the cool, drizzly weather this morning made me think of two things this morning. first off, i wish i were on the cape, or just on the ocean in general. i would love to just sit out wrapped in a blanket with some hot coffee and read a book.
secondly it made me think of one morning while at home when kasia, ben, (maybe chris) and i went to 'a taste of heaven' in andersonville for breakfast. i guess the weather was somewhat similar to today. i'm hoping we can have a repeat when i'm home (in a day and a month) for thanksgiving.
i've started to read a book for leisurely purposes entitled 'night train to lisbon'. the back cover review mentioned 'the shadow of the wind', a really great historical fiction mystery set in franco-era barcelona, so i thought i'd enjoy it. so far it is pretty good - a swiss philologist who teachers greek, latin, and hebrew at a lyceum randomly picks up and leaves his town after a chance encounter with a portuguese woman. he then picks up a book in portuguese and becomes obsessed with the language and heads to lisbon. that's where i'm at so far - it seems as though he's having a midlife crisis, but something deeper than that.
it makes me want to just pack up shop and move to Catalonia - I could support myself teaching English, rent a flat from some elderly Catalan woman, and get skinny from only consuming coffee. a wonderful life would i leave...
back to reality, i am pretending to re-immerse myself in grad school work. unfortunately the classes i am taking haven't really panned out to what i expected. 'linguistic structure of english', though good for my resume for fulbright hopes of teaching english, hasn't taught me much. it feels very elementary - i can't even describe it.
'comparative development of the romance languages' is in theory very interesting, but the professor has structured the class poorly and bounces back and forth from topic to topic and really i just have no idea what is going on. luckily for my final project i get to work alone on topic with catalan, so that may prove rewarding.
'early slavic linguistics and texts' is the only exception. though my most difficult class, it is really fascinating and i have actually acquired factual information about the structure, phonology, morphology, etc. of the language. i may take sanskrit after all, next semester. on va voir.
tonight i am hopefully seeing a movie with bobo, possibly 'quarantine', which looks reasonably frightening.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
hola
he de començar a escriure més sovint, llavors aquí estic de nou...
this morning at 11 I had my on-campus interview for the Fulbright to Andorra, and I must say I think it went really well. my panel consisted of professor thomas (head of fulbright and my linguistics prof), professor rhodes (hispanic studies professor, and apparently catalan speaker), professor shepherd (my comparative romance professor) and some other man I don't recall. basically I spend the entire time explaining the linguistic, historical, and educational aspects of Andorra, since almost no one has any familiarity with the tiny country. i think it played in my favor in that everyone saw just how interested i am in going to this place.
the second half of the interview was conducted in catalan and spanish. i had no idea professor rhodes spoke catalan (not that i know her), so she ended up conducting both the catalan and spanish portions. for as stressful as having a trilingual interview was, i loved every minute of it. and that is why i am going to love Andorrashe commented that i have a Lleida accent, which is hot. Lleida (or Lerida) is an Eastern Spanish city. i think i did well in both languages, though looking back i said the word for 'winter' (hivern) instead of 'summer' (estiu) when describing when I learned Catalan. oh well.
other than that things have been ok. i went to the doctor today to get the thing on my leg checked out. a stream of liquid nitrogen was a simple solution. i now have a doctor in boston. for whatever reason i am exhausted today, so i think i shall now retire to bed.
bona nit a tothom
this morning at 11 I had my on-campus interview for the Fulbright to Andorra, and I must say I think it went really well. my panel consisted of professor thomas (head of fulbright and my linguistics prof), professor rhodes (hispanic studies professor, and apparently catalan speaker), professor shepherd (my comparative romance professor) and some other man I don't recall. basically I spend the entire time explaining the linguistic, historical, and educational aspects of Andorra, since almost no one has any familiarity with the tiny country. i think it played in my favor in that everyone saw just how interested i am in going to this place.
