Bliss is but a moment with a cupcake.

Stop in the Name of Cupcakes

Bliss is but a moment with a cupcake. Moist. Yummy. Not too sweet but not anywhere near flavorless. I had the Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl. The chocolatey goodness perfectly complimented the delicious peanut butter frosting. In the middle, there was a melted chocolate surprise waiting for its victim. Where did this small bite of heaven come from, you may ask? The Cupcakery that ate Georgetown, Georgetown Cupcake. Visiting Georgetown Cupcake, the subject of TLC’s new show, DC Cupcakes, was something I was both anticipating and dreading. There was just so much hype orbiting this cupcakery that I feared it would cloud my objective. I also imagined the inevitable line would be somewhat disagreeable on a frosty February evening. However, deep down I was dying to know: do these cupcakes live up to the frequent “DC’s best cupcake” proclamation? I came to a conclusion. To say this cupcake was “good” or even “great” may quite possibly be the biggest understatement of the year.
I have and will always be a cupcake person. Little did I know that my perception of cupcakes would be changed forever. For me it goes without saying that an ever so slightly warm cupcake, freshly made, and ultra moist brings the utmost joy. Cupcakes are small, giving me the sense of being dainty. They are self sustaining. In a pinch, neither plate nor napkin is necessary.The very best part, because of its unique size, is that you don't have to share! You have your own little serving and no one in their right mind would ask for a bite.
The long line was instantly a turn off and once I finally got to the counter, I thought that $2.75 was a little expensive for a cupcake. After the first bite, I determined I would pay $5.00 maybe even, embarrassingly $7 or even $8. For one cupcake, yes I know. And I would wait until the cows come home if needed. The wonderful folks at this establishment are amazing masters of cake flavor. Their care and experience comes through with each and every bite. My cupcake was beautifully presented; and consistency in look equaled consistency in flavor. Before the very first bite, I carefully peeled the paper away from the tender buttery cake and billowy buttercream frosting and was soon transported to an out of body experience, one that can never be forgotten.
I acknowledge that it may seem odd that I chose the moment Georgetown Cupcake's bliss hit my lips as my enlightening experience while in DC. I thought on this topic for quite some time; and asked myself the question, "What is one thing that I have experienced that I would tell someone that they HAVE to do?" and "What is one of the first things that I would talk about when asked about the city and my time here?." I thought of various answers ranging from the Holocaust Museum to meeting Congressmen and Senators but found myself coming back to the earth-changing fluffy cake at Georgetown. Maybe it is yet another side of me that many will never understand. Horses, ballroom dancing, cupcakes. Who can explain any of it?
I have philosophized about this obsession and determined that one can find a unique satisfaction in feeling better about oneself after eating a single cupcake, the alternative being the savage attack and devouring of half a cake. Women armed with a dessert fork and a spare five minutes are not a force to be reckoned with. The sad part is always that last bite in which I debated re-entering that 45 minute line at Georgetown Cupcake. Coming back to reality always means finding a proper way to dispose of the paper wad.
I finally understand what the rage is about. This professional little shop of sunshine deserves it’s reputation as one of the best cupcakeries in the nation. Not because of the fame generated by their television exposure, but because they have elevated a simple classroom dessert to a surprisingly addictive level that will definitely outlast the cupcake fad and bring me back for years to come.




And so it begins...

Today was the first day of the first semester of the University of Melbourne. Both of my tutorials (tutes) were canceled, but I got to attend my first lecture. Ok. Let me give you a bit of background information…

Because the uni is so large they do not have MWF and TTR classes. It is really strange but convenient. Most classes have a 1 or 2 hour lecture once a week (some have it twice a week) and a 1 hour tutorial. Lectures are done in theaters and usually contain around 300 students. The tutorials are more like the classes we experience at Wofford. This is when students get together and go over questions and problems they do not understand from the lectures. Now, science classes are a bit different. I am taking Environmental Chemistry and it meets 1hr three times a week for lecture. We also have practical (lab) and a tutorial to attend; interestingly enough we do not have to go to them every week…

