible (and I am not that big of an art fan in general). Talk about a good lookin' jewish boy ;-)

Well, I love Tuscany. Yesterday, after going to see the inside of the synagogue here in Florence, we took a train to Lucca, which is a town just about an hour from here. It is a small town, and we rented bikes for a few hours and just enjoyed riding around the area. We were going to get an early dinner and then come back to Florence when we decided to change plans. Pisa is just a 15 minute train ride from there, and though there is nothing in Pisa except the tower, we decided it'd be fun to go. We took off and went to Pisa, which is surprisingly REALLY cool. The tower of course leans, but it is quite a sight to see.

In the evening, we took a train back to Florence, and I went to the synagogue for services. there were a lot of tourists there, and honestly, I didn't see too many Italians. Even the sermon was in English. After services, the Chabad rabbi had everyone over for dinner, and it was a lot of fun. About 20 people ate there that night.

Today, we took a day trip to Sienna, another Tuscan town about an hour and a half from Florence. It was beautiful. I really liked the town, and it wasn't overrun with tourists. It had an amazing square, and a wonderful ambiance. We came back to town, and as we're walking through one of the markets, I hear "Bela!" and of course here, everyone says "Ciao Bella" or Bella whatever", and though at home, I turn because they'd obviously be talking to me, here I turned and then remembered I was in Italy, and kept walking. But then I heard "Bela, Bela, Bela", and I turn around, and Adam Eisenman, a friend from GT, was sitting at a cafe with some of his friends. It was soo random! but great to run into him too. Tonight, Miles and I are going to a town a half an hour away to hear a free concert of the Four Seasons. I'll post later on how that turns out

Love to all!

Firenza Italia

Yesterday morning we went back and took a tour of the Synagogue museum and Jewish Ghetto area of Rome. It is pretty much non-existant anymore since they have changed a lot of that areay, but it is still the jewish quarter in town, even though there aren't that many Jews. After we spent the morning in the Jewish area, Miles and I said goodbye to Jacob and Austin, and left them in Rome as we took a train to Florence.

Upon arriving in Florence, it was quite chilly, and we went to where we were staying. We're "roughing it" here is Florence at a campsite. It is on Michalangelo hill overlooking the city. The view is gorgeous, and we're staying on cots in a tent. It was REALLY cold last night sleeping, but the campsite is pretty cool. Some people come with their RVs or personal tents, but many like us just get the key to a tent and use it.

Today we have been walking around Florence which is a great shopping city, and the art is amazing as well. Tomorrow and the next day we're taking day trips to Tuscany, but we're not sure where yet. Definitely Sienna, but not sure for the second day. On the 12th, we'll take time in the city again, and then head for Venice. More to come of course soon.

Take care of yourselves, and don't miss me too much!!
Bela

Rome Con't

Wow. Rome is quite the city. On Sunday like I mentioned, we walked around the whole city, and yesterday morning, we went to the colosseum and that was quite cool too - especially since that is what a lot of people think of when they think of rome. But like I mentioned the other day, my back was really hurting, and it was to the point of being unbearable. I could bearly walk, and we finally decided I should see a doctor. We went to a hospital here in Rome, and the basic outcome, after my broken Italian, and the doctor's broken English was that I needed to rest. So yesterday afternoon, I rested. At night we saw the spanish steps and the trevi fountain, and had a great dinner. Today, in the morning we went to the vatican museums which included the sistine chapel, and spent the whole morning there, and then I went back to the apartment to rest for a bit. In the afternoon, we figured out which bus route went to the Jewish Ghetto and Synagogue, and when we arrived, they said they were closed (contrary to our books). We had dinner at this little hole in the wall with mediocre food, but the people were great. It was basically 5 Italian guys hanging out and drinking wine while one kept talking to us and making conversation, it turns out he didn't even work there. He was just the only one who spoke english! It was great. The owner was this short man, and the others said they called him "little man" Tomorrow we leave for Florence...

Traveling Northward, to the Ancient City...

We spent the last day in Naples touring the actual city of Naples. Not much changed in my theories about the city. I still think it is pretty dirty, the food of course was good, but really not a great or enjoyable place to be overall ( and I really like cities abroad normally). We spent the beginning of the day traveling under a church to the catacombs and basically, the church was built on TOP of ruins, which was really cool to see. Later in the afternoon, we went to the Duomo, which is another famous church there, but pretty much didn't do too much in Naples.

