ok martin, its time to leave.

DAY 3-8, DON'T HATE

FIRST OF ALL::::::: THIS IS IMPORTANT.

I was looking at stats of my blog, and somebody found it by typing this in:

Search Keywords

best price on under armour calf socks in ames ia this is hilarious. TOUCHE.

martin, my friend, my roommate, my acquaintance who is holding me back. it's time for you to go now.

so its officially only me in my room, and martin in the other room. there are many directions that i could take this……….. so ill shoot off some thoughts. go alphabet, go.

a. i miss monika
b. i brought enough stuff to make it look like 2 people live here anyway
c. im not sure what to do with all this space..so many activities
d. i should move beds to where monika's was by the window since its cooler, however, she did find about 8 bugs in her bed since i've been here..and they did not look like they wanted to share living quarters.
e. this room could get messy
f. i officially have no friends left in the dorms
g. i just turned my head to see that monika left half a bottle of vodka here. looks like ill be drinking alone very soon. not like i wouldnt be if there wasnt half a bottle sitting there
h. im going to be very lonely. i wish my friends loved me enough to come visit me. its only 1500 dollars, people. come on. jkjkjkjkjkjk
i. since monika is gone, i will have nobody here to make me dinner and my cooking lessons are over. hello stir fry vegetables cada dia
j. also, monika has done my laundry every single time so far….wtf mom, come back to me.
k. its time for martin to leave.
l. its too hot for me to wearing clothes in this dorm, so i will reiterate, its time for him to leave
m. it smells around his room, it's time for him to leave.
n. i think he thinks im going to take his stuff because if he leaves his room for 2 seconds he locks his door, he probably locks it to use the bathroom.
o. once he does leave, ill have so much space i wont know what to do with it. maybe rent it to homeless people on the streets, make my rent payment back.

to continue the alphabet, we will move to the lab.

p. its sad that you think your day is awesome when : you collect a lot of plasma from the blood you get, you kill your mice quickly, you inject your rats with glucose quickly, and most importantly, you cut your kidney in perfect halves. id say thats the real winner. its not easy people, these kidneys are small and slippery.
q. we are done killing tomorrow and also done with rat metabolic cages tomorrow. aka we are done with week from hell tomorrow. i think that hela and i will b "hela" happy. LOL GET IT? i think i sense some radlers coming our way.
r. I GET THE WEEK OFF IN 10 DAYS. my first time off since may 23. the day of my arrival (i didnt even get that day off.)
s. I have 46 more days of being a slovak
t. today i hit my foot on the rack that holds the iv and ripped the bottom part of my toenail off. nucking futs!
u. just realized i have a report due to my doctor today. its 1045. oops.
v. so im getting off this to do that.

dovidenia my friends.

HELLO, PEOPLE OF THE CORN.

o how longs its been…o so long…o man..yeah……….

so a lot has ahppened these past few days. did i mention i got a guy roommate? YEAAUUHH MARRTINNN WASSUPPPPPPPP. hes polish. monika is in heaven that she has someone she can converse with in polish. did i also mention that john sent me a care package? with all the essentials? national enquirer included?  and some hawkeye shirts? where are the ISU shirts? come onnnnnnn. lovin the kenny chesney magazine tho…. i would have not expected anything else to be in this package. i actually probably could have told u that these would be the exact contents. salted nut roll uncluded. and i guess i have bad breath. this package is worth who knows how much, but i almost would have preferred if he just sent me the amount that he paid to ship it? just kidding. this was awesome, literally made my day. i miss the good ol USA and my dad just gave me a piece of it. at least somebody misses me. or knows how to act like they miss me. 

also, i got an email from my airplane carrier today saying that i would be flying from vienna to amsterdam, staying hte night in amsterdam, leaving hte next day to fly to michigan, arriving at 10 IN THE MORNING, and then staying there until 8 the next morning to go back to cr. is this a joke. KLM is going to get a piece of my mind. is that even legal? can they do that? not like this..o no..not like this. it it too much to ask just to GO HOME? give me a direct flight from bratislava to cedar rapids please. i know thats literally not possible, but make it happen klm. ill stop being a huge cry baby now though. i also from this email found out that my plane home is 48 days away. that doens't seem like that long…

tonight moniKA me and homies will goto mark twain and drink away our sorrows that she is leaving us on friday. sad day, sad day. and then tomorrow we have to pack in everyhting we havent done yet. main attractions: UFO and back to the pub we went to that had the kofala mug that i wanted………………………. and the delicious meal. 