I know this seems really confusing. Don’t worry, I haven’t even figured it all out yet. When I do, I’ll make sure to let y’all know. Oh! One interesting fact is that most degrees here take 3 years to complete. So, whenever I tell someone what year I am, I reply with a “3 out of 4.” Also, there is no “freshman,” “sophomore,” “junior,” or “senior” classification here. No, they are known my either First, Second, or Third Year (there are a few here getting duel degrees and are on their 4^th or 5^th year). After their Third Year, they can either go straight into a Masters program or participate in what they call an Honors Year (pretty much they do research for a year before going to get a higher degree).

Well, before I leave you I would like to inform you of the classes I will be taking. I am enrolled for Environmental Chemistry, an Accounting class, Australia Now (my cultures and people’s class), and Australian Sports and Education class. After this week I will hopefully know if I like the classes, if not I still will have another week of “Shopping.”

By the way, for any of the Math and Chemistry Majors at Wofford: if you wanted to say that you majored in math and chemistry here in Australia, you would have to say that your courses are maths and chem. Oh well, I thought it was interesting.

Alright, take care!

Allison

Black Forest Day Trip and Field Trip Preparation!

Week of 21.02.2011

This week I have been preparing for more traveling adventures and planned a day trip to the Black Forest! On Saturday, I took a nice day trip with a friend to the small towns Triberg and Furtwangen in the Black Forest. We had a great side trip since we took the wrong train to get to the small towns. The two of us had been to Colmar, France the weekend before and, I guess, wanted to go back since we took the train in the direction of Colmar, France. Triberg and Furtwangen were in a completely different direction! But, it wasn’t a costly mistake and we made a Korean-German friend!

While in Furtwangen, we visited the German Clock Museum, learned about the history of cuckoo clocks, how time zones were initiated, and the transition to the digital clock age. It actually wasn’t boring! Because Furtwangen’s only claim to fame is the clock museum, we walked around the town streets, snapped a few pictures of the faschnaut parade decorations, and took a 35-minute bus ride to Triberg.

Triberg is home to Germany’s largest Wasserfall and Black Forest Museum. Diana and I set out to find a cuckoo clock we could ship back to the states. On our journey, we met a former wood carver and clock maker. He taught us how to identify handcrafted vs. machine-made clocks, the differences between cuckoo clocks that play music, and the clocks that need to be rewound every day vs. every week. Needless to say, he was very helpful and pleasant!

I did buy a cuckoo clock to send home and it should arrive in 4 weeks! I was very excited about my purchase and happy that Diana and I both found clocks that we loved!

We took time to see the impressive Triberger Wasserfall, where the Gutach River tumbles over 500 feet. I really enjoyed the convenient walk and misty gorge.

Later, Diana and I celebrated our “traditional” German cuckoo clocks with a traditional German meal. I ordered ham dumplings with sauerkraut, black forest cake, and a beer. I think I’ll have the beer and cake again, but not anything else! I prefer French and Italian meals, for sure. It was a F-U-N day trip!

Sunday has been a major day for travel preparation. I’ve been writing papers, finishing up work, and packing before we leave early Monday for Frankfurt, Brussels, and Paris. The IES study abroad group will be spending a week travelling to the three cities to learn about the European Union institutions. We have meetings planned at the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank, European Commission and more. I’m excited to learn, but also ecstatic we have some free time in the cities!

Denmark covered in Snow

In front of Frozen lake
My lovely host family
Fighting with this cold weather in Denmark, almost half of my American friends have gotten sick but the good thing is that there is free health care in this country so they were able to get proper medications for it. I am still safe and hope to remain safe. As much as sight seeing I do, I don’t really have nightlife. Young Danes are big on partying and staying out late at night but the problem is, you can only go out to a club/bar late at night if you live close to the city so you can just walk to your dorms but most of American students are away from the cities and the last train is at midnight. So, if you stay in a bar after that you don’t have any means of getting back to your place. That said, I am one of those lucky students who are living in the center of Copenhagen so I am 10-15 minutes walk to most of the places in the city. I happened to be lazy so I have not done as much sight seeing as I should have by now but my excuse for that is since I am going to be here for next three months, I should take my time in enjoying the different sites in Copenhagen, after all I don’t want to see the whole city in a week and then have nothing else to see for the rest of my time in Copenhagen.

