Christmas down South

A visit to the States wouldn't be complete without a visit to the South. So, I left Yankee Country to celebrate Christmas with the Moran clan in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was a lot of food, a lot of family, a lot of fresh air, and a lot of fun. I think I managed to evade anything deep-fried, but we did have delicious corn bread with our turkey on Christmas Day.


My incredible stroke of good luck was briefly interrupted when I found out that US Airways had somehow managed to move my departure flight to the 25th of December instead of the 24th, but after quite a long while spent on the phone and some persuasion, I managed to fly out at 9pm on Christmas Eve. Despite my worries it actually felt quite good to get dressed up and go to Christmas Vespers on my own, and I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I was sitting in the waiting area at La Guardia airport munching on my Christmas Dinner, which consisted of a slice of half-cold pizza on a paper plate. I got to Greensboro just in time to help Colin and Chris out with some last-minute gift wrapping, and by the time everyone was up on Christmas morning, it felt like I had been there from the start.

Now I am counting down the days to the new year in Manhattan, enjoying museums, brunches at real Viennese cafes, jogs in the Park, and the like. Plans for tomorrow include black tie (not for me), a fancy dress (yes, for me), and some real Manhattan sophistication.
Lets see how I will like it.

It's His birthday

I have landed in New York, and still can't quite believe it. I often catch myself smiling unbelievingly at the fact that those streets and avenues, the yellow cabs, the sky scrapers and the buzz of this city will be my daily life for the next two months.


When I arrived on the good old Chinatown bus on Thursday, I dragged my two super-heavy suitcases into a cab and went up to the Austrian Mission to the UN, where my aunt works. I was introduced to the entire office and found that I know the families of two of the employees there! I was feb Austrian pastries and we later got a ride in the ambassador's car up to where my aunt lives. When I emailed my father about it, his only reply was: "Don't get used to it. This is not how things usually work." I know, dad. But it seems like everything has been working out incredibly well so far! I am a lucky lady, and I better show myself worthy of all this good fortune.

That night, while I was having dinner I ran into a girl I randomly met in Pittsburgh while I was visiting Christian. She is the girlfriend of his next-door neighbor, and she is a waitress at that restaurant! I couldn't believe how small the world is.

Other NY activities included overhearing two comedy show producers discussing their concepts over coffee while I was having breakfast in an Upper East Side Bakery, lunch in K(orea)-Town with Meaghan and Dennis who also came over from Boston, a little Christmas sightseeing at the Rockefeller Center and Macy's Department Store on 34th Street, Starbucks with Scott, and a little Christmas (window) shopping in SoHo.

As I am taking off tomorrow and will probably be without an internet connection for a while, I wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas, good times with your loved ones, and some peace and quiet to think about what it this miracle means that actually happened two thousand years ago. I will be without my family for the first time this year, but instead of being sad, I am more grateful than ever to have each and every one of them in my life. There's nothing like a family to keep you grounded, inspire you, help you along, annoy the heck out of you, and love you to pieces. And I've realized that it is the greatest Christmas gift of all to call such a family my own.

Movie star!?

I was walking back from the T today after a long day of Christmas shopping at the Prudential Center Mall with Lysiane. It was already dark, and as I turned into a badly lit street, I heard footsteps behind me. I walked a little faster, but the footsteps followed, and when I glanced behind me I saw a man a few yards away. I decided to cross over to the other side of the street to see if he would follow me, silently hoping he wouldn't. As I stepped off the sidewalk, I heard his voice, with a strong Indian accent.
"Excuse me?"
I didn't answer.
"Excuse me, lady?"
"Yes?"
"Are you the one who appears every week on the TV screen?"
"No, I don't appear on any TV screens", I replied.
Disappointed, he turned around and walked off.

Meet the gang (Episode II)

I know, I know. Babson is over, but I will not leave Boston without introducing the rest of the gang to you. There are more people, of course, but these are among my favorites and constant companions on campus.

Everyone, meet...

Lysiane (left):
This Swiss chick is all about mountains, chocolate, and cheese fondue, but there is so much more to her. Her laugh attacks are incredibly contagious, and she likes to blame the fact that she laughs about jokes about 5 minutes after everyone else on her nationality ("I am Swiss, we are a bit slow!"). She has the best accent - a mixture of Swiss German and French - when she speaks both German and English, and really enjoys catching up on the latest gossip. Her and the Spanish girls are inseparable, and she even seems to understand when they speak Catalan.

Tere (right):
Where do I start? She is blonde and blue-eyed, but a real Spanish live wire. However, she is very strict about not being called Spanish - she is Catalan. Very Catalan ... the type that demonstrates on the streets against the Spanish government. Nevertheless, when she hears flamenco music, she starts clapping her hands, and her eyes sparkle and she can't help but dance. She developed a very close relationship to her school-supplied laptop, to the extent that she almost burst into tears when she had to return it at the end of her stay. Tere had the hardest time getting used to being away from home - but no one cried more than her when she left. Oh, did she cry. For three straight days.

