The closer my flight date gets, the odder the sensation of leaving feels. Deciding to do a study-abroad was pretty much "yes" from the second I was informed of my brother's own study-abroad. I didn't really know what to expect, or even if I would enjoy it, I just knew I wanted to go. And boy am I glad I did because I have honestly had the best five months of my life traveling, seeing ancient ruins, making new friends, learning new cultures, etc. I realized just how little I knew of the world and just how complex and unique the whole world really is. Its still amazing to me, that I can travel a mere two to three hours, and be in a whole new world complete with a different language, different weather, different people, different everything! The idea of different in America doesn't entirely have the same meaning as different in Europe. In America, we have different states, different areas of the country (like New England, or the "South"), but everybody is still American which means the same TV shows were popular, the same video games were popular, the same music was popular.
I could ramble on and on and at this point I've somewhat forgotten what my whole point in starting this entry was. When I remember it, I'll continue, but with time still running, its time to hit the bed.
-Steve
P.S. Hey Niskayuna, I'll be back in town from June 4-9 and then from June 14-19. Try and catch me around cause even if I haven't contacted you while I've been overseas it doesn't mean I don't want to see you. Peace.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Paris (Said Pear-ee)
This past weekend I went to go visit the Tishler-meister over yonder in the french land. I left Thursday afternoon and promptly arrived as scheduled at Tishler's incredibly dank dorm complex. Jim, another kid from RPI who lives nextdoor to me, came with me and after reunion hugs and introductions we got down to work and procured a picnic of the most delicious proportions.
We went to the backyard of the main intro building to the dorm complex. Paris is an interesting city, all the foreign exchange students studyin at universities can all have the option to live at this complex that is stationed at cite de univercite. Since we got in around 7 it was still light out for a bit before a thunderstorm overtook us and we had to take our picnic indoors. After making sure we had pre-heated the oven to the right temperature we proceeded to enjoy a few bottles of wine, cheese, bread, and some much missed company.
The next day was spent wandering, enjoying, and soaking in the Paris life. Walking down the streets eating amazing crepes and tasting delicious pastries had me very jealous of Tishler's stomach. In any case we hit a few of the main landmarks before Jim had to go off to get his friend Risa. Me and Tishler soon found ourselves at this type of island attached to the Notre Dame that jutted right into the middle of the seine (the huge river running through Paris). Naturally we had brought a bottle of wine but literally at the moment I was putting the bottle down the bag broke and delicious wine was all over the stony floor. Of course we were back for round 2 and we spent much of the time waitin for the sun to come down, drinking wine, throwing peace signs to asian tourists, and reminiscing of old times (we're a year from graduating college?). Jim arrived a bit before the sun set and we managed to get a professional photographer to snap a few pictures of us as the sky hit a reddish hue. Our next move was the Eiffel Tower and that took quite some time considering there was a 30-45 minute wait just to get to the second floor and then another hour or so wait to get to the top which was amazing. It was cold out though so after making few rounds and gettin a few pictures we decided our tummy's hurt and it was time for dinna. Lucky us it also happened to be around 1:30 am at this point and all the popular restaurants were closing but that didn't mean ridiculously good restaurants weren't open and we soon found a fancy french place open til 5am.
I think I've never had such tasty tender and juicy meat as I did at this restaurant. I got what you would call braised lamb thigh that literally slid off the bone as I poked it. AH-MAZE-ING! I also learned proper wine tasting technique which is definitely useful to know. In any case, I'll finish my trip on Paris later but its time to get ready to visit Sir Joshua Kambour of London. Peace!
-Steve
We went to the backyard of the main intro building to the dorm complex. Paris is an interesting city, all the foreign exchange students studyin at universities can all have the option to live at this complex that is stationed at cite de univercite. Since we got in around 7 it was still light out for a bit before a thunderstorm overtook us and we had to take our picnic indoors. After making sure we had pre-heated the oven to the right temperature we proceeded to enjoy a few bottles of wine, cheese, bread, and some much missed company.
The next day was spent wandering, enjoying, and soaking in the Paris life. Walking down the streets eating amazing crepes and tasting delicious pastries had me very jealous of Tishler's stomach. In any case we hit a few of the main landmarks before Jim had to go off to get his friend Risa. Me and Tishler soon found ourselves at this type of island attached to the Notre Dame that jutted right into the middle of the seine (the huge river running through Paris). Naturally we had brought a bottle of wine but literally at the moment I was putting the bottle down the bag broke and delicious wine was all over the stony floor. Of course we were back for round 2 and we spent much of the time waitin for the sun to come down, drinking wine, throwing peace signs to asian tourists, and reminiscing of old times (we're a year from graduating college?). Jim arrived a bit before the sun set and we managed to get a professional photographer to snap a few pictures of us as the sky hit a reddish hue. Our next move was the Eiffel Tower and that took quite some time considering there was a 30-45 minute wait just to get to the second floor and then another hour or so wait to get to the top which was amazing. It was cold out though so after making few rounds and gettin a few pictures we decided our tummy's hurt and it was time for dinna. Lucky us it also happened to be around 1:30 am at this point and all the popular restaurants were closing but that didn't mean ridiculously good restaurants weren't open and we soon found a fancy french place open til 5am.
I think I've never had such tasty tender and juicy meat as I did at this restaurant. I got what you would call braised lamb thigh that literally slid off the bone as I poked it. AH-MAZE-ING! I also learned proper wine tasting technique which is definitely useful to know. In any case, I'll finish my trip on Paris later but its time to get ready to visit Sir Joshua Kambour of London. Peace!
-Steve
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Haven't updated in a while... in fact I've been pretty bad at updating period.
Spring break was amazing. Pictures are up on facebook and I'm making a movie of the entire trip. So far all of Athens is finished and all that's left is Amsterdam. Speaking of which is an amazing city outside of the fact that you can smoke there. Although, a common misconception that I fell prey to was the idea that weed was completely and totally legal and that you could smoke anywhere anytime you wanted. Turns out, with laws getting stricter, weed is really only legal to smoke in the coffeeshops (which are amazing and delicious) where in public as long as you don't disturb anybody and are discreet then its fine. Red Light District was some hilarious fun.
In any case, I'm goin off to Paris soon to visit Tishler in all her glory. I'll be there from Thurs. til Sunday and if everything goes to plan I'll be able to visit an old friend from Middle school's who studyin in Paris as well!
-Steve
Spring break was amazing. Pictures are up on facebook and I'm making a movie of the entire trip. So far all of Athens is finished and all that's left is Amsterdam. Speaking of which is an amazing city outside of the fact that you can smoke there. Although, a common misconception that I fell prey to was the idea that weed was completely and totally legal and that you could smoke anywhere anytime you wanted. Turns out, with laws getting stricter, weed is really only legal to smoke in the coffeeshops (which are amazing and delicious) where in public as long as you don't disturb anybody and are discreet then its fine. Red Light District was some hilarious fun.
In any case, I'm goin off to Paris soon to visit Tishler in all her glory. I'll be there from Thurs. til Sunday and if everything goes to plan I'll be able to visit an old friend from Middle school's who studyin in Paris as well!
-Steve
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