Other than that, it is ridiculously cold here now a days, it is always windy and moist outside. I am hoping to walk more when it gets a little warmer which would be in the beginning of April and that’s when the world famous park Tivoli would open for the tourist. I have heard so many wonderful things about it; I can’t wait to see it. Talking about world famous things, the best restaurant in the world is also located in Copenhagen. You have to make an appointment months in advance and it is really expensive (almost DKK 2000, or $400) for a meal. They serve you a seven-course meal and it would take you ages to eat there. For those of you who are big on nice meals, you should try it out. One of my friends is trying to get a reservation in the restaurant for a few days but he is on waiting list.
Talking about food reminds me of my nice and elegant dinner I had with my host family (I am not living with them but I visit them once a while). They are really nice people and they were so curious to know about American things, we chatted for hours. I am hoping to go there sometime soon because my host mom bakes the best bread and cookies.
I went to take the famous canal tour the other day with my friend, (it is a tour on boat with a tour guide who would take you to the important sites in Western Copenhagen and would talk about history of those places). We figured it would be a nice experience for us, but when we got there we were told that canal tours are canceled because the canal was frozen. We felt a little embarrassed because it was snowing a day before and we should have realized that everything is frozen but it snows so often here that we consider it business as usual. Snow does not seem to bother Danes because they bike and walk as usual.
It is been a while since we have been here, we are having our midterms this coming week so I definitely need to do a lot of reading for that. (It is hard to believe that we are already almost halfway through the semester). I have to get back to my studies now but I would keep you updated.
Take Care.

The Netherlands

I know this seems a bit late, but I haven't been able to really get on a computer until now..so I need to finish telling you all about my 9 day break. After I left Dublin, I headed for the Netherlands. I wasn't sure if I would like it, I always imagined it to be a bit nasty. I am happy to say: I was very wrong. It was so nice!

There are beautiful canals everywhere and the city is filled with wonderful histroy -- sadly, I think a lot of that gets forgotten and overshadowed by the hype Amsterdam gets in America for their drugs laws, etc. If you go though, it is surprisingly easy to avoid things like that, and the city is really worth visiting.

The first day we were there we got up early(this was a pattern on the trip) and decided to go on a 3 hour walking tour of the city. It really didn't sound that like that much fun; I mean who wants to walk for 3 hours while a stranger tells you histroy facts, that for all you know could be entirely false..we decided to do it mainly because our hostel was a bit grimy and our main goal for the day was to find enough things to do so we only had to go back to sleep. The tour ended up being excellent. We saw so much of the city we wouldn't have know to go see, and if even we did know about things we couldn't of found it. Our tour guide was well informed and had tons of neat history facts to tell us about each of the things we went to see. One of the many things we saw on the tour was this house...

The house I am referring to is the red brick one in the middle..it may be hard to spot because that is the smallest house in Amsterdam. It is only a meter wide! And the man who lives in it is 2 meters tall!

The houses alone we neat to look at, a lot of them were crooked and leaned out farther at the top than the bottom, this was because (according to our tour guide) houses were at one time taxed based on the size of it. The houses were measured around the bottom, and taxes became very high at one point, so to avoid such high taxes people started building their houses at angles, and bigger at the top so they could have more room, but not have to pay so much.

Amsterdam is filled with canals and I have never seen so many bikes...more people bike here than drive, and probably walk. FYI: pedestrians do not have the right of way when it comes to bikes..bikes have the right of way over cars and people, if you get in front of them they will not stop, and if you get hit, it is your fault, and you will definitely get yelled at.