ohio

i found out last night that the entire time ive been here pablo thought i was from ohio. why is this so common? how many times had we been over the fact that i was from iowa? .. a lot. all i have to say is. beer beard bird bill. surfs up

month shmonth

DAY 31

depending on what month we're going by..ive been here a month. if we were going off of februrary, i guess it could have been a month 5 days ago, and if we were going off of june, i guess it could have been yesterday, but were gonna go off of…. march and december, because december is christmas and march is my birthday. so yeah, lets do a month. glad we got that settled!

today was same ol same ol -  went to work, killed some animals, slept, got a new pic of dan (from dan), added it to my collection (collection to be shown soon), went to a pub, uk, the usual.

im not even sure what day of the week it is because they all blend together, but im going to go out on a limb and say that tomorrow is wednesday. the past few nights, it has been storming like my sister used to do after she got in a fight with my parents. like crazy. but it makes it cool at night which is fine by me..i slept for the first time last night in like 56 days.

working every day is really putting a cramp in my style. all my friends are doing things during the day because they're done with school and just hanging out and i want to ccoooommmmmeeee. uuuugggghhhhhhhhhh. waht is the point of going to another country if you're going to sit in a confined area all day with a species probably carrying some outlandish unknown disease that i will soon transfer to america? idk, i guess i could stop complaining though. apologies.

however, i am fully prepared for the 4th of july, which is one of the biggest things that i am disappointed i have to miss this summer. i decided it was absolutely necessary to rep my country here in slovak. That reminds me, when i ask peopel what they think of america, they say we are extremely patriotic. i guess i will be a walking, talking reinforcer of that fact. i plan to wear this outfit every day until i come home.

isabella told me the 5 of july is like thier freedom day here or something, so i figured it only made sense if i wore my 'murica outfit for both days. i may not be representing slovak freedom, but i sure as hell am representing freedom! #murica

things i know/do now that i didnt know/do then

DAYTHERTEE

so…..some random thoughts at work today… things i know/do now that i didnt know/do then

1. take public transportation to work
2. skype
3. eat a real lunch
4. eat bread on a daily basis
5. direct message on twitter
6. go to work..every day
7. try food that looks like barf
8. kill animals
9. speak fluent slovak
10. NOT drink coffee every morning
11. eat fruit for breakfast instead of cereal
12. drink a beer with a meal
13. know how to use excel..to some extent
14. cook dinner
15. talk to rats like they are my friends
16. get on my hands and knees and chase after mice
17. not eat jeffs pizza on tuesday nights
18. feel the need to look nice if i leave my dorm to go anywhere besides work
19. speak/present in front of many people who are far more intelligent and older than i
20. that the #1 problem europe seems to have with the US is where we spend our government money
21. the metric system…sad but true
22. speak fluent spanish
23. that when you're in line at the grocery store, people wait for no one. get your shit and get out!
24. americans are a lot warmer upon meeting than slovaks
25. your roommates boyfriend practically living with u is annoying. get out of my shower and dont use my toothbrush! jkjk the toothbrush was a joke, shower is not.
26. im not sure what ill do once erin and i graduate, its only been a month and i would like my friend back
27. more about pre ecclampsia and diabetes than anyone really needs to know
28. that i truly know nothing and should be more educated about places besides the US

DAY TWO-NINE

yesterday::::::: in my soup at lunch there were chicken hearts that were legit chicken hearts.i almost puked. also, two of my mice ate each other. ones head was missing and ones butt was missing. someone please tell me how that works, because i honest to god cannot figure it out in my head.

day before yesterday::::::: we put our mice in a metabolic cage for a day before we kill them, and two of them gave birth in the cage…(they weren't supposed to yet).. lets keep in mind that this is metal…. does this make u want to puke? just picture them writhing on the ground….

