40
The number of hours I spent this week on Professor H's research assignment, at least.
6
The number of hours I slept last night and the night before, each.
102
My current weight, in pound, after not sleeping and barely eating for a week. Time to have some protein shakes.
1
The number of drinks I had at S and AC's joint birthday party in B-Town, which was nonetheless sufficient to give me a headache the next day; the number of glasses of wine I plan to have this afternoon at the sports bar, where I'll be watching some football games with Boyfriend.
7, 15, 12
The number of interviews I will have next week, the number of interviews I've had, and the number of callbacks I got so far.
140
The number of pages I have to read for comparative con law before I catch up. (This is truly absurd... and will never happen.)
11
Time I plan on going to bed tonight, hopefully.
10/08/2006
10/06/2006
Callback / Procrastination
Interviewed with a top 5 firm today, and really connected with my interviewer, who is a smart, thoughful, and intellectual man who graduated from both of my alma maters, only in reverse.
He is only 51 but has had a very impressive career, working as a highly successful federal prosecutor for several years, winning some high-profiled trials, and then leaving the government and going to the firm to start his own practice group.
For some reason, from the very beginning, we just really clicked, and I felt enogh confidence to speak very frankly about my thoughts on law firms and my career and my uncertainties, and also asked him about his career and life choices, which were truly amazing, by the way.
I got the callback tonight, by phone. As far as I can tell, no one else has gotten a callback yet. A lot of people have interviewed for that firm -- the hotel at which these interviews are held were just mobbed today, and about 15 people or so hung out around the hospitality suite constantly at any given time, trying to schmooze with the lawyers. I usually hate these scenes, and left as quickly as I could after the interview, thinking about the conversation I had, and how cool it would be if I worked for his practice group.
I have not been considering his firm seriously before, but after meeting him, I am going to give it some serious thought.
So it's 1:26 am, and I'm still working on writing this paragraph and footnote for Prof. H's paper. I'm exhausted and really should be asleep by now, but wasted a lot of time earlier this evening, so now I'm paying the price in sleep!
:D The many ego boosts of OCI. Yes, I know it's idiotic, but I'm not above it. I can totally see, however, that this is how they begin to draw you in...
:( too little sleep, and way too much work.
He is only 51 but has had a very impressive career, working as a highly successful federal prosecutor for several years, winning some high-profiled trials, and then leaving the government and going to the firm to start his own practice group.
For some reason, from the very beginning, we just really clicked, and I felt enogh confidence to speak very frankly about my thoughts on law firms and my career and my uncertainties, and also asked him about his career and life choices, which were truly amazing, by the way.
I got the callback tonight, by phone. As far as I can tell, no one else has gotten a callback yet. A lot of people have interviewed for that firm -- the hotel at which these interviews are held were just mobbed today, and about 15 people or so hung out around the hospitality suite constantly at any given time, trying to schmooze with the lawyers. I usually hate these scenes, and left as quickly as I could after the interview, thinking about the conversation I had, and how cool it would be if I worked for his practice group.
I have not been considering his firm seriously before, but after meeting him, I am going to give it some serious thought.
So it's 1:26 am, and I'm still working on writing this paragraph and footnote for Prof. H's paper. I'm exhausted and really should be asleep by now, but wasted a lot of time earlier this evening, so now I'm paying the price in sleep!
:D The many ego boosts of OCI. Yes, I know it's idiotic, but I'm not above it. I can totally see, however, that this is how they begin to draw you in...
:( too little sleep, and way too much work.
10/05/2006
Taking My Stand
I got a haircut today from a very bitchy hair stylist. Boy was he bitchy. I think all hair stylists worship VOLUME, and therefore get extremely offended when you refuse to cut your hair to increase VOLUME! I told him that I kinda like the long-haired Asian girl look. He didn't even crack a smile.
Ah well. I got the haircut I wanted, even though the 25 mintues it took him to do it was excruciating. At least my hair now looks good - long, layered, and super-smooth!
Ah well. I got the haircut I wanted, even though the 25 mintues it took him to do it was excruciating. At least my hair now looks good - long, layered, and super-smooth!
10/04/2006
So-So Day
I missed both of my morning classes today. :( I'm not proud of it, but decided that I cannot pull off another day with only 3-4 hours of sleep. So I slept an astounding 7.5 hours today, and feel pretty refreshed.
However, my reaction paper this week for the political economy workshop -- which was due this afternoon at 4, was not very good, and I am a little upset about that. I thought I had a reasonably good topic, but 3 hours before the deadline, I reviewed the paper that we were supposed to react to, and realized that the topic had already been discussed in the paper, THOROUGHLY. So... I had to scratch much of what I had already written (charts and all!) and tried to bulk up the parts of the reaction paper that could be salvaged... which was not a lot.
Had dinner with ABS at C-House tonight and griped about work, then read in his room for a while. Came back and began reading and preparing for the meeting with Professor M about my pet topic: law and narratives (storytelling). Because of all the RAing and the independent reading, I am now reading more law review articles than ever before. I wish I had started on this earlier, because it is so helpful in giving me research and writing ideas and just in general getting an idea of what legal scholarship is all about.
In other news, I got another callback which will probably fund a nice trip to Chicago during flyout week! This makes it 8 out of 10. Yay.
I should probably go to sleep soon though. Tomorrow, with interviews, 2 classes, and independent reading, will be a LONG day.
However, my reaction paper this week for the political economy workshop -- which was due this afternoon at 4, was not very good, and I am a little upset about that. I thought I had a reasonably good topic, but 3 hours before the deadline, I reviewed the paper that we were supposed to react to, and realized that the topic had already been discussed in the paper, THOROUGHLY. So... I had to scratch much of what I had already written (charts and all!) and tried to bulk up the parts of the reaction paper that could be salvaged... which was not a lot.
Had dinner with ABS at C-House tonight and griped about work, then read in his room for a while. Came back and began reading and preparing for the meeting with Professor M about my pet topic: law and narratives (storytelling). Because of all the RAing and the independent reading, I am now reading more law review articles than ever before. I wish I had started on this earlier, because it is so helpful in giving me research and writing ideas and just in general getting an idea of what legal scholarship is all about.
In other news, I got another callback which will probably fund a nice trip to Chicago during flyout week! This makes it 8 out of 10. Yay.
I should probably go to sleep soon though. Tomorrow, with interviews, 2 classes, and independent reading, will be a LONG day.
10/02/2006
4 more callbacks
My voicemail was loaded with messages today. The London office of a top 30 firm, which i thought did not like me at all, called me back. A top 10 firm and a top 15 firm, both of which I thought I had lackluster interviews with (at least from my perspective), also decided to invite me back. The NY office of the the top 20 firm, for which I already got a callback, also decided to invite me to the DC office.
In the ultimate analysis, I think what must be true is that the firm's standards just aren't that high. They need warm bodies to slave away. Anyone who goes to a top school who is not crazy can probably do it. They are not picky.
So, now I'm a bit overwhelmed and thinking about cutting back on interviews large-scale next week. Probably will delete everything from my list that's not top 7. This should pare down my schedule for a bit
In other news, I'M SO BUSY! Doing more work for Professor H. It's interesting, to the point where it's worth it to sacrifice sleep. Boyfriend is worried, though.