the second half of the interview was conducted in catalan and spanish. i had no idea professor rhodes spoke catalan (not that i know her), so she ended up conducting both the catalan and spanish portions. for as stressful as having a trilingual interview was, i loved every minute of it. and that is why i am going to love Andorrashe commented that i have a Lleida accent, which is hot. Lleida (or Lerida) is an Eastern Spanish city. i think i did well in both languages, though looking back i said the word for 'winter' (hivern) instead of 'summer' (estiu) when describing when I learned Catalan. oh well.
other than that things have been ok. i went to the doctor today to get the thing on my leg checked out. a stream of liquid nitrogen was a simple solution. i now have a doctor in boston. for whatever reason i am exhausted today, so i think i shall now retire to bed.
bona nit a tothom
Friday, September 26, 2008
hi
seeing that i was just caught in a monsoon it appears i am going to have to postpone my plans to go to the gym and instead sit and watch garbage television while stuffing my face. oh well.
things have been decent as of late. the only thing that is moderately stressing me is my fulbright. i'm almost done with my drafts, i've had my catalan evaluated, my three recommendations are being written, and the rest of the application is just about complete. the only thing that hasn't happened is my Spanish being evaluated, even though that is just something supplementary and not technically allowed. i suppose i need to send another e-mail to someone else. UGH and the deadline is wednesday...
mmk i just lost interest in this update...
things have been decent as of late. the only thing that is moderately stressing me is my fulbright. i'm almost done with my drafts, i've had my catalan evaluated, my three recommendations are being written, and the rest of the application is just about complete. the only thing that hasn't happened is my Spanish being evaluated, even though that is just something supplementary and not technically allowed. i suppose i need to send another e-mail to someone else. UGH and the deadline is wednesday...
mmk i just lost interest in this update...
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
el finde y más
as it is 7:23am on a day I don't have any commitments until 1pm, it appears as though I have lost the ability to sleep in. i went to bed after midnight, so it's not as if i slept excessively. oh well. chances are i'll need to be up by 7:30 every day anyway once my schedule is further solidified.
labor day weekend was very fun. friday night i went to peter and bryan's to hang out, and despite what they (and adam) think, and despite my inability to reach a decent level of intoxication, i had a very nice time. i ended up catching the last T to meet up with christopher, but since he ended up falling asleep on the C and going to the end of the line, thus having to walk 40 minutes back to his place, i ended up just going to bed.
saturday was another day at moogy's - not entirely unpleasant. that night i went to jtree to hang out with christopher's friends and watch the game. so many BC '08 people were there it almost seemed like senior year never ended. *tear*
sunday chris and i left for his place in rhode island, meeting up with bessie, meghan, and kristin at the beach. while i am not a beach person, it was an enjoyable day and satan knows i needed the color. we rounded out the evening with dinner at a local place on the water, mini golf, and then drinking chris' father's alcohol outside on the water before going to bed.
monday we were back to the beach. my snowy white body had taken in enough sun the day before, so i was forced to cover up after a few hours for fear of getting severely burnt. i also made the unfortunate discovery that southern rhode island 'clam cakes' are little more than flavorless balls of fried dough with tiny specks of clam in them. we ended up leaving sometime after 1 so as to make it back to boston without hitting traffic. that night we just relaxed at my place with some vi i formatge before going to bed.
'comparative development of the romance languages' greeted me at 9am tuesday as my first class. i think it is going to be awesome and i can't wait to start the reading. she encouraged us to, in addition to french, spanish, and italian, the main languages we would be working with, to explore other romance languages in our investigations. obvi i'm working with catalan.
speaking of catalan...while sitting in my 1:30 with CF, the girl in front of me turned around and asked if i was jeffrey. i recognized her from class earlier, and she asked if i was the one that mentioned being able to speak some catalan. YES YES YES! it turns out she is from Valencia doing a Linguistics M.A. here, her first language is catalan, and she would love to speak in catalan with! i literally started blushing i was so excited!
i had to work at moogy's 5-10 last night since they were desperate for someone, so i didn't do much else other than that. luckily it wasn't too busy so i didn't fuck everything up. after that i just took care of some things at home like ordering new contacts, then went to bed.
