A few random thoughts.


1. I LOVE traveling by night train. I’m not really sure why – perhaps it’s the fact that I’m lulled to sleep so easily by the gentle rocking of the carriage as it speeds across the tracks; maybe it’s the idea that I feel like I have SO much room (at least compared to airline travel!); maybe it’s the fact that I’m a dork who loves to watch the scenery (for the few minutes I’m awake, at least) and imagine epic movies being made there. Whatever the case, I love it. There are downsides of course: the ticket-checker likes to come by at the most inopportune moments (when I’m itching my hiney, for example), unexpectedly flipping open the door and yelling what I presume to mean “tickets, please” in another language. Then there’s the whole “sharing a compartment with complete and utter strangers” thing, and the fact that I’m just a couple inches too long to lay out on the couchettes. But in spite of all this, I LOVE traveling by train. I love falling asleep in the middle of nowhere and waking up in a new country. I love opening my eyes and having no idea which part of Europe I’m in now. It’s a constant surprise – what will I see when I draw the curtains? (As I write this, I was just dive-bombed by a pillow thrown by a person sleeping on the upper bunk. That jolted me awake more than any can of Mountain Dew ever could.) Long story short: I love overnight trains. Now if only I can figure out how to barricade myself from the raining debris…

2. For a long while, I’ve believed that Eastern European men have the BEST moustaches. I’m a particularly astute moustache observer as I find hairy faces beyond captivating. I wouldn’t say I’m a fan, persay, but I DO enjoy peering closely and seeing what I can find hiding in the dense facial forest (is that Nutella?!). American moustaches are disappointingly well-groomed; true Colonel Sanders and Clark Gables are few and far between. Not so in Eastern Europe. Here, men have an astounding and seemingly limitless imagination when it comes to shaping facial hair. Just going to class each morning, I encounter two or three masterpieces – the dude in the butcher shop, did he model for a townsperson in “Beauty and the Beast”? The man on the metro, does his moustache do that curly French-chef-shape naturally? And my god, that man is a dead-ringer for Colonel Mustard! Life in Eastern Europe is always an adventure.

3. Bikes are dangerous. No, more than dangerous – DEADLY. You step in front of one and you’re a goner. Sometimes I wonder if bikers are secretly sadists, delighting in every second of the predator-prey game they play with the pedestrians. Honestly, do they stay hidden until the last second on PURPOSE?! Are they aiming for me?! I’m telling you, bikers (in the bicycle sense of the word) are menacing people. BEWARE.

4. My new favorite food is Belgian waffles. No, not the American, breakfast-y kind. I’m talking BELGIAN waffles, the kind they make in Belgium, the kind that induce foodgasm from the first bite. Imagine a donut – the best donut you’ve ever tasted, with just the right amount of sweetness, firm on the outside but warm and soft within. Now imagine taking the first bite of said donut – glorious, yes? Now multiply that happy feeling times 10million, and you will begin to experience the miracle known as the Belgian waffle.

5. I love my family more than anything in the entire world. (You were expecting something else, something more Stef-level flippant and silly, now weren’t you?) But seriously. I am so blessed to be a part of the “happy family” pentagon. Mom, Dad, Sam, and Kristi – I love you more than words can say.