In the ultimate analysis, I think what must be true is that the firm's standards just aren't that high. They need warm bodies to slave away. Anyone who goes to a top school who is not crazy can probably do it. They are not picky.
So, now I'm a bit overwhelmed and thinking about cutting back on interviews large-scale next week. Probably will delete everything from my list that's not top 7. This should pare down my schedule for a bit
In other news, I'M SO BUSY! Doing more work for Professor H. It's interesting, to the point where it's worth it to sacrifice sleep. Boyfriend is worried, though.
10/01/2006
Reflections on OCI, week 1
So... so far I have 3 callbacks, one from a major DC firm's New York office, two from a major NY firm's DC and NY offices. This is 3 callbacks out of the 10 interviews I had last week. How does my ratio stack up against the others? I have no idea.
On our career services website, they say that the typical student accepts 5-7 interviews. This means I need another 3-5 interviews, especially given that I am not sure about the DC firm's New York office. The woman who interviewed me, while very nice, also looked listless and exhausted, which I'm not sure bode well for the overall experience at the firm. But, we'll see.
Overall, I have been singularly unimpressed by the interviewer I have met so far. A few seem like the prototypical law firm jerks: male, white, jock-ish, arrogant. The 2 London offices interviewers seemed utterly distant and uninterested and even vaguely hostile, but that could just be a cultural thing. On the whole, the women interviewers were a lot better, usually warm and friendly, though the younger associate interviewers are almost suspiciously perky. The male partners tended to be older, and more serious, and more formal, and ask a lot harder questions.
What do I think of the whole process? It's not hard, not stressful, especially given that everyone going into it knows that he or she will get a job, and it's just a matter of "which one?" On the other hand, it IS mindnumbing, and time-consuming, and boring. Just the daily trek back and forth from the law school and the downtown hotel where the firms all do their interviews takes 15 minutes each one, so if you have 3 interviews scheduled at different times during the day, that's 1.5 hours walking!
On the way to and from the hotel, we meet other absurdly well-dressed classmates carrying leather portfolios, and give each other a knowing smile. The other students and townspeople must think that we are exceedingly weird, or they are used to the yearly ritual. Some of the hotel guests look bewildered at the number of suited students on each floor, standing right outside of room doors, perusing firm literature or reviewing their resumes. To outsiders, it must be a very comical sight.
----------------------
In other news... lots of work this weekend, as usual. Editing Professor JH's manuscript and looking up cites for him took up most of today, pushing my comparative con law reading completely out of sight. Tonight, Boyfriend, who is in town, and I met up with ABS and his boyfriend C, who is also in town visiting from Chicago. We had Indian food, which was lovely, and then spend 2 hours chatting in this nice little dessert place with yet another couple, JJ and his girlfriend M (visiting from Michigan). All the out of town significant others bonded and had a great time chatting. I arrived home shortly before midnight and still need to put in 1-2 hours of solid work!
On our career services website, they say that the typical student accepts 5-7 interviews. This means I need another 3-5 interviews, especially given that I am not sure about the DC firm's New York office. The woman who interviewed me, while very nice, also looked listless and exhausted, which I'm not sure bode well for the overall experience at the firm. But, we'll see.
Overall, I have been singularly unimpressed by the interviewer I have met so far. A few seem like the prototypical law firm jerks: male, white, jock-ish, arrogant. The 2 London offices interviewers seemed utterly distant and uninterested and even vaguely hostile, but that could just be a cultural thing. On the whole, the women interviewers were a lot better, usually warm and friendly, though the younger associate interviewers are almost suspiciously perky. The male partners tended to be older, and more serious, and more formal, and ask a lot harder questions.
What do I think of the whole process? It's not hard, not stressful, especially given that everyone going into it knows that he or she will get a job, and it's just a matter of "which one?" On the other hand, it IS mindnumbing, and time-consuming, and boring. Just the daily trek back and forth from the law school and the downtown hotel where the firms all do their interviews takes 15 minutes each one, so if you have 3 interviews scheduled at different times during the day, that's 1.5 hours walking!
On the way to and from the hotel, we meet other absurdly well-dressed classmates carrying leather portfolios, and give each other a knowing smile. The other students and townspeople must think that we are exceedingly weird, or they are used to the yearly ritual. Some of the hotel guests look bewildered at the number of suited students on each floor, standing right outside of room doors, perusing firm literature or reviewing their resumes. To outsiders, it must be a very comical sight.
----------------------
In other news... lots of work this weekend, as usual. Editing Professor JH's manuscript and looking up cites for him took up most of today, pushing my comparative con law reading completely out of sight. Tonight, Boyfriend, who is in town, and I met up with ABS and his boyfriend C, who is also in town visiting from Chicago. We had Indian food, which was lovely, and then spend 2 hours chatting in this nice little dessert place with yet another couple, JJ and his girlfriend M (visiting from Michigan). All the out of town significant others bonded and had a great time chatting. I arrived home shortly before midnight and still need to put in 1-2 hours of solid work!
9/27/2006
First Call-Back!
Firms certainly act quickly. I got my first call-back today, from a large top 10 firm that I interviewed with yesterday. I had two very good interviews with two different branches, one with a young perky middle-eastern associate, and another one with an older, more formal, white partner. Both were nice and friendly and seemed to like me. I liked them a lot too, and was hoping that they would call me back. Yay!
Thus far, I have had interviews with six firms in total, and this is the only one that has called me back. I wonder whether other people's ratios are better. One of the advantages of having 28 interviews, of course, is that it's really hard to care about any one of them. Quite a few of my interviewers also seem to have deficient (to say the least) personalities. One of the interviews today never smiled once. He was distant and cold and utterly uninterested, which makes the line "our firm is not as stiff and starchy as the other firms" (delivered in a monotone) really not that believable.
But, the first call-back! Hopefually there are a lot more coming...
Thus far, I have had interviews with six firms in total, and this is the only one that has called me back. I wonder whether other people's ratios are better. One of the advantages of having 28 interviews, of course, is that it's really hard to care about any one of them. Quite a few of my interviewers also seem to have deficient (to say the least) personalities. One of the interviews today never smiled once. He was distant and cold and utterly uninterested, which makes the line "our firm is not as stiff and starchy as the other firms" (delivered in a monotone) really not that believable.
But, the first call-back! Hopefually there are a lot more coming...
9/26/2006
Three Hours of Sleep
What I did today on 3 hours of sleep..
- went to all 3 classes, including the 8:45 comparative con law, and made comments in two.
- wrote a 2-page reaction paper for health care law workshop, arguing, in all seriousness, that even if a legal system is neither accurate nor efficient, it might still need no reform.
- finished 20 pages of reading for local government law.
- went to two firm interviews, and did okay at them.
- only had one meal.
- accepted one research assistantship.
- researched in the library for Professor KM for an hour.
Now I am home, it's 9, and I'm ready to go to bed!
- went to all 3 classes, including the 8:45 comparative con law, and made comments in two.
- wrote a 2-page reaction paper for health care law workshop, arguing, in all seriousness, that even if a legal system is neither accurate nor efficient, it might still need no reform.
- finished 20 pages of reading for local government law.
- went to two firm interviews, and did okay at them.
- only had one meal.
- accepted one research assistantship.
- researched in the library for Professor KM for an hour.
Now I am home, it's 9, and I'm ready to go to bed!
