Europe

europe has been pretty amazing so far. what i especially love about this place is the fact that, when you feel like, you can just hop onto a train and go traveling. i bring it up because i just put together a few collages from the photos from my weekend trips. a collage, because uploading every single photo would just clog my post. click on the collage for larger size.

so, first paris. what struck me most about paris was the grandeur of the place. the buildings, the squares, the statues, gardens, everything seemed so grand. but it's also a city of tourists. the lines were painfully long, whether at the eiffel tower or at the louvre. thankfully though, the public restrooms here, unlike in most of europe, were free of charge!

this next collage is München, or Munich. i chose to not go there during oktoberfest because of everyone telling me about how crowded and rowdy it would be. i would apparently have to wait in long lines without any certainty of ever being able to get into the beer tents. so i attended the oktoberfest organized by the city i'm in instead. was a lof of fun! germans love their fests. oktoberfest is one of many fests here. unlike oktoberfest, which is attended by more americans than germans, other fests are less touristy, and with more of the local flavor. here's the photos i took in munich when i visited it a little later. it was a lovely place. i loved the train ride through bavarian meadows and typical little picturesque villages to get there.

i would post more collages, but there seems to be a glitch in Picasa, the software I'm using to make these. my external storage drive keeps vanishing from picasa, making this a frustrating experience. not to mention blogger not allowing me to upload the photos for some unknown reason. i'm glad to be finally done with the hassle. i will post more photos in upcoming posts.

ciao!

2009!

so i checked and it seems i gave up on blogging halfway through 2007 and skipped 2008 entirely, but here i am back again in 2009! that sajha.com discussion about nepali bloggers seems to have been just the push i needed.

anyway, a lot has happened between my last post and this one. the major one being that i am now in germany, studying abroad. ich habe mehr als fünf monaten hier schon geblieben, aber habe ich sechs monaten noch zu studieren. came here with no knowledge of german, but i think i'm getting along fine now.

i'm thinking about making this blog less intrusive into my personal life. but i don't know... i guess i'll just write my thoughts down and see what happens. when i make my posts about myself, it's fun to read them months or years down the line and see how life was faring for me back then. but i risk losing readers this way. haha... who am i kidding. i lost all my readers way back already!

anyway, i'll leave it at that for today. by the way, reading my old posts, i couldn't help but notice my style of minimizing the use of capital letters... and i actually edited this post to conform with the style. i kinda like it!

summer!!

yay! it's finally summer! the first couple of days were pretty hectic, what with not just moving to summer housing, but helping three other people move as well. moving is a real pain! this is when you hate being the one with the big fridges, tvs or whatever. thankfully, i didn't have to worry about carrying any extra-large stuff. the only good thing about moving is, you find stuff you had totally forgotten about. like i found these nice hand-made calendars from back home, and other stuff.

anyway, the dorm i have moved to is way better than the one i've been living in. it's big, spacious, carpeted, has AC, attached bathroom, a common room and the dorm has an elevator! so living on the third floor is not as bad. it's also close to the engineering building, so i don't have to walk too far for summer research.

speaking of research, it's begun already. monday was a drag, but the work has gotten more fun. like today i voluntarily stayed in the lab from 7 am till 7 pm. I was allowed to make some really big decisions by myself, which was really cool. I even got to cut thick steel today, in addition to drilling, tapping, priming and painting metal! This is the first time they let me touch that stuff, let alone handle them myself! eli is a great lab partner. he's fun to work with.

and umm.. we had a barbecue today! only one cafe is open on campus during the summer, and it is expensive, so free food is always great! and the barbecue at the dining hall was great! it was meant especially for the seniors, but of course, everyone on campus joined in.

then, i took a little nap on the couch in our living room because i was too lazy to walk the few meters down to my room. then finally when i was about to go to bed at like 11, daisy im'ed me asking if i had any movies. i told her i had 'lion king'. so yea, i ended up watching that with her and connie in their room. it was fun! who doesn't like lion king??

and now i'm really sleepy and need to go to bed. dunno if i'm goin to the gym tomorrow. oh yea, i've planned to go the gym everyday if possible. I went on tuesday. today i went to the lab early so couldn't go. maybe tomorrow if i'm not as sleepy in the morning since i've been up late, i'll go.

alrighty then. i'm off. take care, world!

end of a great freshman year!!!

Oh wow! Finals are over.. three and a half months of stress-free time to look forward to! Freshman year is over! :D

It's been a fun year, not so great in terms of academics, but whatever. it's been fun, and i think i learned a lot more second semester, especially in engineering design and robotics!

and i created a website when studying for my finals!! http://www.murkha.com! hehe.. it means stupid in nepali, btw! i shoulda been studying though. i coulda waited a few days for this kinda stuff! anyway, the site is up and i will be workin on it over time. the exams didn't go too shabby either.

Last night was crazy! After helping connie move to summit for the summer, and hanging out with jesus playin pool, I went with him to this party. It was kinda slow despite having a lot of alcohol and flashing lights! I already had some alcohol in my system when i went with daisy to get corey. however, we ended up goin to corey's place because pike was closed. and then some more alcohol in his place. daisy said she would match what i drank. and she did! she chugged it faster than me.. but well she hadn't drunk any before that! anyway, was a lot of fun! i passed out though, but i was able to get back to my room by 3.

woke up really early today. people are packing and emptying their rooms all around. everyone's leavin. i helped vinit pack too. seein him go, i kinda wanted to go back to nepal too. but oh well, i'm goin during the winter.

i'm just sittin in my room now while people are leavin all around me. i move into summer housing tomorrow. should be fun. oh and i just bought a flight ticket to san jose, CA! i'm stayin at jesus's place for like a week before i fly to florida for the rest of the summer.

alright. i'm headin out again. i don't really want to stay in my room.

Finals!!

Well, finals began today! I was up for most of the night studying for it because I am a procrastinator like that! I get distracted too easily. I was up on the internet for most of the time anyway. The Calc III final itself went alright though. When I first got the paper, it felt like I knew absolutely nothing! But the longer I stayed the more I knew. And by the end of almost three hours (most people had left by then), I had solved all the problems. It remains to how many of them I solved correctly, but I am satisfied with how I did. I miss too many classes so I generally cram everything into the last night. Needless to say, not the best strategy!

Anyway, I came up with some cool ideas as I was 'studying' for the final. I need to build a website this summer. It will be like a portal, but also specialize in a few areas. I also want to put in t-shirt ideas and stuff. It will primarily be targeted to Nepalese students like me. Will I carry my plan through to execution like I don't most things? Again, remains to be seen.

Alright, I'll get back to writing my paper due tomorrow at noon. Less than 11 hours to go and I haven't begun yet!

And I forgot to mention, today has been an unlucky day for me, burning my finger in an idiotic incident involving me, a lighter and a soda can, and then getting another finger wedged between the door and the frame at the library! Both hurt really terribly.. though the former one lasted way too long than I would think such pains lasted!!