i only like jiffy peanut butter. but cashew butter is also tasty.
my favorite grocery store is albertsons.
i like chicken mostly. then fish of all kinds.
do you have anything important preferences?
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
I listened to this song on the plane.
"Wide Open Spaces"
Who doesn't know what I'm talking about
Who's never left home, who's never struck out
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone
Many precede and many will follow
A young girl's dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out west (OR FAR EAST)
But what it holds for her, she hasn't yet guessed
She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes
She traveled this road as a child
Wide eyed and grinning, she never tired
But now she won't be coming back with the rest
If these are life's lessons, she'll take this test
As her folks drive away, her dad yells, "Check the oil!"
Mom stares out the window and says, "I'm leaving my girl"
She said, "It didn't seem like that long ago"
When she stood there and let her own folks know
Now I'm coming home. I saw my Wide Open Spaces :).
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Closing Time
Well here I am with less than 2 weeks left. I've been doing well. I have finals this week, then a few days left in Klaipeda with friends, and then its coming home time. Man. Unbelievable.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Recent Updates
Hello all,
I've finally replied to all emails.... I'm sorry I've been behind. I started working at the Radisson Hotel for my practicum and I'm working 20 hours a week. So my energy level is much less. Last night I slept 14 hours. Haha. I love working there. I'm meeting more Lithuanians and learning a lot about placing silverware and the service industry.
ONLY 29 days left!! Woo, I'm ready to come home. I miss American food and a whole bunch of stuff. The other day Clayton and I spent an hour listing all thing were excited for. For example, drive thrus, cars, cell phones lol. We've seen some amazing things but I'm tired and ready for American conveniences.
Last weekend we went to Riga, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia. That was a fun experience, very relaxed and we had mostly free time to explore the city and see what we wanted. We went to the Occupation museum where we learned about the Stalin/Hitler Pact that divided this area. Very interesting and sad. They had a replica of the Siberian concentration camps and it was so small and 60 people stayed in one bunker. Unbelievable. So many people focus on the horrors of the Holocaust, but forget what happened in the area that I'm living in right now. Tallinn was really cool with 16th century cobblestones as streets and lots of architecture from that era. Riga is a fun city with tons of nightlife. We had a good time there. Also it was nice to see the other study abroads, some of which I haven't seen since Russia.
I want to thank you all for your words of encouragement and emails again. It's been great motivator and a blessing for my spirit.
Keep in touch and much love
Pictures from Riga/Tallinn
http://picasaweb.google.com/hannahsink/RigaTallinnTrip
I've finally replied to all emails.... I'm sorry I've been behind. I started working at the Radisson Hotel for my practicum and I'm working 20 hours a week. So my energy level is much less. Last night I slept 14 hours. Haha. I love working there. I'm meeting more Lithuanians and learning a lot about placing silverware and the service industry.
ONLY 29 days left!! Woo, I'm ready to come home. I miss American food and a whole bunch of stuff. The other day Clayton and I spent an hour listing all thing were excited for. For example, drive thrus, cars, cell phones lol. We've seen some amazing things but I'm tired and ready for American conveniences.
Last weekend we went to Riga, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia. That was a fun experience, very relaxed and we had mostly free time to explore the city and see what we wanted. We went to the Occupation museum where we learned about the Stalin/Hitler Pact that divided this area. Very interesting and sad. They had a replica of the Siberian concentration camps and it was so small and 60 people stayed in one bunker. Unbelievable. So many people focus on the horrors of the Holocaust, but forget what happened in the area that I'm living in right now. Tallinn was really cool with 16th century cobblestones as streets and lots of architecture from that era. Riga is a fun city with tons of nightlife. We had a good time there. Also it was nice to see the other study abroads, some of which I haven't seen since Russia.
I want to thank you all for your words of encouragement and emails again. It's been great motivator and a blessing for my spirit.