9/24/2006
Thoughts for Myself
Things always look different when I take an ambien. The sleepiness always takes a bit of time to set in, which is fine. But before you become sleepy, you notice other things changing too. For instance, when I look into the mirror, I think I see a slightly different me. The difference is hard to put my finger on, but it has something to do with the strange skin tone - I see to look much darker than I'm used to. My expressions are different too. Usually I'm more alert, but now I am droopy. Certain parts of my face seems to have subtly changed proportions so that the resulting face is still like my original one but just slightly off. I can't explain it, and I'm sure when I sleep it off it will be gone.
After all, I took the ambien to sleep. Sleep has been a rare thing for the past few days. Friday night, when parents came, we chatted, drank, ate, and watched photo slideshows from my Scandinavian trip until after 3. The next morning I got up before 9 (sleeping on the floor really wasn't that comfortable anyway). After they left, I tried to do work, went to the gym, had dinner with ABS and RH and JJ and S in H Square at a great little sushi place. Then went back to ABS's apartment, read some con law, and played his game for the next FIVE hours! I tried researching some firms while he's doing it, but it was hard. Anyway, I didn't come home until 5 AM, but still managed to get up around 11:30.
Did not step out of the apartment today. I read for con law, read for comparative con law, read for my research for Prof.M, then drafted a letter of resigniation for one of the student activities that I took on. Really am not going to have enough time.
Tomorrow is the first week of on campus interview. I'm not really ready, but I will be intereviewing with 4 firms. Yikes. Here I come...
After all, I took the ambien to sleep. Sleep has been a rare thing for the past few days. Friday night, when parents came, we chatted, drank, ate, and watched photo slideshows from my Scandinavian trip until after 3. The next morning I got up before 9 (sleeping on the floor really wasn't that comfortable anyway). After they left, I tried to do work, went to the gym, had dinner with ABS and RH and JJ and S in H Square at a great little sushi place. Then went back to ABS's apartment, read some con law, and played his game for the next FIVE hours! I tried researching some firms while he's doing it, but it was hard. Anyway, I didn't come home until 5 AM, but still managed to get up around 11:30.
Did not step out of the apartment today. I read for con law, read for comparative con law, read for my research for Prof.M, then drafted a letter of resigniation for one of the student activities that I took on. Really am not going to have enough time.
Tomorrow is the first week of on campus interview. I'm not really ready, but I will be intereviewing with 4 firms. Yikes. Here I come...
9/19/2006
Hellish Day
Today was exhausting. Who said that 2L would be easier? It's not. While the classes are not harder, you are about 100X busier, and this stuff piles on right from the start, so you don't have any breathing room at all.
First of all, I hardly slept. Last night I went to sleep at 3 am because of all the readings I had to complete by today (comparative con law prof, you will pay for assigning 70 pages of reading for a single class TWICE in the first two weeks!) Tuesdays this semester are already my worst days anyway. I have 3 classes, from 8:45am until 7 pm. My Law and Political Economy weekly reaction paper is also due this afternoon. And then, add a meeting with the prof I'm researching for, and an organizational meeting late at night, and my whole day is spent with hardly a moment of relaxation.
My meeting with the prof, KM, was filled with delicious awkwardness. KM was late, and when he finally arrived he was sweaty and out of breath. (It's probably one of the last warm days this year, but it was 85 degrees and freakin' hot under the sun). He said hi and I sat down. Silence. Then he said: "So... nice weather, isn't it?" I cringe inside.
I did try to break the ice by asking him about football. He has a newspaper clip of the Steelers winning the Superbowl last year on his office door. "One for the Thumb!" it read. Boyfriend is from Pittsburgh and is a Steeler fan. This made for about 40 second of relatively relaxed conversation.
Then he gave me my assignment. It's kind of interesting. Looking through 3 reels of microfilm of this case during the civil rights era that is famous for its civil procedure ruling, but which is prosecuted by a prominent black lawyer who worked for the NAACP. I have to index the microfilm. Probably should get this started right away, given how busy my next few weeks are going to be, with 27 interview so far and all.
And then, I get my other research assignment, from this young assistant prof JS. A very interesting project, but sadly likely to be humungous as well.
This weekend, parents are visiting, so will have no time to read, study, or research. Next week, I am immediately hit with 12 interviews. AND I kind of want to do upper-level Moot Court competition.
Damn, thinking about all this is making me a bit worried.
Tomorrow: only two classes, thank God. But I am scheduled for the office hours of prof M, with whom I wanted to do an independent reading this semester but who has completely ignored my email up 'til now. I hope I'm not looking for personal humiliation by going to meet her. Crossing my fingers...
:D that I survived the day at all.
:( that next week is going to be like this, all 5 days.
First of all, I hardly slept. Last night I went to sleep at 3 am because of all the readings I had to complete by today (comparative con law prof, you will pay for assigning 70 pages of reading for a single class TWICE in the first two weeks!) Tuesdays this semester are already my worst days anyway. I have 3 classes, from 8:45am until 7 pm. My Law and Political Economy weekly reaction paper is also due this afternoon. And then, add a meeting with the prof I'm researching for, and an organizational meeting late at night, and my whole day is spent with hardly a moment of relaxation.
My meeting with the prof, KM, was filled with delicious awkwardness. KM was late, and when he finally arrived he was sweaty and out of breath. (It's probably one of the last warm days this year, but it was 85 degrees and freakin' hot under the sun). He said hi and I sat down. Silence. Then he said: "So... nice weather, isn't it?" I cringe inside.
I did try to break the ice by asking him about football. He has a newspaper clip of the Steelers winning the Superbowl last year on his office door. "One for the Thumb!" it read. Boyfriend is from Pittsburgh and is a Steeler fan. This made for about 40 second of relatively relaxed conversation.
Then he gave me my assignment. It's kind of interesting. Looking through 3 reels of microfilm of this case during the civil rights era that is famous for its civil procedure ruling, but which is prosecuted by a prominent black lawyer who worked for the NAACP. I have to index the microfilm. Probably should get this started right away, given how busy my next few weeks are going to be, with 27 interview so far and all.
And then, I get my other research assignment, from this young assistant prof JS. A very interesting project, but sadly likely to be humungous as well.
This weekend, parents are visiting, so will have no time to read, study, or research. Next week, I am immediately hit with 12 interviews. AND I kind of want to do upper-level Moot Court competition.
Damn, thinking about all this is making me a bit worried.
Tomorrow: only two classes, thank God. But I am scheduled for the office hours of prof M, with whom I wanted to do an independent reading this semester but who has completely ignored my email up 'til now. I hope I'm not looking for personal humiliation by going to meet her. Crossing my fingers...
:D that I survived the day at all.
:( that next week is going to be like this, all 5 days.
9/18/2006
I'm Back!
I know, I know, I have been totally MIA. Between adjusting to classes, a gazillion organizational meetings, and hanging out with ABS, J, and Boyfriend, every day just somehow seems to slip away without me putting a word down. I do feel guilty. So here I am back again.
Well, I'm a 2L now... how do I feel?
