Cluj fountain

Cluj-Napoca, Romania.  Also taken April of last year: a fountain at the base of a statue outside the church pictured below.


It's a crooked picture, but I still like it.  The whole day felt a bit crooked--I flew out of Cluj-Napoca to the Paris-Beauvais airport in the wee hours of the next morning, and I'd spent two or three weeks trying to figure out how to get from the Paris-Beauvais airport to Mont Saint Michel and back so I could see the inspiration for the Disney castle.  Then, that afternoon, I decided I was both a pinch travel-weary and incredibly homesick for Edinburgh.  So I scrapped all my France plans and bought a plane ticket to go home. 

It's kind of a nice feeling, to be homesick for somewhere that you've chosen to live.  It means you chose well. 

Heyyy, hallelujah.

Did you know there is an ice rink on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower? You probably did. Probably because I told you. Multiple times.

Seriously, though, it was the discovery of a lifetime. Even though London turned into a girl and refused to go skating with me. I made him hold my bag and shoes while I skated in circles and was generally giddier than I have been since the first time it snowed out here. (Before everything turned to ice and slush.) (It's all melted now, though. It's actually been quite warm the past few days.)

London hadn't been to Paris since he was little, so we got to do all the touristy stuff without me feeling stupid, since I've done most of them before. We stood in line to see the Mona Lisa (as well as the picture on the cover of the APEC textbook!) and went to the top of the Arch de Triumph, which I think is probably my favorite view of Paris. We walked up the Eiffel Tower, although the top was closed (probably due to wind. The weather was a pinch bipolar while we were there--sun, wind, rain, the works.). The first floor wasn't so difficult, but the stretch from the first to the second was a pinch painful. The view was definitely worth it, though, and it was about half as cheap as taking the elevator.

(There'll be more Paris stories to come. And hopefully pictures as well, if I can get London to send them to me. I accidentally left my camera at the hotel the first day, and it died one picture in on the second day. lol @ me.)

The day after we got back (last Monday, the tenth) was the beginning of semester two. Blegghh. It has not been a pretty week, all thanks to academia and administrators who really couldn't care less about one more student. Yes, I feel bad for them because I'm sure their job sucks big time, but if someone doesn't like dealing with people who need help then it's probably time to consider a change of careers.

I'm bitter about a few things, in case you couldn't tell. It's not just that I'm used to CCS. The woman I spoke to was mean.

Basically I have to make it through one more semester without a writing class. I'm not sure how well this is going to go--I'm already completely apathetic about my other classes. Except maybe my literature class.

Guess what, though. I PASSED LATIN. Not sure what grade I got, but I PASSED.

Guess what else. If I'd failed, I would have been sent home.

That particular tidbit is giving me a bit of a delayed-reaction-panic-attack.

Part IV

View from the far end of Pompeii’s forum, just outside the basilica. That’s Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

And that's me, inside the basilica. It was pretty windy.

I’m flying off to Paris this afternoon with London with meet up with Lille. It’ll be so nice to have friends around on my birthday, and to be in a foreign city. :)

Jetsetting tomorrow!

I really need to stop looking at the weather forecast for San Diego. Really, really need to stop that, because all it does is obliterate my curiosity and leave me depressed. (Ninety-seven/thirty-six degrees back home!! It's fifty-two/eleven out here in Edinburgh.)

I did buy a new coat today, though. It's cute. And I think it'll work quite well as the temp continues to drop.

Tomorrow I'm getting up at the crack of dawn (before?) and flying out to meet an old friend (whom I'll codename Escondido) in Paris. I'll be there for about half of Friday, all of Saturday, and will be heading back Sunday morning.

(SO EXCITED. I didn't even have a fantastic time last time I was in Paris, but it's going to be so much fun hanging out with Escondido this weekend. It's always an absolute blast hanging out with him.)

Ode to Insanity

(Inter)National Novel Writing Month started yesterday. (Nanowrimo for short.) During the month of November, from midnight on the first to 11:59:59 on the thirtieth, thousands and thousands of people all across the world live off coffee and craziness in order to jam out a 50,000 word novella. This'll be the first year in four that I won't be participating, and yes, it makes me sad. Last year I wrote a story about a girl who dropped out of university and moved up to Morrow Bay. She met a pair of siblings that turned out to be immortal twins who'd originally been born in the ancient Roman Republic. The brother was a surfer and the sister was just... cool.

I want to participate this year, but I just won't have time. Sunshinebucket is visiting until tomorrow evening, and then on Friday morning I'm flying out to spend the weekend in Paris with an old friend. The weekend after that I'm meeting a different friend in Berlin, and in the midst of all that I still have to figure out how to keep up with classes.

(Classes are exhausting. I'm signing up for reading and creative writing classes next semester, and bully for anyone who can enjoy classes that aren't a part of their major. I miss my school-sanctioned writing time.)