Gent - |Brugge update

just got to Brugge. Gent was awesome. just lovely and amazing. not tiem to discuss will tell later. having hell trying to find a place to stay in brussels. ugh. so i may try the couch surfing thing so that i dont have to go all the way back to gent for the one night before i go to paris, cuz that would stink waaay majorly. and i has no grammer today my mind is fried from travelling. oh and maybe its fried from all the beer, jenever, and frites im having. yum yum

Germany Update

Currently in Cologne, Germany visiting Karen, a lovely Aussie chica I met in Barcelona. Took a train to Dusseldorf today - quaint little town next to teh Rhine, north of Cologne. The food and the Alt Beir were amazing! Pork sausage and potato salad - holie molie good stuff. Too bad there wasnt much to do in Dusseldorf, but it was very scenic and quite a nice day. Tomorrow I will explore Cologne and sample many kinds of the local brew, Kolsch. And hopefully find me a nice bottle of reisling! oh and Germany is just a really pretty country too. Kinda odd though it feels like the most "American" out of all Europe so far. Just based off the way the people dress and behave in public and such. But still very european which is nice too.

oh and the Dutch are really not nice people during a soccer match, esp when they lose. I'll be here in Germany for tomorrows game vs Turkey, I really hope they win or i might be a little afraid of riots. Plus, I do so like Germany way better more than Turkey. Except for the eternally confusing rail system here - the Dutch really have everyone beat on that! In Holland its cheaper and easier to navigate and they still manage to be on time and have nice and clean trains.

Leaving for Brussels on thursday. having a bit of trouble with train tickets there and hostel reservations, so keep your fingers crossed it gets worked out. Yeah so not planning everything in advance may have freedom but its also a huge hassle. all the hostels are booked up and its such an aggravation to figure this out on the fly. just in case you were wondering..... although, this random trip to germany and not really being "stuck" anywhere is awesome too. so, everything has plus and minus to it.

Hup Holland!

ok so this whole trip is just one big rollercoaster ride i swear. im feeling much better about Holland now. im all decked out in my orange and blue holland shirt for the big Euro football match tonight. quarter finals holland vs. russia. Hup Holland!!!! going to a pub with some canadian kids i met, should be rediculous. and awesome. being in holland for this match is just going ot be nuts.
yeah so i love Utrecht. i can def see myself here for 3 or 4 years. its so cozy and the canals are beautiful. and the houseboat coffeeshop (place to buy weed) was pretty chill too (i was just looking honestly. but if i was going to buy, it would be from there). And Hema! what a store. its like if Ikea and Target hooked up, got preggers, and had a baby. That baby would be Hema. Just love it. was able to buy some things ive either forgotten or ran out of on the cheap. the hostel here is a bit sketch, but at least most of the people ive met have been really nice. except for creepy spanish dude i my room that decided to sleep above me even though there were empty bunks. yeah....

Also excited to be making a random foray into Germany. Met some nice Aussie and Americans who are interning in Cologne (Koln) and invited me to stay with them. so i am.

holland update

in Utrecht right now. still not doingso well on these european keyboards.i cant get half the punctuation marks i want. im alive, so far. amsterdam is nuts just nuts. wish i could have been there with friends, it would have been a lot more fun. so when\if i move to holland, people need to come and visit and we will go up to amsterdam.
utrecht is a very lovely town. canals and water everywhere. its like northhampton, only older,and, prettier,and beter. def a college town.just very dutch and lovely. but the hostel im in is a bit sketch. the showers are kinda outside since the building is kinda falling apart.... good thing ive been camping. its like showering in an outhouse. but there are more females here now so i feel a bit better. whenifirst got here it was full of geeky, hippie, smelly, gamer dudes. looks like a place for transients. hoping my stuff is ok up in the creeky room.imsure im just beingparanoid. ah well at least allthe food is free. which i think is why people rate it so high on hostelworld. ah well.
holland is quite lovely though, its def possible i think to live here for 3 years.

also going back and forth with a bit of homesickness. it was really intense after the celtics won and i couldnt watch the game....feeling like im missing out on so much while im gone. feeling like this is the most important summer for me to be in boston and im not there. its my last summer, i should be HOME in BOSTON. wtf am i doing over here [questionmark] i should be looking for apartments in baltimore and enjoying the last bits of my favourite city. instead im spending gobs of money, eating poorly, and cursing trains and planes. i miss my friends, travelling is lonely. i really need to shut the fu$k up and enjoy my vacation, i know.

Barcelona update

well here i am! barcelona is absolutely magnificent. just beautiful.

first hostel, centric point, was great but they didnt have rooms over the weekend. met some awesome people, drank some san miguel at their bar, caught a cold from some sick people in my room.... typical hostel stuff.
im now at Barcelona Mar for the weekend and def not staying here ever again or for my last days. altho the hostel itself is nice and clean and free lockers good showers and such its a really dangerous area. prostitutes everywhere and a girl in my room was attacked and nearly mugged the other night. so i quickly made some friends and try to not travel alone. but they are leaving so i am going back to centric point after tonight.

tuesday i fly to amsterdam to stay at the flying pig hostel which i hear is the place to be. sweet.

hoping to get to the beach here before i leave but def not going alone. too much hassle.

hope everyone is well and maybe soon ill post some pictures!