The main things we did was sight see, eat, and go to museums. The first night there my friends and I decided we would all go out for a long sit down dinner (this was largely done to avoid going back to the hostel). We went to a very traditional Dutch restuarant and were the only Americans, and people under 30, there. With whatever dish you ordered they brought vegetables, family style. I had stewed beef (which was their "speciality") and we all had tons of delicious vegetables, half of which were potatoes in some form. It actually reminded me a lot of the food we have in Austria. Despite my usual disdain of potatoes I really liked theirs. I had one glass of red wine and was too full for dessert, but the desserts the others had looked phenomenal. After we ate we were too full to do anything else so we walked back to the hostel and went straight to bed. This dinner was my "craziest" night in Amsterdam...apparently I am the worlds most boring 21 year old.

We wrapped up our Amsterdam visit with the Van Gogh museum. It was really expensive so I didn't want to go at first, but after I went I was so glad I did. Their were beautiful paintings, and a lot of neat history about Van Gogh and painting of artists that influenced him, and modern day ones his work has influenced.

* We had tried to find this I am Amsterdam sign, but had no luck...just as we gave up looking we happenned to stumble upon it after the Van Gogh Museum. My head is in the bottom part of the A, and the rest of our little travel group are in the A, between the A & M and in the M...but the people on top, the boys, aren't part of our group--they just semi-crashed our picture.

A Long Week

The past seven days have been a blur with no time to sit and reflect in between! Wednesday was extremely busy. I had class from 1:10 to 5:50, and then had to rush back to the dorm to get ready for a concert that CIEE encouraged us to attend. The concert was a half an hour away on public transportation, not including walking to the different stops. The concert was at the Bartók National Concert Hall which was glamorous and lavish. Our group looked great all cleaned up, and our seats were fabulous. We were a bit more than halfway back from the orchestra! The concert itself was lovely three hour performance of Mozart, Beethoven, and List by the Zugói Filharmónia. My favorite was the last part of the concert when the choir joined and sang List's mass. We learned a Hungarian custom that night: instead of giving a standing ovation or shouting bravo or encore, the Hungarians to a synchronized slow clap that accelerates in unison. After the concert we were all exhausted, so we grabbed a midnight snack at the gyro stand down the street and went to bed. 

Thursday was absolutely hectic! I went to my class 19th and 20th Century Hungarian Art class at the National Gallery in the Castle District (about twenty minutes away) like every Thursday morning, and then went to my Hungarian Language class shortly after. Then, a few of us planned a spur of the moment trip to Vienna! I quickly through random garments into a duffel bag, grabbed my teddy bear and my backpack and I was off! The entire trip proved to be a comedy of errors though. We missed the first train from Budapest to Vienna by minutes, so we had to wait two hours for the next train. Then when we finally got to Vienna, we got off at the wrong train station, so we had to hail a cab to take us to the center of town. When we finally got to a hostel, it was full, so we had to try to find another one. (To any fellow traveler I would suggest Wombats Hostels. The staff is friendly and helpful and the facilities are very clean!) By the time we all got settled in, it was close to five in the morning!


However, that did not stop us from waking at the crack of dawn so that we could rent a car to drive to go ski!! Once we finally made it to Hochkar and our ski lodge, we skied all of Friday night and Saturday morning in the Austrian Alps, which are gorgeous! However, this was my first skiing experience, so I spent most of my time admiring the mountain with my back against it. I have the bruises to prove it! Our ski lodge was nice, however, they locked everything at night! We didn't realize this until about 11 pm when we all were starving from the tons of calories we'd burned all day, and we couldn't get out of the place! So we escaped through a window in the main dining room and climbed up an icy hill to a pub where the only food on the menu was jerky. At that point, we realized that we have the worst luck in the world and just didn't care anymore, so we gladly ate all the jerky we could handle before trekking back to our fire-hazard of a lodge. This is the end of the main intermediate slope from our lodge. We were in a great location!

