first, i'm sick. this reeeeally bites because i just barely got over a nasty sickness i contracted around mid januray. yes, that's right. i've barely had a few weeks respite before my body gave in to another illness. i've been doing so much walking with my legs as of late that it's like my nose is trying to catch up by running continuously. (that sentence probably sounded better in my head but i'm leaving it. yep)the worst part? sickness + expensive medicine= high probability for sinus infection. wah.
because medicine is so expensive over here i figure letting myself sleep is the next best thing to getting healthy again. between feeling under the weather and coming home so late last night from traveling, i let myself lounge around all day today.
story time: because we got home late-ish last night from our week long adventures around germany i was feeling sick, i was tired, and i had zero desire to unpack. so basically when i woke up this morning my apartment was a wreck. i had no plans of really leaving my apartment today so i broke out the laptop and started editing pictures (which i still have a crap ton to edit: speaking of which, PICTURE BREAK!)
me on prague's oldest bridge, looking as suave as ever.
in my pajamas. no make up, bed head, the whole package. at about one there was a knock at my door. i was aware of just how attractive i must have looked at the moment so i contemplated just ignoring it. luckily, i braved the knocks because it turned out to be my roommate and her boyfriend. her name is marina, she's 18 and from russia and her english is a little rusty. and i met her in full blown hobo mode. so embarrassing. even though i looked super gross she still talked to me, with the help of her boyfriend who translated a little. she even gave me some of this little cupcake/muffin thing her mom made. i'm glad that was her first impression of me. i figure i'm setting the bar really really low so it'll be all uphill from there, right? right...
oh! part of taking today easy also consisted of finding the where my mail comes in this building. and consequently finding a valentine's card from my mom. what's the best kind of valentine? one that comes a little late and therefore a very unexpected and pleasant surprise.
today also marks the first day i've cooked dinner for myself in the kitchen here, which i know sounds a little ridiculous because it's been nearly 4 weeks but i've been traveling so much that i'm either gone or out and about with friends at dinner time. the best part of my dinner adventure was googling the instructions of how to make my soup, which i'm going to guess was of the potato slash onion variety, and then improvising because i only bought a sauce pan, not a pot. oh, and i had no way to measure 3/4 liters of water, so i just kind of eye balled it. honestly, the experience could have gone a lot worse. also, it was tasty. dinner= success.
alright, on to the depressing part: a big part of traveling so much and being cheap is you end up walking. everywhere. we've been traveling so much by foot these past few weeks that i literally walked holes into my pants. "but why is this so depressing, maria?" thank you for asking, inquisitive reader, as a reward for being such an active reader i shall answer your question. those were/are my favorite pair of pants. and they don't make them anymore. also, raise your hand if you agree with me that buying pants is THE WORST. so when i find a pair i like i will basically wear them until they fall apart. because of my uncharacteristically high amount of walking oriented activities i participated in, my pants have reached the end of their life prematurely. i thought i'd have at least another year left in them, optimistically speaking. so to console/reward myself i purchased a slightly different pair from ebay, which should be arriving at my parent's house in a timely manner this week, conveniently 5,000 miles away from me. which is awesome.
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as the red circle advertises, these jeans are clearly classy.
in other news, the light in my bathroom is still broken. which makes showering fun. also, school starts in a week. i'm kind of nervous about that actually. it's been quite a few months since i've had to attempt to think critically or academically. i'll let you all know how that pans out.
courtesy of the many hours i've spent on trains these past few weeks i've finished three books. only one of which was i able to say "i'm glad i read that" after i finished it. i really need to stop reading young adult literature. i'm currently taking recommendations on what to read next, if you're passionate enough about a book you've recently read, let me know?
so let me sum up my past week: berlin was awesome. freezing and slightly depressing but awesome. dresden was smaller than expected but that didn't stop it from meeting my expectations for evidence of it's previous war-torn state. prague was... intimidating. the language was even worse than german, the money was insane (18 koruns to each dollar, so a meal at mcdonals was like 74 koruns. riddykong), and poor planning lead to a lot of aimless wandering. you'd think we would have learned better than that by now. apparently not. and the cherry on top of my travels: people continue to amaze me with their undeserved kindness towards me. the atm at dresden's train station glitched and refused to give me my money. i couldn't read the attention/warning/important note thing it was displaying in german, so i went to ask two train station employees who were standing not too far from me, and wouldn't you guess it, they don't speak any english. a random dude heard me so obviously struggling to communicate to them with my severely limited german and he attempted to help me. he failed, but at least he attempted. things like that keep happening to me. or i'll see random strangers come together to help a young mother maneuver her bulky stroller, or a weary luggage burdened traveler, onto or off various public transportation. i don't know why seeing goodness in people still surprises me. that can't be a good sign.
up coming travels: tomorrow night at 11 we're taking a night train to rome where we're planning on spending a few days before heading to florence for a few more days. no lies, i'm preeeetty excited.
closing thought: i've been ruminating over this for the past few weeks as i've been traveling places. i've slowly come to realize that places and things don't matter. it's people who make the difference. i feel like i could, or should, expound on that a little more but it's now 2 AM and i have a sinus headache that has nearly succeeded in making me cross eyed. safe to say it's time for bed.
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