Antonio:
The best-dressed man on campus, he never left his dorm room without a fresh button-down shirt and polished shoes. He did buy a Babson hoodie halfway through term, but even that looked like right out of a Barbour ad with his impeccable side part, sweater tied on his shoulder and his clean looks. He is the ideal son-in-law by daytime, but was also the biggest club-hopper of our little group by night. When someone commented that his hairdo was kind of like mine, he only replied: "Well, my side part is straighter." How right he is.

Aaron:
He's from El Paso, Texas, and he likes to tell you about it. If he weren't such a sweetie, I would have really been taken aback by some of his stories. For example, he and his friends sometimes hang out at execution tailgate parties: When someone on death row is executed, people bring out their grills and have a BBQ party in the prison parking lot. YIKES! On the other hand, he supplies half the college with original Texan beef jerky, calls his girlfriend every night and spends his Tuesday and Thursday afternoons driving inner-city grade school kids to fun afternoon activities. He is one of the few transfers that just stuck with the exchange student group. And he's really taking on the cold New England weather - the school ice rink is his favorite hangout spot!

Ee-ling:
The other Ozzie apart from Cameron, he is all smiles - I don't think I have seen him grumpy once in four months. He is always there for a chat in the library or the dining hall, and is true to his Asian heritage by learning Japanese (although he is Chinese). We didn't see much of him during the weekend, unfortunately, because he visited his girlfriend who was on exchange at NYU.

Now you have a little taste of the people who surrounded me every day. They will be missed - in fact, I find it hard to get used to one-on-one dinners in quiet kitchens and the lack of noise on the hallways. Campus life has its disadvantages, but one of my favorites was always being able to find someone to talk to wherever I went. Good thing I will have two cats to keep me company in January!

Tomorrow is my last day in Boston, and I am sad to leave. The past days have been filled with errands, last coffees and meals with leftover Babson exchange students, walks around beautiful corners of Beantown (and taking pictures), and cookie baking and movie watching with Meaghan.
And on Thursday, I will be off to the next part of my American adventure.

Wrapping up Babson

Last class ... check.
Last exam ... check.
Last brunch at Trim dining hall ... check.
Last party with the exchange students ... check.
Last walk around campus ... check.
Last look at my empty dorm room ... check.

All my belongings are packed into two suitcases and a backpack, and I am now in Boston in Meaghan's apartment. I can't believe these three and a half months have passed by so fast, it seems like yesterday that I arrived. Life on campus wasn't always wonderful, and there were times when I was fed up and wanted to get out. But looking back now, I have learned a whole lot and have been priviledged to meet people who have really shaped me.



And, well, I guess the best proof that this all meant something is my achy heart.

Mouth open

What is this? Did Santa's sleigh capsize right above Babson Campus and pour all his presents out on me by accident? Only days after the accomodation problem for January was solved, I received a wonderful e-mail from my future landlord for February! A friend of my father's cousin (thank God for family connections), who offered me her guest room in the Upper West Side for the rest of my stay in New York.
Julian only said "God loves you." I'm not sure he knows how right he is. (And neither do I.)

Wackin' down the pins

We're foreigners. Right? We need to be introduced to American culture. Right? Right.
Braving temperatures in the low twenties (Fahrenheit, which means below zero Centigrade), Reagan, Brooke, Lysiane, Forbes and I spent the evening at the bowling alley. And it's not just any bowling alley - it's full-blown disco bowling, visuals and all. Which, of course, doesn't keep bowling leagues in their oh-so-stylish shirts from showing off their talent there.
The only thing I wondered is ... why do you need videos of scantily clad women movin' to the beats to distract you from scoring a strike? (I, for my part, chose to ignore them. And I did score a strike... though I tend to think it was more of an accident.)

Knock on wood!?

In German we have a saying: "It's the stupid who are lucky." If that is true, I must be very, very, very stupid.

Only hours after I received the final OK that my visa had been extended, I got an email that changed my still-sort-of-doubtful living situation in New York completely. For the entire month of January, I will be house-sitting at the Brooklyn Heights apartment of an employee of the Austrian Mission to the UN and taking care of her two cats - entirely for free!
Specifics: A one-bedroom duplex with a small patio (OK, maybe not the coolest thing in January), gym and laundry room in the building. The subway stop is a six minute walk away, and I can be at the office in 30 minutes.
And, best of all, I only have a couple of blocks to walk to see this:

If I were superstitious, I'd run and find some wood to knock on. Instead, while sort of waiting for something to go wrong, I'll just shake my head at a completely undeserved stroke of good fortune.

PS: I just came back from the Babson Midnight Breakfast. It is held from 10pm until midnight right before the finals, professors in aprons serve pancakes and waffles, and there is a raffle for massages and even a full semester tuition. It was packed, and I thought it was a great idea. This is the kind of stuff I will miss when I get home.

