The Hazel Thicket

Home Again

2010-06-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

On June 01, 2010, after one year, nine months, and nineteen days, I returned home to Slovakia.

It. Was. Exquisite.

It felt so natural. I had to keep reminding myself to run around and see various places to see if they had changed, because it felt like home, and who does that when they're at home? o_O

I completely drained my bank account while I was there, but since that's what I've been saving for months in preparation for, I felt it was excusable. I bought a lot of stuff that will come out in full force when Slovakia plays in any sporting event that I'm cheering for. ^_^

The entire time I was in Slovakia, there was an undercurrent of sublime joy. It was perhaps the best six days since I left, actually. I drank somewhere between twenty-four and thirty liters of Kofola in those six days, which puts the daily average at around 5L....not inordinately high considering the deliciousness of the drink in question.

I caught a Blaguss bus from Vienna Airport to Novy Most, and since it was night, I could see Bratislava Castle from quite a few kilometers away--well before we reached the Austria/Slovakia border. The sight brought tears to my eyes--it's been so long. Heather Eccles met me at Novy Most, right off of the bus, and we walked right to the Slovak Pub, where I ordered Bryndzové Hálušky and Kofola. It was the most delicious meal I might have ever had.

I back to the Slovak Pub two more times before I left Slovakia, and I got the same thing every time, with the addition of garlic soup.

I went to Avion, Aupark, Polus, and Eurovea, I watched Robin Hood at Palace Cinemas, I went to Atak, and I visited all of my favourite parts of Old Town, including the place at the castle where my last few, great memories of Slovakia took place. I love my city, and I love my country. ^_^

I walked more in those six days than probably an entire week of Mayterm, and much faster, too. I also jumped up and down and waved my arm to the beat for nine and a half hours or so at Festival Lumen, where we saw Switchfoot. That was pretty awesome. :D

In very important news: I now have a Slovak flag hanging in my room.

The Very Last

2010-05-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

May 28, Day 18, Venice

We got to Venice at around 05:49, and after a breakfast at 08:00 or so, we wandered the city, visiting various churches and whatnot. It was fun. All of the churches had tombs in them, though, so despite the fact that they all looked really pretty, they seemed more like mausoleums than places of worship. The wandering was fun, the churches were not.

We ran into the Houghton Arts Mayterm, too. It was really hilarious.

We ended up getting a bunch of free time in the afternoon, with which I did…nothing. It was great. ^_^

We did go swimming that evening, and that was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that muchly.

May 29, Day 19, Venice

We wandered Venice more, and ran into the Arts Mayterm four times. Lots of fun, but not much accomplished. We ended the day with a pseudo-serious ‘gathering’ thing with pizza. We exchanged some favourite moments, some favourite quotes, and for some of us, how we changed on the trip. It was the last day, but it didn’t feel like it.

May 30, Day 20, Venice

Officially, Mayterm is over. We are now on our own in Europe. We managed to feed ourselves a far more filling meal than has been our average lot over the last month in a very cost-efficient meal, and have been having a blast. Tomorrow, some go to Padua, some go back to the USA, some go to Istanbul, and some continue to lounge here in Venice. I'm getting incredibly psyched for the day after tomorrow, when I finally return to Slovakia. 1 year, 9 months, and 19 days after leaving.

From Montenegro to Vukovar

2010-05-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

Day 10, May 20^th, Montenegro

We got up, ate breakfast, and then boarded the bus for Montenegro. It was a gorgeous drive—crystalline blue/green waters to the right, and mountains immediately to the left. It took quite a few hours, but it was so worth it. Montenegro is so beautiful. It’s all mountains, coastline, palm trees, and pine trees.

We drove through a place called Budva, which has apparently the highest number of millionaires per km² of anywhere in the world. It’s a coastal town which has a population of 16,094. It was absolutely breathtaking—we went into the mountains immediately behind it, so we had a view of it from a progressively higher elevation.

From there we went to Cetinje, where we got out and toured an Orthodox Monastery. It has the oldest library in the Balkans, having opened in the 16^th century. The books were incredible—one of them had 20kg of silver engraved on its cover. After being in Cetinje for a while (a few hours) we drove all the way back to Zaton Mali and went to sleep. After a really late, really good supper.

