Greetings from Sunnydale

I've decided that it's finally time to end my long hiblognation. I'm not totally sure why I took such a long hiatus, but I think ultimately I felt (at least at the beginning) that I didn't have much to say. Our interminably long spring break was hardly filled with exciting adventures and amusing anecdotes. Of course, that never stopped me before, so that explanation doesn't cut it. No, when I think back over the past 5 weeks, there's only one new variable that stands out: my life has been taken over by Buffy. While I've always been an unabashed pop culture nerd, there are few precedents for how deeply I'm immersed myself in the Buffyverse. I've torn through nearly 6 seasons of Buffy, and nearly 3 seasons of Angel,its spin-off. I've managed to slow myself to the pace of one season per week, but its nearly impossible to a go a day without sneaking in a few episodes. So I guess what it all boils down to is that all of my blogging time became consumed by Buffy time. I promise not to turn this into a Buffy-blog, so I'll do my best to pry myself away from Sunnydale just long enough to return to regular Vienna-related musings.

Contrary to popular opinion, I haven't turned into a complete recluse. Well, I guess I should qualify that: I haven't turned into more of a recluse than I normally am. The main obstacle to getting out more often hasn't been my buffy-addiction; instead, the primary issue is the plummeting dollar. As of now, the one US dollar equals under .63 euros (in other words, one euro is $1.59). Want to grab a small espresso for 3 euro? Sorry that's $4.77. How about going out at night for a beer? Good luck paying under $6. A couple of weeks ago I went out for Indian food with John and Alex. As many of you know, I absolutely love Indian food, particularly many of the $7 lunch buffets back home. Well, for what I would consider a very good, but still relatively unremarkable meal, the three of us paid a total of 70 euros. There goes $111. In the past week, I've spent a truly absurd amount of money, thanks to a two day sojourn in Budapest, a few dinners out, and new textbooks for my German course. Without getting into the gory details, I'm pretty sure I've spent more in the last two weeks than I did all of last semester at Trinity.

There have been a few promising developments on the budget front however. Thanks to a tip from a new German friend, we found an Irish pub with outstanding drink specials during the week. At our old standby pub, Charlie P's, a shot and a Guinness sets you back just under 10 euro (around $16)--at the new place, Waxy Murphy's, during the week you can get the same thing for 3 euro (under 5 bucks). Additionally, the weather is on the verge of becoming quite nice (hopefully). We've had a few hints of spring weather, so I'm hoping to hang my winter coat up for good next week. Consequently, the city is starting to become a little more outdoor oriented. Cafes have set up outdoor seating areas, parks are beginning to fill up, and major pedestrian areas have more life. In general, walking around the city has become much more pleasant, providing a free source of entertainment.

Just to prove, however, that I have left my room and had some fun during my hiatus, here are my top 5 highlights over the past month (in no particular order):

1)Budapest
Awesome, awesome city. Beautiful architecture and more statues and monuments per square than any city I've ever been to (outside of Rome). Here's me hanging out with some Hungarian heroes:

The nerd in me was really excited by the old castle in Buda (on the appropriately named Castle Hill). I mean, castles in general are cool, but this one happened to look exactly like Minas Tirith, the white city in The Return of the King. Here's the view of the castle walls (from inside):
My only warning for those of you planning on visiting Budapest is that Hungarian is the craziest language I've ever encountered. Here's a quote from my travel guide: "No other language that uses Latin script is as baffling as Hungarian. Normally in a European country you would expect to be able to understand a few written words - the basics, the essentials. Come to Hungary with such expectations and they are soon dashed against the harsh rocks of impossible letter combinations, absurdly long words, and endless accents." Kind of daunting, huh?

2)The Hives concert
Since freshman year of high school, I've wanted to see The Hives in concert, so 15 year old Matt had a blast. They definitely lived up to their reputation as one of the world's most entertaining live acts. Nulla Salus Sine The Hives!


3) Tacos Lopez
Real Mexican food in Wien=happiness for Matt. Plus they have a little store inside the restaurant with salsa, nopales, tequila, etc. My first sip of horchata was a very welcome taste of home.

4) Pitchfork.tv
An on-demand online music tv channel with a collection of awesome music videos, live performances, and interviews growing everyday. Checking for new content has become a daily source of entertainment. Highlights so far: The Thermals tearing through a couple of their most rousing numbers on a New York rooftop, Vampire Weekend dabbling in baroque pop with M79, my favorite track off their debut, with help from a Julliard-trained string trio, a glimpse into the insane world of Man Man whose latest LP Rabbit Habbits is my favorite album of the year so far, the video for one of my all-time favorite songs (Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros' "Johnny Appleseed"), and finally discovering the videos of Encyclopedia Pictura, one of my favorite new directors. Check his visually stunning takes on Grizzly Bear's "Knife" and Bjork's "Wanderlust".

5) Repeatedly stealing John's ukulele
Cuz ukuleles are fun.