Keep in touch and much love
Pictures from Riga/Tallinn
http://picasaweb.google.com/hannahsink/RigaTallinnTrip
Russia part 2
Alright *sigh* second half. Where did we leave off. St. Petersburg... (I'm following my itinerary, because I'm lazy haha). The next day we went to the Hermitage, which was so beautiful, you can see the amazing photos in my web albums and Yuspov Palace, which is a renovated palace with original furniture. It was beautiful and interesting, although common with many of those old
houses, you can only enter half of the rooms. That night we saw the opera, "The Magic Flute" in Russian, which was boring the 1st half, and amazing the second half. It was a little weird because we saw opening night, so it was not quite perfect, but still amazing nevertheless.
The next day we went to the Museum of Political History and the battle ship Aurora. Those were boring. Moving on.... That afternoon we relaxed at the hostel and got coffee at a local cafe. That evening we went to a very modern ballet called the "The Glass Heart," it was beautiful and all the pictures from the ballet you can see how the Mariinsky Theater, where the most famous ballerinas of all time dance (and the Swan Lake was debuted) contributed to the atmosphere. That night we went back to Fidel with a big group and had an equally good time. The last day we packed up our things, explored St. Petersburg a little more and then got on the train.
Overall impressions of St. Petersburg: The culture in St. Petersburg was absolutely wonderful. Seeing a ballet and an opera in some of the most famous halls in the world by itself was such a unique experience that I am very grateful for. We saw so much on this trip I had a hard time truly enjoying everything, but looking back at all the pictures I took I'm so glad we saw so much. The Hermitage was amazing and I loved every part of it. They told us that if we spent 1 minute at every painting at the Hermitage, it would take 2 years to see every single painting. It was so huge and had so many paintings in a room that sometimes you'd be standing in front of a picture and you'd realize you're looking at a Monet, Picasso, Degas etc. I would love to go back to St. Petersburg and spend weeks there.
A few more pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/hannahsink/Russia2008Part2
houses, you can only enter half of the rooms. That night we saw the opera, "The Magic Flute" in Russian, which was boring the 1st half, and amazing the second half. It was a little weird because we saw opening night, so it was not quite perfect, but still amazing nevertheless.
The next day we went to the Museum of Political History and the battle ship Aurora. Those were boring. Moving on.... That afternoon we relaxed at the hostel and got coffee at a local cafe. That evening we went to a very modern ballet called the "The Glass Heart," it was beautiful and all the pictures from the ballet you can see how the Mariinsky Theater, where the most famous ballerinas of all time dance (and the Swan Lake was debuted) contributed to the atmosphere. That night we went back to Fidel with a big group and had an equally good time. The last day we packed up our things, explored St. Petersburg a little more and then got on the train.
Overall impressions of St. Petersburg: The culture in St. Petersburg was absolutely wonderful. Seeing a ballet and an opera in some of the most famous halls in the world by itself was such a unique experience that I am very grateful for. We saw so much on this trip I had a hard time truly enjoying everything, but looking back at all the pictures I took I'm so glad we saw so much. The Hermitage was amazing and I loved every part of it. They told us that if we spent 1 minute at every painting at the Hermitage, it would take 2 years to see every single painting. It was so huge and had so many paintings in a room that sometimes you'd be standing in front of a picture and you'd realize you're looking at a Monet, Picasso, Degas etc. I would love to go back to St. Petersburg and spend weeks there.
A few more pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/hannahsink/Russia2008Part2
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Finally...Russia update
So I've gotten a few emails asking about how Russia/life has been lately. Well to be honest, it's almost busy :)
The Russia trip was amazing. It was jam-packed full of activities, touring, and walking (almost 5 miles a day of walking!). So we took a bus to Riga and that was relaxing. As a break we stopped at the Hill of Crosses, which as you can see from pictures was breathtaking. Thousands and thousands of crosses put on a hill as a response to the Soviets trying to remove religious symbols. It started with one cross that the Soviets kept burning down, and overnight the villagers would put it back. Eventually, people started bring tons of crosses and now it something of a religious monument.
After the bus to Riga, we took an amazing overnight train to Moscow. It was hilarious to fill an entire sleeper car with our group, that was the beginning of the bonding. See pictures of the adorable cabins. I slept like a baby due to the constant motion of the train and the cozy beds.
