I've Moved!! (to a new blog, that is)

http://thedancegrad.com

Hello!!! I have moved to a new blog called TheDanceGrad.com! Check it out for more elaborate How To's, a 24 day fitness challenge and more! 

Thanks!!

Best,

The Traveling Grad 

a.k.a. The Dance Grad

The "Super Friend"

I am slightly disappointed in myself. I just recently realized how much pressure I've been putting on others to be this unreachable breed of human I'm calling a "super friend." This type of person is always there whenever you call on them, says the things you want them to say, is constantly aware of your feelings and always places your needs above hers or his. The funny thing is that the only reason why I even realized that I placed this unreasonable pressure on others is because I found that the same kind of pressure has been placed on me, and I have failed to meet these unattainable standards.

Before this revelation of mine, dare I say it, I considered myself to be that "super friend," and I judged my friends who did not meet these standards. Now, I can go on and make a bunch of excuses as to why I couldn't keep up with this lifestyle such as: I moved to another country, I got into a serious relationship, I have been traveling the world, I've been working on a Masters degree, all while working a part time job and trying to find ways to financially support myself and live where I'd like to live after graduation, but I know that those are all just excuses. They are excuses that everyone has in one way or another. They may not be the same excuses as mine, but everyone has 1 million and 1 things they have to keep up with in their lives. People are not only dealing with things on the surface like jobs, school, relationships, etc., but they are also dealing with family problems, depression, anxiety, and anything of that nature that is not normally shared with the public. The bottom line is that people do their best, and they don't mean to hurt you by not responding right away or not being in contact for a while. There's no reason for anyone to expect so much of one person who is only human after all. So ultimately I came to the conclusion that if I don't want my friends to hold me to the unreachable "super friend" standard, then I shouldn't hold it to them either.

So, here is my apology. Firstly, I want to apologize to any friends who feel that I've neglected them over these past two years or however long its been really. As stated earlier, I did not do it intentionally. I do my best in life, just like you do, and my love and appreciation for you as a friend is not diminished in any way shape or form. I still truly value our friendship, and please know that I never intentionally meant to cause any pain on your part. My next apology goes to those friends and family members who I've personally held to the "super friend" standards. I am so sorry for expecting of you what is far more than humanly possible. I now know that you are just doing your best on a daily basis, and there is no reason to think that you love me any less than you did before. Being that I am not with you every day, there is no way for me to truly know what is happening in your life. Although that makes me sad, I still know that I cross your mind every so often as you do in mine, and therefore, our friendship is still very much alive in our hearts.

I know that this post is somewhat off topic from what I usually post on this blog, but I felt that it just needed to be said. Leaving friends and family is a huge part of traveling and living abroad. It is an unfortunate reality that I have to live with, and I struggle with not having my best friends and family with me on a daily basis. All I can do is try and remember how lucky I am to have people in my life who love me, no matter where they are in the world.

Best,

Traveling Grad Student

An Overview of Budapest, Hungary!

Budapest ~ "The City of Spas"

For most Americans (the ones that I know), Budapest, Hungary is not number one on their “must do” list, and I can understand why. There is nothing extraordinarily famous to see, and it is very similar to slightly more popular cities such as Prague and Copenhagen in its architecture and cuisine. In fact, its often called the “Paris of the east” when referring to its romantic vibe and night time scenery, which in itself describes a notion of repetition as a tourist destination within the continent of Europe. An American tourist may ask, “Why would I travel to a city like Paris when I can just go to Paris?” Well, as someone who has been to both cities, I believe that I have the knowledge to tell you why, in my opinion, Budapest is worth it. 

Being that I was there for a mere four days, I am not going to pretend that I am an expert on the city of Budapest. However, I can tell you the impression that it made on me during my stay while simultaneously hoping that you don’t think I’m a pretentious know-it-all.   

Firstly, Budapest is one of the most inexpensive cities that I have ever been to, and it’s not like we traveled like hitchhiking students either! We stayed in a very nice two bedroom apartment, went to a five star restaurant and experienced Budapest’s most famous thermal spa all on a fairly low range budget. In comparison with its “sister of the west” Paris, it would have cost us nearly five times the amount we paid in order to have the same type of experience. Therefore, just the cost alone made it quite an appealing holiday destination! Now, I am not claiming that Paris isn’t worth visiting because it definitely is, but if you’re looking for a fairly cheap alternative for the time being, then Budapest can be considered an unexpected contender. 

