October update

Hello to everyone,
I think an update is long overdue.

The weekend after my last post, a bunch of us, as well as other Middlebury friends from around Europe, converged on Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest.
Here:

  This little guy is Aloisius, the angel of beer.

Munich is an incredible city and we had a really fun time. Oktoberfest is kind of like going to Field Days. Lots of people, lots of midway rides and greasy food. But instead of NASCAR tshirts, everyone is wearing leiderhosen. And there's lots of beer. That's all I'm going to say about that. (Except Bo, make sure you go to Oktoberfest when you're in college).

A few weeks later, a group of us stayed with my friends Nick and Bratner, who are studying in Paris for the semester.
Friday everyone went to the Louvre, but my flight was later so I missed out on that which I'm pretty bummed about. But the next day we went to Musee d'Orsay, the French version of MOMA (sort of). I'm taking a class about modern European art, so it was really cool to see a bunch of Monets, Manets, Van Goghs, etc. that we've been talking about, and pretend to know what I'm talking about.

Afterwards we went to huge open air wine festival on the Montmarte, a big hill that overlooks all of Paris. It was rainy and cold, but it was really gorgeous. It's basically the only neighborhood left that wasn't ruined by the Nazis, so its the last of old Paris. I felt pretty French eating a foie gras sandwhich and sipping wine, and got this picture of the Eiffel Tower which I think is pretty cool:

We also had a French street artist do this caricature of us, which is arguably the worst likeness of any of us. In case you were wondering, I am apparently the third from the left.

Arc de Triomphe at night.

For my birthday weekend I went to Prague. I got to see a bunch of Middlebury friends once again, as well as my good high school friend Michael Kellner who is studying there as well.
Prague is such a fun city and I had excellent hosts. We spent all Saturday walking around in the snow (so great to finally see snow!) seeing Prague castle, Charles Bridge, the Lennon wall, the Astronomical clock and all the beautiful architecture, and at night, we went out to a traditional Czech restaurant for my birthday.
Some pictures:

A view of Charles bridge, built in 1357. It was too cold and snowy, but normally the bridge is packed with vendors and entertainers.

The famous astronomical clock, not a very good view of the details, Google it if you want to learn more. Every hour a man at the top of the tower plays a trumpet and a bunch of the figures on the clock start to move. Very cool, especially for a clock built in 1410.

Prague castle in the snow.

A section of the Lennon wall, a big wall that began as a place where students would graffiti anti-Soviet art. The Soviets would whitewash it time after time, but it would just keep getting covered. Now it serves as a monument to John Lennon. It still gets painted over periodically, but just so that the art can change all the time.

One of many statues on the Charles bridge. Thought it looked kind of cool in the snow.

 Snow covered Prague from the tower of the Astronomical Clock, with Prague castle in the background.

Back at home things have been pretty slow, with tons of schoolwork all the time. As I'm sure you've read, there have been lots of protests in Madrid against austerity measures and such. Congress is three blocks from my apartment, so I get a firsthand view of the protests. Our professors have explained that people here love protesting more than anything, and even when times are good, people grab whistles and signs and take to the street for really petty things. It's part of the routine here, and if the subway isn't closed down at least 2 days a month because of striking union workers, it's a strange month. But I'm perfectly safe, the protests rarely turn violent, despite what I'm sure the news over there has chosen to show.

We had an adorable kitty for a week, but when I was in Paris he disappeared. When I asked what happened to it, my roommates explained that it got sick, and rather than getting medicine for it, decided to just give it away. All that sleeping, eating, playing video games, and not looking for jobs must have really gotten in the way of taking care of it.

I hope everyone is safe and sound as Hurricane Sandy makes its way north. From what it sounds like, Marley and Grady and Ken and Lauren have the most to worry about in NYC, but I'm sure everyone's taking care of themselves. Thinking of all of you, be safe.

Lots of love always,
Connor