CAUTION: Crazy times ahead!!!

I think every time you press that little "Buy Now" button on the screen, you're about as close to Nirvana as possible, especially when that button gives you the possibility of adventures in a far off land. What am I talking about, right?? Well, I feel like a little kid in a candy store right now, so coherent thoughts are a little hard to come by. Anyways, I just booked a flight to London by way of Berlin which means crazy (or wicked as Leila would say) times ahead!!! Finally!! A trip that I've been planning for about 5 months, but somehow still haven't had the chance to take. Best part, I'm flying dirt cheap!! Between Vienna, Berlin, London, Bratislava and Vienna, I'm spending less than EUR 150...amazing. I guess it takes a while for anyone from the US to get used to such prices in Europe. Culture shock!!

So, back to the trip. I'll start of in Berlin visiting Carolin who also did a traineeship in Cairo this summer. Back to shisha and koshari for sure!! After a weekend in Berlin, it's off to London/Reading to visit Leila (a former CEEDer in Alexandria) to help her ring in her 21st in Edinburgh!! Double party babe, it's just a week more and then it's my turn!! And since I'm flying back to Bratislava, I might do some sight seeing/visiting there too. The travel bug strikes again!!

In other news, I think this is the worst weather I've ever had to experience. You'd think being born in Poland and having lived through several Chicago winters I would be a bit more used to the combo of snow/ice/rain that feels a little more like bb gun shots when it's coming at your face at 35 kmh. It's days like this that reaffirm the fact that I wish to spend most of my days experiencing sunshine on my face and sand between my toes. I hear there's a beach town is Spain that's sunny 300 days a year...sounds like home to me! Meanwhile I'm sitting here wrapped up in a blanket drinking hot tea with the heat turned on as far as it can go, and I'm still FREEZING!!! Makes me wish I had a fireplace...

hungry?

it could be worse...

http://www.boreme.com/bm/NOV04/a/precious-potnoodle/jump_fr.htm

how rich are you???

Check out how your measly earnings compare with the rest of the world.

www.globalrichlist.com

bititkalem arabi??

As I'm sitting here trying to finish this really boring paper, I decide to spice up my night with a bit of Sting. I just downloaded some from a friend and haven't had a chance to check it out yet. The first choice is my favorite, Desert Rose, but this is a version a bit different from what I know...there's more arabi at the beginning. This is inspiring...I love Arabic! It's such a beautiful language. It reminds me of a goal I set for myself, to learn Arabic. Which then reminds me of another goal, go to Afghanistan. I can just hear my Mom's protests to this. This then reminds me that Frankfurt has been working on setting up an @ chapter in Afghanistan, and that two trainees will be arriving in Berlin on 5 Feb. Yet another inspiration....I'll be in Berlin (insha allah) on the 11th, maybe I could meet them. For some reason, this country is particularly fascinating for me and I'd love to meet people who can tell me more about it. As for the travelling there, well, I guess I'll just have to wait a bit for that. Music is so inspiring!!

PS - "Let your soul guide you." ~Sting

Pictures!!

Ok, so I'm a determined insomniac, even though that's totally not the case when it comes to real work. Anyways, here are 2 links to my Ofoto albums. Sorry that they're all in messed up order, but uploading pics is just not going well for me today. Maybe someday in the future I'll fix it...in the meantime, enjoy!!

Salaam Summer 2004

WSC 2005

aarrghhhh....

I've been sitting here for the past couple of hours trying to figure out this damn photo publishing crap. Flickr doesn't appreciate my need to post 100 of my favorite pictures, so I'm stuck with 9 mediocre ones and I don't know what to do. If you're an experienced blogger, PLEASE HELP!!! And since the majority of my computer science projects were done by computer literate friends (the truth is out!!), there's that whole html writing aspect that this blondie just can't grasp. On the bright side, at least I'm putting off writing my paper with claims that I have more pressing matters to attend to(HA!). Oh, the bliss of being a procrastinator.

solving life's mysteries

After the hours and hours of studying I've finally managed to sit through, I can say that I've actually learned something. For years and years I have wondered about the proverb "You can't have your cake and eat it, too." I mean, why would you get cake and then not eat it? Seems kinda dumb, don't you think? But, thanks to my Fundamentals of Int'l Bus. & Econ class, I have now learned that "Have means keep in this context." Thanks Prof. Alexander for solving one of life's mysteries for me. And I thought all the info I was learning was useless...silly me!

almost done...