We spent Saturday evening back in Vienna trying typical Austrian cuisine, and then all day Sunday wandering around small cafes and visiting museums. My favorite was the Kunst Historisches Museum which had an enormous collection of art from all different parts of the world. However the ultimate was when we were all slap happy and went to a ritzy cafe, drank hot chocolate, and ordered five desserts to split between the six of us. All the other patrons cloaked in their furs must have thought that we were crazy and obnoxious shouting, "Time to pass!" every few seconds. 

Our small group got back late on Sunday night, and it was back to the real world of class all week. Unfortunately, I've come down with a cold and have been sick all week, but hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow since I'm leaving in the evening to go Prague! Time to pack, but I can't wait to tell you how fabulous Prague will be!

Belguim

After we finished our time in Amsterdam, we took a train to Brussels. Since coming to Europe I have offically taken every type of transportation possible and I have to say, I am quite fond of trains... I think it may be the Harry Potter trains that make me like the idea of them so much, but they are very convienent and fast.

The train ride was a shirt one, and after an hour or 2 we were in Brussels. We got in around dinner time, so we just got dinner and went to bed, but the next day I was up early to sight see. It was pretty rainy, and it stayed that way for most of the time I was in Brussels, but that did not diminish the beautiful buildings at all. Despite being wet an freezing for much of the time, Brussels was amazing.

We saw tons of gorgeous buildings, and sadly I just deleted some of the pictures I had uploaded on here, and my computer is being funy and won't let me upload anymore. So, I have lost evidence of how lovely Brussels was, but you should really just take my word for it...

We only went to two official museums while in Brussels, the first one was chosen by one of my friends, and the other I had heard about before I came...First we went to the Cocoa Museum... I was a little disappointed because it was not a museum at all, but a house with approximately 3 rooms of "exhibits" -- but we got to eat some chocolate, and listen to a Chocolatier explain how she works with chocolate..so it certainly wasn't a lost, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

After the Cocoa Museum we played around and sight saw. Then the next day, I got up and went (with the only 1 person I could convince to go with me) to the COMIC STRIP MUSEUM. IT was ahhh-mazing. I saw original comics from the 1920's all and some from today. The museum was only of Europe comics, and comic authors/artists and it was so interesting... I felt like I had been to a history, art, and culture museum all in once neat little package.

Also, I had a Belgian Waffle everyday I was there... I had photos, but unfortunately they won't load -- which is lucky for you, because you would be jealous -- so I will have to just tell you about them. Belgian Waffles are not over-hyped. If anything they are under-hyped. I had one with chocolate, strawberries, and whip cream..it was looked like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... I also had one with whip cream and nutella (nutella makes anything delicious). I would recommend going to Belguim solely for the waffles...

I went to Brussels with 2 goals: 1. See the Comic Museum 2. Eat a Belgian Waffle.... mission accomplised, and I had a lovely time doing it.

MCG

I went on a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Grounds today as another orientation! It was HUGE and very clean. It seats 100,000 people and was the home of many athletic events during the 1956 Olympic Games. After being shown around by this old guy that can walk faster than me, a few of us stayed around to watch a Cricket Match. Luckily I sat next to an Aussie and he tried to explain some of the rules. I believe I understand the basics. So next time I watch Cricket on the tv, I think I would be able to follow it!

I was really excited to see a Cricket Match because the season is ending. Actually the World Series is going on right now in India. Also, apparently the US has a cricket team... interesting. Who knew?? Well, with the end of Cricket comes the Australian Rules Football!! I am super excited, so stay tune for update on that in a few weeks!