I feel fine, and a lot more relaxed than 1Ls. I remember last year around this time, when classes were just getting started. There was so much uncertainty and anxiety about classes and classmates and meeting people and "doing the right things." Now, I'm just a lot more relaxed about everything. I am not jaded. In fact I am very excited about the courses I'm taking this semester. Thank God we don't have those mandatory 1L classes and can instead take what interests us! In my case, this includes a lot of policy and comparative law courses. For J, it means copyright, secured transaction, and human rights stuff. For many others, it means trial advocacy courses where they spend 7 (!) hours a day learning about how to be a "real" lawyer. I really want to do that next semester too.
In terms of extracurriculars, upon reflection, I realized that I didn't really enjoy either of my two "main" activities last year, and therefore I am jettisoning both of them! Yay! Nothing wrong with them. In fact I know a ton of people in both orgs who really love the activities, but for whatever reason they just didn't click with me. Instead, I am trying out a couple of other campus activities. One is a relatively newly formed liberal organization (formed explicitly to counter the very influential conservative studetn organization on campus) that brings in speakers and discusses public policy. They are launching a new journal this year, and I volunteered to be an articles editor, and just got assigned to an article on constitutional law last week. It's a bit scary since I am only just now taking con law, but no matter!
I am also a nonresidential law tutor for one of the undergraduate dormitories here, where ABS is a residential tutor and in fact hooked me up with the sweet job. I get 5 free meals a week at the house in exchange for doling out advice and general support about law school. So far, I have met one of my advisees (I have a total of two) and he seems nice, if a bit lost about the whole law school application process. I have also just been hanging out a lot with ABS and his cat in his nice suite in the dorms (which is a convenient 7-minute walk from my apartment).
Oh, I am also researching for a professor here who is an expert in legal history. He seems nice, and the work seems light... we will see how that goes.
So, this is how I spend my days. My life is still in a bt of flux right now, especially since today our career services office posted the interview schedules for Fall On-Campus Interview. I bid for a total of 37 firms (mainly because I didn't know too much about them and just kind of went down the rankings... I know, it's the worst way of doing these things.) In any case, I now have 25 interviews scheduled over the next 3 weeks. Yikes!
:D beautiful summer weather today. Cute con law prof!
:( 70 pages of reading for comparative con law for tomorrow's class.
Well, I'm a 2L now... how do I feel?
I feel fine, and a lot more relaxed than 1Ls. I remember last year around this time, when classes were just getting started. There was so much uncertainty and anxiety about classes and classmates and meeting people and "doing the right things." Now, I'm just a lot more relaxed about everything. I am not jaded. In fact I am very excited about the courses I'm taking this semester. Thank God we don't have those mandatory 1L classes and can instead take what interests us! In my case, this includes a lot of policy and comparative law courses. For J, it means copyright, secured transaction, and human rights stuff. For many others, it means trial advocacy courses where they spend 7 (!) hours a day learning about how to be a "real" lawyer. I really want to do that next semester too.
In terms of extracurriculars, upon reflection, I realized that I didn't really enjoy either of my two "main" activities last year, and therefore I am jettisoning both of them! Yay! Nothing wrong with them. In fact I know a ton of people in both orgs who really love the activities, but for whatever reason they just didn't click with me. Instead, I am trying out a couple of other campus activities. One is a relatively newly formed liberal organization (formed explicitly to counter the very influential conservative studetn organization on campus) that brings in speakers and discusses public policy. They are launching a new journal this year, and I volunteered to be an articles editor, and just got assigned to an article on constitutional law last week. It's a bit scary since I am only just now taking con law, but no matter!
I am also a nonresidential law tutor for one of the undergraduate dormitories here, where ABS is a residential tutor and in fact hooked me up with the sweet job. I get 5 free meals a week at the house in exchange for doling out advice and general support about law school. So far, I have met one of my advisees (I have a total of two) and he seems nice, if a bit lost about the whole law school application process. I have also just been hanging out a lot with ABS and his cat in his nice suite in the dorms (which is a convenient 7-minute walk from my apartment).
Oh, I am also researching for a professor here who is an expert in legal history. He seems nice, and the work seems light... we will see how that goes.
So, this is how I spend my days. My life is still in a bt of flux right now, especially since today our career services office posted the interview schedules for Fall On-Campus Interview. I bid for a total of 37 firms (mainly because I didn't know too much about them and just kind of went down the rankings... I know, it's the worst way of doing these things.) In any case, I now have 25 interviews scheduled over the next 3 weeks. Yikes!
:D beautiful summer weather today. Cute con law prof!
:( 70 pages of reading for comparative con law for tomorrow's class.
9/12/2006
Course Schedules
The past few days have been INSANE! Aside from a big project that I need to do for a student business venture that I'm involved in, I also had to decide on my courses. Add/drop period for courses ends tonight at midnight! After going to approximately 4-5 classes per day, I have finalized the classes - finally!
1. Con Law
2. Comparative Con Law
3. Comparative Local Government: Seminar
4. Political Economy Seminar
5. Health Law Policy Seminar
All 3 of the seminars will involve reading and writing original work. I'm tres excited!
What's more, my Friday is entirely FREE! yoohoo.
1. Con Law
2. Comparative Con Law
3. Comparative Local Government: Seminar
4. Political Economy Seminar
5. Health Law Policy Seminar
All 3 of the seminars will involve reading and writing original work. I'm tres excited!
What's more, my Friday is entirely FREE! yoohoo.
9/07/2006
So Much To Do!
My "to-do" list:
- write to professors and seeing whether they wanted to supervise independent reading with me.
- update resume, research firms and sign up for fall On-Campus Interviews.
- decide on my courses before add/drop period ends.
- fulfill my various extracurricular commitments, including a very time-consuming task that needs to be done by this weekend (too tedious to really explain here - take my word for it that I do NOT look forward to it!)
- inquire into various fellowships, honors programs, and awards, the due dates for which are all in a few weeks!
- organize my apartment, do laundary, dry clean my clothes, buy books, and get ready for the new semester!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
- write to professors and seeing whether they wanted to supervise independent reading with me.
- update resume, research firms and sign up for fall On-Campus Interviews.
- decide on my courses before add/drop period ends.
- fulfill my various extracurricular commitments, including a very time-consuming task that needs to be done by this weekend (too tedious to really explain here - take my word for it that I do NOT look forward to it!)
- inquire into various fellowships, honors programs, and awards, the due dates for which are all in a few weeks!
- organize my apartment, do laundary, dry clean my clothes, buy books, and get ready for the new semester!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
9/06/2006
New Semester!
I am back in C-Town. Got back to the States late last night, and spent the entire morning packing and then driving back to the C-Town apartment. Then spent 4 hours vacuuming, disinfecting, and wiping down the entire apartment. Then carried all my stuff in from the car, and piled them on the floor, where they still are.
Too tired to really unpack, and tomorrow is going to be a full day of running around doing errands. I apparently owe my law school $8,000, so have to cough up the cash somehow. (Hello, high-interest loan!)
It's now almost 5 a.m. in Norway. Sigh...
Observation of the day: brown-rice sushi, while an intriguing concept, is really not that good. Actually, they are kind of awful.
Too tired to really unpack, and tomorrow is going to be a full day of running around doing errands. I apparently owe my law school $8,000, so have to cough up the cash somehow. (Hello, high-interest loan!)
It's now almost 5 a.m. in Norway. Sigh...
Observation of the day: brown-rice sushi, while an intriguing concept, is really not that good. Actually, they are kind of awful.