its so hot outside and having no air really makes it ten times better. i want to go do stuff but after i step outside it looks like i stepped into a pool..

i don't sleep anymore, ever. im not sure why but it sucks. could be the beaming light coming into my room at 5 am or the fact that i go to bed sweating..who knows. or it could be fruit baskets fault. who knows.

most of ze spaniards left today…. sad day…. who will b my friend after monika leaves? nobody..even sadder day

today is erins bday, so id like to tribute this gruesome post to her. sorry erin that this post wasnt more interesting and less disgusting. i love you girlfran

im only 20

DAY 25

im only 20. everyone around me, literally, everywhere, has a solid 3-10+ years on me. I think i'll start lying and say im at least 22. too bad i look like im 12. when people find out im 20 they r like :o and im liek jokes jokes im 25!!!! ahaha just kidding.

today and yesterday were aaaweeesomme with a capitol A! (not shown here) yesterday like i said we went to the president's house. next we made our way to the gurman fest. which is like a food festival. I had this honey brandy drink and it was oddly delicious. it was not as strong as vodka but stronger than beer. in ze middle. we didn't really actually eat much at the food festival, we just got 5 tickets and spent them at some mexican stop. which was odd, because literally, they have no mexican restaurants in bratislava.  i think hela said they were from vienna. we just got liek fajitas.

we then decided we had no lives and should make something out of ourselves for hte night. we went home, showered, then met at rock ok to have some beers with some of hela's friends. and when i say beers i mean we also had absolute. i think it was absolute-ly probably not a good idea according to the rest of my night. we left the pub, may i add, i love this pub. so far its my favorite one here. but anyways, we left to go to some disco, but hela and i had to work this morning so we didn't really wanna stay out that late. we wlked there with them but didn't go in and decided to go home. HOWEVEr, i did not make it home. first of all, i really had to pee, so i went back into rock ok to do so, and then for some reason, i thought it would be ag ood idea to catch the last bit of the england sweden game, which is where things went astray. i met this huge group of people and ended up going out with them. we went to liek 3 differnet places, god knows where, but it was blast and i met some pretty cool people.
don't judge me for being in a pub by myself. the night led to many different events. i stumbled home somehow around 4 maybe. who knows.

so then this morning iw as late for work….hela called me at 830 asking if i was awake…nope..not awake. so i literally jumped out of bed and ran to get on to the tram. shit balls. whatever though. i looked like hell and acted like a zombie. after work, me jarka, gabika and hela went to hela's because her parents invited us for lunch. we also robbed their cherry tree again which is AWESOME. i love it. and i try to climb it like a monkey but just end up looking like a moron and get lots of scratches. the lunch was so good, and the weather was so nice so we ate outside, it was just great. hela's dad may be one of my favorite people ever, their family rocks.

i got home around 6, showered, and crashed into bed. i need sleepy time. gotta kill some more mammals tomorrow. killer kat.

goodnight moon

i suck, but i got somethin for ya

DAY 24 #$^&*()_^&^%&$^??!!!!


I SUCK, i know. I skipped 2 days. IM SORRY OK! I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE ALL DESPERATELY AWAITING MY NEXT POST. not, lets be real, nobody is even reading this

I do have quite a bit to say..but it'll probably bore you…but I think ill say it anyway, if I can remember it all.

COFFEE

I'd first like to say that today is the first day I have had coffee to start my morning off. and now let me tell you how much better my day is going. It's going a lot better. That basically sums it up, I can't believe I've been on a morning coffee drought until now. My eyes are now opened as they were before i left for this foreign third world land. the rats are singing, and im singing along with them, we're singing "its a whole new world" if you were wondering. orange got me thinking about disney

GRILL OUT

Last night, the lab had a grill out for Roman, one of the doctors…I forget why…but I did go anyway. Now, let me just tell you how beautiful this place was that we went to have this grill out… it was..beautiful. It's just like a giant park/trail/hang out/grill out/camp out area. One of the girls told me that the main trail is about 13.1 miles, but there are a million trails that are within the area that are not included. There are also a ton of hiking trails, a lake, river, etc etc. It was. Awesome. They were in awe that I was in such awe. It made me feel kind of stupid, and that Ames/crapids suck. which they do compared to here. There were super cool playgrounds and stuff. also, we had went to billa (their hyvee) before hand and bought some radler beers (not even fair to call this stuff beer) and some hot dogs (not even fair to call these hot dogs) the hot dogs - i honestly don't know what they were. these were the options :
PICTURE THIS: NORMAL SIZED HOT DOG.

