Frequent flier miles.

I am very, very excited because we have a guest speaker tonight for class, and it's Marina Lewycka, who wrote A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian! We've had a bunch of guest speakers this term, but no prominent, modern novelists. Especially not ones I actually LIKE! So I am happy and looking forward to class!

This weekend is my Paris trip. Three days and two nights in the City of Light to mark my entrance into the world 27 years ago. I'm over the moon that I'm going, but I really wish it wasn't going to be the worst Parisian weather weekend ever while I'm there. Freezing cold and raining. Sound familiar? I don't mind the cold, but it would be nice to have a respite from the rain for even a couple days.

Next term (and summer), I'd like to try to hit the following locations: Florence, Vienna, Krakow, Ljubljana, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Budapest, Stockholm, Prague, and Berlin. I realize that maybe only two or three of these will be possible, but a girl can dream, can't she? RyanAir, with its £10 flights, makes traveling so easy here.

We are hosting a Thanksgiving here at my flat for a bunch of other Americans (and my Indian and Russian flatmates). It's potluck, so there's not too much stress involved for me, but I'm on turkey duty, so I'm a tad bit nervous. And I'm nervous about relinquishing culinary control. If I had it my way (and had both the financial and kitchen resources), I'd love to do Thanksgiving 100% myself. But I'm poor and have no pots/pans/utensils. So potluck it is.

I fly back to the States two weeks from tomorrow. In someways, it feels like I just left, and I think it's because my core group of friends ended up being American (there are so many Americans in both my housing complex and my program). So I don't feel very removed. Though I do feel removed from Chipotle. And Target.