As Bono Once Sang....

"It's been a while"


"Sending you a smile from Transylvania"
Superfluous Superfluous Redundancy. Now THAT'S Superflous!


So. In summation:
-Right before Christmas - while riding my bike home from a good lift with Laura, I'm struck by a strange sensation. What is it? I thought. Hey, that's happiness! For the first time, I've found a group of friends with whome I actually can relate to. Though each friend brings out a different of my varied qualities, it is amazing to have realized such friendships and connections I have barely before realized while being an ocean away from home.
-Christmas = Excellent.
-Reunion with Caitlin and Tibi = Phenomenal. It was such a relief to just feel completely comfortable again.
-Budapest = Beautiful. Apparently there's a lot mroe to it than an ice rink and a shady hotel.
-Transylvania = Food. And lots of it. At least 2.5 kilos worth.
-Things that make me happy on Christmas = hershey kisses from grandma; Holy Cross hockey pucks from Dean Peace.
-New Years Eve = Failing to find a single pair of shoes in all of Transylvania into which I could slide my enormous feet. Good times, lots of dancing and lots of champagne nonetheless.
-Transylvania = Citadels. Churches. Food. Citadels. Churches. Food. Dance parties. Gotta love Tibi. I brought my running shoes, but instead of working out I did the next best thing and ate 5 pieces of cake at every meal.
-Copenhagen = Caitlin learns the Spaniard was right: It's fuckin cold in Denmark. And dark.
-And I'm Back = Hurting a bit getting back into shape, but I'm about there now. Semi got ousted from my living arrangement (it really came down to giving my hosts some space), and now I'm moving from place to place with different teammates. However, it's all good and so much better for learning about the women about whom I want to write. The past two weeks I've been living with Tine Perry, female hockey icon in Denmark and following her as she coaches/watches/gets up at 7am with her kids, go to practice and talk all day with her. And work out. A lot. God bless mothers and all that they do. And she's got an American husband and thus English speaking kids and a kick ass electronic cappucino machine to boot.
-Hockey = better all the time. The season's at a lull, but I feel incredible out there and am amazed by how much I'm improving. AND now there's a new american..former Brown player (current junior) here studying for the semester. now I'm not the new kid anymore and can actually show someone else the ropes!
-"Research" = beyond learning about Tine, I spent last weekend helping coach at the national team camp for 4 days and this weekend was the day camp I had for all of the potential national players in Jutland. A HUGE success I'll talk more on soon. (I swear!).
-Time = Almost up! Can't believe it, but I've only got 4 weeks in Denmark plus one more in the middle when I'm meeting up with some guy in Italy to watch the Olympics....and maybe do some sight-seeing too. And by maybe, I mean Rome, Florence and Venice.
-Sunshine = forecasted for August 3rd...conference at Davidson College...right near lake NORMAN. Here comes the sun, little darlin. And honestly, now that it's time to leave Denmark, the sun is finally coming up earlier than 10am and staying out more than 30 min. WTF?!
-And how are you, dear readers?
The only good dance parties are 80's dance parties....but I do like that new Black Eyed Peas song about "my lovely lady lumps." And by like, I mean: "are these people SERIOUSLY SERIOUS?" Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

1940's Black and White Movie Kiss in a certifiably "romantic" setting in Transylvania....Stoker and Shelley would have been eating their hearts out (or at least sucking the blood out of! bahdaboom i'm good!...and it turns out Stoker never even WENT to transylvania!