Monday, June 14, 2004
A little overwhelmed and am still thinking about trying to change tickets to go back home though at this point would be hard to find anything else to do for summer. Looked like tomorrow was the only available day to go back because of filled flights and I cancelled the reservation but after seeing all the work that I need to catch up on and the lack of response from my campus advisors, wondering if that was wise.
So my inhibitions about the lady I was staying with turned out correct and she asked me to move out. I got really nervous after she followed me around, critiquing everything, and after we were unsure whether to sign the contract or give it a trial period, I could then do no right. Was insane--calling people up again not even 2 days after moving my stuff in. Got in yesterday from airport since I had left my stuff packed and she started moving it out even though I was exhausted and it was late Sunday evening (had told the other woman that I would sign contract on Monday). Before leaving, she said she was going to charge me 2 days but then changed her mind and was saying she was going to charge me 4 at 18 euros a night which is what she said the agency woman told her to charge. She started going off about all the stuff she had done for me, washing my sheets, how she was losing a month´s rent (conveniently forgetting her role in this of course), how I had taken showers (1!) and talking about how noone else would have done what she did for me. I agreed with that part since I was stunned by her cruelty. She wouldn't even let me use her phone to call somewhere to find a place to stay. At the end she stood there with her cheek to me, for me to kiss her (though she didn´t kiss me). I almost wish I had spit in her face instead. It was really upsetting.
So luckily the other woman on Valencia let me move in on short notice and after I expressed my reluctance to go back to the agency (though didn´t tell her about the other lady) and pay the 2 months deposit, she said I could stay paying 1 month deposit or else pay her per day should I decide to go home this week. Had gone to visit her the other night before leaving and got to meet other people she was staying with. The daughter is high school age and was really friendly and the mother was a little aloof, looking at me kind of suspiciously but seemed ok. The daughter stayed up later than anyone, watching TV as she worked on her homework. Turns out she´s from Ecuador and has only been in Barcelona for 2 yrs.
Wandered by a few other apartments, 2 co-ed with heavy smokers which didn´t appeal, one which seemed a bit pricy for a small room, and one with a photographer who seemed really cool and showed me her work, but whose apt was on the 5th floor with no elevator.
Tuesday also looked through telescopes at Venus transit--didn´t realize until afterwards that it was such a rare event. Seemed pretty lame compared to solar eclipse--just a small mole on the Sun. Got filter glasses from friendly woman who turned out to be American, studying her astronomy PhD at UPC since she married some Catalan guy.
Wednesday was hoping to go to class but but caught up in packing and storing my stuff. Arrived in Vienna and got into town after some confusion about transportation (no tourism info!) so took tram around to see some of sites. Started raining pretty heavily. Across from cathedral found several people in full Aztec regalia with signs, drums, and Mexican flags. They were from different parts of Mexico and were taking a break from dancing because of rain but after a while started dancing in a circle again. Was tempted to join in, vaguely remembering the classes I took at Old Town.
So finally made it to train station, only to find that the line was not moving at all. Apparently each transaction took 5-10 minutes because the guy was answering tons of questions and then writing out the tickets by hand. Girl I was standing next to explained my situation to people at front of line who let me up since my train was about to leave but as it turns out it had left anyway at 20:01 instead of 20:22 since I had misread the schedule so I would have missed it anyway. So took off to find a hostel room, joining up with three Asian girls in backpacks who turned out to be from Korea. One girl was studying abroad in Brighton and the other two were just travelling.They were looking for Wombats, one of the hostels I had looked for, and we bumped into several people that were walking from there who pointed us in the right direction.
As it turns out, they decided not to stay there since there wasn´t space for the number of nights they wanted to stay. I had already paid for the night and was going to follow them but they left and I found them at the other hostel they said they were looking for since they had given me their guidebook.
Morning I set out at 6:22, first train of morning for Budapest to be on time for conference. Sat in compartment with Austrian woman who was going to Hungary to see the dentist. Apparently it´s a lot cheaper there despite the 2 hr train ride and there is a lot of dental tourism with busloads of Swiss coming over to get their teeth worked on.
On arrival to train station found tourism place which referred me to hostel which had been booked when I emailed them. Supposed discount turned out not to be discount since euro had gone down and prices were in forint and rooms were 12 compartments of 2 sets of bunk beds separated by curtains--made me feel a tad claustrophobic but surprisingly had no problem sleeping since lights out early. Shared section with one girl who had been studying abroad in Spain and another guy who said it was one of nicer hostels he had been to. Both extolling their brand of walking shoes (Charos?)