View of the Parliament Building at night ~ November 2012

I found that the most beautiful scenes of Budapest occurred at nighttime when the city was alight with a yellowish glow that nicely highlighted its statues, historic buildings and monuments. During the day, however, the buildings seemed large and impressive, but not nearly as picturesque as they are at night. Being that I went during the Christmas season, the Budapest Christmas Market was in full swing! It was nicely decorated with lights, there was live music and a lot of little stands selling handmade goods. 

Scenes from the Budapest Christmas Market ~ November 2012

My all time favorite goody from the market was a pastry called a “Chimney Cake,” which was a flaky and doughy pastry in tube-like form roasted on a rotating spit and coated with sugar and other flavors. I tried the chocolate and the cinnamon (of course I needed more than one even though they were fairly massive), and they were both delicious! I would definitely recommend going around Christmas time for this reason alone.

Views of Budapest's most famous spa ~ November 2012

Budapest is also known for its thermal spas (often called "the city of spas"), which are basically large swimming pools filled with warm spring water that are believed to have natural healing powers. They are opened to the public year round, and you can pay for a one day fee or get a variety of different passes in order to use the facilities. Although I did not knowingly benefit from the healing powers of the spa water, it was definitely an interesting experience, which one should definitely try while visiting Budapest.  

View of Budapest, Hungary ~ November 2012

In conclusion, Budapest was definitely a destination that I would not have even thought of visiting before I moved to the UK, but being here has opened my eyes to the world in ways I never imagined were possible. The potential for travel opportunities here are endless, and Budapest is just one of the many new cities that I have discovered within the past two years. I hope you enjoyed my very brief description of my experience in Budapest, and I look forward to telling you more about other interesting cities in the near future!

Best,

The Traveling Grad Student

And nearly 4 months later...

Hello again! After the four month hiatus, I'd like to wish whomever is reading this a very Happy New Year, even though we're pretty much two months in already. I hope that everyone had a very happy holiday season, and that all is well!

Just to update, since my last blog post in October 2012, I haven't been anywhere that I would deem "blog worthy" other than going home for Thanksgiving and Christmas AND going to Los Angeles to visit my friends. Being home was very nice, although I did have a minor setback involving a pilonidal cyst, which started in LA and quite painfully ended one week later at home in New York. I believe this may have started a holiday related injury theme in my life, which I no longer wish to continue. What I'm referring to is what happened to me just last week, the day before Valentine's Day. I was making a tiramisu for my boyfriend and I to have on Valentine's Day, and the hot coffee from my French press coffee maker exploded all over everything including my left arm. I then spent the next hour trying to reduce the pain with little success and ended up going to the hospital. All is fine now, and the burn is definitely healing, but the moral of the story is be very careful with any and all holiday preparations of any kind because, whatever they may be, they're probably dangerous.

Despite destructive efforts of my French press coffee maker, who now resides in the nearest landfill, I will be traveling this weekend to Copenhagen, Denmark and possibly Malmö, Sweden!  With my dissertation project well under way, I'm hoping that I can find some time to post about my experiences there sooner rather than later, but at the rate I'm going now, odds that you'll hear from me again before June are pretty slim. Anyway, fingers crossed!

Its been too long!

Wow, it has been a very long time since my last post. My life since my last real post (about my trip to Prague in February) has changed so much and I have been to so many other places! Firstly, I went to Scotland directly one week after I went to Prague, and I didn't blog about it. Then I went to a few cities in Northern Italy, two cities in Germany, a few cities in Peru, and home to New York/Pennsylvania. In a few weeks time, I will be traveling to Budapest, then New York again (for Thanksgiving), then Los Angeles to see my best friends and family, and then back to NY for Christmas (I think). Won't be back to London until New Year's Eve, which Lord knows what I'll be doing for that. Hopefully something not lame, which is the word generally used to describe my typical New Year's Eve plans. 

Anyway, to sum up: Scotland was okay. I went with my parents to Edinburgh and on a bus tour of the Highlands. I got sick on the bus ride, which to be fair was an 8 hour ride on small bumpy Scottish roads in a crowded bus. Luckily, the German woman sitting next to us had a bag. That's all I'm going to say on that issue. 

Edinburgh Castle 

Me with some sheep in the Highlands

My parents by Loch Ness

and there's Nessie 

Then, there was the ski trip in Northern Italy with my housemates, which was great! I learned that skiing hurts and I much prefer the bunny slopes. We went to Torino, Lake Como (where George Clooney lives), Bellagio and Verona. Verona was the best, but we were only there for 1 night and a half a day. We did see most of the "attractions," though, which goes to show that Verona is mainly for doing nothing. Fine by me, but we didn't have time for that. 