Although I should be studying for the two exams that I have tomorrow, I've managed to do everything but. Checking out blogs, writing emails, getting the keys to my new room (a SINGLE!!!), pretty much everything to avoid reading about the foreign exchange market and other meaningless "Fundamentals of International Business and Economics" topics. What was my major again?? The worst part is that one of the two exams is in German (HA!), that'll make it interesting. But starting at 6PM on Tuesday night, my first semester is officially over!!! And shortly thereafter is the beginning of Semesterferien, or my almost month long break. What's in store for then? The only thing actually set in stone is Feb. 3-6, when I'll be OCing the Cultural Sensitivity Seminar in Fuerstenfeld, Styria. Then, hopefully celebrating Carneval in Venice and possibly Leila's 21st in Edinburgh (wicked!!). Oh, how I hope things work out, but for now, it's back to exchange rates and other useless crap...

Our possibilities

I note down in my computer something said by Ken Casey that I read in a magazine on the plane:
"How odd the human race is - so alike and yet so different! We are capable of working together, build the Pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the cathedrals of Europe and the temples of Peru. We can compose unforgettable music, work in hospitals, create new computer programs.
"But at some moment all this loses its meaning and we feel alone, as if we belonged to another world, different from the one we have helped to build."
"At times, when others need our help, we get desperate because that prevents us from enjoying life. And then there are other times when nobody needs us and we feel useless."
But that is the way we are, complex human beings just beginning to understand ourselves; it's no use despairing on account of that."

Paulo Coelho (Warrior of the Light)

WU Ball 2005

Sorry to all the fans for not posting anything about the WU Ball yet. It was an amazing experience, but note to self: before going to a "Ball", especially one at the imperial palace, learn to dance!! One drawback of the night was my lacking this amazing little ability, talent, skill, call it what you want, but the Waltz and Foxtrot are not my strong points...just yet. Planning on taking a dancing course this semester. For any brave souls in the Vienna area willing to assist me, get your dancing shoes on, preferably construction boots so I don't break your toes.

As I was not very camera happy that night, I don't have many pictures, and I have even less interesting ones. Unfortunately, my tech-retardedness is preventing me from figuring out how to post the pics here. I'll try to figure it out soon, otherwise I'll probably just upload some to Flickr.

Applications for dancing partners being accepted until the end of the month!! =P

My very own "Letter of Truth"...

How long am I allowed to use jetlag as an excuse?? It's almost 3AM and I have no intentions of going to sleep. Not to mention to sporadicalness of my sleeping habits lately. Take last night for example, went to bed around 10, woke up at 3, went to bed at 6, woke up at 2, just in time to make it to a class that I fould out was cancelled when I got there....who does this?? The worst thing of all is my addiction to other AIESECers weblogs. Seriously, if you've realized that your blogs have been getting hit quite often lately, it's probably me. Why are other people's lives that much more interesting than my own, and why the hell am I not out making my life interesting?

This brought a very real revelation today...as I was perusing a fellow nomad's blog, reading of their accomplishments in 04 and goals in 05, I realized, I'm not where I want to be right now. Sitting here in Vienna, I am wasting my time. A realization made quite a while before, but one that I desperately tried to deny, until today, when it really slapped me in the face. Looking back at the last semester, I realized I haven't done much. Compared to my summertime adventures, I haven't done anything!! For one bent on living a life of possibilities, passionately avoiding mediocrity, this was a severe blow. Even my elaborate and rather convincing excuses couldn't save me from the truth.

Let's examine the last couple of months:

Vienna is beautiful, but it's no Cairo. My adventurous spirit wants more desert safaris, SCUBA diving, climbing mountains, even Cairo taxis. Even though I've been dying to return to Europe, I just realized that I'm not ready to do that yet. Maybe down the road, when I want to settle down (I'm sure I'll get there someday), I'll end up living in some beautiful, warm European city, but until then, I'm ready to go the road less traveled by.