So got to conference a little late, but was at least settled into hostel, which might not have worked out had I gotten there late the night before. A little intimidating at first since I didn´t know anyone but there were plenty of coffee breaks and lunch to meet people. Hooked up with several other grad students for dinner. One Asian looking woman with a thick European accent turned out to be Norwegian, a Korean adoptee with 2 kids. Two women from Singapore, one of whom was studying for her PhD in Denmark and was joined by her Polish boyfriend. Found internet place for 170 forints an hour which was run by an Persian guy who was studying dentistry and insisted on showing me his pictures of Iran.
Friday more conference. Was a little bored walking around by myself afterwards so went back and found out I could go to speaker´s dinner after all. Sat with Hungarian girl who was translating since she was fluent in English and Norwegian as well as Hungarian. She had grown up in Norway but returned after fall of Communism. She was quite passionate in describing the history behind the regime, about how Hungary had been hurt during World War 2 and in the aftermath with the control by the Soviet Union. She pointed out some bleak looking block flats which had been built for people imported to the city from the country. She also pointed out some Roman ruins and talked proudly about how a few of the Roman emperors had been Hungarian or something. Got pretty good dinner after initial confusion as to what different options were. Got to talk to Rich Ling and James Katz, both of whom were really nice. Katz was showing off his program from the opera from the night before and introduced me to several other attendees.
Saturday off to slow start since speaker´s presentation was blah, something about industrial society and capitalism causing harm to environment but then the conference organizer got really excited during q & a and announced that the guy was not only 100% wrong but 180 degrees wrong, his logic was wrong and so on. Woke me up a little but still decided to wander over to parliament to get tour (very beautiful with gold, granite columns, cigar slots-- "worth a Cuban" if it burned out during long speech, tour with other American, 2 Spaniards and 2 Italians who had their own guide) and the ethnography museum (really cool with typical costumes and descriptions of life stages of Hungarians 200 yrs ago from birth to death). Came back for Katz´s talk on mobiles in educational settings, which made me a little skeptical since laptops and IMing is even more of a factor but that´s treated as a different research area.
Afterwards walked down, Opera House cancelled tours and no more performances for day. Further down found another place which looked a little like a nightclub with guards at front but turned out to be the House of Terror which was the headquarters for both the Nazis and the Communists(KGB equivalent) who brought people in there for interrogation and torture. Now it´s a museum--very moody with background music from Schindler´s List and other suspenseful/tragic/tense music throughout. Entry had Soviet tank and wall of pictures of people who died there and first room had black car with Soviet flag inside. A lot of history displayed review of what had learned night before from Hungarian girl but displays brought it to life with videos of shouting soldiers, a labrynth of plastic bricks and recreations of cells. The audio guide had ridiculously long descriptions which changed once you went into another room but luckily the scripts (usually 2-3 pages) were also available if you wanted to move on). Particularly effective was the elevator from the 3rd floor to the basement in a slow moving elevator during which you listened to a documentary of a former official describing the tortures to get you into the somber mood to look at the cells. Pictures of the victimizers showed that a lot of the people that worked here were still alive.
A little strange after that to go back into broad daylight but kept on walking until Hero´s Square. Art museum didn´t have exhibit going on so just looked at postcards which were from other museums. Got onto metro but was confused as to what ticket to get for transfer and was paranoid after reading and hearing stories about people getting nabbed with the wrong ticket and paying extra fines. Bumped into Katz´s companion from night before who tried to help but was finally able to buy from counter person who returned. Made it to Castle Hill in Buda but church had just closed and museums were closing. Still very nice views and a relaxing walk, down by funicular. Walked back to hostel to pick up stuff, guy talking about ballet at opera house and museum in Hero´s Square. Just enough time and money to check email and get dinner at BK before trekking back to train station. Email turned out to be wise since I nabbed last room at Wombat´s--glad that housing worked out since saw several people that weren´t so lucky.
Morning up early to go to airport. Flight ended up being delayed by more than 5 hrs but didn´t know in time to make it worth going out to city again to see more of Vienna. Worried, called Estrella to contact lady I was staying with since I was sure she was going to be mad. Was tired, at least got free meal and was able to window shop. Fun t-shirts that said "There are no kangaroos in Austria!" Bumped into Rich Ling who was late for his plane connection. Talked to ship engineer who was bound for Barcelona. Another half hr delay on landing since there were no stairs to get us off plane. Pouring down rain. Then the nightmare of having to find another place last minute. Oh well. Feel like I´m 2 steps away from having it together and succeeding but could just as easily trip and fall the way I´ve been doing since I´ve gotten here. Think it would be harder to get back into Ga Tech if I leave this summer though.
Other random notes
Clothes store on Virrarel with 2 for 6 euros sale had only 4 dressing rooms, none of which had mirrors except for one on outside and there were many women there waiting. Was trying something on and looking when an older woman pushed her way in saying there were supposed to be 2 to a dressing room and took off her shirt to try on her outfit. Thought this was odd and employee came by saying that there was only 1 to a dressing room allowed to my relief.