8/31/2006
Bergen photos
I've talked a lot about how beautiful Bergen is without posting a photo. Here are four that I took just yesterday evening walking around the city.
8/30/2006
Another Day in Bergen
I love the hotel we are staying at. All the hotels in Scandinavia has been very good - clean, spacious, and functional. A bit on the expensive side, to be sure. All the double rooms that Boyfriend and I found have been at least $80, and in Copenhagen, the room cost $100 per night. But I had expected that before I came. After all, Scandinavia is famous for its expensiveness.
What I love in particular about the hotel in Bergen, though, are two things: its location, and the fact that it has free Internet. The second reason is why I've been able to post more often in the past few days. :D The hotel, called CityBox, is a budget hotel right in the heart of the city, 3 blocks from the train station, 2 blocks from the university, with lots of cheap and cool-looking student bars, pizzerias, grocery stores, and restaurants.
Boyfriend and I spent the whole day exploring different neighborhoods in Bergen. We decided that if there's any city we have visited so far so far that we would definitely want to live in, Bergen is it. The entire city of Bergen is built on the mountain side, overlooking the ocean, islands, and fjords. As a result, there are several harbors teeming with boats, many stretches of beautiful beach-front neighborhoods, as well as gorgeous houses built on steep slopes of the mountain and streets made entirely of stairs (reminds me a bit of San Francisco).
There are also beautiful little parks nestled in the center of the city, spectacular water fountains, random statues, and the obligatory cobbled-stoned streets in the town center that every single European city is required to have, of course. In short, walking around town, every few minutes you seem to be in a completely different neighborhood. I think I would never get bored in Bergen.
Boyfriend and I have decided to stay for at least one more day in Bergen. We simply cannot leave this beautiful town behind.
What I love in particular about the hotel in Bergen, though, are two things: its location, and the fact that it has free Internet. The second reason is why I've been able to post more often in the past few days. :D The hotel, called CityBox, is a budget hotel right in the heart of the city, 3 blocks from the train station, 2 blocks from the university, with lots of cheap and cool-looking student bars, pizzerias, grocery stores, and restaurants.
Boyfriend and I spent the whole day exploring different neighborhoods in Bergen. We decided that if there's any city we have visited so far so far that we would definitely want to live in, Bergen is it. The entire city of Bergen is built on the mountain side, overlooking the ocean, islands, and fjords. As a result, there are several harbors teeming with boats, many stretches of beautiful beach-front neighborhoods, as well as gorgeous houses built on steep slopes of the mountain and streets made entirely of stairs (reminds me a bit of San Francisco).
There are also beautiful little parks nestled in the center of the city, spectacular water fountains, random statues, and the obligatory cobbled-stoned streets in the town center that every single European city is required to have, of course. In short, walking around town, every few minutes you seem to be in a completely different neighborhood. I think I would never get bored in Bergen.
Boyfriend and I have decided to stay for at least one more day in Bergen. We simply cannot leave this beautiful town behind.
8/29/2006
Norway
13 days, 3 countries later, I am writing from Bergen, Norway, a stunningly beautiful city by the Sognefjord.
Boyfriend and I took an overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo, then immediately jumped on the 7 hour train ride from Oslo all the way to the western Norwegian city of Bergen.
The train ride has been called "the most beautiful train ride in the world". We were literally riding in the mountains, so high up that trees don't even grow anymore, passed by the highest train station in the world, and saw all through the way, crystalline lakes and streams tucked in between cliffs and peaks, white glistening glaciers, and miles and miles of virgin pine forest.
Bergen is a colorful little city on the western coast, with a bustling town center (with the obligatory cobble-stoned streets, of course), beautiful row of houses by the water, a busy harbor, and lots and lots of nice cafes and historical buildings.
Norway is much more rugged than the other 3 countries. So far, Copenhagen has been the most cosmopolitan of all the cities, with a ton of fantastic museums, castles, palaces, and galleries. Finland has been the most exotic, because it seems very Eastern European to me. Everyone we saw there has been very Slavic-looking. Sweden has been most... Scandinavian, or what is commonly imagined to be Scandinavian -- clean, polished, with blonde and beautiful people walking around. And now, Norway, which seems to be just pristine and unspoiled nature, and a little bit of culture carved out of the nature.
I'm really looking forward to exploring Bergen tomorrow.
Boyfriend and I took an overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo, then immediately jumped on the 7 hour train ride from Oslo all the way to the western Norwegian city of Bergen.
The train ride has been called "the most beautiful train ride in the world". We were literally riding in the mountains, so high up that trees don't even grow anymore, passed by the highest train station in the world, and saw all through the way, crystalline lakes and streams tucked in between cliffs and peaks, white glistening glaciers, and miles and miles of virgin pine forest.
Bergen is a colorful little city on the western coast, with a bustling town center (with the obligatory cobble-stoned streets, of course), beautiful row of houses by the water, a busy harbor, and lots and lots of nice cafes and historical buildings.
Norway is much more rugged than the other 3 countries. So far, Copenhagen has been the most cosmopolitan of all the cities, with a ton of fantastic museums, castles, palaces, and galleries. Finland has been the most exotic, because it seems very Eastern European to me. Everyone we saw there has been very Slavic-looking. Sweden has been most... Scandinavian, or what is commonly imagined to be Scandinavian -- clean, polished, with blonde and beautiful people walking around. And now, Norway, which seems to be just pristine and unspoiled nature, and a little bit of culture carved out of the nature.
I'm really looking forward to exploring Bergen tomorrow.
8/26/2006
Nostalgia for an Imaginary Fatherland
I am writing from Copenhagen, after nearly a week in Sweden and a brief day in Helsinki. Both were lovely, but I must say that so far, Copenhagen is my favorite.
It's the most diverse of all the Scandinavian cities. People are not just thin and white and blonde hair. Walking on the street, you see people of all skin colors, looking perfectly at home. The natives look much more middle European.
More like... Germans.
And Danish sounds like German. On the train from Malmo to Copenhagen, I thought I could almost understand the conductor. All around the train station, I see familiar traces of the language that I once was fluent in. And then, lying in my hotel bed, I turned on the TV and four of the stations were German. I could watch ZDF and ARD and SAT-1, all the familiar stations that helped me while away the long winter nights in Potsdam.
And that's when it hit me: I have been missing Germany. I have been away for four years. And I miss it.
Away. A funny word to use, but one that I chose instinctively. My nostalgia for Germany is not like missing a country that I have visited and liked. Strangely, it is like missing a country that I count as one of my homes. I have only visisted a dozen times, lived there for 10 months. And yet... even before I have visited the country, I have longed for it and almost loved it.
Is it because of Beethoven and Bach adn Goethe and Wittgenstein? Perhaps Germany is the closest thing I have to a spiritual homeland. I remember reading an essay once, where it said that "I have been missing Paris even before I visited." This is how I feel and have always felt about Germany. Visiting Israel was a very spiritual experience for me, but visiting Germany, for me, was even more so. I remember the first day I was off the plane - my uncle drove me from Zurich to Konstanz. And as soon as we entered the border, I remember saying to myself, thinking: I am in Germany. I really am in Germany!
And sitting here, in Copenhagen, this most German of all Scandinavian cities, I am realizing that I want to go back to Germany. I have been away for four years, and now I'm finally at its doorstep again. Many of the tourists here are German, and sitting on the bus, I hang on to their conversation hungrily, trying to remember and to understand.
