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From: "Zachary Foreman"
I just finished a pineapple-kiwi ice cream cone, and it was good. IT only costs about 34 cents, but it felt a little strange eating it while it was snowing. This is the first time it has snowed in at least 2 weeks, so now we will have white covering brown. Last night, I saw Die Zaeuberflaute (the Magic Flute) by Mozart. It was pretty good. I paid for balcony seats, second row ($4) and during the final scene, the chair broke. People looked at me (but it was dark) and then I discretely moved to the next chair. I guess you get what you pay for (and the soprano hit an off note or two and some of the smaller parts were sketchy, but not a bad evening)After the opera, I went where everyone goes: McDonalds. In my defense, it is on the way back home and is the only place that I knew would still be open (and most importantly) has free bathrooms (I didn't want to wait a half-hour at the opera). At McDonalds, I met the new students from Lewis & Clark, in Portland, Ore. They had also come back from the opera. (incidentally, I was supposed to have gone tonight but got the day wrong (I got a seat by my friends but they forgot to tell me the day)). The L&C students seem to be pretty cool. I took them downstairs to see the cellars of McDonald's (I think it's the best McD's in the world, really) Then I ran back to my home, (Piast) because it was too cold to walk, too late for a tram and I'm too cheap for a taxi. I made pretty good time and rested in the newly renovated Piast bar. They closed it for about a month and a half and now it is... well, different. There are a bunch of mirrors in various quadratic shapes on a kind of cork-looking wall (the top of the wall is lime green). Then there is the lighting. There are scores of tiny spotlights all over the ceiling, and the lights are reflecting in the multitudes of mirrors. So, at least it's now easy to read there but some people don't like the idea of brightly lit pubs. I've been translating a Donald Duck comic from Latvian to English and it pretty much makes sense. I hope to have it corrected when I go back in a few weeks. I will tell you about my stay in Latvia, as well as my trip around Eastern Europe with my parents and Zareen in the next issue. I'll just talk about the last two weeks here. IT's been pretty mellow. I have been procrastinating on this paper, which I will finish today, for two weeks. It keeps on growing and changing. I think it will eventually become my senior honors thesis in IR. (if you care, It's on the future security architecture of Europe, especially concerning Eastern Europe). I've bought some things (tapes: the cranberries (no need to argue), Legends (bob marley & the wailers), books (Russian stories, bladerunner (do androids dream of electric sheep), German verbs and grammar, In Europe's Name (by Timothy Garton Ash, about postwar German foreign policy (real exciting)) My roommate finally has an internship. In fact, he has to catch the tram at around 6:30 every morning. He is interning at Bahlsen SA in the biscuit marketing department (they are a cookie factory). Yes, I do make fun of him for interning at a cookie factory. Also, no one there speaks English or German and he doesn't speak polish, so it is difficult. Quote "It would be really interesting if I knew what they were saying." Pieter came back from Belgium, feeling better. He had left early because the doctors diagnosed him with appendicitis (he flew back to Belgium). There, they observed him for four days and prescribed some antibiotics because they decided he had some gastrointestinal infections. (watch out for that food!) But he's feeling better (even though he has months of work to catch up on.)All of the HWS students left (but one) and all of the Irish left (but one). I'm starting to feel lonely. (but I got a lot of good Christmas mail)I guess two final bits of news. I passed the foreign service exam. This was unexpected (only 3000 pass). I will be taking the second (oral assessment) part on May 23rd (one day after my birthday). I'm pretty excited, even though I don't really _want_ to pass. I talked to the consul here in Krakow for about an hour and he helped me out a lot, giving me advice about interview answers, tax avoidance, and what to study. He was pretty cool. And, Model UN. I thought I left that behind in high school but it looks to return with a vengeance. There is a World MUN conference in Budapest on April 2-5, sponsored by Harvard. I think that I might be going with the Stanford contingent. And I think that SCEES will be sending it's own group. It should be really cool, meeting delegates from all over the world and discussing resolutions and world affairs. Best of all, it should be paid for by fundraising and donations at Stanford!! So I will be in America for about a month and then go back to my beloved Central Europe for a few days. Well, that's about it. Write me, if you can, I always love getting messages! You can ask questions, comment, attack, commiserate, empathize, complain, or best of all, gossip. I want to know what's going on with all of you! Ciao, Cheers, Later, paka, do sobaczenia, Zach @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Maybe, I don't really want to know how your garden grows 'cause I just
wanna fly. Lately, did you ever feel the pain, in the morning rain, as
it soaks you to the bone? Maybe I just want to fly, want to live or don't
want to die. Maybe I just want to breathe, Maybe I just don't believe.
Maybe your the same as me, we see things they'll never see. You and I are
gonna live forever, gonna live forever..." -Oasis, "Definitely Maybe" |