dracula, here we come!

first, i want to talk about my czech lit professor, because he's incredible. have you ever seen dark city? do you remember keifer sutherland's character? our teacher talks like keifer sutherland's character, breathing deeply in the middle of sentences, sometimes even in the middle of words, as if the air were too thick to take in discreetly. i loved that movie, dark city. my brother and i were the only two people in the theater for the matinee. at the end, when we came outside and it was still light, the light felt artificial. i liked it.

so our czech lit professor. he worked for five years at brown university. he shares three loves of mine: star wars, lord of the rings, and penguins. (his cell phone rings the star wars theme. he wears a middle earth t-shirt to class and talks about LOTR all the time! and his mug has pictures of penguins on it!) he holds class in his office, where the windows can't shut because they are full of plants. he also has these incredible collages in frames all over the walls. (my favorite collage shows a type-writer with an opening fist coming out the top, with letters and leaves being thrown from the fist.) the three hours on thursday morning that we are in class with him are the most inspiring three hours of my week. i love this class.

today we discussed the metamorphosis and the unbearable lightness of being. we travelled through several different topics, one of which was the notion of a graspable enemy. what or who is the enemy in the unbearable lightness of being? communism? czechoslovakia? each person to him/herself? it's not clear. what or who is the enemy in the metamorphosis? ummmm. definitely not clear there. who turned gregor into a bug? there are no clues.

now. who is the enemy in lord of the rings? sauron. who is the enemy in star wars? darth vader. who is the enemy in bram stoker's dracula? yeah. dracula. dracula! i started thinking about dracula.

so.

we bought a ticket to transylvania for spring break. yes, folks, that's right. kristen darling, ronen, and myself are going to brasov, romania for spring break. it is only $120 round trip on a train, and we are going to stop in budapest for a few days on the way back (it's on the way!). the hostel we are staying at in brasov has a jacuzzi, free breakfast, free internet, a heated pool, pool parties, a bar, and it is cheap (about $13 a night). we've heard from others that it is a good hostel as well. there is hiking around brasov, and tons of beautiful mountains and foothills. (there are even organized hikes, we've heard.) it is also just a few minutes from dracula's fortress. but the real dracula. his real fortress. the vlad the impaler dracula. i am SO excited.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


okay. that's all for now. though i have more to say, that's all for now.