Food post!

I've had a lot of great food this semester, and made some good food with my roommates, too! Here are just a few of the delicious meals I had: 

Best Belgian waffle I've ever had, from Go Free

Brunch that Irene and I made! Omelete, guacamole, bacon, and toast.

Fettuccine hay and straw + salad

Buckeyes!

Best way to study: coffee and bolognese at Kalitca

Gelato - I tried the raspberry and lavender vanilla

Pizza made by Irene, salad made by me!

Czech it out! I went to Prague!

Could the title of this post be any cheesier? You have to admit it's pretty punny though! ;)

After a 7-hour train ride (which began at 5:20 am), we made it to Prague. Katrina, Irene, and I had not slept well on the train, but we toughed it out and got a full day of exploring in. We wandered around, since we had not planned out what we were going to do. Luckily, our hostel had free tourist maps that had major landmarks. Our first stop was lunch. We went to Lokal. Delicious food! Irene and I shared a sausage with homemade mustard and horseradish and pork risotto.

Our hostel was right by the Charles Bridge, so we checked that out after failing to find the John Lennon wall (turns out the map was wrong). We then explored the main square. The astronomical clock there is one of the oldest clocks still around and working; the central part of it was finished in 1410. We got to see the show at 4:00, but in my opinion, it wasn't worth being in the crowd and getting pushed by people. The clock itself is beautiful, but I guess I was expecting the show to be more like the Glockenspiel was. There was a Christmas market being set up in the main square, including an enormous tree. Since that market wasn't ready, we wandered some more and stumbled upon another market that was mostly ready. So many gifts and souvenirs! After seeing the entirety of the market, we decided that hot chocolate was in order (it was only about 30 degrees Fahrenheit or so, but that gets to you after walking around for a few hours!). We warmed up and walked some more, coming across the dancing building. I thought it looked cool with the lights and shadows! It started raining, so we found a nice place for dinner near our hostel. I tried rabbit! Yum.

The next day, we had more of a game plan. We went to the Prague Castle. St. Vitus Cathedral was amazing! Beautiful architecture, beautiful stained glass. It was fun to see the changing of the guards...I liked their uniforms! We also got to see the Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basilica, and Golden Lane. Absolutely loved our time there. Next, we walked up the hill to the observation tower, which was made to look like a miniature version of the Eiffel Tower. We didn't go up in it, since we were tired from walking up the hill and lots of stairs to get there. Instead, we went in the mirror maze, which was fun. It made me feel like a little kid! I loved seeing the nature on the hill as well as the amazing views of the city. It was fun to see just how far we had walked...we could see St. Vitus Cathedral in the distance!

On Sunday, our last day there, we finally found the John Lennon Wall! I liked the penguin and the yellow submarine. It's cool that the wall is ever-changing. The rest of our remaining time was spent exploring the Vyšehrad Fortress. The church there had a beautiful cemetery. Each of the grave spots were unique and beautiful in their own way. My favorites were the ones that tied in nature; one had a garden in front if it. We couldn't go into the church, since there were a lot of baptisms going on. There were more beautiful views of the river from the fort. The fort felt a lot less touristy, with people baptizing their babies and others with their children at the playground there. It was nice. A good way to end our trip.

I'm glad I finally made it to Prague! It was cold and a little rainy all weekend, but so worth it.

Lots of locks of love! <3

Astronomical Clock

Prague at night

Dancing building

Charles Bridge!

St. Vitus Cathedral at the castle

Beautiful stained glass and high ceilings

Love the way the light hits the wall

St. Vitus Cathedral from outside

Orchard and view of the city (see the cathedral?)

Nature walk - mossy rocks!

John Lennon Wall - Yellow Submarine

Church and cemetery at the fort

¡Hola, Barcelona!