On the cable car going to the "advanced" slopes (I just rode in the cable car)

In the lodge drinking warm beverages

Getting ready to ski (without my skis on)

Como

Lake Como from Bellagio

Verona 

Me by a fountain in Verona

Then in June, I went to Berlin and Munich, which are both in Germany. This trip was pretty fun, but I was exhausted for the first day in Berlin because I went to a Coldplay concert the night before (awesome Concert, by the way). Berlin was really cool and funky, and I liked how cultured it was. I definitely want to go back some day to look at some of the museums that I missed. Munich was a little more quaint and typically "German" if you know what I mean. I saw a lot of lederhosen and dirndl shops, and we went to the Hofbrauhaus, which is the largest beer house in the world (I think). That was fun, but I preferred Berlin. 

Brandenburg Gate

Me and the giant Amplemann

This is a currywurst. Looks a bit gross, but wasn't too bad.

At the Hofbrauhaus (sporting my Coldplay tshirt from the concert)

We thought this meant we were going to the Virtual Alien Market. We were wrong.

And then there was Peru. That was ridiculous. I have never experienced anything like that before in my life, and it was pretty great. We went to Lima, Arequipa, Puno, Lake Titicaca, Cusco, and Machu Picchu via the Inka Trail. I got altitude sickness in Puno (3,830 meters/12,556 feet), then I was alright until we stayed in a very dirty homestay on the Island of Amananti in Lake Titicaca and my sickness prevailed. After about three days in Cusco, I felt I was pretty much better except for the runny nose and cough, and decided to go on the four day trek through the Inka Trail to get to Machu Picchu. Not a good idea, I thought I was going to die. Long story short, I made it (with a lot of help). In retrospect, I'm grateful that I actually did do it, and I wouldn't have done it any other way. It was a great experience, and I'll definitely never forget it. 

Me with some Alpacas

At a market in Cusco

One of the archeological sites on the Inka Trail

Me at Machu Picchu!

Our Inka Trail Group

Me in a hole in Machu Picchu (right after I fell in poop. Not kidding)

Cholo Power sign in Lima by the Pacific Ocean

So, that's pretty much all of my travels from February until now. It has been quite the adventure, I can say that for sure. It was amazing, and I wouldn't change a thing. Looking at the pictures again makes me remember why I'm here and why I love to travel so much. I have learned so much and grown so much as a person from August 2011 when I first got to London until now, over a year later! I'm completely new, and with one more year to go, I'm so excited to see who I become when this degree is all said and done in September 2013. 

Trip 2 of 2012, CZECH! (get it?)

Prague, Czech Republic

I just got back from my trip to Prague, Czech Republic. What an amazing city! It was absolutely beautiful! I mean, it was freezing (a whopping -17 degrees celsius or 1 degree fahrenheit), but awesome anyway, so I can't complain too much. I went with my friend Hannah, who is in my MA Choreography program and she's from Canada. We saw everything from Prague Castle to the Museum of Young Art, which housed some of the most disgusting and bizarre works of art that I have ever seen in my life. When you first walk toward the museum, the you see four giant guns facing each other suspended in the air of a courtyard. Then inside, there are a wide range of images, bloody body bags, dead puppy and kitten carpets, real mouse skin shoes with the heads still attached, and stuffed dead horses. No, I'm not kidding. I wanted to vomit. This, of course, was not the highlight of my trip to Prague, but it was definitely memorable.

Museum of Young Art; Prague, CZ

One of the first striking images when you enter the city of Prague is the architecture. It is so colorful! The city must be absolutely beautiful in the summer as well, but I got to see it covered in snow, which was pretty sweet. The food was really good as well. I don't know why, but I had no idea what kind of food they ate in Czech Republic before I got there, but I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived. The first meal that I ate was potato dumplings stuffed with roasted pork and sauerkraut accompanied by coffee beer! I have never been an adventurous eater, a fan of sauerkraut, or even a beer drinker, but I loved this meal! It was my first, but definitely not my last Czech meal. The next day, I had another Czech specialty, which was fried cheese with tartar sauce. It was literally a block of cheese that was breaded and fried. Now this is something that's always been a favorite of mine, I just had no idea that it was a Czech specialty. Fried cheese, who knew?