Small worm in a big .... Apple

Finally, the news. I got an internship with the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund and will become one of the many people in business suits that fight their way through the crowds on the sidewalks of Midtown Manhattan... at least for two months. The negotiations class I took this term came in handy, so I will even make enough money to pay for a little room and a bit of fun here and there.
As always, I did everything last minute, and I still can't believe that I actually managed to get a job, a salary, a visa extension and a place to stay in a little less than two weeks. You'd think God would teach me a lesson sooner or later and have me run into a wall, but no ... he's being very patient. So are my poor parents, New York friends and International Student Advisors whom I have put to work for me. Boy, am I lucky.

Other news tidbits:

School. I pulled the first (and possibly last) all-nighter of my college career when we spent all of Sunday until the wee hours of the morning finishing a business plan that was due at 7.45am on Monday morning. I handed in my philosophy research paper, and it felt like giving birth (I think). We spent hours putting together power point presentations in the past week, and hanging out in the library until midnight is starting to feel pretty normal. But instead of losing it, I am actually having fun, and I am really enjoying these last weeks on campus.
GEEK.

Eggnog latte. They all rave about it, so I needed to try. The Vienna Starbucks doesn't do seasonal drinks that much, so I had to take the chance. John, whom I met at a WYA conference in Vienna last May, was in the area, so we drove down to the cute little downtown area of Wellesley for this world premiere. It tasted pretty good, and it definitely gets you into that holiday mood. The full moon, the freezing cold and the Christmas decorations probably helped.

Travel plans. Since I will miss out on Austrian Christmas with the family this year, I am putting together a nice little trip to make up for it. Planned destinations include: A few more days in Boston with a Duck Tour and ice skating on Frog Pond, cookie baking, Christmas letter writing and hanging out with my Boston and Babson friends. A short stopover in New York, because I will not miss out on the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree this year! Christmas in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the Moran clan. A post-Christmas reunion with Jean-Pierre and Marthe-Marie Casey in DC. New Years plans are yet to be made, but it is looking good.

And thanks to joytothehurled's FFP Holiday mix, I even have the soundtrack to go with it.
Those Americans really know how to put you into Christmas mode.

Chances

One should not talk about things that are not yet sure. And I won't. All I will say is that things are lining up for what looks like another great adventure. Everything is still up in the air, but I am starting to see more clearly, and God willing (yeah, really) I will have a sweet deal on my hands in a couple of days.

In other news, I find myself smiling a whole lot more these days than in the past months. Life at Babson, as strange as it may sound, has been quite a challenge - finding my way in a world that's not my own, with people who think differently from me, and decisions that are only mine to make. Nevertheless, I am enjoying life a lot, despite the long hours spent writing essays, and the pressure of all upcoming decisions.

I care about people here, I am learning, and I am glad that the old me is back, the one that sometimes looks up at the sky and smiles, knowing that there's someone up there with a very good sense of humor.

Jet set

I am sitting at gate 14 at JFK aiport in New York. "Feliz Navidad" is blasting from the speakers, interrupted by frequent passenger calls and announcements. With my laptop on my lap (what a fitting name) and connected to a wireless hotspot, I feel very jet set.
A 4am alarm clock this morning ended a great 10-day Thanksgiving break, and I am heading back to Babson, bracing myself for two more weeks of non-stop stress and a couple of all-nighters before I wrap up my semester.
Photos are still on various cameras (my own was left behind in DC and will be sent to me soon), but while I am waiting for uploads I will give you a little report of my whirlwind trip.

1st stop: New York, comme d'habitude.
Refusing to spend money on a cab, I dragged my big suitcase through the pouring rain in Chinatown. After being soaked from head to toe, I gave in and took the subway to Bleecker Street. This time I shared a (queen size) bed with Sascha for lack of his neighbor's mattress. When we were lying next to each other and I told him "This is what it must feel like to be married", he did not seem amused. He graciously offered to build a wall of books between us for propriety reasons, but I declined. We're both skinny people, and the night ended up being quite comfortable.
On Friday morning I donned my business suit and zipped around various Manhattan locations all day, interviewing for internships. I think they went well, and decisions will be made this week. Walking into various gigantic corporate buildings and having your bags checked several times made me a bit nervous. But stopping for a take-out cup of coffee on Dag Hammaskjold Plaza does feel cool.

2nd stop: Silence
Nevertheless, I was glad to change into my jeans that night and hop on a train with Colin for a two-day retreat at "the nuns" in upstate New York. The days were quiet, peaceful, and mainly spent in the chapel, going for walks along little streams, reading and drinking tea.

3rd stop: Washington D.C.
Walking all over the Mall, stopping over in the National Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Natural History (where we used to spend many a Sunday exploring space shuttles and skeletons), and finding our old house on Massachusetts Avenue brought back many memories. I hadn't been back since we moved away in 1991, which makes it fifteen years! The house looked a lot smaller, our favorite climbing trees and sand box were gone, but it's funny how you can still remember things so vividly after such a long time.

