Baltimore: Night Two

Last night was an interesting mix of chilling at home, checking out a birthday party of a friend of Zach's, and heading out to Federal Hill to have some drinks at the Thirsty Dog. Before we did all that, we had dinner at the PaperMoon Diner, which is whacky and a whole lot of fun. Thirsty Dog has about 15 house brews on tap, and you order 2 at a time for $3...which is crazy, but since we had four people, it all worked out. We ended up going through most of the varieties, and eacher was tasted just like it's description. Yay! We even had some fresh, hot pretzels and spicy mustard, which reminded me of all the trips to various breweries that I took last year in Germany. It was really nice to hang out down here for a few days, because I finally had time to just catch up with Zach. Today he's got a concert, which is a student conductor with the wind ensemble. I'm excited to hear him perform, since it's been awhile. Woohoo! I love visiting!

Baltimore: Night One

I'm off in Baltimore visiting the one and only Zach. It's been fun so far, but unfortunately I've got to get through a whole bunch of work this afternoon. Last night I had a super easy drive down (only about 2 hours!) and then we headed out to some of his favorite local places. I've only really ever been able to visit twice back during my senior year, so it was nice to hang out, especially since I only got to see him for a short time this summer while we were both home! We went out to the Owl, which used to be a Baltimore speak-easy. When the owl's eyes were lit up, then they would serve. We had some yummy pizza and I tried the house amber lager. Yumm. Then we went across the street to the Brewer's Art, where they serve beer in goblets. We had the Resurrection beer, which was quite tasty. Zach wants to get one of his brews on tap there before he leaves Baltimore. That would be wicked sweet. While waiting for the bathroom, the guy in front of me turned around and said, "well what do you say in situations like this? man i gotta pee?" and then he jetted off into one of the bathrooms. I was still waiting for the other one to open up, when his friend came up to me and asked, "was that wierd? i love that guy. he's my campaign manager, and he just thinks out of the box so much of the time. it's great." luckily for me the other bathroom opened up just then, and I snuck off. Now by chance this same pair of guys was standing just next to/behind Zach and I, and when I got back to Zach, they were rehashing the conversations we had had. It was bizarre. Yeah Baltimore. Oh and when we got home, Family Guy was on. I love that show!

Me and my Grandpa!

sunny day

Today is the first sunny day in a week. It is positively wonderfully delightful outside. Even though I am buried in work, I decided to take a walk this afternoon, just because. Oh and it's supposed to start raining again tomorrow forever and a day. Perfect. So I walked downtown and got a coffee (thanks to Nujy's gift certificates!) and then wandered through campus. It reminded me of everything that I like about Princeton, which is a good thing because the past week has been far too frustrating for me. The amount of work I am trying to get through just seems to be impossible, and I've got the GRE on Wednesday, during what will probably be my second busiest week of the whole semester. On the other hand, I applied for a really cool job today, and my super housemate helped me with the cover letter, so I feel really solid about the whole prospect. Last night I took myself out to a movie, which was possibly the best thing I could do. It was fun, and then I drove around figuring out what I want to get done during the second half of teacher prep. I think one of my new goals is to meet a handful of non-Princeton people. Not quite sure how I am going to do that, but my housemates will undoubtedly be a great resource. So cheers to new aspirations!

Thoughts to keep me company

now I'm here

It's been an interested few weeks getting settled back into life in Princeton. Then again, I don't think I've actually readjusted to being here. I was thinking back to moving into Bamberg and how exciting and new everything was. That has no part of my move back to NJ. It's a unbalancing juxtaposition of the old and comfortable and the new and challenging. Most of the time I just so busy with lesson planning and everything for teacher prep that I don't really have much time to examine where I am and where I am going. A bit scary since I'll be taking the GRE oh so shortly. I like what I am doing over at the Central High School, but it is challenging everything about me, from why I am interested in teaching to where I draw my support from. There are times when I long to be back in Bamberg and other when Boston really feels like my home. Yet here I am in Princeton, facing it with an inquisitive mind and not at all sure where I am headed. I guess that is just where I am meant to be right now. Everything seems so unsettled right now, but maybe this is still a part of my latest transition.