The glass is definitely half empty

This week is the halfway point of BSM and my European travels so I thought I'd take a break from studying for midterms and make lists of things that I miss from home, things I don't miss from home, and things I'm going to miss when I leave here.

Missed from the States:            Not missed:                                 Going to miss:
Mexican food                            expensive gluten free food              tehéntúrós
my Stephen King novels            elevators                                       túró rudi
a dryer                                     the stress of having to get all As     new friends
Java City                                  my cellphone                                traveling to a different
Jubilee (my puppy)                                                                       country for the weekend
tutoring Calc 2
Longwood
a library with DVDs
my people

These days have definitely gone by really fast. Now it's midterms, but soon it will be spring break, and then finals, and then time to leave. Jeez. Life happens so quickly.

What's in Iowa?

So, I applied to 9 REUs/summer programs for this summer. I got a "yes" from 4 of them before I decided on Iowa. So, I'm going to be spending 8 weeks this summer at Iowa State in Ames doing math research on "Matrices on Banach Spaces." I'm really excited! The only bummer is that I'm not really going to get a break this year. I get back to the States on May 31st and I have to be in Ames on June 4th. It's like I'm going to get home, get rid of my winter clothes, pack my summer clothes, and then leave again. I think I will soon discover if there is such a thing as "too much math."

Prague 02/25-02/28

I went to Prague last weekend. A bunch of friends from BSM and I got on a bus at 4 on Friday afternoon, had a pit stop in Bratislava, and arrived in Prague around 11:30 Friday night. Since it was so late, we just went out to eat and then went to our hostel. I've never stayed in a hostel before, so I don't really know what's good and what's not, but I enjoyed ours. After all, I wasn't sold to some rich psycho for them to torture and murder like in those movies. So, I'd say things went pretty well. Plus, I got free breakfast.

On Saturday, we went on a free tour of Prague. We got to see a ton of really gorgeous architecture and we heard some of the history of Prague too. It was amazing. Some of the highlights included: Prague Astronomical Clock, Prague Metronome, Charles Bridge, and Prague Castle (largest castle in the world).

On Sunday, for the first part of the day, we went to the Jewish quarter and explored a bunch of their museums, cemeteries, and synagogues. The second half of the day was spent exploring a new part of Prague on our own. We found a really beautiful area that overlooks the city. We also found a playground and spent a good chunk of time there.

Our bus left at 11:30 on Sunday night and we got back to Budapest around 6 in the morning. Some people had class at 8 and were a little rushed. Luckily for me, I had no classes so I got to come home and sleep. Prague was a ton of fun.