labor day weekend was very fun. friday night i went to peter and bryan's to hang out, and despite what they (and adam) think, and despite my inability to reach a decent level of intoxication, i had a very nice time. i ended up catching the last T to meet up with christopher, but since he ended up falling asleep on the C and going to the end of the line, thus having to walk 40 minutes back to his place, i ended up just going to bed.
saturday was another day at moogy's - not entirely unpleasant. that night i went to jtree to hang out with christopher's friends and watch the game. so many BC '08 people were there it almost seemed like senior year never ended. *tear*
sunday chris and i left for his place in rhode island, meeting up with bessie, meghan, and kristin at the beach. while i am not a beach person, it was an enjoyable day and satan knows i needed the color. we rounded out the evening with dinner at a local place on the water, mini golf, and then drinking chris' father's alcohol outside on the water before going to bed.
monday we were back to the beach. my snowy white body had taken in enough sun the day before, so i was forced to cover up after a few hours for fear of getting severely burnt. i also made the unfortunate discovery that southern rhode island 'clam cakes' are little more than flavorless balls of fried dough with tiny specks of clam in them. we ended up leaving sometime after 1 so as to make it back to boston without hitting traffic. that night we just relaxed at my place with some vi i formatge before going to bed.
'comparative development of the romance languages' greeted me at 9am tuesday as my first class. i think it is going to be awesome and i can't wait to start the reading. she encouraged us to, in addition to french, spanish, and italian, the main languages we would be working with, to explore other romance languages in our investigations. obvi i'm working with catalan.
speaking of catalan...while sitting in my 1:30 with CF, the girl in front of me turned around and asked if i was jeffrey. i recognized her from class earlier, and she asked if i was the one that mentioned being able to speak some catalan. YES YES YES! it turns out she is from Valencia doing a Linguistics M.A. here, her first language is catalan, and she would love to speak in catalan with! i literally started blushing i was so excited!
i had to work at moogy's 5-10 last night since they were desperate for someone, so i didn't do much else other than that. luckily it wasn't too busy so i didn't fuck everything up. after that i just took care of some things at home like ordering new contacts, then went to bed.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
almost back to school
kasia and ben left this morning after having been here a full week. despite my still having to work, i managed to join them on a whale watch, did a day trip to salem, shopped on newbury and at the pru, walked through the south end, went out on Landsdowne, etc. etc. sitting on our asses chicago 'burbs-style was obviously part of our week as well - we watched Juno (finally) as well as Prom Night. i surprisingly very much enjoyed both of them - Prom night really creeped me out.
our somewhat tearful farewell this morning has made me think about things once again, things being like where i am headed geographically in the next couple of years. this will be my 5th year of living in the Boston area, and I will at a minimum be here for one more year after this. if I get my fulbright i'll be off to andorra in 2009 and then back to Boston to finish my Master's in 2011. but then where...stay in Boston? go back to Chicago? New York? go abroad? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....
anyway...after being too poor to sign up for real at bsc, then sitting on my ass and getting fat(ter) even though i could afford it, i finally just walked over and joined at the end of last week. i now have a gold membership, and i have no excuses for not going considering it takes me literally 2 minutes to walk there. i tell myself that today my back-to-school eating/exercising plan will go into full swing. i've started with some heart-healthy oatmeal!
thanks to how stupid the loan system works i need to wait until after classes start, September 3rd in order to receive my money. i am fine with tuition, since it has been applied already, but with respect to living expenses i will now have to go into my savings for the time-being. god forbid they take into consideration that bills, etc. are due on the first of the month. i cannot wait to wait in line wednesday morning just to get my fucking check.
i have mixed feelings about starting classes again next week, but i'm mostly excited to have a legitimate routine again. working in the department M-Th 9-1 perhaps would have felt structured had i actually any work to do. i am also soooo excited to have weekends free again come October when i stop with Moogy's. i'm gonna be working one day a weekend in september, it seems, then calling it quits. classes plus one, hopefully 2 jobs during the week will be enough, thanks. i just hope i don't end up feeling like a super senior. i feel like i should wear a t-shirt that assures people i did, in fact, graduate, and am now getting a Master's.