We arrived in Moscow around 10 in the morning and got to experience our first subway. In Moscow, they are ornately decorated, but it is illegal to take pictures and you can get arrested if you try, so you're gonna have to trust me on that one. I have a few pictures of the escalators I'll add to the photo album. Some of the stations are so large, that at their deepest point they are 90 meters or about 300 feet underground. That first day we we went first to the Red Square. It was so overwhelming, but not as big as I imagined. I thought I would be very impressed with its grandeur (considering it hosts a very complicated history), but it was just okay for me. We also visited the mall in the Red Square, a very boring (in my opinion) 3-hour walking tour of Kremlin, and the CIRCUS! So the walking tour would have been interesting if it was soooo long. Literally, standing for 3 hours straight listening to this burly Russian woman talk history, was not my cup o' tea.
The circus was a highlight of many people's trip. It was definitely geared at little kids, but there were some amazing tightrope walkers and acrobats. I had more fun watching the little girl next to me enjoy herself so much then the actual show. Every time the lions roared she would squeal or giggle.
The next day we went to St. Basil's Cathedral and Christ the Savior cathedral, both were absolutely beautiful. Especially Christ the Savior, which is the one with the world famous domes. We got to go to the Russian souvenir market, but I didn't buy anything because I didn't have a Russian speaker with me, so I would of had to pay tourist prices which were kinna outrageous. Then we we one a sightseeing tour of Moscow in air, both by Ferris wheel and monorail. I'll be honest. Not very pretty. Smoggy, and stretched for miles. After all of that and dinner, we went to Red Square at night, which was so beautiful (see photos).
The final day in Moscow we were supposed to visit Lenin's tomb, but he was getting a wardrobe change and was closed that day. Besides the fact that he is stuffed, he gets his outfit changed once a week. Nuts.
Overall impressions of Moscow: The city was depressing and enormous. It was so big I felt like we spent more time underground on the subways to get from place to place then actually seeing things. Everyone was very stern, our interns were very careful of how loud we were, how much playing around we did, and since political elections had taken place only a week before we came, we were watching constantly for political riots/unrest. The police (as you may know) are allowed to check your documents whenever they like, so we had to be aware of our passports and visas at all times. And on top of that on the lookout for gypsy kids, which are notorious for surrounding tourists and pickpocketing them. This, despite the cool tourist sights we saw, put a damper on my overall impression.
That night we took an evening train to St. Petersburg. For some reason they added an extra first class sleeper train and we got such lush accommodations, including two meals, TV and movies etc. It was very nice to kick back and relax since we had be going from 8-11pm every day in Moscow. In St. Petersburg, on the first day, we did a 5 hour walking tour of the city. It sounds horrible, but it was great. Our tour guide spoke perfect, no accent English, and was the owner of these "alternative" group tours. He asked us what we wanted to see, could answer every history/geography question we could think of, and we got lunch at a cafe. We visited the Split Blood Church that day as well, which is a modern version of the domed cathedrals. We visited Nikolayevsky's palace and went to the "Feel Yourself Russian" folk show.
The "Feel Yourself Russian" show was hilarious. It was a very expensive tourist trap, but hilarious. It was full of Russian folk dancing and singing, set in a 19th century palace. We we entered this concert hall, we were greeted with caroler-type singers with shots of Russian vodka. It was hilarious to see everyone try the awful stuff. After going to our seats they brought out more shots and our trip coordinators enjoyed themselves (Lithuanians like vodka). The show was so funny with audience members getting pulled up on stage to dance. After the "Feel Yourself Russian" folk show, the interns went four different places and Vlad took a bunch of us to to this local dive-bar called "Fidel." They were playing cheesy American dance music (like "I love Rock and Roll") and we had so much fun.
Okay I can only do these updates in stints. So I'll be back for the other half.
Much love
The Russia trip was amazing. It was jam-packed full of activities, touring, and walking (almost 5 miles a day of walking!). So we took a bus to Riga and that was relaxing. As a break we stopped at the Hill of Crosses, which as you can see from pictures was breathtaking. Thousands and thousands of crosses put on a hill as a response to the Soviets trying to remove religious symbols. It started with one cross that the Soviets kept burning down, and overnight the villagers would put it back. Eventually, people started bring tons of crosses and now it something of a religious monument.