All the while, I feel enveloped by nostalgia -- for that year I spent in Potsdam, but more for an imaginary land that I have always wanted to call home.
It's the most diverse of all the Scandinavian cities. People are not just thin and white and blonde hair. Walking on the street, you see people of all skin colors, looking perfectly at home. The natives look much more middle European.
More like... Germans.
And Danish sounds like German. On the train from Malmo to Copenhagen, I thought I could almost understand the conductor. All around the train station, I see familiar traces of the language that I once was fluent in. And then, lying in my hotel bed, I turned on the TV and four of the stations were German. I could watch ZDF and ARD and SAT-1, all the familiar stations that helped me while away the long winter nights in Potsdam.
And that's when it hit me: I have been missing Germany. I have been away for four years. And I miss it.
Away. A funny word to use, but one that I chose instinctively. My nostalgia for Germany is not like missing a country that I have visited and liked. Strangely, it is like missing a country that I count as one of my homes. I have only visisted a dozen times, lived there for 10 months. And yet... even before I have visited the country, I have longed for it and almost loved it.
Is it because of Beethoven and Bach adn Goethe and Wittgenstein? Perhaps Germany is the closest thing I have to a spiritual homeland. I remember reading an essay once, where it said that "I have been missing Paris even before I visited." This is how I feel and have always felt about Germany. Visiting Israel was a very spiritual experience for me, but visiting Germany, for me, was even more so. I remember the first day I was off the plane - my uncle drove me from Zurich to Konstanz. And as soon as we entered the border, I remember saying to myself, thinking: I am in Germany. I really am in Germany!
And sitting here, in Copenhagen, this most German of all Scandinavian cities, I am realizing that I want to go back to Germany. I have been away for four years, and now I'm finally at its doorstep again. Many of the tourists here are German, and sitting on the bus, I hang on to their conversation hungrily, trying to remember and to understand.
All the while, I feel enveloped by nostalgia -- for that year I spent in Potsdam, but more for an imaginary land that I have always wanted to call home.
8/21/2006
Stockholm photos
Boyfriend and I finally got our luggage today, the night before we check out of our hotel! Yay!
To celebrate, here are a bunch of photos I took over the past few days in Stockholm. Enjoy!
Old Town Gamla Stan, in the crisp early morning light.
Pretty building facade in Gamla Stan.
Pretty alley in Gamla Stan.
One of the many bridges of Stockholm. The city is build on many islands, so there is water everywhere.
Ha!
Mmmmmm... I've missed European bakeries...
Cute Swedish guard guarding the royal palace...
... And a cute tourist taking a photo of him.
Another view of the city.
By the Royal Palace.
Tourists gathering to see the changing of the guards in front of the Palace.
One of the rooms in the palace. Bleh.
Beautiful and stylish Swedish children.
The Swedes have an obsession with their royalties too! These are postcards being sold at the palace gift shop.
Central square in Gamla Stan.
Costumed tour guides in the square, posing for tourists...
...And flirting with a pretty passer-by. :)
Obessive-compulsively square trees in front of the Parliament
Girl making ice cream cones in the shop window.
Swedish glass, which is apparently a famed specialty in the region, or so claim the gift shops...
Hot air ballons rising in the dusk from the city center.
Random and picturesque square.
Folk dancers dressed in costumes in front of the Nordic Museum.
The imposing architecture of the Nordic Museum. The exhibits though were bleh.
Another view of the city, from Katrinahissen, a high point in the city.
A cruise to Helsinki sailing out to the sea. Boyfriend and I will be on one of those tomorrow.
Sunset in Stockholm.
To celebrate, here are a bunch of photos I took over the past few days in Stockholm. Enjoy!
Old Town Gamla Stan, in the crisp early morning light.
Pretty building facade in Gamla Stan.
Pretty alley in Gamla Stan.
One of the many bridges of Stockholm. The city is build on many islands, so there is water everywhere.
Ha!
Mmmmmm... I've missed European bakeries...
Cute Swedish guard guarding the royal palace...
... And a cute tourist taking a photo of him.
Another view of the city.
By the Royal Palace.
Tourists gathering to see the changing of the guards in front of the Palace.
One of the rooms in the palace. Bleh.
Beautiful and stylish Swedish children.
The Swedes have an obsession with their royalties too! These are postcards being sold at the palace gift shop.
Central square in Gamla Stan.
Costumed tour guides in the square, posing for tourists...
...And flirting with a pretty passer-by. :)
Obessive-compulsively square trees in front of the Parliament
Girl making ice cream cones in the shop window.
Swedish glass, which is apparently a famed specialty in the region, or so claim the gift shops...
Hot air ballons rising in the dusk from the city center.
Random and picturesque square.
Folk dancers dressed in costumes in front of the Nordic Museum.
The imposing architecture of the Nordic Museum. The exhibits though were bleh.
Another view of the city, from Katrinahissen, a high point in the city.
A cruise to Helsinki sailing out to the sea. Boyfriend and I will be on one of those tomorrow.
Sunset in Stockholm.
8/20/2006
Scandinavian Diaries, Day 1 - 4
Here are a summary of my four days so far in Scandinavia. Pictures hopefully soon to follow.
Day 1 (Thursday):
We get to Stockholm at 11:30 am local time. Arlanda airport is immaculately beautiful – modern, bright, airy, clean, and the exact opposite from the cramped, ugly, and creakyAmerican Airlines international terminal in JFK. After an extremely hectic time in Heathrow (thanks for nothing, f’ing terrorists!), we were very grateful to arrive at a place where everything seems orderly and under control.
Upon arrival, however, Boyfriend and I discovered with dismay that our luggages did not arrive. The British Airway agent did not seem at all surprised, and very perfunctorily took down our information and said that BA would reimburse each of us up to 50 pounds for our expenses replacing the necessary toiletries for the next few days. He said that our luggage would probably be delivered later in the day or during the night.
With some difficulty, we find our way from the airport to our hotel. Swedish is very similar to German, which ended up helping enormously because I was able to vaguely understand that the subway that was supposed to take us to our hotel was under renovation and that we had to take a bus transfer instead. We finally get to the hotel around 3:30 or so. Our room is a small, cutterbox-type basic room at a hotel that we found at approximately $70/day – a real find for Scandinavia! – a ways outside the city. Boyfriend and I collapsed immediately upon arrival. I remember lying in the bed and literally not being able to move a muscle. Then I fell into a deep sleep.
We wake up at dusk, around 8 or so, and struggle out of bed and decide to go to the local supermarket, which turned out to be about a 20 minute walk away. The scenery on the way – trees and square and functional apartment buildings, remind me of East Germany, or Israel. Only one lone supermarket was open in the shopping center district. We stocked up on toiletries, yogurts, fruits, and veggies, then carried our purchase back in our backpacks and walked back to the hotel just before darkness fell. We had dinner in the hotel garden and went back to sleep around 10:30 pm.
High point: the airport
Low point: the lack of our luggage.
Day 2 (Friday)
I woke up around 2:30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. To pass the time, I read Bill Bryson’s essays “Neither Here Nor There,” which is an account of his travels in Europe, starting in Norway, no less. It’s very funny. Boyfriend, who is a much better sleeper than I am, wakes up around 5:30, and we make our way out of the hotel around 7:30. Our luggage, sadly, has not arrived.
