The Bunnies are Coming!

I honestly canNOT believe that it's been almost a month since I posted my last blog- oh how the time flies! I am sitting in my room and decided to click on all of my tabs because I absolutely positively have no possible way to focus on studying right now. I think I cleaned everything possible and organized everything else that was left so I could avoid studying. I have a corrective exercises written and practical exam tomorrow morning so...well, hopefully it goes my way. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The last month has been pretty calm and noneventful. I mean unless you count an epic St. Patty's day celebrated with Irish class and in Polish style, nothing too crazy has happened. The next few weeks, on the other hand will be pretty busy. I am counting the days until I am done with this week and then I get to run my half marathon. I was excited to do this race because it's in my city and a few people I know are gonna be running it too. However, after I checked the weather today, my excitement was quickly crushed. I'm not sure if the "weather channel" website is trying out a new April Fool's joke or what, but the weather actually says that it will be 45 degrees with rain AND snow! I'm sorry, but what?! I refuse this kind of weather- so upsetting to say the least. I swear if I have to run with my winter gloves like in 2008 (shoutout to my "glovessss" buddy) I am going to flip a runner or two. I mean, I won't. Obviously. But it will change everything about the race! I mean I trained indoors, but for the past month, I have been running outside in fairly good weather of 60/65 degrees. Anyways, I'm not going to panic because I assume "weather channel" really is trying out an April Fool's joke. They better be!

After that race, I am going to see Wiktor sometime and somewhere. We're still trying to figure out details, but hopefully we'll know by the time one of us starts traveling. Let's be honest though, if I was the only one planning the week, we'd both know what were having for dinner. Haha! But yes, compromise is key. Either way, I am going to Pulawy for Easter and I am actually very excited. Not to say that I wasn't before, but I am stoked to do the Easter festivities aka egg dying with the kids. And most importantly I am so excited for the water fight on the Monday after Easter. Let me explain, the Monday after Easter is known as "Lany Poniedzialek" which literally means "Watery Monday." It is when you want to stay as far away from the public as possible. Strangers will actually pour water on you! But, let's be honest, it's your family that you need to watch out for- those are the devils of the holiday. The fam has no mercy whatsover. That's why I am coming prepared with waterguns and waterballoons and shields known as rain ponchos. Lany Poniedzialek- bring it!

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks! Enjoy!

Gosia, Ania and I at the ballet "Swan Lake"

Some friends at St. Patty's!

Army of Bunnies at the Browar

The master bunny and us!

I love the bunnies!

BUDAPESZTTTTT!

I am currently on the train heading from Krakow to Poznan (once again)
chowing down on a family sized bag of super salty, super fattening
chips (and thoroughly enjoying them might I add).. I started playing
with my phone and realized that I have Word on here so I figured it
would be the best time for me to update my good old blog especially
since I have tons to say, so please bear with me. Before I explain to
you why this will be an almost ten hour train ride, let me back up to
Thursday.

Thursday morning I went for a quick run and since I was in a hurry, my
run went better than expected. I hopped on the noon train to Krakow
and after spending 4 times as much on the ticket than I usually do
(mostly bc it was a fancy super fast train), I finally got to Krakow
where Wiktor picked me up and a friend of ours dropped us off at the
airport. Once we got through security, our flight was very delayed,
but we ran into Wiktor's friend who was going to Barcelona with his
friend with a connection in Budapest so the waiting time wasn't all
that bad. Once we arrived in Budapest, we quickly realized that people
no speak americanooooo! I'm not even kidding you, when I asked the bus
driver for directions he was pretty much miming to me and pointing
fingers and stomping and doing God knows what to explain to me how to
get to our hotel. We ended up taking the bus with literally all the
other Polish people on the bus which was super entertaining and
extremelly confusing. The buses smelled of pee (which you get used to
after living in the city for a few years), but they were old as hell
AND whenever the locals stepped on, it literally looked like an
episode of Jersey Shore. Everyone looked the same with their super
fake orange tan and jet black hair and bottle of wine in their hand
(yes, I said bottle and it's totally legal). The only difference
between the real Hungarians and the Jersey Shore crew was that every
Hungarian had a kebab in hand. Anyways, once we finally made it to the
hotel for a total price of zilch compared to the 21 euro aka 30 dollar
taxi ride that was offered to us, we walked into an amazing hotel that
I booked a while back. I'm not kidding, it was beautiful and very
modern and the buffet breakfast included was just divine....I mean
they even had salmon, not to mention the endless supply of pastries!
But yes, hotel was wonderful. The only weird thing was the front door.
Let me explain this to you because there were a few times we almost
got slammed in the face by these doors. These doors did not slide open
or open away from you, but literally swung open towards you! It was
the most ridiculous thing.