4th stop: Pittsburgh
After Christian has visited me in Cairo and Vienna, it was about time to check out his 'hood. He and his family took me on a tour of everything from his old school and office to major Pittsburgh sites like the Cathedral of Learning and Mount Washington. We had a huge Thanksgiving dinner with 18 people, watched videos from our time in Spain and Egypt, hit a few bars in South Side, and even got to see a hockey game - Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Boston Bruins! I decided to forsake my temporary hometown and cheer for the Pens ... and they lost. Memorable tidbits of American culture included: Pancakes at Pamela's Diner, pumpkin pie, turkey carving, glimpses of a tailgate party, watching football on TV, standing for the national anthem in the stadium, cheerleaders, rides in Christian's Mustang, and many more.

I feel refreshed and ready to take on that last bit of school. It will be quite a challenge to juggle papers, exams, presentations, visa extensions, room search in NY (any ideas?), and saying goodbye to Babson, but I'll hang in there and get it over with.

Alright, we're boarding. Photos coming soon!

Turkey time

Over the next week, most people will be worried about THIS...

I say, bring it all on - the big bird, the gravy, the sweet potatoes, the pumpkin pie.
I will be back online in ten days or so with many stories to tell.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Le weekend en photos

(I just realized that I've been going increasingly international with my post titles lately.)
Anyway, weeks are increasingly filled with work as there are only three (!!) weeks left of the term if you count out Thanksgiving holidays. This means papers, group meetings, assignments and a lot of desk time.

Last weekend, the J/Ge(o)ffs from New York came to visit. I met both of them through the World Youth Alliance while I was interning in Brussels in the summer of 2005, and they hooked me up with Meaghan here in Boston. We had a great time hanging out by the banks of the Charles on a beautiful autumn day, cooking Kaesnockerln (Austrian food) and going out for salsa and swing dancing. Here's the photo coverage:

Get Your Own! |

Plans for the Thanksgiving break: An interview for a possible internship in NYC on Friday (keep all available limbs crossed!), a little retreat, a trip to Washington D.C. to revisit memories from my childhood fifteen years ago (I feel old), and a few days in Pittsburgh, visiting Christian and spending Thanksgiving with his family.
Can't wait!

Salsa y chocolate

You know what latinos are really good at. Lovin'? Yeah. Salsa? Duh. But CHOCOLATE??
You wouldn't have thought, would you.

On Thursday night, Julian, Erminela and I attended our first-ever chocolate tasting event at Babson College. If you've done wine tasting before, you sort of know what it's like - minus the buzz. A plate with six different, delicious (albeit tiny) pieces of chocolate, crackers and water to cleanse your palate, accompanied by a rundown of the chocolate making process and input from Edison, a Quechua from Ecuador. The Kallari initiative works with the local cocoa farmers and makes sure that (unlike all other chocolate producers, even FairTrade!) ALL revenues flow back into the region. Also, dark chocolate is actually healthy! It lowers your blood pressure and cholesterol, and can prevent heart desease and even cancer. So throw out the Hershey Bars, this is the real thing!

The Latin mood continued when Meaghan and I met a bunch of her friends on Saturday for dinner and salsa at the Havana Club. A large ball-room, live music, classes to brush up on your rusty merengue, and largely creep-free dancing until the early hours of the morning. Who needs gyms when you can work your legs, hips and abs on the dance floor? Trust me, you work them. I realized when I limped home from Meaghan's house the next morning - after a delicious omelette breakfast, of course. You've got to stock up on calories.

And, speaking of calories, I had the most enjoyable project group meeting ever yesterday when we headed down to Harvard Square to conduct some market research interviews at Burdick's Chocolate Cafe.

Of course, some extensive product tasting was in order.

Black and white

Over the past few days, I've made my first experience with how Americans (or at least those on this campus) deal with racism.
On Halloween night a white Babson student wore a Paul Pierce basketball jersey, an afro wig and black face paint to the campus party. It was later discovered that he had posted several offensive comments and pictures about black, Asian and hispanic people on his Facebook page. This incident has resulted in a wave of protest, and, quite frankly, I don't know what to make of it. The Babson Free Press is full of angry articles, the Student Government Association held a giant protest rally yesterday, reiterating over and over again that racism has no place on the Babson campus, and we spent our entire Social and Political Philosophy class discussing events.

I have talked about this story with several people: Lance, who is half native American, has started a group called "We're not going to protest". He thinks taking racist comments personally puts you in a position of weakness, and he does not want to let his life be ruled by fear of rejection. Alvin, president of the Student Government Association, formerly head of the Black Student Union, told me that many black students, coming from a largely black environment to a predominantly white campus, feel out of place and need black role models. Rebecca, editor in chief of the Babson Free Press and native Hawaiian, is very concerned about racism on campus, which, she says, has been an issue for a while.
Here is what I have come up with so far.