PICTURE THIS: 'hot dog' half that size
PICTURE THIS: 'hot dog' 4x that size

these were my options. not the first one, but the second two. what?


GOD'S PLAYGROUND

******OK, side note: playgrounds are no regular playgrounds here. Here, these kids are in playground heaven. We'll call their playgrounds "God's playgrounds" Now, when god built these playgrounds, he wasn't "playin around" These playgrounds are for children who are the best of the best. If i was a child, I would j in my p's everytime i crossed one, and my little brother joe, i can only imagine the look on his face when he saw it…similar to when he got his beyblade for christmas… and then his excitement turns into greed.
 one minute hes a grateful, happy kid..and then..hes plotting taking over the world and god's playground in his head.

face of innocent happiness

face of greed when he realizes he will take over God's playground

not only are there the old school monkey bars and normal things, but there are jumping castle type things, giant trampolines, and all types of machine type things that you've never seen before…i don't even know what they are. somebody came up to me and said "aren't you a little old for this?" that was after i was in the jumping castle with some 8 year olds dunking on them and pushing them into the walls. and also screaming IN YOUR FACE!! ..in their face.

just kidding. kind of.

ROMAN

but now that we've discussed God's playground, lets discuss Roman.

Roman..to put into a small phrase, is the man. He told me how after he was down with his schooling, he took the entire summer off and hitch hiked around Europe for 8 weeks with one of his friends. this was me -->

crazy slovak dcotor say what?!

he told me that it was really common in europe, and that it was the best time of his life, and that he didn't spend money..he actually made money. once again, crazy slovak doctor say what? he said that people just provided for them…and i guess paid them…huh? the entire time i was just thinking to myself..this would not fly in the US..not like this, oh no, not like this. and then conveniently enough he told me he wanted to do it in the USA, until a million people told him this was not such a great idea……

i asked him if he picked up hitch hikers and he told me he did.. people did it for him so he does it for people. and he lets them stay with him, takes them to dinner/lunch, shows them the town, etc. I guess not everyone who hitch hikes/picks up hitch hikers is a crazy killer after all. some are though. with my luck, if i did this, i'd get the one person who was the crazy killer picking me up. but seriously, im adding this to my bucket list. my bucket list is kind of extravagant… but hey, what the hell, thats why its a bucket list and not a "must do in the next year" list. 

PRIME MINISTER 

so, YESTERDAY, when we were at the grill out, there was a trail that was passing right next it. This man was running towards us on it, and my first thought was, that man is so fit. my second thought was is that hitler. no, it was not hitler. but i will tell you who it was. it was Slovakia's old prime minister. Dr. Celec just goes to me, that was our old prime minister. i said crazy slovak doctor say what??? they just let their prime ministers run around in parks? no body guards? Lubka read my mind and goes, "he likes to run… no body guards". sure, sure. I think i was the only one who thought it was nuts that their prime minister ran right past us. maybe i should have tried to tackle him or something. or join him on his run, same difference.

just CALL ME THE KILLER KAT

tomorrow, you can call me the killer kat. we start killing our mice tomorrow. and i'll live in the lab. monika is leaving for austria today for the weekend and all the spaniards are out traveling too. work, you kill me (ironic?). ill be the lonely american in the slovak dorm this weekend. so maybe its a good thing that i'll be in the lab most the time.

PRESIDENT'S HOUSE

so apparently, today, according to hela, is the one day out of the year that they open up part of the president's house for people to come and explore. i had never seen this place until yesterday when we drove by it in the bus, but let me tell you, i honestly think that the white house has nothing on it. and this is coming from a girl who has peed in the president's toilet across from the oval office. (it was a nice bathroom). i am so excited to go see it today, it'll be awesome. However, I wore some nike shorts and a t shirt to work today….. and thats probably what ill go there in…. it's a little disrespectful i think sooo I'm not sure what to do. I'll ask the girls what they think..maybe i'll just buy something and throw it on before we go.
^^^i wrote that before we went, i ended up going in the clothes i was wearing…. i looked decently normal, praise god! pics to come.