But anyways, on with the trip. The next day
we went on a free walking tour around the city and I got to wear my
leather jacket which I was so pumped about- mostly because whenever I
wear my leather jacket I feel really European. Haha I know it's kinda
stupid, but Iove wearing the leather when I travel! Needless to say,
the weather was amazing- around 50 degrees the whole time and plenty
of sun. We literally did not see a single cloud! Perfect leather
jacket weather if you ask me! We also stopped at an amazing dinner
where an appetizer, 2 main entrees, dessert and a bottle of wine cost
us 10,000 forinths. I think I just really like saying that I had
dinner for 10 grand! That sounds ridiculous I know, but in translation
it was around 50 dollars which is absurd. This restaurant was really
fancy too, but everything in Budapeszt was pretty inexpensive
especially compared to Spain or any other country that uses the euro!
After dinner we quickly changed and went to the Opera. The building
was beyond beautiful and the show was magnificent and I feel like I
need to use words of that grandeur because I went to the Opera. Even
though we attempted to be all fancy, we were exhausted after being
outside all day and so Wiktor fell asleep at the Opera. Thank goodness
we didn't invest in the really expensive seats because we decided it
would be better if we left after the first half and went on a walk by
the river. I mean we did have 8 bridges to see afterall! And we are so
glad we ended up doing that because the bridges all lit up at night
were gorgeous! The next day we went to the Szchenicky (sp) baths aka
the thermal baths. It was such a cool experience. It was 50 degrees
outside and we were all in bathing suots in an enormous outdoor pool.
The water, though, was very warm and very relaxing. After the thermal
baths, we met up with Wiktor's friends who came back from Barcelona
around noon and showed them around town. Then we all decided that it
would be nice to sit on top of Castle Hill and drink a bottle of wine
or two. It was just very relaxing and fun to chat with everyone and
get to know one another. Later that night we all had a flight back to
Krakow. Wiktor and I planned on going out for a drink with a few
friends, but decided that there was no way our eyes would stay open so
we chose sleep instead of drinks.

And we finally got to today. So like I said I am currently on the
train heading to Poznan. My train will be almost three hours delayed
aka I will get to Poznan around 1am which is pretty late especially
since I have class tomorrow from 8am until 7pm. Let me explain to you
why my train is so delayed. Last night at about 10pm, two trains
collided on the route Warsaw-Krakow. So far there are 16 casualties
and 60 people in the hospital in critical condition. When I heard
about this, Iiterally got the chills mostly because that's the train I
take very often going to or coming from Krakow. Fortunately, I was not
on that train, but it puts things into perspective in terms of
constant planning and worrying about stupid things that don't really
matter. I won't say much more expect it would be wonderful if everyone
said a quick prayer to everyone affected by last nights accident.

But to leave you on a happier note, I will add pictures from my trip
in the next post because my lack of technology skills is holding me
back from using my blackberry to upload pics! I know this post is
hefty, but the next one will balance this beefy guy out.

Oh and one more thing about Budapeszt. Their escalators are carzy
fast! I mean it- you gotta GO on those things!