1) Racism is wrong, no doubt about it - and above all, it is simply stupid. It is nothing more than hatred and aggression grounded in false stereotypes about a group of people. In my opinion, it is usually the result of a bad experience or, more commonly, a way of compensating for a lack of self-esteem. There is no place for it in any environment, especially, one should think, in an environment where people think of themselves as educated.

2) If there are people on campus that feel afraid and marginalized because of their race, religion or sexual orientation, this is a problem that needs to be addressed - in my opinion, by each of us individually more than by the college as a whole. I do not believe in institutionalized tolerance, because it is hardly ever genuine. I believe it is about being respectful and considerate of our differences, but, more than anything, about accepting the person as a whole, and showing an interest in who someone is and why they think the way they think.

3) Shunning someone who obviously has racist tendencies to a point where he is refused a sandwich in the campus dining hall is as wrong, if not worse, than the racism we are trying to fight. What is happening here is that someone, again, is marginalized for his beliefs. True, his beliefs are obviously wrong, but lets think about the future. If this kid is expelled from college, and even if he is allowed to stay, he will be hostile towards both the college community and black people for the rest of his life, because in his view, they have made it miserable. It will definitely not help him realize that he is wrong.
What he needs is not for people to shun him, but to sit down and discuss his views with him. Again, it is about accepting the person, while rejecting the act. This is an important distinction, and, as far as I see it, the only solution that will break the vicious circle.

Wow, I think I sound like a political activist.
Any thoughts?

Fright Night

You know it's that time of year when front yards turn into graveyards, skeletons hang upside down from trees, and you spot a plastic rat gnawing away on a bloody hand in the bushes...

Happy Halloween!

Our big campus Halloween party went down on Saturday, and since I was still coughing and sneezing, I lay low and went to bed before midnight. I was told I missed a downright orgy. I tell you I didn't miss a thing... I take a cup of tea and a good book over half-naked sweaty bodies and bad music any day.

Today I could tell it was Halloween because I saw professors wearing 17th century cloaks and students with their faces painted green. But most of all, it was the "Fright Night Dinner" at Trim Dining Hall which rocked the party. Skeletons, cobwebs and jack-o-lanterns everywhere, a corpse-shaped cake for dessert, pirates wiping tables and horror movie soundtracks instead of the usual U2/Dave Mathews/Jack Johnson mix.

Half the school is out clubbing in costumes, but I am a) royally sick of college parties and b) buried in work, so my I ditched plans to go to the witching town of Salem and wrote papers instead.

I have to say, I'm dying to wrap myself up in my bedsheet and go out for some trick-or-treating. But college life doesn't always allow for all that fun.
Instead, I'll go dream of monsters.

OMG, like, how are ya?

Coming to the United States, I expected to encounter all kinds of things that would need some getting used to. The food, the shopping malls, dorm life, et cetera.
The one cultural particularity that I have not managed to get used to to this day are cultural differences connected to the language.

During my first days here, I was constantly being greeted with a friendly smile and the question: "How are you?" - "Fine", I answered. "Still a bit jetlagged, but I like it. And you?"
At best, my lengthy response would earn me a puzzled look. In the worst case, by the time I had gotten to "fine", they were already around the next corner.
And so I learned my first lesson: "How are you?" is not a question. It is a statement.
Then again, people make their stories sound like a series of questions. "The other day, I went to the mall? I looked around and saw this realy cute sweater? And I thought, oh my gawd? I think I need to have this?"
Con-fusing.

My other favorite: Fillers. Those useful little words and phrases can turn the smallest comment into a real semantic beauty. Take this example: "So OK, I was totally like, you know, 'I have no idea' or something!" Wow. Talk about adding spice to the phrase "I said 'I have no idea'."
The other day, my friend Alvin took a little tally counter to class, and we kept track of the amount of times that people used the word "like". We got to 115 in an hour.

And finally: Abbreviations. Why bother articulating words if a couple of letters do the trick? A few of my favorite examples:
DTR. Define The Relationship. The uncomfortable conversation between a boy and a girl to figure out "where they are at". Happens frequently and is hated, above all, by the male half of the pair.
BYOB. Bring your own beer/booze/bottle. Especially in a dry town like Wellesley, where bars and liquor stores are illegal and restaurants are not allowed to serve alcohol, people bring their own bottle of wine when they go out to have a pizza.
AWOL. Absence Without Official Leave - originally used in a military context for deserting soldiers, it is now used for people who have been gone or out of touch for a long time. The best part: It is actually pronouced! "She's been ay-wall for weeks now."
FYI. For your information. I knew that one before - what I didn't know is that it's actually a word. "Eff-why-eye, I am not coming to work tomorrow."

Oh, those Americans. Gotta love 'em.

Family reunion in NYC

What a combo

The view from our hotel room window (39th floor!)