LIQUID NITROGEN


today, as ludo and i are sitting in the room measuring pressures (aka ludo is the one measuring the pressures and im sitting) dr. hodosy and lubka bring in a giant seaping pot of liquid nitrogen. what are they doing with this? trying to kill us? and all ludo is doing is plotting things to freeze and making jokes like saying "you know, after we freeze them, our mices will be so 'cool', you know, COOL"  ludo, you're so funny, so, so, funny.
why. y u bring giant pot of liquid nitrogen into our room and let it leak out onto us (yes, i am well aware that this is not killing us) i later found out that is how we are freezing the stuff that we take from our mice. goody. if you notice we put parafilm and tinfoil over the top for max protection

fingernail polish

today, in the lab, i said to ludo, in a very seductive way may i add..
i said: "hey ludo…i repainted my nails last night" and gave him a very seductive face while showing him my nails.
he looked at me..directly in the eyes.. and said "i hate it when girls paint their fingernails"

SO. we can deduce a few things from this.
1) i am not seductive
2) ludo does not like fingernail polish
3) if i ever want a chance with ludo i better remove it
4) i dont want a chance with ludo (just to clarify)
5) i got rejected

no hovno

Day 21…the end of week 3


so. today i learned some slovak language. just the most important things though that i use the most. for example, no hovno. means im having a really shitty day. and hovno means poop. zabieta means im going to kill you, and dobieta means im going to beat you. like i said, some of the more important things of the language. theres some other ones but either a) they are inappropriate or b) i dont have the slightest clue how to spell or c) a mixture of a or b (majority). apparently you can use no hovno in many situations…. and i plan on doing it. its like a double negative. hovno just means like you're having a poo day. but no hovno is like i am having a super poo day. 


i have officially survived three weeks in slovakia. it seems like its been longer than that though. maybe just because my days fly by in the lab. who knows


i saw a hummer today. this is important. it is important because this is easily the largest car ive seen here. and the ONLy hummer ive seen. that person certainly has no regard for the amount of gas or for the fact that everyone else has tiny little cars that look like the hulk smooshed them together. (seriously kat, this is the most interesting thing that happened to you today?)


i made another kat creation today…. but i think this one might actually taste decent. they are some sort of variation of cake balls. we'll have to see tomorrow at work what they have to say. monika liked them at least…


also, currently, im watching czech kill greece. theyve been playing for like 5 min and its 2-0…. what is this. i may have to nap during this game instead of watch. poland plays later so monika is finally interested.

sidenotes

20 continued

a) i think im the only person here who wears hooded sweatshirts
b) im the only person here who wears sports t shirts like from tournaments or high school or from ISU - they dont even have a school bookstore here
c) im becoming  a cook. believe it. monika is my teacher. its like hell's kitchen. things get pretty hot
d) i had to give a bunch of really smart people a presentation today about my rat experiment.  thank god mr. anderson prepared me during speech class! (lol) essentially they thought i was a retard. especailly when they started asking me quesitons and this was my face:

e) i will now spend my free time at night watching soccer games
f) wish i didnt work 24/7 so i could make my way to poland
g) ive eaten so many of the cherries i picked i think im turning into one (jkjkjkjkjk) (kinda)
h) also, attention to boys, calves are a deal breaker. you may be good looking, but if you have cankles u r out

workin' for the weekend

DaY tWeNtY

has someone asked you what you look most forward to during the week? if i took a poll i bet the majority would rule the weekend. i don't even know what a weekend is anymore… all my days are week days and they blur together. now, this sounds awful, or maybe it sounds like im complaining…however, i just read somebody's status that said "monday blues"
and the only thing i could think of was that i don't have monday blues. because i never had a saturday or sunday in order to gain them. does this make me lucky? if i expect to just work every day, then im never disappointed that i have to go in, because i have to go in every day. this makes me luckier than those who have weekends. and you're thinking kat, youre an idiot. yes maybe. just trying  to make myself feel better.