my department job ends on friday. while i have enjoyed sitting and doing nothing and getting paid for it, its really just too tedious. im hoping to get more details on my assistantship soon, then friday morning i'll be applying for a work-study position in Bryan's office since i just LOVE working so much. after this long weekend and Rhode Island its full-speed ahead!
our somewhat tearful farewell this morning has made me think about things once again, things being like where i am headed geographically in the next couple of years. this will be my 5th year of living in the Boston area, and I will at a minimum be here for one more year after this. if I get my fulbright i'll be off to andorra in 2009 and then back to Boston to finish my Master's in 2011. but then where...stay in Boston? go back to Chicago? New York? go abroad? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....
anyway...after being too poor to sign up for real at bsc, then sitting on my ass and getting fat(ter) even though i could afford it, i finally just walked over and joined at the end of last week. i now have a gold membership, and i have no excuses for not going considering it takes me literally 2 minutes to walk there. i tell myself that today my back-to-school eating/exercising plan will go into full swing. i've started with some heart-healthy oatmeal!
thanks to how stupid the loan system works i need to wait until after classes start, September 3rd in order to receive my money. i am fine with tuition, since it has been applied already, but with respect to living expenses i will now have to go into my savings for the time-being. god forbid they take into consideration that bills, etc. are due on the first of the month. i cannot wait to wait in line wednesday morning just to get my fucking check.
i have mixed feelings about starting classes again next week, but i'm mostly excited to have a legitimate routine again. working in the department M-Th 9-1 perhaps would have felt structured had i actually any work to do. i am also soooo excited to have weekends free again come October when i stop with Moogy's. i'm gonna be working one day a weekend in september, it seems, then calling it quits. classes plus one, hopefully 2 jobs during the week will be enough, thanks. i just hope i don't end up feeling like a super senior. i feel like i should wear a t-shirt that assures people i did, in fact, graduate, and am now getting a Master's.
my department job ends on friday. while i have enjoyed sitting and doing nothing and getting paid for it, its really just too tedious. im hoping to get more details on my assistantship soon, then friday morning i'll be applying for a work-study position in Bryan's office since i just LOVE working so much. after this long weekend and Rhode Island its full-speed ahead!
Monday, August 18, 2008
medio agosto...
i discovered today that the most-watched television program in Catalonia features a young gay plot line and the whole show is in Catalan. 'El Cor de la Ciutat' will shortly become my new obsession.
It also came to my attention that with my miles I can fly to Tokyo round trip for $48 over spring break. Those tickets are normally like $1700, aka id really be getting my money's worth. The only problem is that I'd be a lot more reluctant to travel to Tokyo alone considering I don't know any Japanese, and also since it is so expensive. I would really want to be able to splurge on sick sushi dinners, etc. I'm thinking I'll end up going to Belgium, plus side trips to Luxembourg and Paris.
Kasia and Ben come tomorrow, which is exciting. Hopefully we can do fun things and not blow a ton of money. There is a potential trip to Maine in the works, maybe a whale watch, and certainly plenty of eating.
I am wondering if this is my last week in the department. Demetra is now in daily, so I basically have no reason to be here considering all my "projects" are done. Oh well. I'll continue to show up and log in hours until I hear otherwise. I have no problem with getting paid to do nothing :-)
I have now been 1 week without a normally functioning phone thanks to the incompetence of Verizon. My new fucking battery had best come in today. Last Monday on the walk back to the car from Eastern Standard my phone was knocked out of my hands and subsequently refused to turn on.
15 minutes til I can leave, thank satan. I'm grabbing lunch with Bobo then sitting on my ass until dinner at Tangierno tonight. I'm looking forward to some good Moroccan food!
It also came to my attention that with my miles I can fly to Tokyo round trip for $48 over spring break. Those tickets are normally like $1700, aka id really be getting my money's worth. The only problem is that I'd be a lot more reluctant to travel to Tokyo alone considering I don't know any Japanese, and also since it is so expensive. I would really want to be able to splurge on sick sushi dinners, etc. I'm thinking I'll end up going to Belgium, plus side trips to Luxembourg and Paris.