... and the next morning

Grand Central Station at rush hour

Photo shoot at the UN
One tends to forget that Manhattan is an island
(Can anyone spot the Statue of Liberty?)
Meeting Sascha (UN buildings reflected in the background)

Other highlights (as usual, mostly related to food):

• Fajitas and margaritas at Mi Cocina
• Breakfast at Pain Quotidien
• the Frick Collection
• getting lost walking around Lower Manhattan
• a day in Central Park
• LOTS and LOTS of quality time with Papi

I loved every minute of it and was sort of sad to say goodbye. After all, the next time I'll see anyone of my family is more than four months away! However, I really needed that dose of family time.

Back at Babson (drove back with Jo and arrived at midnight on Sunday), I woke up on Monday with a vicious cold and spent Tuesday morning in bed. A little down time and Jo's homecooked pasta a la puttanesca got me back on track and, though coughing and sneezing, I can face the load of work that's coming my way. And a load it is - November is so full of due dates, I don't even know where to start.
Speaking of which, I have a ton of work to do until tomorrow...
Buona notte to all.

Switching libraries

Why squeeze in between dusty bookshelves at Babson when you can jet (or rather fung-wah) to the Big Apple and do your reading in a beautiful marble reading room at the NY Public Library?
While waiting for my father to arrive from Washington for a father-daughter reunion weekend, I decided to spend the rainy afternoon in here with my Babson-supplied laptop and Sandel's "Liberalism and its Critics", a book I need to read for Social and Political Philosophy (I am not that nerdy).
Maybe I am just imagining things, but somehow it is a lot easier to wrap your brain around theories of entitlement and distributive justice in a place where many a great novel has been written.

Meet the gang (Episode I)

Alright. It is past midterm, and I still haven't introduced the people that I share all my joys and sorrows with on a daily basis. Everyone.... meet the gang.

Julian, also known as Pappa Peters, the King of Bavaria, or the Governator (because he not only looks, but also talks just like him).
He lives down the hall from me and has become my favorite lunch and dinner company and closest buddy on campus. A self-proclaimed misanthropist, it's sometimes hard to get him to smile, but he is always the first one there to cheer me up, calm me down or just provide for hours of heated discussions - on every topic from football to monogamy. He and Cameron are the stars of the rugby team, so when it's pub night, I've got my personal squad of bodyguards to keep me safe.

Cameron, or Gramps, is the oldest undergrad on campus at age 29, but age does not stop him. He managed to get a job at the Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, the university's most prestigious institution, interviewing in a pair of old pants and a smelly old T-shirt. He can pull off tight running shorts and a red ribbed tank top at rugby training and rides his race bike to a from his off-campus home every day. He knows everyone on this planet and manages to get exactly what he wants just because he is never too shy to ask. Running two businesses in Australia via Skype and Internet and taking a full course load here, he spends his (seemingly extensive) spare time goofing around campus on his longboard, shooting pictures for his photography class and partying the nights away with Julian, his wingman. The big question is - when does the guy do his homework??

Montse, or Monchito, is a little Spanish lady with the biggest smile. She is 5 foot (or, for those among us who use the normal metric system, 1,50m) tall and weighs no more than 100lbs (45kg). She's an absolute beauty, as you can see, but so frail that when a big guy hugs her, I am always afraid that her bones might snap. Her strong Spanish accent and uncontrollable squeals of laughter always provide for a good time, especially when she shakes her head in utter desperation over an insurmountable cultural difference between Spain and the States.
Favorite quote: (munching on some raw broccoli:) "Now I know chhow feels my rrrrabbit!"


Ah, Francesco. He refers to himself as "italianissimo", and since he is a real Sicilian from Palermo, no one dares to disagree. However, if the Cosa Nostra depended on him, it would be a lost cause - he is the gentlest, most friendly guy in the world. Always complaining about American food ("Ma che e questo - questo si chiama pasta!!?? Ah, gli Americani, incredibile!!"), he piles tons of salad onto his plate at lunch and shuns the American-style Italian specialties offered at the cafeteria. Francesco is a man of culture - if someone gets him started on the Latin origin of Italian words, he'll gladly lecture you for 20 minutes. However, his facial expressions when he is in "professor mode" are priceless, so I just sit there and enjoy lo spettacolo. (Which, incidently, comes from the latin word spectaculum, spectaculi, meaning sight, show, or spectacle...)

To be continued.

Autumn Leaves

I've always liked autumn - but the colors of the leaves in New England are just nothing short of spectacular! I had been marvelling at the bright red, orange and green for days, so I decided on the weekend that it was time to go on a little trip to see the Foliage.
It turns out that we headed straight for the region where trees were just beyond their peak, but the landscape what beautful nevertheless.

A little cultural gem on the way: The all-American conveniece store.

A stunning road trip and a good hike were topped off with delicious Spanish tapas, Sangria and Rioja, and an excellent movie called The Bycicle Thief (or, rather, the first 15 minutes of it before we all fell asleep).
On Sunday night I accompanied Kitt, my friend from Wellesley College, to a conference on Feminist Sexual Ethics. I wasn't too sure what to expect, given that my past experiences with feminist events have been more on the terrible side, but it was surprisingly interesting and a nice little knowledge boost.

