Cooking, cooking, baking!

           Wow, so I totally did not realize I would not manage to post until today! That's ok, though. (: Life's been good! Wednesday... Let me recall Wednesday. The Poland in Europe in 20th Century class went well. I even got my 20th century figure approved of! Although, apparently there are two Józef Hallers... So... I'm going to have to pick one of them, hahaha. Oh, and after class, I was asking Monika and Nate what they wanted for dinner, right? So I suggested pizza pork chops! And our professor gave us the weirdest look and asked, "Pizza?" Yup! Haha. Then Secularization was next. Our class went on a bit of a tangent, actually, but it was an interesting tangent! We discussed how we, Europe, follows the Judeo-Christian idea of time, meaning a straight line, like an arrow being shot to a target. Then there is the Hindu idea of time, and most of Asia, which is a circle. The presentation was on Holland, and I died when they announced there is a Bible Belt in Holland as well, which proves to be a problem in some of their politics, apparently. Well, at least based on the two boys presenting. I'm just glad I got my presentation out of the way immediately; less stress for me, and considering I feel the stress in my life increasing right now, this is grand!
           After class, I ended up having a delicious beef Kebab. This second place was a lot better, as its sauces were diverse, and I dunno. It just tasted better. Ah, and then I finally went and copied my readings for my Polish ethnic history class. Super useful, as now I don't have to worry about running around the entire time, trying to get the readings from various sources. I have to figure out what this week's reading is, though...
           When I came home, Wednesday, I essentially relaxed before starting up dinner. It was my time to make dinner, so I made kotlety, aka pork chops in a flour/bread mix, some sliced potatoes that were baked, and then a tomato, sour cream sauce. Which, Monika actually made in the end, since I was more focused on the potatoes and kotlety. The dinner ended up being rather good, surprisingly enough. Particularly the potatoes. But, this is where the day gets to the fun part!
            I met up with the Tennessean, Gina! I had to set back our meeting time due to dinner, but that's ok! I met up with her, and then we went to go celebrate the fact that her friend just finished defending her master thesis. So we went to this little club, called Ray 5, I think? It was nice, in a cellar, very relaxing. Gina actually grew up in Nashville as a Vandy fan. She feels my pain. Meaning, the football team. Super aggravating. But yes! So we talked about Nashville, and Vanderbilt, and she knew a lot about it, which made me feel awesome. I found out she plans on staying in Poland, which is even cooler. She works in the Galicia Museum, and as a teacher teaching English, I think. I felt like a baby hanging out with them, since I'm just starting my second year of college... But honestly, that's how I've always been. I've always enjoyed spending time with people older than me. That's just how I am. I am a mature person. In fact, the girl who finished her master's was like, "Wait... so that means you're 19?" Yup, that's right. Little me.
           They got soooo drunk. Although, they did it responsibly, and they really weren't acting obnoxiously as so many people do. There is a way! You can drink responsibly, and be drunk, even! Many people just don't know how, unfortunately. But it was amusing. Especially since her other friend kept on saying, "I'm normally not like this, I'm normally sober, really, this is such a bad influence and impression, I'm so sorry." It really doesn't matter to me, though. I'm definitely used to the alcohol environment. Hello Polonia! But really, it was just amusing, and I understand how it goes. (: I'm just weird cause I literally dislike the taste of alcohol.
            Oh, and it was really nice when they asked me if I wanted anything. I said no, cause I don't like alcohol, so they said, oh ok! Finally, none of this morbid shock if you do not drink. Instead, they just had the barman make me some shot without alcohol. I think it was just cranberry juice, but hey! I participated in the toast! :D
           The evening went wonderfully, and Gina and I do plan on meeting up again to hang out! She was worried she might've scared me off with the one time that they decided to go out, cause they normally don't. Haha. Ahhh, I also learned a bit about becoming an EU Citizen and all sorts of fun stuff! Like it takes seven years if you have no European background, and how you need to act when you go to government offices, and costs. This is all going to be super useful for me in the future!
           That was it, as far as I can remember. I went home earlier than everyone else so that I could wake up early for Thursday; although I still stayed up late, panicking about my life, essentially. I'm trying to figure out major/minor stuff for Vanderbilt, and planning my four year plan has become infinitely difficult thanks to the changes in my plans. Oh well!