So my inhibitions about the lady I was staying with turned out correct and she asked me to move out. I got really nervous after she followed me around, critiquing everything, and after we were unsure whether to sign the contract or give it a trial period, I could then do no right. Was insane--calling people up again not even 2 days after moving my stuff in. Got in yesterday from airport since I had left my stuff packed and she started moving it out even though I was exhausted and it was late Sunday evening (had told the other woman that I would sign contract on Monday). Before leaving, she said she was going to charge me 2 days but then changed her mind and was saying she was going to charge me 4 at 18 euros a night which is what she said the agency woman told her to charge. She started going off about all the stuff she had done for me, washing my sheets, how she was losing a month´s rent (conveniently forgetting her role in this of course), how I had taken showers (1!) and talking about how noone else would have done what she did for me. I agreed with that part since I was stunned by her cruelty. She wouldn't even let me use her phone to call somewhere to find a place to stay. At the end she stood there with her cheek to me, for me to kiss her (though she didn´t kiss me). I almost wish I had spit in her face instead. It was really upsetting.
So luckily the other woman on Valencia let me move in on short notice and after I expressed my reluctance to go back to the agency (though didn´t tell her about the other lady) and pay the 2 months deposit, she said I could stay paying 1 month deposit or else pay her per day should I decide to go home this week. Had gone to visit her the other night before leaving and got to meet other people she was staying with. The daughter is high school age and was really friendly and the mother was a little aloof, looking at me kind of suspiciously but seemed ok. The daughter stayed up later than anyone, watching TV as she worked on her homework. Turns out she´s from Ecuador and has only been in Barcelona for 2 yrs.
Wandered by a few other apartments, 2 co-ed with heavy smokers which didn´t appeal, one which seemed a bit pricy for a small room, and one with a photographer who seemed really cool and showed me her work, but whose apt was on the 5th floor with no elevator.
Tuesday also looked through telescopes at Venus transit--didn´t realize until afterwards that it was such a rare event. Seemed pretty lame compared to solar eclipse--just a small mole on the Sun. Got filter glasses from friendly woman who turned out to be American, studying her astronomy PhD at UPC since she married some Catalan guy.
Wednesday was hoping to go to class but but caught up in packing and storing my stuff. Arrived in Vienna and got into town after some confusion about transportation (no tourism info!) so took tram around to see some of sites. Started raining pretty heavily. Across from cathedral found several people in full Aztec regalia with signs, drums, and Mexican flags. They were from different parts of Mexico and were taking a break from dancing because of rain but after a while started dancing in a circle again. Was tempted to join in, vaguely remembering the classes I took at Old Town.
So finally made it to train station, only to find that the line was not moving at all. Apparently each transaction took 5-10 minutes because the guy was answering tons of questions and then writing out the tickets by hand. Girl I was standing next to explained my situation to people at front of line who let me up since my train was about to leave but as it turns out it had left anyway at 20:01 instead of 20:22 since I had misread the schedule so I would have missed it anyway. So took off to find a hostel room, joining up with three Asian girls in backpacks who turned out to be from Korea. One girl was studying abroad in Brighton and the other two were just travelling.They were looking for Wombats, one of the hostels I had looked for, and we bumped into several people that were walking from there who pointed us in the right direction.
As it turns out, they decided not to stay there since there wasn´t space for the number of nights they wanted to stay. I had already paid for the night and was going to follow them but they left and I found them at the other hostel they said they were looking for since they had given me their guidebook.
Morning I set out at 6:22, first train of morning for Budapest to be on time for conference. Sat in compartment with Austrian woman who was going to Hungary to see the dentist. Apparently it´s a lot cheaper there despite the 2 hr train ride and there is a lot of dental tourism with busloads of Swiss coming over to get their teeth worked on.
On arrival to train station found tourism place which referred me to hostel which had been booked when I emailed them. Supposed discount turned out not to be discount since euro had gone down and prices were in forint and rooms were 12 compartments of 2 sets of bunk beds separated by curtains--made me feel a tad claustrophobic but surprisingly had no problem sleeping since lights out early. Shared section with one girl who had been studying abroad in Spain and another guy who said it was one of nicer hostels he had been to. Both extolling their brand of walking shoes (Charos?)
So got to conference a little late, but was at least settled into hostel, which might not have worked out had I gotten there late the night before. A little intimidating at first since I didn´t know anyone but there were plenty of coffee breaks and lunch to meet people. Hooked up with several other grad students for dinner. One Asian looking woman with a thick European accent turned out to be Norwegian, a Korean adoptee with 2 kids. Two women from Singapore, one of whom was studying for her PhD in Denmark and was joined by her Polish boyfriend. Found internet place for 170 forints an hour which was run by an Persian guy who was studying dentistry and insisted on showing me his pictures of Iran.