Take care!
Allison

Birthday week in Denmark

In front of Danish Mall
Ice Skating with friends

Its hard to believe what I have accomplished this past week, it was definitely one of the craziest weeks that I ever had in my life. With two papers due, one test and my birthday parties, it was hard to manage it all. Monday went well with a test in my German history class and Valentine’s Day celebrations after that. There were 5 of us in a Kellogium (dorm) where we baked cookies, eat chocolates, and enjoyed wine with some Turkish/English/Danish songs, we partied for 6 hours that night. Right before midnight, I had to leave to come back to my dorm, it was a twenty-minute train ride but I made it a 40-minute ride because I took the train to the wrong direction (still figuring out the Metro system here). Eventually, I got home that night and checked my Facebook because next day was my birthday. On my Birthday, I went through my classes, met a few friends for coffee (we went to baresso coffee which is the starbucks of Denmark), went ice-skating and walked around tourist places with a few friends, and explored Danish mall. Not to mention the surprise Birthday party that my dorm mates had arranged for me, it was overwhelming, I enjoyed my favorite chocolate cake that night.

Most of the cafes here are so cozy; I can literally sit there for hours and chat but my favorite so far are Paludin and Baresso. I am loving Danish pastries, they are the best, I am addicted already. Danes would always meet you in Cafes instead of their houses or parks, they enjoy chatting over a cup of coffee and a yummy pastry.

Today was the most productive day. I had three classes, a trip around a few random streets in the city with a friend, went to teach English to a group of high school students. It was way too much fun, I felt very good about myself after speaking English to Spanish, Ukrainian, and Danish students (who had no or very little English). Young generation of Denmark is hard working and driven, their information about local politics was amazing. It was nice to spend time with well-rounded Danish students; I learnt quiet a few new things from them.

Studies are getting a little intense for me already. Now, that everybody is well settled in Copenhagen, they all have started traveling to Sweden, Amsterdam, and Berlin on the weekends. I am taking my time to explore Copenhagen before I go out any further. My class is leaving for a song study tour to Berlin and Viema in a few days; I am looking forward to it. It is going to be wonderful for the whole class because we all have bonded together so well now.

Weather is still cold over here, I have heard that we would not see any warmer days before late April but I am still hopeful about getting a sunny day in Copenhagen. We will see how that goes…I will keep you posted.

Enjoy

Little Towns of Germany and France-Shauinsland and Colmar

Week of 14.02.2011

One day this week I ate at a fabulous place called MarktHalle. MarktHalle in Freiburg is an international kitchen which houses small open air stands with Peruvian, Spanish, Italian, French, Thai, Brazilan, Mexican, Greek, Arabic, Chinese, and Indian food. There are many, many options to choose from. Locals will order there lunches and enjoy a glass of wine or beer around the small standing only tables that scatter the middle of MarktHalle. I ordered a salad and crêpe with four cheeses, walnut cream, potatoes, and tomatoes. The crêpe would be one many I had this week!

Wednesday afternoon our International Economics Relations course had a required field trip to the silver-mines of Shauinsland, Germany. Who would have ever thought I would be going to a silver-mine in Germany!?!

We took a short train and bus ride into the city and then walked about 40 minutes to the site of the silver-mine. The town was very small and quaint. Not much is around there, but it was beautiful, even in the nippy weather.

Before we entered the silver-mine, we had to receive a helmet, headlamp, security belt with a power source, and gloves. I did not know what I was getting myself into! We climbed about 23 m below ground using a ladder system (we used about 6 ladders), sloshed through puddles, and crawled through small tunnels.

It was so much fun! Parts of the mine date back to the 14^th century and the progression of the tunnel-buildings were quite interesting. I am still not sure how it pertained to our class, but I enjoyed it!

Friday after my EU seminar and Elementary German class, my friend Diana (who I actually went to pre-school with in Pensacola, FL) and I travelled to Colmar, France. Colmar is a small town of 70,000 residents located in the Alsace region of France. Much of the city was spared from the devastation of WWII and has remained the same. The buildings date back to the 1500’s or earlier; it is almost as if the city is in a time warp.

We used Rick Steeve’s guidebook to help book the hotel, find restaurants, and meander around the city sites. It was such a wonderful weekend! As soon as we dropped off our luggage in the hotel, Diana and I went on a search for a crêpe stand. I was able to use my long-lost French to order a crêpe for myself with strawberry preserves and a crêpe for Diana with apricot preserves. It seemed as if there was a bakery, pastry shop, and chocolate shop on every street!

