Hmmm...it has been almost a month since my last post, to the much criticism I received, I do managed to sustainably keep up the seldom data flow on what I've actually been up to. Not to worry, there was plenty of things happening, probably too much, hence I've been deprived of the time I could have put to some serious self journalism. So, I'll start of chronologically...
After getting back from Bruxelles on the evening of the 14th March I managed to pack my bags and get some 5 hours of sleep before heading to Stansted Airport in the morning to fly to Hungary. The flight was the usual, I spotted the gate for Sármellék-Balaton as soon as I saw the people queuing up before it, for some reason ascertaining Hungarians are not that hard, especially if some are wearing a t-shirt with the Crown Crest and Double Cross. The Ryanair flight was uncomfortable as usual, never enough leg space, and this time the stewardess (Polish I think) was bit of a harsh bitch too :), not smiling and eventually culminating when she persistently stood by me until I turned off my iPod before landing, even after I told her that it will switch it self off automatically, which she unpleasantly commented by: "I have the same and turn it off manually!", so I gave it to her so she can do what needed doing to it in order to satisfy her. Anyway landing at the pre soviet airport situated at the far west end of the Balaton was fun again and Dad collecting me, we were in Budapest in about two hours.
Just as arriving back to Bakáts tér, after unpacking and settling in, I initiated the first phone calls and within an hour everything was back to usual...the Hummus Bar Circle took off! Being the national day of the 15th March the city was half paralyzed due to protests, so luckily without a car I set off by bike to see whats happening...needless to say that Blaha Lujza tér was packed with the restless unsatisfied, waiving ambiguous historical flags, shouting and signing as if a decade of some sort has ended or I don't know what...the night initially started at Gustav's place and eventuated into a serious rampage in town...I barely remember sketches of this adventure: meeting Scotsmen from Aberdeen whom were wearing kilts and illuminated...and so on. Due to this "back to Eastern Europe we call home" hazard I woke up around 6 o'clock in the evening the next day, which determined my day cycle for the rest of the two weeks: basically almost every day getting up in the evening or in some lucky cases late afternoon, only to get to bed somewhat in the morning around dawn...
So the cycle was: hummus, more hummus, drinking beer, drinking beer, hummus, beer, Barladino, hummus, beer, Barladino....now the reggae music @ Purim party on top of Corvin was far the best, reuniting, meeting, mating, hummus, confusing myself more and more, more hummus, drink driving (!), ciccing, sushi, more hummus and so on...finally relaxing for a few hours at Rudas spa and then collecting some papers from Court (PKKB). One thing I did realize, that not attending ZSP's and Sári's wedding was a huge mistake, but you only learn when your conscience kicks in, and of course it is too late by then...bump!
Summing up in a nutshell I did manage to achieve a few valuable errands: namely re-filing my tax return for 2006, which turned out to be over detailed in statement, if you could believe it...why NICs don't have to be filed only tax liability (both which is deducted by the employer and paid towards the budget) is still a mystery, but I'm sure there is a pragmatic explanation somewhere down the line...at least I had the honorable opportunity to visit the IRS for Extraordinary Taxpayers, of which I'm one, but do not bee fooled: it sound better that what it actually covers. So, as one clear (and maybe the only) morning I managed to get up like most people do, I entertained the tax official lady with my theories and questions on the subject...conducting such a thing on the phone was simply impossible, as I was enlightened that they only have one line per four(!)...hehh...so much for efficiency in collecting taxes.
The two weeks in Hungary passed quickly, so a fortnight after arriving I was heading down to the Airport with Dad and flying back to good old Cam...being collected from the station by a Jamaican Panther taxi, which provoked me to think that I'm back where I partially belong :).
The next week in Cam was much of acclimatizing, trying to start reading, which I only very slowly could get to grips with..but on the other side of the coin managed to compensate by running around the rowable part of the Cam river every second day for over a week, each time covering almost and hour and 45 minutes of distance...now this helped a lot. Not many people were around, still being out of term and me thinking that this will be the time to catch up with what has to be learned (not!)...the house was occupied by only a few of us...Jeff was here, Tang was back in Beijing, Adrian in Barcelona...Graham being around too. There was the first MCR Committee meeting with the newly elected bunch, hung out at the MCR club only once (gee that even rhymes) and having a few pints at the College bar occasionally....ah, and had sushi with Hannah, Tracy, Peter, Chris, Tom and Bill one night down the Japanese joint opposite Magdalene College.
