Points of Order

1) In Sofia at the moment, and it's very nice but sort of the additive inverse of what "capital city" means to me. There is a functional tram and a few streets of outdoor cafe-ness, but no clearly-designated central square/series of main boulevards/logic to traffic patterns. It's quite nice, though, some of the governmental offices have interesting architecture and the Alexander Nevski church is beautiful. Also everything is cheap. I want you to picture a tall, cold, frosty mug of delicious draughtbeer, the likes of which you have perhaps only tasted once or twice. I want you then to picture that this beer, this large beverage has cost you less than the equivalent of one (1) United States Dollar [sidenote: I've lost all concept of the dollar, I even forgot if we had a 10-dollar bill (we do); my inner bank trades in Euro]. Imagine now how much sweeter it tastes, quenching that longing for something bitter and cold and delicious, while you're surrounded by people who speak Bulgarian and probably hate you.

2) Greece was amazing. Long, not-really-funny thoughts aplenty. I'd never met my family, never been allowed to, for reasons that escaped even their imposer (that is, my mother). But now I'm thinking: I want to study in Paris or Berlin after college. And maybe take a year in Greece doing who knows what. Why not move to Thessaloniki?. There's nothing for me in New Orleans, not after my friends disperse once and for all; and while there is a concentration of Good Things in Boston, the majority of my friends at BC live all across the country as well. I want to be an expatriate anyway. I don't know, it needs a little more thought, but for now I'm all for it.

3) It's not fair, it's not right, but saying you're from Harvard ("Oh, I'm from New Orleans, but I go to university in Boston." "[Blah blah blah], so where in Boston do you go to university?" "Well...") gets you far.

That's it for now. Budapest on Saturday and Prague sometime thereafter, then Krakow and a backtrack to Bucharest if we can make it work. Hope everyone is taking care of themselves!