Friday more conference. Was a little bored walking around by myself afterwards so went back and found out I could go to speaker´s dinner after all. Sat with Hungarian girl who was translating since she was fluent in English and Norwegian as well as Hungarian. She had grown up in Norway but returned after fall of Communism. She was quite passionate in describing the history behind the regime, about how Hungary had been hurt during World War 2 and in the aftermath with the control by the Soviet Union. She pointed out some bleak looking block flats which had been built for people imported to the city from the country. She also pointed out some Roman ruins and talked proudly about how a few of the Roman emperors had been Hungarian or something. Got pretty good dinner after initial confusion as to what different options were. Got to talk to Rich Ling and James Katz, both of whom were really nice. Katz was showing off his program from the opera from the night before and introduced me to several other attendees.
Saturday off to slow start since speaker´s presentation was blah, something about industrial society and capitalism causing harm to environment but then the conference organizer got really excited during q & a and announced that the guy was not only 100% wrong but 180 degrees wrong, his logic was wrong and so on. Woke me up a little but still decided to wander over to parliament to get tour (very beautiful with gold, granite columns, cigar slots-- "worth a Cuban" if it burned out during long speech, tour with other American, 2 Spaniards and 2 Italians who had their own guide) and the ethnography museum (really cool with typical costumes and descriptions of life stages of Hungarians 200 yrs ago from birth to death). Came back for Katz´s talk on mobiles in educational settings, which made me a little skeptical since laptops and IMing is even more of a factor but that´s treated as a different research area.
Afterwards walked down, Opera House cancelled tours and no more performances for day. Further down found another place which looked a little like a nightclub with guards at front but turned out to be the House of Terror which was the headquarters for both the Nazis and the Communists(KGB equivalent) who brought people in there for interrogation and torture. Now it´s a museum--very moody with background music from Schindler´s List and other suspenseful/tragic/tense music throughout. Entry had Soviet tank and wall of pictures of people who died there and first room had black car with Soviet flag inside. A lot of history displayed review of what had learned night before from Hungarian girl but displays brought it to life with videos of shouting soldiers, a labrynth of plastic bricks and recreations of cells. The audio guide had ridiculously long descriptions which changed once you went into another room but luckily the scripts (usually 2-3 pages) were also available if you wanted to move on). Particularly effective was the elevator from the 3rd floor to the basement in a slow moving elevator during which you listened to a documentary of a former official describing the tortures to get you into the somber mood to look at the cells. Pictures of the victimizers showed that a lot of the people that worked here were still alive.
A little strange after that to go back into broad daylight but kept on walking until Hero´s Square. Art museum didn´t have exhibit going on so just looked at postcards which were from other museums. Got onto metro but was confused as to what ticket to get for transfer and was paranoid after reading and hearing stories about people getting nabbed with the wrong ticket and paying extra fines. Bumped into Katz´s companion from night before who tried to help but was finally able to buy from counter person who returned. Made it to Castle Hill in Buda but church had just closed and museums were closing. Still very nice views and a relaxing walk, down by funicular. Walked back to hostel to pick up stuff, guy talking about ballet at opera house and museum in Hero´s Square. Just enough time and money to check email and get dinner at BK before trekking back to train station. Email turned out to be wise since I nabbed last room at Wombat´s--glad that housing worked out since saw several people that weren´t so lucky.
Morning up early to go to airport. Flight ended up being delayed by more than 5 hrs but didn´t know in time to make it worth going out to city again to see more of Vienna. Worried, called Estrella to contact lady I was staying with since I was sure she was going to be mad. Was tired, at least got free meal and was able to window shop. Fun t-shirts that said "There are no kangaroos in Austria!" Bumped into Rich Ling who was late for his plane connection. Talked to ship engineer who was bound for Barcelona. Another half hr delay on landing since there were no stairs to get us off plane. Pouring down rain. Then the nightmare of having to find another place last minute. Oh well. Feel like I´m 2 steps away from having it together and succeeding but could just as easily trip and fall the way I´ve been doing since I´ve gotten here. Think it would be harder to get back into Ga Tech if I leave this summer though.
Other random notes
Clothes store on Virrarel with 2 for 6 euros sale had only 4 dressing rooms, none of which had mirrors except for one on outside and there were many women there waiting. Was trying something on and looking when an older woman pushed her way in saying there were supposed to be 2 to a dressing room and took off her shirt to try on her outfit. Thought this was odd and employee came by saying that there was only 1 to a dressing room allowed to my relief.
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