Kasia and Ben come tomorrow, which is exciting. Hopefully we can do fun things and not blow a ton of money. There is a potential trip to Maine in the works, maybe a whale watch, and certainly plenty of eating.
I am wondering if this is my last week in the department. Demetra is now in daily, so I basically have no reason to be here considering all my "projects" are done. Oh well. I'll continue to show up and log in hours until I hear otherwise. I have no problem with getting paid to do nothing :-)
I have now been 1 week without a normally functioning phone thanks to the incompetence of Verizon. My new fucking battery had best come in today. Last Monday on the walk back to the car from Eastern Standard my phone was knocked out of my hands and subsequently refused to turn on.
15 minutes til I can leave, thank satan. I'm grabbing lunch with Bobo then sitting on my ass until dinner at Tangierno tonight. I'm looking forward to some good Moroccan food!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
back from Chicago
well friends, after a relaxing long weekend at home I am back at BC sitting in the department. today i labeled file folders, delivered some paperwork to McGuinn, and made a pdf document. someday i'll look back and smile upon these days...
i am mad the department for shafting my favorite professor and the Bulgarian program here. intro to bulgarian was cut, as was 'society and national identity in the balkans' in the spring. wtf. everyone wants to learn stupid russian, chinese, and arabic. naturally the languages that interest me, namely Bulgarian and Catalan, are taught almost nowhere in the U.S. even portuguese, one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world, was cut after I took it for one semester here.
anyway, most of my time at home was spent sitting on my ass doing nothing, which was exactly as i had planned. thursday i spend the day at home with the fam before going to dinner with my aunt and uncle (plus my family) to catch up. later that night kasia, ben, and andy came over to hang out, but i only lasted so long seeing as i had been awake close to 24 hours on account of my ridiculously early flight and the time change.
friday was the big trip to the new sonic that opened up in South Bend, IN, a mere two hours drive from the Chicago 'burbs. Considering we usually drive up to 4 and a half hours to get to a Sonic, this was a welcome addition to the Sonic family. there were a few new things on the menu, like 3 different cheeses to slather one's tots in, angus beef burgers, a fried ice cream shake, and a chili frito pie. naturally we tried all of them. technically we should have ordered 10 times each to keep up with tradition (this would have been our 10th cycle), but since last time we were miserable and almost vomiting, we decided it was best to just enjoy sonic without having to eat a certain amount. afterwards i chilled at andy's and watched the opening ceremonies before heading home.
saturday i hit up oakbrook with natalie and andy after lunch at Claimjumper. I had a chicken and brie sandwich, which was quite good. it was nice to have gloria jean's again (the only place to get a mochanut cooler after caribou discontinued it), too. i headed back to andy's where we watched the ashley tisdale movie 'picture this' which much to my surprise had two actresses from degrassi as part of the supporting cast. it was...entertaining.
that night was mexitalasian night, meaning we combined the wonders of mexico, italy, and asia with respect to food and beverage, and only the HIGHEST quality foods were consumed. we got pizza from nino's; crab rangoon, fried rice, and egg rolls from south china sea whatever, and then a bunch of stuff from taco bell. meanwhile we were drinking a mexitalasian cocktail, composed of tequila, limoncello, midori, and sour mix topped with club soda. it was actually really good. we saw andy drunk for the first time ever, which was entertaining. though he was somewhat annoying, i was just happy to see him drinking heavily. after hookah-ing outside a bit, we called it a night.
sunday was my grad party. i had a nice buzz going the whole time thanks to the margarita and pina colada machines we rented. i also had a beer now and then to counteract the acid from the other drinks that was eating away at my throat. christina came, which was great, though weird as expected considering i only know her in the BC context. it'll be great to be able to see her whenever i come home. nato and theresa flaked, but i had a great time with kasia, ben, andy, and everyone else. i ended up making waaaaaay more money than i expected, so now I can comfortably live for the rest of the month and was able to put a few hundred into savings for quebec city and other trips in the fall. per andy's request i need to spend his amex gift card on a splurge clothing item. now i just have to lose the 30 lbs i gained this weekend before i can fit into any reasonable article of clothing. good thing i have money to finally get my bsc membership! i'm just gonna wait til their next promotion.