We arrived at 9:31 at the ticket window in the Naples train station yesterday, and were on a train that left at 9:36. we knew the trains left often, but wow, we rushed right into one! it was great. I have realized that purchasing my Eurail pass was not worth it. I assumed the trips would be more expensive than they are, and so it seems I've wasted a fair amount of money on it. I'm not too worried, I am trying to keep in mind that I have a job when I get back, and to splurge since this is my graduation present to myself. However, divided out, the eurail pass costs 45 dollars per use. I have been spending 15-25. Oh well.

Upon arriving in Rome, I had booked an apartment, and got a great deal. The apartment is amazing, It sleeps four, with a full b athroom, full kitchen, and a living room. We are really enjoying the place. Go here to see the apartment http://www.lovelyhomeinrome.com/immagini.htm
(or to book a place if you're going to Rome)

On our way to the apartment though, we needed to get money out of an ATM, and every ATM we stopped at wouldn't take our cards. It was very frustrating. Later in the day we found working ones, but it was strange, since we've never had any problems before!

Once we arrived at the apartment, we took a walk to Vatican City, which is surprisingly close to the apartment, and spent a few hours there. We went into St. Peter's, and paid to walk to the top of the basilica. It was pretty cool. 551 steps later, and short of breath, we had quite the view of the Vatican City. We also walked around down through the city, went grocery shopping, had some dinner, and then waited at the apartment for a bit to meet up with Miles.

Miles is a friend of mine from home, and he met up with us last night and will continue traveling with me for a little over a week - Until Venice). He spent the whole day on the train reading about Rome, so he was like a walking encyclopedia. Today, I had some ideas of where I'd like to go in Rome, but nothing set in stone. Miles had a whole itinerary of where to go, and it was great! It was like having our own personal tour guide. But man, Miles has more energy than the other three of us combined. Austin caught a cold the first day we were in Naples, and now Jacob is starting to get sick. I am afraid that I might be next. So we had the two of them, both a bit under the weather, and my back was bothering me, but man, we could've each drank 3 espressos, and not been able to keep up! we walked around until about 5 when we headed back to the apartmnet exhausted. It was great though. We visited a lot of Ancient Rome. In the morning, we saw an obelisk that was originally from the circuis maximus (where the chariot races were held). We accidentally came upon an armed forces band, which was surprisingly good. We climbed to the top of the huge monument of Victor Emmanuel, and got some good pictures, and then into a square designed by Michaelangelo on the top of the Capitoline Hill, and into an art museum there. We then went to the Roman Forum, which is actually quite large (at least, larger than I expected). I learned a lot today in Roman history, culture and mythology. I think I must've slept through that part in high school...or maybe they didn't teach it. After the exhausting day, we came back to the apartment after grocery shopping, and made...surprise surprise...Pasta for dinner!! It saved us a bit of money though, we can't ever seem to find good inexpensive restaurants, or really too many restaurants at all!.

I need to head back to the apartment now in time to get some sleep for tomorrow's craziness!!
ciao!
Bela

Italians and their cheese.

We Traveled for about 26 hours to get from Greece to Naples. It was quite the travel, but luckily not bad at all. Upon arrival in Naples, the first thing we noticed was how dirty it was. Naples (especially by the train station and surroundings) is absolutely disgusting. I'm talking dirt, garbage, and street vendors everywhere, it is smelly, and a bit scary after dusk. The shopping is pretty good though. you can pretty much get anything you want for really cheap. Unfortunately, we can't really buy anything since we'd then have to carry it for the rest of the trip. Yesterday we took a day trip to Pompei, which is a city on the outskirts of naples. The coolest thing about Pompei is that the city was actually built in 600 BC. In 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius, the local volcano erupted, and literally wiped out the whole city along with its inhabitants. Because It was so sudden, when the archiologists began excivating 200 years ago, they found more than they ever expected. Incredibly, they found everything completely intact, including the people! the volcanic ash preserved everything incredibaly, and now it is quite the tourist attraction to see the city. Today we took a trip to the Isle of Capri, about 45 minutes by ferry from Naples. Capri was by far the most expensive place we've been since the beginning of our trip, and though there were a few cool things to see there - like the blue groto, we decided we weren't sure it was worth the time and money. We didn't realize it, but today was a holiday here, so getting to Capri was utter chaos. Buying the ticket was a 45 minute ordeal, and for those of you who have ever been to NY and bought tickets at TKTS, take that line, multiply it by 10, then add everyone speaking different languages, and condense it to an area of about 20 feet x 5 feet. I've never had so much trouble with the concept of a line as I did today. Oh well. tomorrow is our day to travel around Naples, and then the next day we're leaving for Rome. By the way, the food here is Awesome. everything has been amazing so far, and I can't get enough of it. and on another note - the toilets here flush quite nicely =) Have a wonderful weekend! I'll be thinking of you.

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.