            Yesterday was a good day as well! I stayed in for the morning and read my reading for historia etniczna ziem polskich. It is unbelievable how many words I learned just by having access to Google translate. I know so many new Polish words! And I still have to finish this reading! But it felt great! I should've just made the copies in the first place. Around noon, though, Monika came to our apartment bearing naleśniki! Mmmm. What a delicious way to get ready for class. Nutella, bananas, and blueberry jam. Perfection.
           Class went well. I understood most of the lecture, I think; although, I still will be transcribing all my lectures. That will be the absolute best practice and best way for me to learn everything, as I do need to remember we'll be taking an actual exam. The workshop went well, also! He gave us guidelines for our presentation, which I definitely appreciate, and then we practiced going through them using the Germans. That was our reading: Niemcy w Polsce. Germans in Poland. Very interesting reading, by the way. I even participated! I mean, it was a short and quick answer, because I was so nervous that I might've misread something or say something stupid, but I did answer one of his questions. (I probably sound really silly being excited over that, but I feel like that's a valid reason to be excited.)
            I rushed back to the apartment so that we could make dinner together. It was the delicious sour cream tomato sauce from yesterday, with pasta soaked in it, and a mix of sauteed onions, mushrooms, and chicken. Oh, it was a very delicious dinner. We managed to make it and eat it in my short break, about an hour and 30 minutes. Then I hopped on a tram, and I am incredibly grateful that the number 3 tram was late, or else I would've been super late to class. The tram took 20 minutes to get there, and the driver was horrible, and I barely made it on time. This is my Polish class, like the actual language course. It went by super quickly, despite being 2 and a half hours long. We started off with an exercise in which we described the people on a chart: their likes, their jobs, their dislikes. It was a grammar exercise. Then we went on to descriptions. Such as how you look and personalities. We ended class with having to describe the "ideal man or woman." And I actually have homework. What is this? No, but really, that's fine! It's a fun assignment in which we just have to write about our best friend, essentially. (: I love these kind of assignments!
           In class, I sat by a Lithuanian girl, I think. We ended up talking and hanging out shortly after class, and I might have convinced her to try to take Secularization. She's having issues with credits and what not. She apparently is working on her fifth language now... Well, damn. Yes, I'll be honest; I'm envious of that. I want to know that many languages. I wish we had that opportunity in America. But no. We know English. Who needs to know other languages? What do you mean there is more than America in this world? Ok, I apologize for the cynicism. 
           In regards to language though, I'm going to admit: I am very proud of myself right now. I am reading and writing in Polish far more comfortably than I was just a month ago. I feel as though I've improved a ridiculous amount, and that just makes me incredibly blissful. It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind and effort into it.
           Last night, I stayed up late, yet again, panicking about my schedule. Although, I think I actually took a grand step forward, and it might end up working out. I should now be able to successfully major in Anthropology with Honors, minor in European Studies, study abroad in Europe again (currently looking at Spain), and continue my Spanish all four years, except for the last semester. Oh, and fulfill stupid AXLE requirements. Plus! With me studying abroad, a lot of these courses I'm taking now will apply toward my minor in European Studies, so it will be a very well-rounded and fat minor! :D You have no idea how happy that makes me, hahaha.
            Now, to today. While it's still just the early afternoon, I've done quite a bit. I've just relaxed in the apartment all day to be honest, although I should be working on some class work. Or well, perhaps not relaxed. I've been in the apartment. Because I made banana-cinnamon scones again today! :D Yes. They were delicious. There is one left, waiting for two of my flat mates to enjoy. Then, I helped out in the process of baking a "Cheap and Easy Honey Cake" from a Polish cookbook... ... It should've been a lot easier, but we ran into two problems: we had full cloves instead of ground cloves, and we have no mortar and pestle. Therefore, grinding them was a pain in the butt, and they weren't truly ground. Then, we had to stiffen the egg whites... ... We have no electric beater. ... Yes, we whisked the egg whites for at least an hour. And no. They were not as stiff as we would've liked. But after an hour, you sort of give up. Regardless, though, the cake is baking in the oven, it smells delicious, the batter tasted delicious, so I believe it will certainly be a success! :D Oh, how I love baking.
           Anyways, that's all for now. The rest of the day should include lots of catching up with school work (typing up old notes, transcribing lectures, outlining papers) and then meeting up with the Budapest kids for dinner. Hoorah!