as for the rest of today, in an hour i have reservations at Eastern Standard for lunch with Chris. since it's restaurant week i pay $20 for a 3-course meal! i suppose i'll have to order a cocktail - the September issue of Details actually talks about ES's 'Jack Rose' in their unusual cocktails article. I suppose i'll have to try it! then who knows. perhaps i'll treat myself to a worldly good of some sort.
i am mad the department for shafting my favorite professor and the Bulgarian program here. intro to bulgarian was cut, as was 'society and national identity in the balkans' in the spring. wtf. everyone wants to learn stupid russian, chinese, and arabic. naturally the languages that interest me, namely Bulgarian and Catalan, are taught almost nowhere in the U.S. even portuguese, one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world, was cut after I took it for one semester here.
anyway, most of my time at home was spent sitting on my ass doing nothing, which was exactly as i had planned. thursday i spend the day at home with the fam before going to dinner with my aunt and uncle (plus my family) to catch up. later that night kasia, ben, and andy came over to hang out, but i only lasted so long seeing as i had been awake close to 24 hours on account of my ridiculously early flight and the time change.
friday was the big trip to the new sonic that opened up in South Bend, IN, a mere two hours drive from the Chicago 'burbs. Considering we usually drive up to 4 and a half hours to get to a Sonic, this was a welcome addition to the Sonic family. there were a few new things on the menu, like 3 different cheeses to slather one's tots in, angus beef burgers, a fried ice cream shake, and a chili frito pie. naturally we tried all of them. technically we should have ordered 10 times each to keep up with tradition (this would have been our 10th cycle), but since last time we were miserable and almost vomiting, we decided it was best to just enjoy sonic without having to eat a certain amount. afterwards i chilled at andy's and watched the opening ceremonies before heading home.
saturday i hit up oakbrook with natalie and andy after lunch at Claimjumper. I had a chicken and brie sandwich, which was quite good. it was nice to have gloria jean's again (the only place to get a mochanut cooler after caribou discontinued it), too. i headed back to andy's where we watched the ashley tisdale movie 'picture this' which much to my surprise had two actresses from degrassi as part of the supporting cast. it was...entertaining.
that night was mexitalasian night, meaning we combined the wonders of mexico, italy, and asia with respect to food and beverage, and only the HIGHEST quality foods were consumed. we got pizza from nino's; crab rangoon, fried rice, and egg rolls from south china sea whatever, and then a bunch of stuff from taco bell. meanwhile we were drinking a mexitalasian cocktail, composed of tequila, limoncello, midori, and sour mix topped with club soda. it was actually really good. we saw andy drunk for the first time ever, which was entertaining. though he was somewhat annoying, i was just happy to see him drinking heavily. after hookah-ing outside a bit, we called it a night.
sunday was my grad party. i had a nice buzz going the whole time thanks to the margarita and pina colada machines we rented. i also had a beer now and then to counteract the acid from the other drinks that was eating away at my throat. christina came, which was great, though weird as expected considering i only know her in the BC context. it'll be great to be able to see her whenever i come home. nato and theresa flaked, but i had a great time with kasia, ben, andy, and everyone else. i ended up making waaaaaay more money than i expected, so now I can comfortably live for the rest of the month and was able to put a few hundred into savings for quebec city and other trips in the fall. per andy's request i need to spend his amex gift card on a splurge clothing item. now i just have to lose the 30 lbs i gained this weekend before i can fit into any reasonable article of clothing. good thing i have money to finally get my bsc membership! i'm just gonna wait til their next promotion.
as for the rest of today, in an hour i have reservations at Eastern Standard for lunch with Chris. since it's restaurant week i pay $20 for a 3-course meal! i suppose i'll have to order a cocktail - the September issue of Details actually talks about ES's 'Jack Rose' in their unusual cocktails article. I suppose i'll have to try it! then who knows. perhaps i'll treat myself to a worldly good of some sort.
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