There was no school on All Saint's Day, so Katrina and I decided to spend our long weekend in Barcelona, Spain! We left early on Friday for our 5:00am flight, and made it to Barcelona around noon. We explored a bit after checking into our hostel. That evening, we had paella for dinner (I tried clams!), and we saw a flamenco dancing performance at the Palau de la Música Catalana. There were signs inside the building saying that it wasn't allowed to take pictures, but everyone was taking pictures...especially in the concert hall. How could you not? The stained glass and intriguing architecture is absolutely amazing. I LOVED the show. The music was fun and full of variety, and the dancers could move extremely fast and with passion! Is it too late for me to become a flamenco dancer when I grow up? =) 

On Saturday morning, we had churros de chocolate for breakfast. You take the churros and dip them in the hot chocolate - delicious! We may or may not have had that for breakfast the next day as well... After breakfast, we checked out the Barcelona Cathedral. What a great example of a gothic cathedral! Next, we headed to the Museu de la Xocolata. Our "tickets" were chocolate bars. There was a lot of history about chocolate and how it first came to spain, as well as chocolate sculptures with Spanish, pop culture, and religious themes. Next on the list was the Pablo Picasso Museum. There were a lot of works from Picasso's earlier years, which I had never seen before. There was a whole room on Picasso's experimentation in reproducing "Las Meninas" in his own style. These paintings were more of Picasso's signature style you would think of when picturing his work. As if we hadn't done enough already, we walked to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) and walked around there for a few hours. I didn't understand some of the pieces. It was quite the experience! Then we walked to the Magic Fountain, which is in front of Palau Nacional on Montjuïc. It was amazing what that fountain could do! You could say...almost magical! It was a lot of fun. To wrap up the evening, we got some tapas nearby the fountain for a late dinner.

On Sunday, we started with the Arc de Triomf, and then headed over to see some architecture made by Antoni Gaudí. The first stop was Casa Batlló. Coolest. House. Ever. Some call it the "house of bones" because of the bone-like columns, spine-like banisters, and the design of the front of the house. The house is not only innovative due to its looks, but it is innovative in its heating and cooling system. Very eco-friendly. Our second Gaudí stop was the Sagrada Família, a cathedral in Barcelona that is not even finished being built yet. It is expected to be finished in 2026, after 144 years since the building process began. The exterior is spectacular, but the interior can barely be described with words, it is so amazing. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The columns stretch towards the heavens like enormous plant stems. The stained glass has all of the colors of the rainbow. When Katrina and I first walked inside, we were speechless. I want to go back and see it once it's finished! 

Check out this link to see what it will look when it's finished: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10343792/How-Gaudis-finished-Sagrada-Familia-cathedral-in-Barcelona-will-look.html

I took as many pictures as my memory card would fit this weekend (about 500)...I think you will see why!

 Palau de la Música Catalana

 Paella - delicious!

 Flamenco performance we saw - AMAZING!

 Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall

 Churros de chocolate

 Barcelona Cathedral

 Inside Barcelona Cathedral

 "Up" house at Museu de la Xocolata

 Museum of Modern Art

 Postcard stand sculpture selfie! =P

 Palau Nacional on Montjuïc

 Magic Fountain!!!

Arc de Triomf

 Casa Batlló rooftop

 Casa Batlló ribcage room

 Casa Batlló facade

 Sagrada Família - under construction

Sagrada Família - simply breathtaking.

 Sagrada Família stained glass

 Sagrada Família from the back

Sagrada Família ceiling

Midterms, Midterms, Everywhere

It's time for midterms at BSM. I've already taken one, so I have three more to go. I have my Combinatorics midterm tomorrow morning at 8:15am. Bright and early! My other two are next Wednesday and Thursday. I take the General GRE on Monday...will be furiously studying vocab. words all weekend. The Math GRE went alright last weekend. Not as bad as I had expected! I don't get my score until about 6 weeks from now.

This week, my roommates and I have gotten fed up with being in our apartment, so we've ventured out to study at other locations.