London update

On international flights: i had no idea they fed you! and gave free wine! and this nlittle packet of socks, toothbrush and paste, and eye patch. quite brilliant! they served dinner and breakfast. too bad i didnt know about the wine and took a sleeping pill but it turned out allright as i just passed right out and had a nice nap after the wine. really was quite pleased with British Air.

On hostels: quite dissapointed that the web site was not updated and there was in fact, no bar. but the people were splendid (except for the crazy welsh organic farmer old lady who used to live on the streets as a drugged whore who wanted to talk to ppl all night), shower was actually great, and so far so good. though ive heard quite the horror stories about paris....

on London: really love it. the beer is fabulous, food not bad so far. and the palace! magnificent. Big ben and Westminster! lovely! ok, time to e off now, sorry no pictures today. hoping to get to the Tate today. The National Gallery was wonderful (Divinci!).
cheers friends

dash of this

dash of that. basically lets go over everything that's happened whilst i've been gone from blogging. i've been so busy!
ready to recap? set? go!
Made the decision to attend Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the fall and get a 1 yr masters in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Accepted Debby's offer to get my PhD in her lab at the University of Utrecht (Holland) after my masters.
Lots of Europe trip planning.
My super awesome birthday. Anne and Erik came up for that - we went to the Sam Adams brewery and started the day off right with free beer after the tour. Then we ate too much yummy food. Climbed a mountain (well ok, Summit Ave). Went candlepin bowling at the Milky Way Lounge with lots of wonderful people. Oh and, holy crap! - I'm now closer to 30 than 20. Feeling old.

Finished first sock and started second (of the pair).
Totally effed up my sisters mittens (They've been a 2 yr wip, ugh) and stopped knitting out of frustration.

Submitted an abstract for the New England TB Retreat and was asked to give a talk too. (stunned that they asked me, a lowly technician, to give a talk but honored. And scared. And where am I going to get the time to prep for a talk too!??). Hired and started training my replacement at work.

Went to the Webs tent sale with the lovely ladies Danielle, Alexis, and Catherine. Money was spent. Projects were planned. Northampton was beautiful and a great day was had by all. Revived my desire to knit crazy new things.

And now for the pictures!

Here's the first sock when it was almost done. I have a huge calf, I know. Its meaty. -Ew - what a word.














Here's some beautiful STR color Mossay that Ariel was kind enough to obtain for me while she was at Sock Camp.

And the stash it grows in the night!












Here is the yarn i ended up with from Webs. One of these days I Will buy yarn for a sweater. Maybe.
We have here a huge cone (for only $3!) of super soft cotton - probably for a blanket and pillow cover its so nice. And another cone - mercerized cotton. Probably going to see if this works for a shawl.
Then we have the Hempathy for The Bag (linking to Grumperina's Bag photoshop explanation).





Super excited that I was able to find the liner material for the Bag as well! I'm stoked to start this project but I think it's going to have to wait until after Europe.















Here is my fabric haul. Goodness me I got a little carried away. In my defense, this is my first major fabric purchase since I was, oh, 16. Most of them are fat quarters destined for knit bags or to line knitted items. Except for the black and white floral pattern at the bottom.
I fell in love with that fabric and immediately SAW the skirt in my head. so I bought it. Problem is, I dont have a sewing machine and dont really know how to sew. But it WILL happen. It must. Inspiration struck. Its going to be a rockabilly style skirt with a black sash around the waist (tying in a bow at the back) and white and black ruffled petticoats peeking out from the bottom. Anyone have a sewing pattern for this type of skirt? Or know where I could get one? Help please!

Well, now I must be off for bed. Tomorrow starts the longest 2 weeks of my life. Sigh. Way too much to do and not enough time to do it.

WIP thursday

Well I was ultra busy yesterday so I missed out on WIP Weds but I figured I'd post today instead.

As some of you know, I have yet to complete knitting a pair of socks. This is somewhat of an annoyance to my knitting friends who would like ever so much to share in this (apparent) joy with me. I tried once to knit a sock and it didnt go very well (first time with lace, first time with small needles) so I lost interest. But I promised to at least give it a try. So here I am. I'm using Lyon Brand magic stripes yarn (using the stash!) and a pattern I got in my sock knitting kit for my birthday last year something like Beginners socks on a handout from Knitting Pure and Simple. I did a gauge swatch, but it didnt do much good. I have a tendency to cast on very tight, so I CO holding two needles together. I CO the number of stitches the pattern suggested for women's socks, but after about 2 inches into it I could tell they were socks for a bear. Frog frog frog (after looking at my gauge). Start over. Even though I CO the amount of sts my gauge suggested, here I am at about 4 inches in and they still looked like man socks. I decreased 6 sts. Still look like man socks. I am NOT frogging. If they end up man socks then I'll give them to a man.


Here IT is in all its glory.












I hate socks. And I've barely begun one. I dont see how this is supposed to be FUN. Cuz its not.

Oh and I was wait-listed at Drexel in case you are wondering. So cross your fingers I get accepted into the "back-up plan" masters program at Johns Hopkins. Otherwise I'm going to have no career options and no where to go and I'll be insanely depressed. Life sucks.
At least the weather is nice out now. And M passed his nursing boards (I knew he would!). Though it seems our lives are heading in opposite directions so were not sure what "we" are or what we want to be. But at least its fun whatever it is.