Day 11, May 21^st, Bosnia

After getting to sleep in an hour later if we wanted (I still got up at 06:00), we ate breakfast and then drove to Mostar, Bosnia. It took two hours or so. The border crossing was really strange—it was essentially a giant parking lot, on which one side was Bosnia and the other was Croatia. We parked and then passport control guys boarded the bus and checked our passports.

Mostar was overrun with tourists, but it was incredibly sobering anyway. Burned-out homes rested next to ones in pristine conditions, and signs were everywhere warning people against entering certain buildings on the basis of being structurally unstable. We passed tons of graveyards that had the date of death being 1993. It was really sad.

After being in Mostar for a few hours, we drove on to visit a dervish house not far off. It was mildly cool, but really it was just an old Muslim situated in an awesome place—right at the source of the Buna river. The river was a gorgeous green, and tasted so amazing.

From there, we drove on to Sarajevo, arriving at around 06:30 or so. At 07:00 we ate, and then we all crashed. It was exciting to have wireless, though.

Day 12, May 22^nd, Sarajevo

Today was fairly intense. It started off rainy and gloomy, and everyone was pretty down. We went to a museum and saw a few exhibits of Bosnia (ethnographic and Roman/Medieval eras). It was fairly interesting, but the guide had such a pro-Muslim bias it made everything a little more dubious.

After that we went and had lunch. It was kind of a sad lunch, though—the hamburgers were all undercooked, and despite my eating of my own, when I went to finish off someone else’s I found out that they had more or less the equivalent of lead in theirs. Something that did not react kindly and squish when it encountered my teeth. So I left theirs alone and ended up being hungry all afternoon.

After lunch we visited the Sarajevo Orthodox Cathedral and then the Catholic Cathedral. They were pretty cool, but nothing compared to other things that we’ve seen.

What was cool was the Bosnian Institute that we went to next. IT had a number of really interesting exhibits of artwork, but the guide herself was really interesting. She was born Muslim, but she has a Catholic name. As a result, people simply assume that she is Catholic. In reality, she is neither—she’s spiritually confused. She said that Bosnians are taught to be Muslims at a young age, the Serbs to be Orthodox, and the Croats to be Catholic. With such unforgiving teaching styles generating tension between people, she doesn’t predict peace for Bosnia for a long time. She does hope that it will eventually return, though. For years Croats, Serbs, and Bosnians lived side-by-side with no trouble. Nationalism was not helpful in this part of the world.

We had a ridiculously late supper today. It was like 20:00.

May 23^rd, Day 13, Sarajevo—Višegrad—Kraljevo

This was absolutely the most boring day so far. We drove from Sarajevo in the morning after church, all the way out to Višegrad, which took several hours. Višegrad itself was awesome, though. We were there for some two hours, in which we had no rain—it rained before we got there and after we left, though. I had prayed that morning specifically for sunlight while we were in Višegrad, because everyone was looking forward to it, courtesy of Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić.

TheMehmet Paša Sokolović bridge was just as fantastic as all of us had thought it would be. It was so cool. There were lizards everywhere on it, though, and apparently someone saw a small snake, which is cool. We went to a restaurant where I didn't eat enough, so I was hungry all day.

In Kraljevo that night, we had an enormous meal. It was a massive salad platter for four people (so we had seven of them), followed by mixed-meat platters for everyone individually. It was so good—chicken, pork, and beef.

Sleep that night was on a partially full stomach for one of the first times on the trip.

May 24th, Day 14, Kraljevo—Žiča—Studenica—Beograd

We drove most of the day, but we stopped for two monasteries that were pretty cool. They werenćt the most impressive things I've ever seen, though.

We got to Beograd late in the evening, and our hostel was awesome—it was several floors of an old apartment building in the center of the city, and the halls were artistically graffitied and stuff. We had free wi-fi, hot showers, even one desktop per bedroom. It was fantastic. Dr. Pearse didn't like it, though, because they failed to deliver sterling performances in several key aspects, such as preparation.

Laura and I went for a very enjoyable walk to close our evening.