My two semesters here are setting me back academically. How much, I don't know, I haven't been able to get myself to do the planning yet. This, however, is where I feel like I'm wasting the most of my time. None of the courses I'm taking here are transferring as requirements to my home Uni. And because there is a shortage of interesting, available courses, the ones I'm taking aren't even that good. Add to this the fact that I speak worse German than I did before I got here, which was my main reason for choosing to come to Austria, and I'm not a happy camper.

As a side note before I go on, I don't want to play the victim here, and I'm sure that I haven't necessarily taken every opportunity that knocked on my door, and I'm sure I can change things, this is just a reflection of what has happened.

Traveling has been non-existent lately. I was planning to have practically half the continent under my belt by now, but at the moment, I've added only 3 new countries to my impressively lacking travel repertoire...and one of them was because of a flight connection going back to Chicago. Pathetic, really.

So I'm not learning, growing or even moving...and I don't like that. Vienna is great, don't get me wrong, but for some reason, I'm not out there enjoying all the greatness. I'm sure this reason will come down to just plain laziness, but no matter what it is, I need to change it. The major obstacle in my way?? How will I do that...any suggestions welcome.

Global Roaming...

And so the roaming continues. I finally flew out of Chicago yesterday, and am back in Vienna for the next couple of months. Hopefully these turn out to be a bit more exciting than the last. I'm not complaining, I'm just ready for more adventure, more travelling. With my trusty Let's Go Europe 2005 guide, I'm ready for anything!

But first, I have to unpack and tomorrow, I'm getting ready to party like royalty at the WU Ball insha allah (God willing for all you non-arabi speakers). Pics to come soon, I hope! Now, my jet-lagged self is going to get some much needed beauty rest....ciao!!....zzzz

I'm in shock...

I think hell just froze over. A new law has been enacted that actually bans smoking in ITALY!!! To my understanding, it's similar to the no smoking law currently in effect in NYC that prevents smoking inside public establishments, but I could be wrong. Regardless, since Europe has been pretty slow to jump on the anti-smoking bandwagon, this is like, a MONUMENTAL step in the right direction. Let's just hope that this actually gets enforced, and more importantly, more countries will see that if Italy can do it, so can they.

Kasia
Encouraging healthy lungs everywhere!!

Ready...Set...No, not yet!

In less than 2 hours I am supposed to be boarding my flight back to Vienna, by way of London. Instead, I'm sitting at home practically an advertisement for Vick's NyQuil. You know the "sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever" people. Yeah, believe me, I didn't skip any steps this time around. Reading the label is like reading a checklist of how I feel. So, needless to say I have cancelled my flight, and postponed it until later this week. I'm not sure when yet, but I'm hoping I'll be able to get back to Vienna by Friday. The WU Ball is coming up this Saturday, and that's something I've been looking forward to for over a year. The Ball is an annual event that puts any of the formals/dances at my University to shame. The main reason? It's held at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in the center of Vienna. Hopefully I'll get to go, but we'll see how the sniffling, sneezing thing goes first.

Hope all of you are still happy and healthy!

Kasia (Achoo!)

Salaam reunion at WSC 2005!!!

Salaam reunion at WSC 2005!!!
Originally uploaded by KasiaS.

Reminiscing about desert safaris, inappropriate beach moments, and underwater adventures. Wishing all of you an amazing new year full of even more life changing adventures!!

xoxo
Kasia

Happy New Year??

What an excellent way to start out my new year....sick and in bed. Worst of all, I'm travelling in two days and need to be back on my feet as soon as I get to Vienna. But, being the cheery optimist that I am, I'm actually enjoying not having to do anything for a while. Especially after a rather energy draining conference this past week (WSC 2005!!!).

I've had lots of time to sit and reflect on the past year, remembering the good times, the bad times, and the what the hell was I thinking times (most of the last ones turning out to be the best ever!). Remembering U of I, old friends, new friends and leading so many "lives" I'm beginning to lose count. Of course remembering my ventures in the the Arab world and all that that entails. Then moving to one of the most cultural places in Europe, Vienna!! What an exciting year it has been, but in 2005 I'm ready to top it. As the cheesy quote goes: "Aim high and shoot at the moon, even if you miss at least you'll be among the stars." So, the major resolution for 2005?? Make it better than 2004. Now that's aiming high!

Cheers!
Kasia