"I'm not dead yet!"

Small movie clip explaining the title of the post.  =)


So, I know when I was in Chicago I promised that I'd update "faithfully" and I'm sad to say that lately I haven't been so "faithful" when it comes to writing things down.  This is not good on a few different levels.
1) If I forget to write things down I'll forget them later on when I want to remember and that will be no fun.
2) I told you that I'd update!  It's been ten days!!! That's unfair to you!

So, here's an update!

Lets see.  Classes are underway now.  If my memory serves me correctly, I gave you a quick rundown on what classes I was signed up for in my last post.  So I'll spare you the boring details of that.  But I will go on and say that I like them very much.  The most "intensive" class is the Computer-Aided Analysis of Financial Markets class.  That one has homework.  ;)  Yeah, that's what makes it difficult, it has homework.

The program of study is pretty different here than it is in the States.  If you sign up for a lecture class, you get a lecture class.  There is little to no homework, and there are absolutely NO semester-long projects.  If you sign up for a "Seminar" you are signing up for a class that meets twice in a semester. An introductory class where you pick a topic for a paper and presentation that you will then research and write and present at the second class.  The first class is in the beginning of the semester, the second class is towards Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I have no plans as of yet.  However, I'm collaborating with people and will figure out what to do and where to go and I will report back to you all. =)
Please excuse my horrible run-on sentences, I've begun to realize that I think in run-on sentences...


Alright, going through my calendar I can give you some updates on what I've been doing lately...  The past two Fridays were spent with Bank, Younghoe, Decky and Eunsol.  (Younghoe and Eunsol are from South Korea and Decky is from Indonesia.)  And this last Wednesday we went to the Irish Pub in town for karaoke.

Karaoke is a lot of fun, but it can't compare to karaoke hosted in The Bog. =) Here's a little explanation for my family members who read this: Almost every Friday during my last semester at IIT I would stop off at Karaoke to hang out with the Amazing Bonnie Wedster after my Friday night class.  If the night was dead, Bonnie and I would start the "Bonnie and Erin Show" which involved us singing songs until other people would sign up and take over. =)  It was a LOT of fun.  And while we weren't singing, we would be in the back running the karaoke and knitting. Yes, knitting.  =) Karaoke here isn't the same at all.  It's very crowded and while the singing is fun (they have a HUGE selection of songs) things just aren't the same.  I don't have people to sing with, and singing soundtracks just isn't the same when you can't pick duets...  It's still a lot of fun, though.  =)

I'm still getting used to things here.  For example, thinking in Celsius.  Hearing "It's only ten degrees out, it's not bad." really messes with my head since I'm so used to thinking in Fahrenheit.  I'm starting to get used to it, but it's still confusing when I'm not expecting it. =)

I haven't gone anywhere lately.  We have a trip to Portugal coming up in November.  Sergey, Bank, Devika, and I are going to Oporto, Portugal.  The tickets were amazingly cheap!  Sergey came into my room one day shouting "Where is Bank???" (because obviously I know everything ;-) ) and told me that he found tickets to Oporto, Portugal on ryanair.com for 2€ round-trip.  So, after looking up the dates and the average temperature for Porto at that time of the year (a balmy 60 degrees Fahrenheit), I joined up on the trip.  We  called Bank, got his in on the trip, and then Devika walked into my room.  She was very excited at the prospect of warm weather, and joined us as well.  We booked the tickets (which ended up being 12€ each with taxes and fees) without further delay and an adventure was born. =)  We still have to figure out where we'll be staying while we're there, but it'll only be two nights in the middle of November, so we'll be fine. =)

I've also booked tickets to Rome (for two different trips) as well as to Poland.  The first Rome trip will be shortly after New Years, before school starts up again.  I'll be going with Devika and a few other people (don't remember exactly who at the moment) from the 6th of January until the 11th.  Tickets are only 30€, so it's a good deal.  The second Rome trip is just after the Poland trip.  I'll be going to Poland for a few days after my finals are over to visit Kit.  Then we'll fly back to Frankfurt together and I'll show her around Pforzheim, and then we're going to Rome.  We'll be there from the 10th until the 15th.  I'm so excited!

I still don't have plans laid yet for Christmas, but I'll be figuring that out pretty soon.


Today I got to talk to Grandma Schell on Skype!  It was really good to see her.  She mentioned that her grandmother was from Trier, Germany. So after we hung up, I looked it up.  Trier is about 250 km away from Pforzheim.  It's a 4 hour train ride, so I think I might go there on Saturday and look around.  =)


On the nerdy side of life:  I got an invitation to Google Wave.  =)  The only thing I've noticed is that it only really works if you're awake at the same time as the rest of your contacts... One of the main "selling points" is it's real-time approach of things.  You can actually see the updates as they're making them.  So if you're collaborating on something with another person, you can see them type as you type.  Very useful, if you're both awake... =)  I have a feeling it will be much more useful when I'm back in the same time-zone as everyone else...



I think that I read somewhere that you can only post up to 1000 words in a single blog post.  This has provoked me to writing an excruciatingly long post (over 1000 words) to see if it can actually be published or not.  =)  You know me, always pushing the limits.  ;-)  Considering that this post will have over 1100 words when I finally hit the “publish” button, I think I'll stop my test here and see how it goes.  =)

Love to all!!! I'll try to be a more constant updater!!  <3

~e