Potato dumplings stuffed with roasted pork and sauerkraut

We decided to escape London for Valentine's day and take a trip to Prague, but little did we know that Prague is the stag capital of the world! Appropriate being that we are two single girls, but we still couldn't escape the nauseating images of couples everywhere. There was one particular moment where we were in the chocolate museum and I was in line waiting to get my complimentary hot chocolate and a waffle covered in dark chocolate sauce (oh. my. god.), and the couple in front of me wouldn't stop making out. Its like, please, that's the last thing I wanted to see. Of course, that image of nauseation was soon aided by the image of my very own waffle stick. The hot chocolate was amazing too. They steamed a cup of milk and then they placed a chocolate candy inside and the milk melted the chocolate. It was unbelievable. I wanted to live there in the chocolate museum gift shop. It was so good, that I even lost the urge to kick that couple in their obnoxious faces. Sorry, I'm still a little bitter. But you know what wasn't bitter, the chocolate. It was freakin' sweet!!!

My valentine, the waffle stick. Nauseating couple to my right.

Overall, my trip to Prague was a win! I had so much fun experiencing the culture, seeing the beautiful sights, learning about their history, and getting away from London for a few days. It couldn't have come at a more perfect time. February has never been my favorite month, and nothing's changed this year. Life hasn't been too kind to a best friend of mine, and life in London has changed for me very drastically. Although I am on a high right now from my recent vacation, there still seems to be an underlying sadness within me that I can't seem to shake. I honestly have never felt so alone in London since I first got here. Its a very scary feeling to be alone in a foreign country, and I'm not too sure of how to snap myself out of it. I know I'm not alone because I have some great friends here with me, one even living in the same apartment as me, but I still can't help feeling this way. On top of that, I have so much work to do in the next month, that I get a panic attack and a headache every time I think about it (a.k.a. right now. Taking a moment to breathe). I need to just keep looking at the positive and enjoying all the traveling I'm doing.

It'll be nice being with my parents next week. Its been a rough two months, and I can't believe its already mid-February. Anyway, staying positive! Next week, Scotland!! :)

Time is Flying...

I can't believe that its already almost February. January flew by so quickly. So much happened, and so much has changed in the matter of one month, I can't even imagine what's to come in the upcoming months.

I went to Oslo, Norway last weekend, and it was absolutely amazing. It snowed, and we did a lot of snowy things, which were all really great. Everything in Norway was so expensive, I'm sort of glad that we were only there for one day so that I wasn't tempted to buy things. In a way, I wish that I had gotten a souvenir, but then again, I took pictures, so I guess that's good enough. The hotel we stayed at was really cool and really modern. The bed was the most comfortable hotel bed that I have ever experienced in my entire life. Its definitely in my top two most comfortable beds of all time, which says a lot because I'm very picky about beds. 

Me in Oslo, Norway! Woo!!

 The best two things about my stay in Oslo were the breakfast buffet at the hotel (mighty plentiful) and ice skating (yes, I fell down, and no, I didn't even care). The breakfast consisted of eggs made in scrabbled, sunny side up, omelette, hard boiled, and soft boiled forms. They also had pastries, rolls, smoothies, coffee, tea, apple juice, orange juice, bacon, sausage, cereal, yogurt, and fruit. I was upset that I became full after a certain point because I wanted so badly to keep eating, but I just couldn't. The dinner was only okay, so I wasn't expecting much come breakfast time, but it was great! Definitely exceeded my expectations and then some.

Ice skating was really fun too! The rink was outdoors, and it was located in the town center somewhere (I think). They played American, UK, and Norwegian pop music through speakers located on a tower in the center of the rink. It was about 40 Krone person (I think), which translates to about £4.50 or about $7.00ish. That's pretty decent considering it could be up to £25 in London and the equivalent to that in New York as well during the prime ice skating seasons. It was very surprising in a city where the Big Mac meal at MacDonald's was about £12! Yikes! Anywho, I had fun, and I would definitely go back to Norway (when I'm a famous/rich choreographer).

I am pleased to say that I have added two more trips to my already insane traveling itinerary for the first half of 2012. I am now going to Prague, Edinburgh, Turin, Milan, Verona, Lima, and Cusco! I am also looking to add a few more in there, but as of now, those are the trips that are already booked. I feel like this is a dream. Never in a million years did I think that I would be traveling to all these places. It was always a dream of mine, and I always knew that I wanted to travel a lot, but now that its actually a reality, its such a different feeling. I can hardly describe it.

Of course, life is never perfect, and there are always things that you wish you could change. There are always hardships, whether it be in your family, friendships, relationships, school, work, etc., there isn't one single person who can say that their life is 100% perfect. That's probably the best thing that I could have learned in this crazy-fast month, but this also taught me that I need to not focus so much on what I don't have, and focus on what I do have. There is so much to look forward to, especially in the course of the next six months for me, and no matter what else is happening around me and how sad or stressed out I may get, I can't ever forget about how lucky I am to be here. As long as I keep that in mind, there's no reason for me to ever be ungrateful.