The city streets are narrow, are pedestrian friendly, and wind throughout the town. It is easy to get lost, but exploring was a great adventure. We found a phenomenal restaurant where we spent 4 hours enjoying the Alsatian specialty flambé (similar to a pizza, but with crème instead of cheese and no tomato sauce), Alsatian pinot noir, grand salads (mine had white asparagus, tomatoes, an egg, and shredded carrots), and a chocolate gateau (cake).

Our hotel was located near “Little Venice” and close to the covered market. We found our breakfast, a chocolate croissant, and dinner, giant pretzel that larger than my face, at the covered market.

There were so many items to choose from- fresh produce, seafood, meats, pastries, flowers, and more. The food here was really wonderful. For lunch I had “to-die-for” crêpes (one for lunch and one for dessert) at a small place recommended by the hotel concierge. I could easily eat my way through France!

The city tour by Rick Steeves was a great way to learn about the history of the city. One of my favorite merchant houses was the maison de têtes or “house of heads.” The small shops along the streets were fun to drop in; I found specialty tea for my sister Sarah that I know she will enjoy. Colmar, France was an idyllic, peaceful town with beauty and charm. I was happy to visit and have such a good time with Diana.

We are planning a day trip to the Black Forest and the German Clock Museum for next Saturday before we leave on Monday for the EU institutions field trip to Brussels, Frankfurt, and Paris. As my mamma would say, I have the travel bug.

Just Chilling

So, there is not much going on down under. I know that sounds really bad since I am in a city that always has something going on. But we have another week before we actually start classes and another day before two different orientations starts. Trying to sign up for classes.... still trying. uhh! I'll figure it out soon enough.

However, something cool did happen the other day. I went to the Sidney Myers Music Bowl Festival or something like that. We got to hear a free concert (Romeo and Juliet) by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. It was really great! There were lot's of people that came out despite the fact that it started raining (we were in a park). We had to walk back to our apartments in the rain. Note to self: ALWAYS bring some an umbrella with you, ESPECIALLY if you are over a mile from your apartment!

Hopefully more exciting things soon...

Cheers,
Allison

Happenings on the Hill

Washington has been great so far! I regret not writing and updating more often but I just now got the blog invitation figured out. I am having a wonderful time here and working very hard on the Hill. It is SUCH an exciting time in Washington and especially on the Hill. This week in particular has been very insightful and exciting with the Continuing Resolution. The House has been in session until after midnight the past two nights and they may possibly continue in Session until tomorrow. Analyzing the budget and the cuts that must be made has taught me lots and as you can imagine, I am very busy talking to constituents about the cuts’ implications. I am looking forward to next week being a little slower so that hopefully I can attend some briefings and meetings instead of manning the phones, emails, faxes, and mail. One day we received over 400 emails if you can believe it! I am taking it on as my personal responsibility to respond to each and every concern of each constituent.
Will keep you up to date with the happenings of the Hill as there is so much going on! Must get back to work… Hope all is well back in the great state of SC!

Melbourne Welcome

What a time it has been! So sorry for dropping off without saying a word… once again I have been doing orientation stuff.

I attended the Melbourne Welcome, a five day orientation for international students. It was great! I got to stay at Queen’s College and eat meals in the great hall. Wait. Let me start at the beginning:

They broke us off into Host groups and my Host leader was name Flick (short for Felicity, who knew!?). My group consisted of the following people: Adrian (France), Cecilia (Sweden), Alex (Sweden), Niamh (“mh” is a “v” sound, Ireland), Christa (US), and Erin (US). Oh! I can’t forget Anthony from the US who did not hang out with us at all and who we really considered disowning… It was a great group and I love being with them. Hopefully we can meet up throughout the semester and go to the pub or have a pot-luck dinner.

Well, the Melbourne Welcome staff had things planned for us every day. Let’s just say that I was exhausted almost every night. Man! We walked so much!