May 25th, Day 15, Beograd—Vinkovci

We wandered around Belgrade all morning, after breakfast was 35 minutes late. We listened to a lecture which portrayed a much brighter picture of evangelicals in Serbia than we got in Bosnia or Croatia, where Evangelicals are a very small part of the population. We got lots of ice cream, we got sour apple rings, and we walked around the fortress. It was pretty cool. Then we went to the Cathedral of Saint Savo, which was amaying—it is being refurbished, but it was still glorious. I felt like kneeling down and praying in it.

Then we got on the bus for Vinkovci, during which trip I got a massage to obliterate the knots that had viciously appeared in mz shoulder during the day.

We drove through Vukovar on the way, and that was really tough. There were tons of signs of war in it, and as we passed through I couldn't help but think about and shudder at the thought of neighbours killing each other—people who have lived side-by-side for hundreds of years, suddenly at war with one another. It was really tragic.

We reached Vinkovci, and stayed at a hotel in the back of a restaurant. It's a pretty nice place. The town layout is kind of confusing, and my mental map didn't work out as anticipated when I went for a walk later, because there was a dead end that I hadn't accounted for, so I didn't get us to where I thought we should have gotten. We got everything all sorted out, though, and made it back to the hotel in good order.

Bed followed soon after some of us guys watched the first half of Blood Diamond.

May 26th, Day 16, Đakovo—Osijek

Today we drove a lot, and we went to the Strossmayer Cathedral. It wasn't nearly as cool as the average church—in fact, I would say it was as much of a monstrosity as any pollution-spewing factory in a national park. The architecture itself was pretty fine, but the decorations inside—the paintings and patterns on the walls, the star-filled 'sky' on the ceiling, etc., all felt more appropriate for the bedroom of a small child than a location in which to worship God.

Osijek was kind of boring, really—we walked around, went to a museum, ate supper and then ate ice cream. That was all enjoyable in and of itself, but we didn't really do anything, ultimately. Nothing that pertains to our trip, anyway.

I rounded the night off by finishing Blood Diamond with the other guys, and then they all went to bed and I'm writing this.

May 27, Day 17, Vukovar—Venice

Today is going to be the long, miserable day—we're having our overnight drive to Venice tonight, and I can't sleep in moving vehicles. Anyway, I'm writing this while relishing the Angels and Demons soundtrack. We're going to go around Vukovar today, and I expect it to be pretty depressing and sad.

It turned out to be so, in fact. Many of the buildings were still bare ruins (not anything near the majority, though). What we saw standing were those which had been the least damaged in the fighting in '91. The others were mostly new buildings, replacing ones which were simply piles of rubble.

We saw a short video clip describing the months of 1991 during which Vukovar was attacked, and it was yet another portrayal of the events. We've heard from Croats, Serbs, and Bosnians about the Homeland War at this point--as I see it, the Serbs of Vukovar could almost be portrayed as equivalents of the Tories. Reconciliation attempts are slow, but ongoing--people who had lived together and worked together before the war attempted to kill each other (frequently succeeding) or tortured each other during it. Now, the survivors have to live with seeing each other every day, knowing what the other person has done. It's an incredibly sober environment.

After that, we had free time. Lots and lots of free time. Which I'm still using. We leave for Venice at 21:00, and it's 19:21 right now.

Mayterm 2010

2010-05-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

A week and a day after the commencement of our trip to the Balkans, we have been to Budapest, Zagreb, Krk, Omišalj, Baška, Punat, Rijeka, Vrbnik, Plitvička Jezera, Šibenik, and Seget Vranica. Being back in Europe after so long has been glorious. I was nearly in a state of tears when we landed in Budapest. But, perhaps I should start at the beginning.

Day 1, May 11, Houghton-Toronto-Budapest

I had stayed up late the night before to go to the Charcoal Corral Drive-in Cinema and watch Iron Man 2 and How to Train Your Dragon (the latter being the better of the two and an adorable film), so I started packing at around 01:00 on Monday. By around 01:15, I was done, so I stayed up on the computer for a little bit and then went to bed. I got up later that morning, threw the last few things into my baggage, and went down to the Campus Center. At 10:30, I departed on board a shuttle with a number of others for Toronto Airport.

The trip was largely uneventful, except that one of the two shuttles started emitting strange noises and we were uncertain as to whether or not it could get us to the airport on time. Needless to say, we made it. We met up with the rest of our group, checked in, sat around at our gate for a while, and flew out of Toronto at 18:55 EST. On our transatlantic crossing I watched Invictus and The Book of Eli. The former was fantastic, the second not as much.

