"stop looking at the walls, look out the window."

karl pilkington on art. the ricky gervais radio shows are ruling my commutes to and from work.

um, so my life is crazy-busy right now. i feel like a legit grown-up. it's weird and very unsettling. also, my mother just brought up the fact that i am currently taking my last undergraduate course ever. thanks for the self-induced panic attack, mom.

so, to play catch up:

• finals: they went pretty well. i got my grades back last week and got ridiculous grades for the amount of work i put in, especially considering i was writing both papers the afternoon they were due, with a hangover. thanks mark, thanks frank.
• warsaw: i only spent one night there and it was -2o degrees outside when our plane finally landed so i wasn't that enthralled. but there were ice-skaters which almost made up for it.
• krakow: it's such a gorgeous city, very old and dignified. i came home with polish chocolates for ashley, instant borscht for julia, and a tote bag, postcards and a bangle (not a bagel with hamburger, katie) for me. also, i had my second unsuccessful experience with absinthe. i'm not willing to drink something that tastes like black licorice unless i am guaranteed hallucinations and no one has been able to promise me that.
• over night trains through slovakia: i do not recommend them unless you are travelling with a chiropractor. or at least don't try to sleep on the floor.
• budapest: oh. my. god. i effing loved budapest. it's a better paris than paris is. i don't even think i can talk about it coherently, but the city was gorgeous and dirt cheap. it's definitely one of my favorite places that i've ever been. we spent four days there and i don't think i even scratched the surface. if you go, you have to bring wine home.
• vienna: i wasn't so much a fan, although it was probably unfair to pit silly little vienna against budapest. it was okay, but i didn't think it was anything special. although, we did have some lovely weather while we were there. i just felt like i was either in new york city or in epcot - it was either really metropolitan and global and dirty and loud or really clean and quiet and a little too perfect. also, they snuck custard into my pastries without telling me. or maybe they just told me in german.
• my internship: i really, really enjoy it, and the work, and the people in my office but i'm feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed out. they keep giving me actual work to do, but work that i don't feel comfortable chancing doing incorrectly. the other day we were all in a staff meeting (i don't feel like an intern, i feel like a member of the staff) and a phone call came through about the pensions case that i'm working on and whoever answered the phone said "the woman who is in charge of that is in a meeting. can i take your number and she'll call you back?" not "the intern is busy." i shouldn't complain, it's a great problem to have.

well. i think that's it. that's basically the last three weeks of my life in a nutshell.