When I got back to campus and heard all the stories about crazy rugby parties, boys drinking from beer bottles taped to their hands, and others getting stoned in the car, I couldn't help but think that my weekend had been a helluva lot more enjoyable - and my head, compared to the others', felt just fine.

The shortest week

I love it when the weekends are longer than the weeks. Monday was Columbus Day, which provided for four wonderful days in... take a wild guess... New York!
Is this getting old? Maybe. But if you ask me, one could spend many more weekends there.

I took off around noon on Thursday, thanks to my brilliant class schedule. This time the long trip (an hour from campus to the station, an hour's wait and 4.5 hours in the bus) was drastically improved by Ee-Ling (Australia) and Kris (California) who happened to travel to the Big Apple on the same bus, and some dubious Chicken McNuggets and Mustard Sauce at the mini-stopover in Connecticut. It is strange that while McDonalds is still quite a big deal in Europe, it really is pretty disgusting here. You're talking to an expert - we are served burgers, chicken nuggets and the like on a daily basis at Babson.

Thursday night was spent with Sascha on the roof of his Noho apartment house. We snuck past the landlady's door with a bottle of sparkling wine, two glasses and a camera and enjoyed the view of the lower Manhattan skyline. A glass and a half made us feel adventurous, so we climbed across a couple of ledges to the neighbor's roof garden. The comfortable lounge chairs looked like a grand idea until we were caught red-handed by the owner, who screamed at us and then called her boyfriend to stand guard while we guiltily retreated.

Looking out on the Big apple from Sascha's roof

On Friday I met up with my cousin Sophie, who is currently painting murals at some ridiculously luxurious mansion in the Hamptons. We did some shopping (well, she did, and I watched), checked out some design, contemporary art and photography the MoMa, had a hot dog and a coffee and just generally enjoyed each other's company.
I then joined Bill Grace and his sister Mara for dinner in Greenwich Village, where I was treated to some fine food in order to, as Bill put it, cure my cafeteria-induced scurvy.

On Saturday I met Colin at Grand Central Station in the early morning and we caught a train up to Tarrytown for some hiking (actually, strolling) with Scott in the Rockefeller State Park.

Can you tell we had been up early...?
Some Canada geese and a hawk on the pole that sat motionless in this exact same position for 20 minutes

Scott in the greenhouse

After coming back on Sunday afternoon, I went for an evening stroll through the beautiful neighborhood of Chelsea with Sascha, who was trying to find a house that had once been inhabited by his favorite designer Robert Brownjohn. We peeked through windows at classy livingrooms and stylish kitchens and felt very New York.

On Monday I walked a dozen blocks south to visit the Ground Zero site for the first time since 2002. I felt strange, like an intruder, as I aimlessly wandered around between thoughtful tourists and Chinese souvenir salesmen, looking at larger-than-life photos of terrified businessmen and devastated firefighters.
The afternoon was spent in Central Park, reading and napping, before I took off to Yonkers to meet up with Jo who, after serving me a fantastic beef chili, gave me a ride back to Boston and spent the night on an air mattress in my dorm room.

Next week is midterm, and the semester is halfway over. I am enjoying all my little adventures and trying to make each day special, but somehow I don't entirely feel at home here. For someone who has never been prone to homesickness, I think about my family surprisingly often and miss many things that made life so comfortable in Vienna. Luckily, it's only a week and a few days now before I return to New York to see my father, who will be there for some UN business.

Can't wait!!

Time flies.

I always thought that only old people say that. But in fact, ever since I've arrived at Babson, time just seems to slip by. Weeks feel like days, months like weeks, and sometimes I find myself lying in bed at night thinking: "Where the heck has this day gone?"

Between figuring out basic campus survival rules (like, don't stick your favorite jeans or delicate T-shirts into the dryer if you want them to fit afterwards), making friends, good old homework, classes, group meetings, and the odd bit of fun, there hardly seems to be a minute that I am actually idle.

Again, I need to incorporate a list of highlights into this post for the sake of brevity.

Almost Famous. Last Saturday, Montse and I went downtown to meet Meaghan for a bit of Latin dancing at Havana Club in Boston. It turned out that MTV was shooting an episode of Made at the club that night, so if you look carefully, you might be able to see a little Spanish girl and a tall Austrian girl samba-, mambo- and bachata-ing in the background.

Rudderless on the Charles. Four men and a lady in a canoe - sounds like Pocahontas, minus the rowing skills. While we were happily zig-zagging from bank to bank, we rammed nearly all Harvard Rowing Team boats that were training on the Charles River. "Keep to the right hand side!" was about the nicest comment we got.

The crew: Moi, Jesper (Sweden), Aaron (Texas), Steve (Massachusetts), and Bjorn (Sweden) filling out the required test pre-takeoff

You better know what to do with your paddles...