We reached Heathrow at around 06:50 GMT, and hurried through a very crowded terminal to reach our departing flight. We only had a few minutes to wait by the gate before boarding, and by 08:45 GMT we were on our way again. The flight was exquisite. I started to feel emotional when we were flying over the Czech Republic, and on our brief stint over Slovakia I nearly cried. Go me. I was in more or less the same state of emotions when we touched down in Budapest Airport.

From the Airport, we took a bus into the city and had to walk several kilometers to our hostel. After settling into our rooms, we left the hostel and started our tour of the city. We went first to the Jewish memorial, in memory of those who died at Auschwitz. It’s a tree that’s like a Weeping Willow, but each leaf has the name of a victim on it.

From there, we went to a park and ate a picnic lunch, and then we walked to the Cathedral of St. Matthias. It was very impressive. It had a chapel and a tomb (Béla III) in it. It was very impressive, but I felt no fantastic feelings of being closer to God because of it. Then we wandered down to St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It was also cool. Very, very cool. But it was not that impressive, either.

We then went out to eat, and I had Gulaš.

Day 2, May 12, Budapest-Zagreb

We got up, ate breakfast (having real rolls again was glorious), and then we went first to the headquarters of the Aras movement. It was closed until 10:00, so Katie, Christian, and myself walked around looking for a place for Christian to buy a backpack for the next hour. And looking for a place for me to buy a towel.

Then we went to Heroes’ Square. It was awesome. Especially King Istvan I and Béla III. The statues of the Magyars were epic. From Heroes’ Square we drove to Zagreb, and there we went first to our Hostel after jumping off of the bus. The guys threw the entire luggage into room 405, and then we went to St. Catherine’s Church on the hill ‘Gradec’ in downtown Zagreb. We walked through Trg Bana Josip Jelačića to get there. The church was really cool. From there we went to Nocturno and ate. Then we went to a lecture by Melanie. Then we had Sladoled. Then we went to bed.

Day 3, May 13, Zagreb

We woke up, had a decent breakfast at Nocturno, then we had a brief period of free time in which I got Fornetti. Then we went to St. Mark’s Church. After that, we had more free time and I went to the bakery and got Makovnjak. Ben and Ted and I wandered all over and then made our way back. From there we went to a museum about Ivan Meštrović. And then to a restaurant for lunch, where Ben and I had a large pizza. I bought a towel. From there we went to the cathedral, admired it, and then proceeced to go to the National Theatre for the performance of Mazepa by Čajkovsky. Then, as the day overlapped onto Friday, a few of us went back out into town to 'celebrate' Lydia's birthday. But....a few of the girls were uncomfortable, so we weren't out for very long.

Day 4, May 14th, Zagreb-Krk

Breakfast at Nocturno, etc....went to bakery for Makovnjak. Wandered with Katie and Briana and Lydia, found Hannah Larson's camera at Internet cafe. Went to museum of natural history. Went to Strossmeyer gallery. Went to Museum of Naive Art. Went to Krk. Ate at Nono's. Went to bed.

Day 5, May 15th, Krk

Went to breakfast at the Pearse's house. Went to Omišalj, then to Pula and Košunj, where we saw a Franciscan Monastery. Then we went to Baška, where we climbed up to a Church on a hillside. It was cool, and I scratched my arms up by climbing a tree. It was a pretty fantastic day. I bought 500g of Gouda in a Trgovina because I was hungry, and the Pearses weren’t really feeding us as much as I wanted. We went out to eat at Restaurant Galerija in Krk. Then we parted ways, and pretty much everyone got lost. It was epic. Also, I got to an internet café briefly.

Day 6, May 16^th, Krk

We got up, packed, ate, and drove to Rijeka for church. It was good. We ate lunch there, then we drove to a cave, which was also cool. After that, we went to Vrbnik and looked at the museum. That was pretty much the entirety of the day.

Day 7, May 17^th, Krk – Trogir

It was a long drive. Kind of boring, but not really. We made it to Trogir a few minutes before it got dark outside. Then we walked down to the beach, splashed around, kicked a football, and then went back and went to bed. Uneventful day.