We take the bus/metro (which is called the T-Bana here in Swedish) into town. We get out at Gamla Stan, the Stockholm old town, and walk around. Gamla Stan is the classic European center city, with narrow cobble-stoned streets, colorful old houses, touristy shops, town squares, and outdoor cafes. Because it was early, nothing was open yet, so we had the whole quite winding paths to ourselves.
Stockholm is a city built on small islands, and some guidebooks have called it more watery than Venice. Walk in any direction for a few minutes and you’ll likely come upon a harbor, a canal, or a lake. In the early morning sunlight, the entire city was glistening with water and sunlight. The facades of grand old buildings by the water were beautiful and imposing. The view was quite stunning.
Boyfriend, who is still wearing his sweatpants that he wore to the airplane, needs a pair of regular pants urgently. So we found our way to the more commercial parts of the city, the equivalent of 5th Avenue in New York, where hundreds of glitzy, affluent boutiques and department stores opened their doors wide to tourists and shopaholics of all nationalities. We dive into the stores and shop shop shop. I got some urgently needed face lotion and lipstick (my own extensive collection is sadly inaccessible in my lost luggage). Boyfriend got himself a pair of pants.
In case you are wondering, Swedish people are indeed breathtakingly beautiful. Every other person walking down the sidewalk is so gorgeous he/she could be a model. They are tall and trim and blond and tan and glowing with wholesomeness. Never in my life have I felt so short and plain. The men have chiseled faces, and wear narrow pants and expensively cut sweaters or suits. The women are tall, stylish, wide-set eyes, almost whitish blond hair, golden skin, impossibly thin, their almost endless tan legs ending in a pair of understated ballerina flats. Random people are more gorgeous than movie starlets in the United States – the bank attendant, the ticket counter lady, the salesgirl, the ice cream vendor, even the bus driver (a blonde with large, liquid eyes). It’s almost ridiculous. There are women with darker complexions here too, some of them probably southern European immigrants, and they too are often very beautiful. Perhaps the city brings it out in people. Very few people are overweight here.
So, after the shopping, Boyfriend and I sat in the café section of NK, a large and ritzy department store here, and had an excellent shrimp and cottage cheese salad and coffee. After that, my sleeplessness caught up with me, so I went back to the hotel to sleep while Boyfriend wandered around more and met up with his cousin who lives in Stockholm for dinner. I myself napped until after 7, then caught the bus and wandered around in Gamla Stan a bit more. The canals and the old city looked very romantic in the evening, and the streets were filled with pedestrians and street artists. Around 10:30 it got chilly, and I decided to go home.
High point: Evening stroll by the canal.
Low point: having no matching shoes except for my blindingly white sneakers to wear all day long. I miss my luggage!
Day 3 (Saturday)
Still no sign of any luggage.
Once again I got up around 2:30 am and could not fall back asleep, so read my guidebook and the New Yorkers that I brought with me on the trip as reading material.
Weather-wise, the day was as perfect as the previous few days. It is sunny and dry and not too warm but also not too cool. No air-conditioning needed in our hotel room (and there was none). Perfect days to walk outside, which is what Boyfriend and I did for much of today. We walked around in the city center and had coffee and breakfast at a large gourmet market place that we discovered by accident. The food was fresh and delicious (couscous salad, tomatoes, fresh shrimp, broiled beef, plums, and beef teriyaki kebab), though certainly not cheap. Afterwards, a very full Boyfriend and I went across the street to Sweden House to buy a 48-hour Stockholm Card, which entitled us to enter more than 47 museums and use all of the city’s transportation system for no additional cost. We than attacked the city’s museums and attractions like there’s no tomorrow.
First place we went was the royal palace, right outside of Gamla Stan. It’s no Versaille, but there were quite a few rooms to walk through in the royal apartments section, and interesting nonetheless. There were a few interesting exhibits, both within the Royal Palace itself and nearby in the Royal Armory and art museums. We also witnessed an initially interesting but increasingly endless “changing of the guards” ceremony that takes place every day at noon. A lot of loud military music, shouting of orders, and men in military uniforms involved.
Boyfriend and I went to a few other museums after that, and contemplated taking the ferry, but ended up not to and just walked round and round the city, exploring several neighborhoods and neighboring islands. Before this trip, I got a pedometer from this trendy little store, and according to it, we walked more than 30,000 steps yesterday. Not bad.
High point: the royal palace. But the discovery of the gourmet food hall was wonderful as well. We will definitely be back for more.
Low point: Boyfriend losing his Stockholm Card, upsetting me and prompting a serious discussion about his carelessness while sitting on the bank of the island.
Day 4 (Sunday)
I woke up dutifully again around 2:30am, but this time was able to fall asleep again at 4:00 for a couple of hours. Had a lot of weird dreams about law school people.
Boyfriend and I had a leisurely morning and didn’t leave the hotel until after 9, the latest we’ve left yet. We spend some time in the central train station reserving train rides to Copenhagen next week, then debated how to spend our Monday – whether to go to a nearby small town named Uppsala, or to take a ferry to one of the 24,000 small archipelagos surrounding Stockholm and hike. In the end, we decided that Stockholm is way too pleasant and interesting for us to leave and that we should stick around instead. Also, in case we don’t see our luggage again, there’s some shopping that we need to do!
Boyfriend got another Stockholm Card, and we found our way to another of Stockholm’s central islands where there the Nordic Museum, the famous Vasa Museum and a big open air folk museum named Skansen. The Nordic Museum is beautiful, but the exhibits are kind of blah. The Vasa Museum, which features an entire sunken ship from the 17th century that was lifted out of the water and restored, is the coolest thing I have seen so far on this trip. Boyfriend and I spent hours in the museum poring over everything, and just marveling at the size and the beauty of the ship.
We then walked around the park grounds – the entire island consists of a large botanical garden and lovely views of the center city and lots of nice picnicking spots. We ended up eating our food at one of these spots, then strolled along the canals looking at the boats gliding by, the
We are now sitting at one of the cafes in the city that has free Internet access. This evening, we plan to take a cable car lift to the top of a cliff to see Stockholm from a high point.
High point: hands down, the Vasa Museum.
Low point: Learning that I hate, hate, hate herring. Ugh.
Day 1 (Thursday):
We get to Stockholm at 11:30 am local time. Arlanda airport is immaculately beautiful – modern, bright, airy, clean, and the exact opposite from the cramped, ugly, and creakyAmerican Airlines international terminal in JFK. After an extremely hectic time in Heathrow (thanks for nothing, f’ing terrorists!), we were very grateful to arrive at a place where everything seems orderly and under control.
Upon arrival, however, Boyfriend and I discovered with dismay that our luggages did not arrive. The British Airway agent did not seem at all surprised, and very perfunctorily took down our information and said that BA would reimburse each of us up to 50 pounds for our expenses replacing the necessary toiletries for the next few days. He said that our luggage would probably be delivered later in the day or during the night.
With some difficulty, we find our way from the airport to our hotel. Swedish is very similar to German, which ended up helping enormously because I was able to vaguely understand that the subway that was supposed to take us to our hotel was under renovation and that we had to take a bus transfer instead. We finally get to the hotel around 3:30 or so. Our room is a small, cutterbox-type basic room at a hotel that we found at approximately $70/day – a real find for Scandinavia! – a ways outside the city. Boyfriend and I collapsed immediately upon arrival. I remember lying in the bed and literally not being able to move a muscle. Then I fell into a deep sleep.
