New Blog Site!

Hello everyone!

Not sure if anybody still gets updates from this poor, abandoned blog, but if you are interested in what Ben and I are doing in now and what we will be doing in China, please check out our new blog: http://benchelvidmaryan.blogspot.com/!

Photographical Documentation

The Paris and Scotland pictures are up on facebook here.
Germany will hopefully be soon but might have to wait till I get back from Poland.

Czech, Czech-- One, Two, But not Three

So I don't know if anyone still reads this blog seeing how I have been less than dedicated in keeping up with it lately, but I will do my best to fill in some of the gaps of the last month.

I finally have my pictures of France and Scotland, and I am afraid I will be lazy and just post the pictures on facebook and try to describe the trip through captions.
However, seeing as my trips to Prague and Germany are slightly more recent, I will make some attempt of blogging about them.

Starting with Prague:
This highly anticipated trip that I took in the beginning of November was slightly different than from what I expected but very enjoyable nonetheless. Originally, the plan was for Lena, Jess, Sarina (UCI), Michelle (UCSB), and I to have three full days in the city; however, the lovely Wizz Air decided to change their flight days around, which resulted in flying out early on Friday and coming back early on Sunday. Undeterred by the 7 and 6am flights, we were willing to make the best of it. We also found out that two of our friends, Brendan (Canadian) and Thomas (Illinois-ian) decided to come with us on the trip. Traveling in big groups is always an adventure, but thankfully I have been enduring...er enjoying... it for nearly a decade, so I was somewhat prepared.

After a brisk early morning walk to the bus and train station, an hour bus ride to the airport, relatively brief plane flight, long bus ride and metro ride into town, we had arrived in Prague around 10am! After checking into our refreshingly nostalgic Soviet hotel, us girls planned to meet the guys (who had a hostel elsewhere) at the Old Town Square for another Free Walking Tour. For some reason, the guys weren't able to find the tour group, but they didn't miss much. This was my fourth tour with the Sandmann's Walking Tour, and it has been alternatively fantastic and unimpressive (Berlin- great; Paris- not; Edinburgh- great; Prague- not). Despite our ADHD, unfunny guide, we were able to see a good deal of the historical sights of Prague and learn some interesting facts in the moments when we weren't trying to keep from simultaneously freezing and falling asleep.

After the tour, we defrosted at a cafe with the help of some delightfully spicy chili hot chocolate then went to the famous Charles VI Bridge that was lined with 30 or so important saints. In addition to seeing some spectacular views of the river, Prague Castle, and other parts of the city, Michelle was even able to rub the left foot of the statue of St. John Nepomuk, which will either bring her bad luck or babies (the right one would have given her good luck or love).

With that important business out of the way, Sarina and Michelle went souvenir shopping while Jess, Lena, and I tried to go to the Jewish Museum that featured artwork of Czech children in Auschwitz. Unfortunately, it was closed, so we spent almost an hour on the steps of the State Opera House. This was the same building that our tour guide told us that during the Nazi Occupation, Hitler decided to come and visit Prague; so in preparation for his visit, Nazi officials attempted to remove the Jewish composer Mendelson's statue from the Opera House building by picking the statue with the "most Jewish (i.e. biggest) nose". However, they ended up pushing off Wagner's statue-- Hitler's favorite composer.

After killing time by taking countless jumping pictures off the steps, we finally met up with shoppers and after some more waiting, the long-lost guys found their way to the Opera House as well. We all went to dinner at probably the most touristy place in Prague possible and ate some overpriced albeit tasty "Czech food." However, the day would get much better when we all went back to the Opera House and saw the incredible Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, which is one of the 20th best orchestras in the world. It was such a beautiful, elegant experience. After the concert, we had some delicious mulled wine in the Square then somehow made it back to our hotel and crashed.

The next day, we ate a yummy breakfast of bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, and cake and set out to meet Brenden, Thomas, and now Brenden's brother Jason to explore the Prague Castle. The Castle and its many buildings are perched on top of a hill that overlooks the city. It was quintessentially European-- complete with guards and souvenir shops. After viewing the amazing gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, we made our way to a scenic park nearby that was nearby and took in the beautiful autumnal environment.

After a leisurely lunch, we ended up walking around the city a bit until some us split up to go shopping and some went off to see if they could tickets for performances that night. After meeting up again, Thomas, Lena, and Jason decided to see the Swan Lake ballet, while Jess, Brenden, Sarina, Michelle, and I decided to check out an indie Czech band at a nearby bar.
If you are ever in Prague, you should definitely try to see a Czech band at the Balbínova poetická hospudka. Although the place was a little sketchy and more than a little smokey (it gave me a literal whiff of Kaz :), we had a fantastic time. It was highly entertaining and a nice break from all the touristy things we had done before.



After the concert, we met up with the Swan Lakers and enjoyed some quasi-Italian food. Since we had a 3am wake-up time to get to the airport for our 6am flight, we called it a night.
Too few hours later, we caught a taxi to the airport (we weren't sure if public transportation was working at night), but it was well worth the extra money to listen to "Mrs. Robinson" is Czechlish!