Day 8, May 18^th, Trogir

We went to Solin (Salona), where there were extensive Roman ruins which we were able to climb all over on. I climbed a wall with Hannah Larson and got my arm all scratched up. The amphitheater was sobering, because people were executed there. We were meters from where Christians were executed.

Then, we went up to the fortress of Klis, which was wicked awesome. I would hate to have climbed up there and attacked—any attackers would be exhausted by the trip up. After Klis, we went to Split, where Diocletian’s palace is. That was pretty awesome. We went to the same bakery twice, and then I got more Fornetti.

After Split we went to Trogir, where we went to the Cathedral of St. Someone. It was cool. Then we wandered, saw a car getting pulled out of the Adriatic, and then we ate. And then we wandered a bit more. Well, most people did. Katie Gaffney and I talked, and it was fun and good and rather like two months ago. Then we finally drove back to Trogir and went to bed.

Day 9, May 19^th, Trogir – Dubrovnik

We woke up in the morning, put our bags on the bus, ate breakfast, then drove for three hours until we reached a place called Ston, which has the most extensive single-piece wall in the world after the Great Wall of China. JC and I ran most of the way, actually, before we had to turn around and head back. It was pretty cool, though.

Lunch was pathetically small, so Christian and I picked up some more stuff in a Konzum and ate it later—cheese and bread and Fanta. It was fantastic.

After lunch we drove another hour or so to Dubrovnik—the coastline was gorgeous, but the city itself, while being a ridiculously cool display of intact fortifications, was actually too overrun by tourists to be enjoyable for me. And I withdrew 200 Kn instead of 100, which was a bad idea.

I am finally sharing an abode with Christian and with Ted. Katie, Christian, and I went swimming (briefly) yesterday in the Adriatic. We had to watch out for sea urchins. It was fun, though. I brought nothing that really functions as a swim suit, so I wore my cargo pants. It was exciting, especially after I realized that they were destined to fall off after not long of kicking my legs like that.

We went to bed at around midnight, which would normally be early for me, but I’ve been burning a lot of energy recently, so it wasn’t that bad.

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End of the Year

2010-05-09T00:31:00.001-07:00

This Thursday, at around 02:50, I printed off sixteen pages of text, put a paperclip on them, and then slipped the whole packet under the door of Dr. Woolsey's office. With this action, I concluded my freshman year of college. All that is left now is Mayterm, which consists of three weeks of traveling around the Balkans before I get to go home.

I entered this year with a lot of high hopes--I hoped to meet a lot of new friends, I hoped to do well in classes, I hoped to discover that my choice of major was fitting for myself, and I hoped to have a blast.

I did, in fact, meet a lot of new and amazing friends--people whom I think I would gladly do just about anything for. They're fun and witty and excitable.

I did decently well in classes, managing to get a B, two B+s, and an A in classes first semester, bringing three classes up by a letter and one class down on the finals. This last semester I felt like I didn't do as well--I was able to keep up with everything in East Meets West without a problem, but Chemistry just wasn't challenging. Without a challenge, it doesn't seem as though I can apply myself, so I didn't. I got embarrassingly low grades on all three tests, and it seems as though the same is true for the final. It's mildly distressing, as I'm not sure how this will affect me for the future. I know well that I can do fantastically in all of my classes as long as I apply myself. Where I'll find the resolve to apply myself, though, I do not know.

I still think that my choice of Biology as a major was a good one--it permits me to take the classes that interest me most, and as I am now a double-minor in History and Intercultural Studies, I will be able to take almost all of the classes that have caught my eye.

Most of all, I very definitely had a blast. College was more challenging than I had expected, but also a lot more fun than I had expected. Professors were enjoyable, lectures were interesting, and classmates were a riot. I cannot wait until next semester rolls around. If I can maintain the fun aspect while getting better grades, college will be a blast clear through.

East Meets West has been perhaps the most fantastic course I've ever taken. For an honours program, it seemed fairly easy a lot of the time--we only had papers every other week, and the lectures were fascinating but general. I suppose it was the work load that was supposed to drag us under, as we averaged anywhere from 100-200 pages of reading every night. However, that's not a lot for me, and I would happily spend my free time reading what we were required to read anyway. So I guess it's due to my pre-existing interests that EMW seemed so easy.