STUDYING: OK, I did manage to set a pace, but I realized that there is physically not enough time to cover what has to be covered, but the brilliant new method of learning, called filtering has just been mastered...it is the only way, and it has to be the key :)
Only to realize that it waz time to take off on a new adventure...that is flying over to Stockholm to visit Marcellus Wallace...but thats another story...
As so we begin with the narrative that Sweden (and the rest of Scandinavia) is famous for its excessively stringent culture of rules surrounding alcohol. There are only designated places where you can buy booze, or if out on the piss in town, do expect to be extorted when buying a beer or a simple drink at any of the bars. To demonstrate the situation, please refer to the receipt above from one of these so called "Systembolaget" shops: they have the monopoly to sell wine, beer, cider, spirits ect. The reasons people don't really talk about, but it is obvious that these people here do like their drink, putting it straight forward, they are fucking alkiez, and need to be looked after :) (c.c. 11 SEK to 1 GBP)
Stockholm is situated over many small little islands, so in between them we had the great advantage taking the boat, rather then the usual way of transport...
The next week in Cam was much of acclimatizing, trying to start reading, which I only very slowly could get to grips with..but on the other side of the coin managed to compensate by running around the rowable part of the Cam river every second day for over a week, each time covering almost and hour and 45 minutes of distance...now this helped a lot. Not many people were around, still being out of term and me thinking that this will be the time to catch up with what has to be learned (not!)...the house was occupied by only a few of us...Jeff was here, Tang was back in Beijing, Adrian in Barcelona...Graham being around too. There was the first MCR Committee meeting with the newly elected bunch, hung out at the MCR club only once (gee that even rhymes) and having a few pints at the College bar occasionally....ah, and had sushi with Hannah, Tracy, Peter, Chris, Tom and Bill one night down the Japanese joint opposite Magdalene College.
Again a term has passed by...so quickly you didn't even realize it. The substantive part of the LLM has now come to an end. Easter Term is mainly for revisions, with only a pinch of lectures, and end of May to mid June is exam period. Every exam is fitted in to two weeks...checking out the past years schedule it is going to be a tight contest...in 2006 every following day there was an exam in the papers I'm taking this year, which I must say I'm not used to. During my undergrads 95% of the exams were oral and spread around a two month exam period, so this system is going to be a real challenge.
In the afternoon I made my way down to Greenwich to meet up with cousin Jay, and spent the rest of the day hanging around his place. On Sunday we planed on going down to Winchelsey, but due to the harsh weather we stayed put in London, and went skateboarding to Greenwich park (even Brody did some boarding - the bullterrier on the picture :).
European Court of Human Rights (a seven hour bus ride), where we had the joyful opportunity to talk to the UK and German Judge, and after have a look around the city, which was a really nice place. The controversy of this town that its a cross bread between French and German influence, which makes it wonder about. In the afternoon our destinantion was set at Luxembourg, where we spent the night. This little country was a surprise. I was anticipating a place like Lichtenstein, but it was nothing like it...actually it was nothing special. Everything was closed by 10pm, so we ended up having a pizza dinner. On Thursday the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was on the agenda.
looking forwrad reading the decided case online... Afterwards Advocate General Sharpston, the UK AG welcomed us for a hour discussion, to be followed by a fancy lunch. In the afternoon we strolled around in downtown Luxembourg, and then headed back to Brusseles, where we spent the night at Ibis Hotel again.
Well, well I'm pretty amazed on what is actually happening here...for the last few days its been like a week in April. It's around 13-15C, the sun is shining, no clouds on the ski and my garden looks awesome. Hope it continues like this and doesn't deteriorate. We went cycling yesterday and rode around the eastern part of Cambridge covering almost 40km in not more than 3 hours. There has been plans to eventually ride down to the seaside to Harwich, which is about 90 miles away...
Karolin was over for my 30th birthday. She was really impressed by Cambridge, I must say. I took her around the major College's (Trinity, Peterhouse, Fitzwilliam ect.). We mainly ate out. Cycled around town. Even went to the cinema, checked out the exhibition at Fitzwilliam Museum. I've just noticed over these few days, what a tourist attraction this place is.