Overall, it was a fun and a bit scattered trip. I loved the Soviet/Russian-ness of some of the parts of the town: the metro stations, art, concrete buildings, and even the smell. However, I wasn't expecting the masses of tourists, especially in November, but it's Europe and I need to get used to it, I guess. And of course, traveling and sightseeing with a group of eight people is always an experience!
Stay tuned for an update on Germany hopefully soon! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

P.S. I appear to be having some trouble uploading pictures, but I have an album on facebook that pretty much covers everything here: Czech, Please!

A Touch of Autumn Culture

So I realize that it has been a while and I still have not put up the Paris and Scotland photos/blog. It has been incredibly busy around here (one of my classes just ended this week) and the task of trying to recap the trip and shift through the hundreds of pictures is slightly daunting.

Instead I am going to procrastinate a little longer and put up pictures that I pilfered from my friends (my camera downloading cord is MIA, and they take much better pictures than me!).

Fall is gorgeous here and is quickly becoming my favorite season. The air is a crisp 45 degrees, but I have been keeping somewhat warm by wearing all my clothes like a homeless person (I haven't resorted to stuffing crumbled newspaper...yet) and making endless amounts of cookies, breads (allows me to turn on the oven for hours!), and soups.

However, the best part about this time of year is the leaves changing colors! Almost overnight, Lund has exploded into a beautiful Vincent van Gogh painting-- with vibrant yellows, reds, and oranges nearly everywhere I look.

This is a transformation of the university library. When the last of the ivy falls to the ground, winter has arrived.

Taken in late August... times were warmer

multi-colored beauty in beginning of October
(my personal favorite)

just a week or so ago.
Already a lot of the leaves are gone.
(photos courtesy of Nora Traughber)

Seeing this building on my way to class
always makes me smile

The beautiful park where we played brennball

Lund's equivalent to the MU
(called the AF Castle)

Very idyllic spot somewhere in Lund
(should ask my friend where this is!)

Almost all the streets in the city look like this.

And now I will leave you with a beautiful van Gogh painting and Keats' Poem.

Autumn Landscape

To Autumn by John Keats

I
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

II
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

III
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Kivik: The Apple of My Eye

I have just come back from a crazy trip to Paris and Scotland, but first I want to write a little about the Kivik Apple Market Festival trip that Lena, Jess, two Germans from church: Christoph and Ronny, and I took a few weeks ago in September.
Lena, Jess, and I had heard about this amazing apple festival some time ago and were planning on taking the train to the eastern side of Skåne (the region in the south where I live) to see it. However, after mentioning it to Ronny, he graciously offered to drive us all there and to the national park nearby to boot!

We set off early in the morning and were afraid that the dark clouds would make for a rainy day. Thankfully, they held off, and while it was not very warm, it was at least dry (a rarity for this time of year!).

When we came to the city about an hour and a half later, we were greeted by throngs of people who were as ready as we were to partake in the apple festivities. Our first stop was the tented apple museum, which was filled with more apples than I thought possible.

The group is excited for the festival!

Lena almost couldn't resist eating the exhibit

Outside, a marching band with a giant dancing apple man paraded down the street. After some seemingly momentous speeches, the giant mural constructed of over 35,000 apples was unveiled amid much applause and oohing and ahhing (mostly by us foreigners).

it's a bird...it's a plane...

it's four tons of apple horses!

Seeing our fill of apple art, we set out to eat our fill of apple foods. The market was crammed with everything apple related: aprons; ceramics; and more importantly, tarts, cakes, ciders, donuts, pastries, etc. Many places were giving out free samples of their wares, which us girls took full advantage of.

delicious AND free-- does it get any better?

After eating numerous apple slices, juices, jams, and chutneys, we took a break for lunch to try some apple burgers. They weren't my favorite-- just slices of apple on a hamburger--but everyone else seemed to enjoy them. However, the view out on the pier was very nice and the company was even more so. With our stomachs properly primed, we felt ready to take on the rest of the market. And so for dessert we had some delicious apple cake with cream and freshly pressed hot apple cider.

Lunch on the pier

Dessert a la creme!

A band began playing on the main stage, and we went out to dance our traditional dances: Jess and I did the Russian dance, Lena did a country sort of dance, and the Germans...well they took pictures of us and laughed. Now Swedes typically don't dance at concerts, especially the middle aged ones who made up the majority of the audience. However, they were quite willing to laugh at/with us and even clap in time to the music.

Калинка, Калинка, Калинка!

The dancing had caused us to become hungry again, so we stopped for some freshly baked apple Danishes and donuts and stocked up on some excellent looking apples.

Lena and a yummy Swedish danish

Next we went to the Kivik apple cider factory and sortof museum. There wasn't much there, just more juice samples, a giant puzzle that we could put together, and a dunk tank that we could not do (too old, apparently).

By far it was the biggest puzzle I have ever done.

The giant apple man got to dunk him but we couldn't?