In two days we will have been in Budapest for two hours, something to which I'm greatly looking forward. I don't know how I will react when we reach Europe--after more than a year and a half away, I don't even know if it will still feel like home. Did I pull up all of my roots when I came to the USA? I was never fully Slovak (my grasp of the language--conversational--is embarrassingly poor considering that I spent eleven years there), yet I am nowhere near to being American. I fall entirely in the middle ground, and as I grow more distant towards my homeland, I still do not grow closer to the USA. Perhaps I do not even have a home anymore. Such are issues that from what I understand almost every Third Culture Kid experiences. The knowledge that hundreds of other kids my age are dealing with the same issues does not make them any easier, though. It is a very frightening feeling, actually, to not have a home. It's beyond the feelings that I suppose must stem from lacking a place in which to live. I don't need a place to park my physical baggage, but to lack a place where my emotions rest is very hard. Thus, when I get to Hungary, I might cry for joy, or I might be distressingly apathetic.

Three weeks after we touch down, I will finally get back to Slovakia, for the first time in 1 year, 9 months, and 19 days. I would see Chad and Michael, but both of them are going to be getting jobs in the USA for the summer. Chad's family is in the USA at present, which means that I will be staying with Michael's family, with whom I was never as close as I was with Michael himself. Anna will be there, but that's not quite the same thing--she's fun, but she's not my best friends. With Anna, and with Heather, and MaryGrace, and Catherine, and Daniel, and Lydia, I will be going to a Switchfoot concert for free. This is a very exciting plan. Additionally, I'm planning to make them show me around everything in Bratislava that has changed since I left. And I'm planning to consume copious quantities of Kofola. I won't really be able to bring any back, so I plan to make the most of it while I'm there.

Ours is the Fury

2009-12-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

In the weeks since my last update, my college life has changed a lot. Not in all aspects, thankfully, and not for the worse in all ways, either. I'm still having a blast, but I'm discovering that I should have studied a lot more for some of my tests--less time socializing, more time studying. Now, my grades in Biology and Calculus are merely 'average' as opposed to the 'fantastic' that they could otherwise be, and it's a poor reflection on me. I know that I can do better than what I've done so far, but I have to convince my professors of that, or risk being stuck with an 'average student' label. If I do the best I can, and as a Christian that's exactly what I should strive for, I could get A's in all of my classes, or even A+'s. My GPA could be fantastic, but instead, I'm on the border of getting booted from East Meets West. This is very, very definitely a poor reflection on me--it shows that at the beginning, I wasn't holding myself to perform at my very best. I was content to not take my classes seriously, when I owe it to my professors to respect their classes by doing my best to learn what they teach. This has changed, and now I'm paying attention in class and taking more notes and studying and practicing more. Unfortunately, it might not be enough to salvage East Meets West for me.

I talked to Dr. Meilander this morning about what my chances of not being booted are after my last Calc test, and he said that they actually weren't dependent so much on my test grades as my overall performance, so that was very, very reassuring. As long as I can bring my grades up on my next few tests in my classes, I should have a reasonable chance of remaining in the program.

The additional time I'm spending on studying means that I'm devoting less time to reading and games, but I still do play some games and read from time to time, so I feel like mentioning them. I'm on A Clash of Thrones, which is the second book of A Song of Ice and Fire. It'd be a quick read for me if I actually had time to sit for a while and develop momentum, but without the time, it's somewhat slow going. It's a really, really well-written book, and I love the characters, but I am somewhat disturbed by all of the vulgarity in it. Martin has very graphic characters without many inhibitions in what they say. I try to ignore that and focus on the story, but it's a distraction from the flow of it.

I definitely like some aspects of the series quite a bit, though; the Stark family are very cool, reminiscent of Borderlanders in general. Their motto, "Winter is coming" reminds me a lot of the sobriety of Borderlander sayings such as "Death is lighter than a feather; duty, heavier than a mountain." I approve much. Oddly enough, though, the Baratheon family motto is somewhat cooler. "Ours is the fury." I'm not sure why, but I like it more.