After the bus to Riga, we took an amazing overnight train to Moscow. It was hilarious to fill an entire sleeper car with our group, that was the beginning of the bonding. See pictures of the adorable cabins. I slept like a baby due to the constant motion of the train and the cozy beds.
We arrived in Moscow around 10 in the morning and got to experience our first subway. In Moscow, they are ornately decorated, but it is illegal to take pictures and you can get arrested if you try, so you're gonna have to trust me on that one. I have a few pictures of the escalators I'll add to the photo album. Some of the stations are so large, that at their deepest point they are 90 meters or about 300 feet underground. That first day we we went first to the Red Square. It was so overwhelming, but not as big as I imagined. I thought I would be very impressed with its grandeur (considering it hosts a very complicated history), but it was just okay for me. We also visited the mall in the Red Square, a very boring (in my opinion) 3-hour walking tour of Kremlin, and the CIRCUS! So the walking tour would have been interesting if it was soooo long. Literally, standing for 3 hours straight listening to this burly Russian woman talk history, was not my cup o' tea.
The circus was a highlight of many people's trip. It was definitely geared at little kids, but there were some amazing tightrope walkers and acrobats. I had more fun watching the little girl next to me enjoy herself so much then the actual show. Every time the lions roared she would squeal or giggle.
The next day we went to St. Basil's Cathedral and Christ the Savior cathedral, both were absolutely beautiful. Especially Christ the Savior, which is the one with the world famous domes. We got to go to the Russian souvenir market, but I didn't buy anything because I didn't have a Russian speaker with me, so I would of had to pay tourist prices which were kinna outrageous. Then we we one a sightseeing tour of Moscow in air, both by Ferris wheel and monorail. I'll be honest. Not very pretty. Smoggy, and stretched for miles. After all of that and dinner, we went to Red Square at night, which was so beautiful (see photos).
The final day in Moscow we were supposed to visit Lenin's tomb, but he was getting a wardrobe change and was closed that day. Besides the fact that he is stuffed, he gets his outfit changed once a week. Nuts.
Overall impressions of Moscow: The city was depressing and enormous. It was so big I felt like we spent more time underground on the subways to get from place to place then actually seeing things. Everyone was very stern, our interns were very careful of how loud we were, how much playing around we did, and since political elections had taken place only a week before we came, we were watching constantly for political riots/unrest. The police (as you may know) are allowed to check your documents whenever they like, so we had to be aware of our passports and visas at all times. And on top of that on the lookout for gypsy kids, which are notorious for surrounding tourists and pickpocketing them. This, despite the cool tourist sights we saw, put a damper on my overall impression.
That night we took an evening train to St. Petersburg. For some reason they added an extra first class sleeper train and we got such lush accommodations, including two meals, TV and movies etc. It was very nice to kick back and relax since we had be going from 8-11pm every day in Moscow. In St. Petersburg, on the first day, we did a 5 hour walking tour of the city. It sounds horrible, but it was great. Our tour guide spoke perfect, no accent English, and was the owner of these "alternative" group tours. He asked us what we wanted to see, could answer every history/geography question we could think of, and we got lunch at a cafe. We visited the Split Blood Church that day as well, which is a modern version of the domed cathedrals. We visited Nikolayevsky's palace and went to the "Feel Yourself Russian" folk show.
The "Feel Yourself Russian" show was hilarious. It was a very expensive tourist trap, but hilarious. It was full of Russian folk dancing and singing, set in a 19th century palace. We we entered this concert hall, we were greeted with caroler-type singers with shots of Russian vodka. It was hilarious to see everyone try the awful stuff. After going to our seats they brought out more shots and our trip coordinators enjoyed themselves (Lithuanians like vodka). The show was so funny with audience members getting pulled up on stage to dance. After the "Feel Yourself Russian" folk show, the interns went four different places and Vlad took a bunch of us to to this local dive-bar called "Fidel." They were playing cheesy American dance music (like "I love Rock and Roll") and we had so much fun.
Okay I can only do these updates in stints. So I'll be back for the other half.
Much love
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