Regarding the last week

Hello all,
so as Courtney has informed me, I have not posted in a long time. Given my proclivity for checking your blogs, I guess she is correct. But not altogether much has happened.

Monday I had my finance class for the first time. This class is no joke (so all of you ardent students back home...hope this makes you feel better). The professor is truly intimidating---long unbrushed hair in a ponytail, a mustache, a mole with a hair growing out of it...oh, and did I mention it's a 'she?' Plus, she's rattling off financial equations to type into excel as we miserably search the unfamiliar hungarian keyboards for the ^ or the * or the shift button. Rather a trying experience, but ultimately I hope it will prove useful. That night the ESN organized a hungarian dinner, which was at a restaurant called Paprika. It had the fake-cabin look to it, not a style of decor particularly to my taste. There were, however, various dead animals hanging about the room--I suppose in a further attempt at authenticity. I had the goulash, it was ok. For some reason, for most of my life, I was under the impression that goulash was a stew and it is in fact a soup. I prefer my version of misunderstanding.
Then it was to Morrison's (again) for the monday before 11pm 3 beer special. Rather unmemorable and I am swearing off drinking beer here. The wine is cheaper and tastier (and more effective). Course, if my new french friends were to hear me say that, they would look at me with all the snobbishness one can imagine and proclaim it blasphemy.
Tuesday, more class, yada yada. Wednesday, more class, and then at night there was a Carnival party at some disco that the ESN rented out just for the Erasmus students. Course, carnival ended over a week ago so... a bit late. I had no costume, but as I am a halloween-baby, I never back down from such an opportunity. In prior years, when potential guests told me they didn't want to come to my halloween party because they had no costume (and I would always promise penalties if they were not in costume) then i would suggest they simply take their bedsheet and create a toga. Well, to all of those who I said that to, I apologize---it is harder than it looks.
However, the internet does provide many suggestions, and I was particularly amused by a british-narrated tutorial on youtube. In the end, I enlisted the aid of my flatmate and together we fashioned something passable (using a number of safety pins in the process). However, might I suggest that if you are wearing something held together by safety pins, don't run helter-skelter after the bus because that is the reason you will have some unexplained bloody scratches down your leg the next morning.

Yesterday (Thursday), my environmental management class was screening El Dorado, a documentary on the proposed plan for the largest gold mine project in the EU to be built in Romania, at Rosia Montana. Only four of us showed up (I must admit, I was merely tempted by the prospect of viewing something on a screen larger than my mini-labtop). Anyways, it was interesting and had interviews with locals both in support and utterly against the project. I was particularly amused by the comment by Gold Corp's rep, when he said that the project would ultimately be of greater benefit to the environment. And of a swedish rep to evaluate the environmental impact of the project, who said something along the lines of 'of course, after the project, Gold Corp should leave the environment as it was previously, or something very close to.' Hah, as though after leveling an entire mountain and creating a quarry 9 km in circumference, the environment will be better off of remotely similar to how it was.


Immediately afterwards I had an invitation to a movie night at another californian's, J-. She found a video store with english-language dvd's near andrassy so a number of us showed up and watched Reign Over Me. Adam Sandler's latest definitely reminds me of Jim Carrey's attempts to go serious, and I approve. Course the film elicited some serious waterworks on my part. It was fantastic watching a movie with popcorn and people, and although I am sooooo grateful to Courtney for introducing me to VideoLemon (where i can find The Office), I am looking forward to more real movie nights. And then it was back to School Club b/c A-'s friends wanted to go there. Seriously, we need to start exploring new places with better music.

Today some of us went to Terror Haza, the former headquarters of the Arrow Cross and
subsequently the Soviet police org's with whatever particular acronym they were using at the time. It was a very sleek exhibit and very high-tech. All the exhibitions were designed nicely with striking music and lighting. You wind up with practically a book in explanations of the history by the time you're done but more explanations for the actual items on display would have been useful. Also, despite the fact that I liked the museum and recommend going there, I don't know that it really carries across the real shocking impact of the atrocities that went on in there. I feel like too many people didn't pick up and read the explanations and simply don't understand or care to understand. There was, however, a really uncomfortable and painful video of a meeting between former female inmates with their former female guard (filmed sometime in the 1990's). They are all old women now, but they were expressing their hurt, and their fear and resentment towards the guard, as she merely shrugged them off and feigned ignorance of her misdeeds. I don't know why but it left an impression.

And we have dinner plans tonight with the french and i guess the italians too (so guess where we're going...to italian! in all my experience, the italian's like their food SO much that they never eat anything else, haha.) Course, the reservation is for 9:30 which means my stomach was caving in on me and I cheated with a bit of food. But, like on Courtney's recent post, I don't know what's up, but the pants just don't fit no more. I need to get a belt. (Woot. no complaints, hah)

Alrighty, much love to you all and I will endeavor to lead a more interesting life, haha.