Slaves on the galley

Academic tidbits. Wrote my first-ever philosophy paper: "Pity or Power - The view of human nature at the heart of Berlin's concepts of freedom". It required me to wreck my brain like I had never done before. There is just no way you can wing it when your work will be subject to the merciless scrutiny of a philosopher. They might say there's no money in philosophy, but there's definitely a lot more brain than in business.
On the not-so-nerdy side: When going through one of his assignments with Francesco last night, I had a good laugh at the Italian way of using metaphors even in a business context. On business incubators: "The group should have evaluated venture proposals by identifying the seeds, nurturing them as long as necessary, and eventually sometimes spinning them off. They had to hatch the eggs, as an incubator should do. It’s not so easy like for a chicken." And a couple of lines down: "So we can consider this a great move in order to hatch the egg, because from the egg should arise a new chicken."

Plans for the weekend. Monday is Columbus Day, so I am taking off for yet another long weekend. Saturday and Sunday we'll go to upstate NY to do some hiking in the Beaverkill Valley, and the rest of the weekend is yet to be determined.

A virtual campus tour

... as promised. I am missing a couple of important buildings because my photo tour was cut short, but here is a little taste of my surroundings.
(Click on the picture to start the tour)

Babson campus tour

Sep 29, 2006 - 14 Photos

You three-inch fool!

Thou loathsome scab in Greece!
You ruinous butt!
Poisonous, bunch-backed toad!
Diffus'd infection of a man!

These and other Shakespearean insults were screamed at each other in tonights acting class. It was all about vocal focus, energy, diaphragmatic breathing and all that technical stuff, but ultimately, the best part was givin' it to each other in Shakespearean English. "Your bum is the greatest thing about you; so that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the Great."
EAT THAT.

Anger management aside, time is flying by, and I realized today that it was exactly a month ago that I arrived on campus. In the past four weeks, I have met a mind-boggling amount of people, settled in to entirely new surroundings, and even turned my dark, smelly, damp room into a bearable living space.
Jo has been a regular visitor to our humble abode in the past weeks, making use of Julian's and Antonio's spare room and providing for a steady supply of beer, laughs, good music and high quality female company. She lives in New York, but just started her Doctoral degree in Jazz in Boston and, instead of finding a room for two nights a week, lightens up our rather dull business student routine with her spunky presence. Given that we only spent a month together in 2000 and haven't seen each other since, it's quite a miracle that I feel like I've had her around for ages.


Coming up at Babson: Homecoming weekend, boating on the Charles, and Salsa at Havana Club on Saturday.
Coming up on the blog: A virtual campus tour, and an e-introduction to the Babson gang.

And, now that we're at it, let me close with another of old Will's quotes:
I bear a charmed life.

Cultural pleasures

The play, I remember, pleased not the million; 't was caviare to the general.
Hamlet, 2. 2

Who ever said that Americans have no culture? On Saturday, Julian (Germany), Cameron (Australia), Aaron (Texas) and I decided to take Cameron's friend Kitt up on her invitation to come see "Hamlet" at Wellesley College, where she studies.
Wellesley is an all-girls college, quite prestigious, proudly boasting alumnae like old Hillary and Madeleine Albright. It is 130 years old, with a huge campus, a lake and a beautiful theater hall. Unfortunately we only caught a glimpse of it at night, but I am definitely going back. Since I seem to be hanging out mainly with guys around here, it is time to immerse myself into a world full of wonderful ladies.

Other highlights of the weekend:
Watching my first rugby match - boy, what a violent sport. Thirty men, covered in sweat and mud, tackling each other like there is no tomorrow. Black eyes, dislocated shoulders, and sprained ankles. Julian (Germany) and Cameron (Australia, affectionately referred to by the name of Gramps) did their thing, and I still haven't decided whether I am shocked or intrigued.


A visit to the Mall - while I am not a big fan of giant shopping centers, there are stores I just can't resist. Also, I finally got my running shoes, and went for an inaugural jog this morning.

Dinner in Chinatown - our new friends Reagan (yes, like the president), Brooke, Zach and Preston took a bunch of us exchange students out to Boston Chinatown for some do-it-yourself fondue-style Chinese dinner. We loved it, although some of us had tears streaming down our faces due to extreme soup spiciness.

Carol, Lysiane and Zach enjoying their meals

Pub Night at Rodger's on campus - it's a Thursday night regular, always nice to kick off the weekend with.

Top: Me, Montse and Tere (from Barcelona)
Bottom: Tere, Montse, Francesco (Palermo) and Carol (Barcelona)

Other than that, papers, prep reading and classes don't leave much room for laziness. I haven't watched TV since I came here, and have only read half a book (of my own choice, that is). Those who know me will realize how unusual that is. Still, I am enjoying both the challenges and fun of college life.
I am a bit short on words and imagination tonight.
I will let the photos do the talking.