After that, we went off in search of the Stenshuvud National Park. After a few off-roading twists and turns, we found the place and took a very pretty walk through trees up to a hill. The view was spectacular: the ocean dominated on side and the beautiful autumn trees, the other.

The trees were ideal for climbing

The windy view. picture doesn't do it justice.

The wind eventually drove us back down, otherwise I could have stayed there for longer. We finished the perfect trip off with some fun and yummy Kinder eggs and the Amelie soundtrack on the drive home.

A very happy group (especially after seeing Lena's face in this picture)

Oh, I almost forgot. That night, we met up with some other guys from church, watched the second Bourne movie, and ate our 7th or 8th apple item of the day-- a scrumptious apple crisp we made ourselves. Then I felt finally full.

Sports and Psychedelic Injuries

I realize that it has been a while since I last blogged. There are several things I want to write about, but the lack of pictures (as well as my own laziness and perfection issues) has kept me from posting something.

I will start with rugby. For those of you who don't know, Jess and I have a joined the Lund LUGI rugby club about a month ago. We have both never played before, but we are having the time of our lives learning, playing, and getting to know the people on our team. I wanted to post some pictures of one of the games we played recently but haven't been able to find the pictures anywhere. So here are some of the LUGI lionesses playing another team earlier in the year. I will try to post more when I find them.

This is called the scrum, and in our last game I had the
dubious honor to participate in one. It was one the
strangest and most terrifying experiences I had so far.

Don't feel bad-- she is on the other team!

In addition to a great workout, rugby has also given me a chance to meet some of the nicest Swedish girls, eat some amazing food (a tradition we have after every game/match), and even experience the wonders of the Swedish health care system!

Yes, on my second practice I had the misfortune of getting my hand stepped on by a hefty pair of cleats. After days of intense throbbing and swelling, I decided I didn't want to risk not getting my hand checked out in case it was broken. So I biked to the world class university hospital (much like the UCD Med Center) and went to the surprisingly empty and orderly Emergency Room. After taking a number and sitting for about 20 minutes, I went to the front desk and told them what happened. The two extremely kind nurses looked at the hand and even asked a doctor nearby to look at it too. They decided that I would need X-rays, so I was to come back in a few hours for that. At 5:15pm, I arrived, payed $130 (no free health care for poor international students, but still so much cheaper than the US), and sat for less than 10 minutes before a doctor examined my hand. Then I was sent to be X-rayed, and in no time they determined that although it was severely bruised and swollen, there was no fracture! I was out in less than an hour and extremely grateful for no brokenness and the efficiency of Swedish health care.

This was taken on one of the first days few days.
I believe my hand got even bigger than that later.

It is a bit hard to see, but then my hand turned psychedelic colors.

In other sports related news, I recently had the privileged in participating in a very Swedish (and I discovered German, as well) sport called Brännboll (Burnball) with the Christian college group, Credo. Although it is much like baseball, it is heaps more chaotic, and thus, heaps more fun!In Brännboll, the score often runs into the high double digits, nobody gets out, and multiple people can be on the same base. The object of the game is to hit the ball as hard as you can by tossing it to yourself, then running around as the bases before the ball gets back to the "Burner." Points are awarded for every run you make, with more if you hit a home run. The team on the outfield can also earn points by catching the ball (but that does not mean the person is out).

I don't want to brag, but both times I have played this game, I have come out on the winning team. However, imagine my disappointment when I discovered that Sweden has no national Brännboll team! Apparently, this amazing game, much like kickball, wolleyball, and dodgeball, has been relegated to children's recess games and international students. Still very fun, and it gave me a chance to know the people in Credo better.

That is all for now, but I will definitely try to post something soon about the amazing trip I had to the Kivik Apple Festival yesterday. Also, I leave for Paris, which includes a short trip to Scotland, on Wednesday, so I don't know how much I will write in the next few weeks.

A Gruntled Student

For all my complaining about signing up for classes, I must admit that I am very pleased with the end result: my weekly schedule is quite glorious.

The past two weeks of school I have attended class a grand total of three times for two hour periods. I am taking a political science class called Democratization (taught by a Leftist/Communist, of course) on Tuesdays and a class for international students called New Europe on Wednesdays. I have been enjoying my five day long "weekends" immensely. However, in a few weeks my other international student class, Conflicts and Governance in the Middle East, will begin and take Monday away from my weekend. It is a hard life, but I think I will manage somehow.

Thankfully, the classes consist of very little reading (about 50 pages a week) and require only a group presentation and an almost laughable eight page final exam paper. The workload is about the equivalent of half of a normal class, if that.

But wait, it gets better. The combined quarter unit total for these three simple classes plus the three week Swedish course I took earlier comes to an impressive 18 units-- more than my usual 14-16 units I take at Davis (where I am at school five days a week, several hours a day, with midterms and papers due every week). So on paper it looks like I am working harder, but in reality I have almost too much time on my hands! Of course, this just means I can travel, cook, hang out with people, and do everything that I didn't have much time to do as a "real" student!

So the lesson of this story is STUDY ABROAD (especially in Sweden). You will not regret it.