We wake up at dusk, around 8 or so, and struggle out of bed and decide to go to the local supermarket, which turned out to be about a 20 minute walk away. The scenery on the way – trees and square and functional apartment buildings, remind me of East Germany, or Israel. Only one lone supermarket was open in the shopping center district. We stocked up on toiletries, yogurts, fruits, and veggies, then carried our purchase back in our backpacks and walked back to the hotel just before darkness fell. We had dinner in the hotel garden and went back to sleep around 10:30 pm.
High point: the airport
Low point: the lack of our luggage.
Day 2 (Friday)
I woke up around 2:30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. To pass the time, I read Bill Bryson’s essays “Neither Here Nor There,” which is an account of his travels in Europe, starting in Norway, no less. It’s very funny. Boyfriend, who is a much better sleeper than I am, wakes up around 5:30, and we make our way out of the hotel around 7:30. Our luggage, sadly, has not arrived.
We take the bus/metro (which is called the T-Bana here in Swedish) into town. We get out at Gamla Stan, the Stockholm old town, and walk around. Gamla Stan is the classic European center city, with narrow cobble-stoned streets, colorful old houses, touristy shops, town squares, and outdoor cafes. Because it was early, nothing was open yet, so we had the whole quite winding paths to ourselves.
Stockholm is a city built on small islands, and some guidebooks have called it more watery than Venice. Walk in any direction for a few minutes and you’ll likely come upon a harbor, a canal, or a lake. In the early morning sunlight, the entire city was glistening with water and sunlight. The facades of grand old buildings by the water were beautiful and imposing. The view was quite stunning.
Boyfriend, who is still wearing his sweatpants that he wore to the airplane, needs a pair of regular pants urgently. So we found our way to the more commercial parts of the city, the equivalent of 5th Avenue in New York, where hundreds of glitzy, affluent boutiques and department stores opened their doors wide to tourists and shopaholics of all nationalities. We dive into the stores and shop shop shop. I got some urgently needed face lotion and lipstick (my own extensive collection is sadly inaccessible in my lost luggage). Boyfriend got himself a pair of pants.
In case you are wondering, Swedish people are indeed breathtakingly beautiful. Every other person walking down the sidewalk is so gorgeous he/she could be a model. They are tall and trim and blond and tan and glowing with wholesomeness. Never in my life have I felt so short and plain. The men have chiseled faces, and wear narrow pants and expensively cut sweaters or suits. The women are tall, stylish, wide-set eyes, almost whitish blond hair, golden skin, impossibly thin, their almost endless tan legs ending in a pair of understated ballerina flats. Random people are more gorgeous than movie starlets in the United States – the bank attendant, the ticket counter lady, the salesgirl, the ice cream vendor, even the bus driver (a blonde with large, liquid eyes). It’s almost ridiculous. There are women with darker complexions here too, some of them probably southern European immigrants, and they too are often very beautiful. Perhaps the city brings it out in people. Very few people are overweight here.
So, after the shopping, Boyfriend and I sat in the café section of NK, a large and ritzy department store here, and had an excellent shrimp and cottage cheese salad and coffee. After that, my sleeplessness caught up with me, so I went back to the hotel to sleep while Boyfriend wandered around more and met up with his cousin who lives in Stockholm for dinner. I myself napped until after 7, then caught the bus and wandered around in Gamla Stan a bit more. The canals and the old city looked very romantic in the evening, and the streets were filled with pedestrians and street artists. Around 10:30 it got chilly, and I decided to go home.
High point: Evening stroll by the canal.
Low point: having no matching shoes except for my blindingly white sneakers to wear all day long. I miss my luggage!
Day 3 (Saturday)
Still no sign of any luggage.
Once again I got up around 2:30 am and could not fall back asleep, so read my guidebook and the New Yorkers that I brought with me on the trip as reading material.
Weather-wise, the day was as perfect as the previous few days. It is sunny and dry and not too warm but also not too cool. No air-conditioning needed in our hotel room (and there was none). Perfect days to walk outside, which is what Boyfriend and I did for much of today. We walked around in the city center and had coffee and breakfast at a large gourmet market place that we discovered by accident. The food was fresh and delicious (couscous salad, tomatoes, fresh shrimp, broiled beef, plums, and beef teriyaki kebab), though certainly not cheap. Afterwards, a very full Boyfriend and I went across the street to Sweden House to buy a 48-hour Stockholm Card, which entitled us to enter more than 47 museums and use all of the city’s transportation system for no additional cost. We than attacked the city’s museums and attractions like there’s no tomorrow.
First place we went was the royal palace, right outside of Gamla Stan. It’s no Versaille, but there were quite a few rooms to walk through in the royal apartments section, and interesting nonetheless. There were a few interesting exhibits, both within the Royal Palace itself and nearby in the Royal Armory and art museums. We also witnessed an initially interesting but increasingly endless “changing of the guards” ceremony that takes place every day at noon. A lot of loud military music, shouting of orders, and men in military uniforms involved.
Boyfriend and I went to a few other museums after that, and contemplated taking the ferry, but ended up not to and just walked round and round the city, exploring several neighborhoods and neighboring islands. Before this trip, I got a pedometer from this trendy little store, and according to it, we walked more than 30,000 steps yesterday. Not bad.
High point: the royal palace. But the discovery of the gourmet food hall was wonderful as well. We will definitely be back for more.
Low point: Boyfriend losing his Stockholm Card, upsetting me and prompting a serious discussion about his carelessness while sitting on the bank of the island.
Day 4 (Sunday)
I woke up dutifully again around 2:30am, but this time was able to fall asleep again at 4:00 for a couple of hours. Had a lot of weird dreams about law school people.
Boyfriend and I had a leisurely morning and didn’t leave the hotel until after 9, the latest we’ve left yet. We spend some time in the central train station reserving train rides to Copenhagen next week, then debated how to spend our Monday – whether to go to a nearby small town named Uppsala, or to take a ferry to one of the 24,000 small archipelagos surrounding Stockholm and hike. In the end, we decided that Stockholm is way too pleasant and interesting for us to leave and that we should stick around instead. Also, in case we don’t see our luggage again, there’s some shopping that we need to do!
Boyfriend got another Stockholm Card, and we found our way to another of Stockholm’s central islands where there the Nordic Museum, the famous Vasa Museum and a big open air folk museum named Skansen. The Nordic Museum is beautiful, but the exhibits are kind of blah. The Vasa Museum, which features an entire sunken ship from the 17th century that was lifted out of the water and restored, is the coolest thing I have seen so far on this trip. Boyfriend and I spent hours in the museum poring over everything, and just marveling at the size and the beauty of the ship.
We then walked around the park grounds – the entire island consists of a large botanical garden and lovely views of the center city and lots of nice picnicking spots. We ended up eating our food at one of these spots, then strolled along the canals looking at the boats gliding by, the
We are now sitting at one of the cafes in the city that has free Internet access. This evening, we plan to take a cable car lift to the top of a cliff to see Stockholm from a high point.
High point: hands down, the Vasa Museum.
Low point: Learning that I hate, hate, hate herring. Ugh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