Irene and I went to the Cat Cafe! We had been to a different one before, but that one only had three cats. The one we went to this week had 15 or so!! It was great. We just sat there, drinking our tea, figuring out our homework, and occasionally taking a break to pet cats.

Olivia and I went to Paprika to study, which is a restaurant by our apartment. It was the first restaurant we went to in Budapest when we got here. Such a cute place! (great gulyas, too!!)

There were no classes yesterday, since it was a Hungarian national holiday. It was a memorial day for the 1956 Revolution against the Soviets. There were people everywhere downtown...there were lots of demonstrations going on. I ended up watching the movie Saving Face with some friends, walking around, and doing some homework, of course. It was absolutely gorgeous out all day!! It felt like summer again!

Tonight, Irene and I went to the Grand Market to get a pumpkin, since Irene is going to make pumpkin lattes for when we watch Coraline with friends tomorrow. This may or may not have been a way for us to put off studying for Combinatorics...but we eventually studied! 

 Cute cat that curled up next to us

 Cat Cafe!!!

 Inside Paprika, a restaurant by my apartment

 Silly smiling pickled things

 Love the Grand Market! So colorful.

Beautiful evening in Budapest!

Guten tag, München!

This post will contain mostly pictures, because I am taking the Math GRE tomorrow morning at 8:30am, and I need to go to bed soon. This is my way to calm down before trying to sleep. So nervous! It will be nice to get it over with, though. Then a week from Monday, I take the General GRE, which will hopefully be refreshing compared to the Math GRE...

I went to Munich last weekend! I never thought I would go to Germany for some reason, but I went, and I absolutely loved it!! The leaves on the trees were changing color, and we mostly lucked out on the weather (just a little chilly and rainy on Saturday morning). 

We took the night train to get there. It took about 9 hours. I didn't sleep very well, but had a large coffee in the morning after we got to Munich. It was nice walking around the city so early in the morning (arrived between 6 and 7) when no one else was. 

We explored the Deutsches Museum when it opened. It was fantastic. So many interesting exhibits there. We could've stayed there the whole day, but we got hungry for lunch (and also had other things to see!). We walked through the English Gardens while trying to find lunch. The fall colors were beautiful! I had trouble picking out something to eat at the restaurant we found, because the whole menu was in German. I finally looked up at the specials menu and saw "spaetzle" and ordered that, since I knew I liked spaetzle (doughy noodles). It came with beef stuffed with a pickle and saur kraut, with some veggies on the side. The sauce reminded me of my grandma's stew. Best. Meal. So. Far. I was sad when I couldn't finish it all!

After lunch, we explored Marienplatz and got to see the Glockenspiel! (We didn't realize it was the Glockenspiel until later that night, though!) We ended the night at the Hofbräuhaus, where we tried the house beer. The atmosphere was really fun! Live music, people singing, people wearing lederhosen. 

On Sunday, most of us decided to go to Dachau, which was a concentration camp. It lasted throughout the war. It took us 2-3 hours to get there (the train we needed wasn't running in the normal spot, so we had issues), but once we got there, it was a worthwhile experience. I learned a lot. It was a beautiful day that day. I wish that we had gotten there earlier so I could've seen more of it. 

That night, our last night, we just explored the city and waited until it was time to board the train back to Budapest. I hope I get to go back to Munich some day! Loved it. Well, I guess I wrote more than I thought I would...goodnight! Update on the GRE to come...

 A view of the St. Paul Cathedral

 Metro = awesome!

Crossing the bridge to get to the Deutsches Museum (left)

The Deutsches Museum - the Math Cabinet was popular!

 View from the roof at the Deutsches Museum

 Great view of lots of important buildings in Munich!

 English Gardens

 Best meal I've had so far - beef stuffed with a pickle and saur kraut, with spaetzle!

 Rathaus - saw the Glockenspiel in action!

 Marienplatz

 Rathaus/Glockenspiel at night

Cheers! At the Hofbräuhaus.

 Dachau - view of entrance building

Frauenkirche