Day 1: Scavenger Hunt in Melbourne (This was great because it allowed us to get a taste of things to do and where to go. I liked discovering places that I would like to go back to.

Day 2: Surfing (Yes, I went surfing again and it was a lot of fun. I got to stand up multiple times. I guess the most frustrating thing is that I many times when I would finally catch a wave and stand up it would die abruptly. Stupid wave…)

Day 3: University Tour and Melbourne Zoo (It was great to see the campus, but it would have been a whole lot better if it wasn’t closed because it was a Sunday! This is also the day that I turned up late to our meeting place in Queen Victoria Market (not my fault!) and had to figure out (by myself) how to get to the Zoo. I was very proud of myself. The zoo was pretty cool. We were there for about 2 hours and did not see even half of it!)



Day 4: More Tours and Eureka Building (I decided to be a rebel and not go on a tour. Actually I wanted to go on a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, but it filled up even before the sign-ups were announced. Uh! But it was good because I finally called Bank of America and reassure them that I had my credit card and there was no fraud occurring. Then I went to the park next to the Botanical Gardens to eat lunch with everyone and then up to the Eureka Building. It is supposedly the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere at a height of 88 stories – my ears popped going up! And a group of us did the Edge- a box of glass that juts out of the building, kind of disconcerting standing on glass over 300m off the ground.) Farewell Dinner (We had to dress up in Church clothes and the people at the High Table wore the academic robes. It was a very format dinner and I wish we had more of them in the US…)

Day 5: Brunch and Leaving

Over all it was a tiring experience. We walked all day and then at night they took us to different pubs and bars. However, I loved it and I am so glad that I did it. I met some really cool people and I hope we can keep in touch.

Once again I have failed to add pictures to this. Soon I will figure it out and there shall be picture overload!

Cheers! Allison

Finally

The past two weeks have been exciting and exhausting.

After the first two days of orientation, life just got even busier! The first week here was spent doing all types of orientation details such as applying for a resident visa, lectures on cultural differences, and scavenger hunts around the city. Applying for a visa was an experience that I never want to have again. All twenty-seven students  in my program trekked to to immigration office at eight o'clock in the morning. This was a task in itself: twenty-seven jet-lagged twenty and twenty-one year olds do not want to be awake at eight am, and especially do not want to attempt to figure out public transportation. We spent all morning at the immigration office, dealing with people that did not speak fluent English, and hoping that we had all of the right documents with us. The last person finished filling out his documents right as the office closed for lunch, and then we attended our lectures and learning seminars.

I actually enjoyed the lectures on the differences between the American and Hungarian ways of life. There is definitely a different mindset that comes with living in a post-communist country that has experienced so much political turmoil. Also, these lectures have been useful at other times in my stay. For example, we discussed how Americans in general like to be organized and use great managerial skills. The same definitely does not apply in Hungary. It is very rare for professors to hand out syllabi's. Another example is one that took me by surprise. When I went to mass at St. Stephen's, communion was chaotic. There were no ushers to let people out row by row, but instead, when the priest walked down, the entire church just stood up and shuffled into makeshift lines. I was completely stunned, and that has probably been the biggest culture shock that I've experienced so far.

On Saturday and Sunday, our program directors arranged a scavenger hunt for the group. We were divided into groups of five or six, and had to visit different locations in the city. This was a lot of fun, but was a lot of walking. I didn't realize how much walking we'd done until I looked at a map the next day. There was even more walking that evening because we went to the Cango Bal which is a festival celebrating traditional Hungarian dance and music. We all slept well that night! Here are some pictures from cooking in the dorm kitchen and the scavenger hunt!

 Reading "Survival Hungarian"

The National Opera House

 

 In front of St. Stephen's

 The National Musuem

 St. Stephen's

 Baths - Unfortunately there are more old men in Spedos than I'd ever care to see again. 

 The US Embassy

 Walking across Liberty Bridge to Buda

 At the Fisherman's Basin in Buda overlooking Pest

 Parliament from across the river.