I love it..I hate it.

So I'm back from Budapest. The drive from the airport made me feel like I was entering a Russian ghetto, but as soon as we got into the city and the cab driver figured out where we were going (GPS is golden) it turned out to be one of the prettiest cities I've ever been to. NYE was spent drinking bubbly and trying not to fall on ice in heels, going to a pop-punk-indie show with Hungarian HC kids, and hanging out with my MTL people til 5 AM. It was glorious.

We spent the rest of the week drinking vodka, going to spas and exploring cave churches, all while keeping an eye out for signs of the Soviet stronghold. Apparently walking around markets asking for "Commie paraphernalia" isn't a good look.

Seeing the girls definitely got me thinking about a lot of things, namely what I'm doing here in France, what I plan to do next year, and how I can make this experience work to my full advantage. I know that teaching is not something I want to be doing for the rest of my life - I work better independently and thoroughly enjoy the work I do when I'm being creative, whether it's through writing, photo or video. I want to enjoy what I do, and not that I don't enjoy teaching, but I just don't see it as a career move right now. I'm really lucky to have the opportunity to live and work in Europe, and I'm glad that I'm over here now because there's definitely a possibility that I'll come back in the future - just not to teach. I'm really happy that I applied to those grad programs in Toronto for next September, and I feel like even if I don't get in, then at least I know that I've got options and a field that I'm genuinely interested in. More thoughts on life to come.

I've emailed a couple of French mags and blogs who do some work in English (and I think could really benefit from someone who isn't French..) about doing some work for them...so we'll see what happens.

Other than that, here are some random thoughts:

1 - When the French have sales, they don't fuck around. Les Soldes are on for the next 3 weeks.

2 - I need to get out of my man pattern - apparently I can find them all over the globe, not just in America.

3 - French firemen are hot.

4 - I like drinking in the streets and watching bboys more than I like hanging out at clubs and watching guidos. True story.

My Buda & Pest pictures are up on fessebook.

Bonne annee! xx