I've also been alternating games recently. I got The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king expansion pack, and it's a lot of fun. Angmar is a really, really fun faction to play as, and since all of the pre-existing factions got new units, they're also more enjoyable. The Elves were a little imbalanced, but I downloaded FinalBig, which lets me edit the unit files, and now they're better. Their mini hero horde, the Noldor Warriors, are absolutely awesome. They're trample resistant, they can reach level ten, they are created with Silverthorn arrows, Forged Blades, and Heavy Armor already, and at level seven they get a special ability called 'Weapon Song', which gives them +150% damage and armor temporarily. The other new unit that the Elves have, the Lindon Horse Archers, are somewhat useful, but I'd rather spend the command points on more Mirkwood Archers than on cavalry archers. Mirkwood Archers are far and away the best archers in the game now, with a huge range and damage.

In addition to RotWK, I've been playing Heroes of Might and Magic 5: The Hammers of Fate expansion pack, which adds an additional faction called 'Fortress'. They are insanely awesome, as their Tier 1 units are really hard to kill, deal nice damage in high numbers, and you get a lot of them every week. Their Tier 2 are amazing, though--they have a crippling strike that halves the speed of the opposing unit that they hit, during which they can continue to use their ranged attacks to deal massive damage. Tier 6 is the next best, because they have a teleportation ability that is really, really helpful. They can go anywhere on the map, and since they're Tier 6, they deal very impressive damage. I like them.

I've played Fable: The Lost Chapters a few times, recently, but that can easily become too time consuming, so I've only played it a few times.

In some further, very exciting news, Avatar is coming out on the 18th, and it looks to be awesome. The Na'vi are really, really cool looking, and I am absolutely in love with the visuals. The islands floating in midair are something that I've always considered to be awesome in fantasy stories.

I've also discovered that a film adaption of Eagle of the Ninth is being made, set to come out next year. Unfortunately, Channing Tatum is in it, so its potential quality is severely reduced. Hopefully, though, it will be a worthwhile movie.

In just sixteen days, Christmas break starts, and there will be three Koreans and an old family friend staying at the Nugget, in addition to my family. So, that's thirteen people for Christmas, which is very exciting. There's the potential for another two, but that's still unknown. The more the merrier, though. I can't wait. ^_^

I only have two Bio tests before the final, and then only my Psych and Calc finals left in those two classes, and a Chemistry exam on Friday before the final, so I'm closing up my grades for the year, which is both intimidating and exciting. We'll see how I do.

Sqwar!

2009-10-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

So, today was a good day--I finally completed my accumulation of Anberlin albums, I got some Owl City, and I also got A Hundred Million Suns by Snow Patrol, which I've been wanting for a while. To make things even better, I found out this evening that Anberlin is coming to Rochester. I missed my chance to get a ticket last time they came around, so this time I'm going to more or less stalk the site and buy my ticket as soon as it is possible to do so--missing TWO Anberlin concerts would be an incredible tragedy, since I have ample funds for them. I am now looking forward to November 14th.

I really need to start cracking down on my Biology paper, which is due a week from tomorrow (rough drafted). I have most of what I need for it, but not everything, yet. I also need to work on my Psychology paper, the rough draft of which is due at the end of the month--my sources are just finally arriving through inter-library loan.

All of my classes are interesting, which is good. Calculus is the only one that comes close to being boring (the lectures truly are)...it's math. I have a blast in my bio class, though. Psychology is very confusing (but very interesting), while Chemistry is just a breeze.

The social atmosphere here is a lot of fun, though. Houghton has students from quite a few countries, and is almost like a little international bubble within the USA. I'm in one of the Honors Programs--East Meets West, and we'll be studying the Balkans intensely, because it is there that Western culture clashes most strongly with Eastern culture. Roman Catholicism meets Eastern Orthodoxy meets Islam. The cultural mix is amazing. Anyway, after we spend all of our spring semester studying the Balkans, we're going to go there. And after we spend three weeks in the Balkans, they leave us in Venice to tour Europe for as long as we can afford before school starts again. I'm trying to arrange things with my two best friends so that we can have one final, awesome trip of epically amazing proportions before they're off to college too and we're all gone from Europe. So, I'm quite willing to find some way to skip the entire school year and just go straight to May-term and the summer.

Anyway, that was my intro post. Next time I'll probably comment on a song(s) or movie or something more normal. ^_^