however, i think that this could be good. a weekend in ames going out = go out friday night…do NOTHING saturday. go out saturday night…do NOTHING sunday. in this case, im learning to treat every night like a potential weekend night, an still be able to manage mylife the next day. now i see how people go out on week days, because im becoming one of those people who doesnt judge whether they go out based on whether its the weekend, because i dont have a weekend. you just gotta pick and choose! there is no difference now if i choose a saturday or if i choose a tuesday.  is this good or bad? bad or good? who knows who cares, i just bored you for 2 full paragraphs.

im currently at work. we got done with our stuff at like one today, but have to give a prsentation on what we're working on. so i put together a presentation and basically copied everything hela did for hers…. oops. but yeah we aren't doing it until 3 so i watched fast times at ridgemont high. and all i thought about was sara kortemeyer. i can't believe she didn't bring that to tuna's for us to watch like that other movie she brings every time..i forget what its called….poo. however..i  still have 20 min until we present…soo..im doing this.  tonight i will probably go home and watch some soccie. wish i had a real tv. or some friends who wanted to watch as much as i do. i need  the spaniards back! come home to me mis amigos

DAY 19

ooyyyyyy. let me start first by saying how awesome it is that xavier girls soccer was able to bring home a 7th straight state title and make state history as the first team in all sports to do so. i am so happy for them. especially mary and wink dog! its about time they are done with high school!

this morning i went into work at 8 and was there until about 2..goody. after that i came home then monika and i went to a cafe and ate dinner. the weather here right now = crazy storms all over the place.. i love it. our waiter was..ridiculous..i can't even explain. he also was enthralled by the fact i was from the US and otld me he played soccer for 16 years and he wanted to go to college in the US and play. the first thought tht came to my mind is "will u plz watch some of the games with me then" i didn't let the words escape from my mouth..but i definitely considered it.  SOMEBODY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WATCH WITH ME and get drunk with me.
jena had a good point…go to poland or ukraine…unfortunately i have rats i have to tend to. why me. I MISS SOCCER.

this week will b very long because im basically holdin down both our experiments on my own this week because hela and ludo have exams. poo. hopefully it goes ok. i also ahve to give a presentation tomorrow on my experiment…oh no..not like this. that should be ineteresting to say the least….. eek.

besides work and dinner, i have spent the rest of the day talking to orange and watching italy v spain. sure it took me like 12 viruses on my computer in order to find a link i can watch on, but hey, thats ok. <3 apple <3

cherry pickin' hangover

DAY 18 ALDKJFSDLKFJAD;FAS

ay yi yi.
quick recap of my night last night: went to pub with some slovak kids from monika's chem lab, drank some beers, came back to my room, went out with the crazy spaniards. seems to be a blur from there. I think i got into some sort of political debate with some kids when i know nothing about politics. i took a guy's hat who was passed out. sorry man. i fell into a bush and cut my leg. and hwen i say fell into a bush i mean got pushed into a bush. full out pushed. like i was laying in this bush. i think we ended up getting home around 5 this morning and then hey guess what i had to work at 8. woke up at 7 and zombied my way to the lab to play with my friends.

TODAY: after work hela invited me to come to her house and get some cherries. they have the worlds largest cherry tree and it is to say the least fantastic. i took so many cherries i feel like i was robbing them. it was awesome. then we went inside and made a cake with the cherries (from scratch) (thats whats up). they invited me to stay for lunch and made an awesome meal..it was weird having such a big lunch. their lunch is like our dinner. it was like three courses; soup, meal, coffee/cake. i also finally had my first coffee since i moved here!!! from them! it was like heaven in my cup. their house is awesome… hela was telling me that during WWII her grandpa hid Jews in their basement. the house has been in their family for 4 generations i guess and is in the nicest part of bratislava. and… her neighbors are gypsies. im glad that i got a glimpse of slovak living and not just what i see in the work place or in my dorm! not many people here have houses though, most of them live in flats

also, she has this dog named hugo and im pretty sure its more bear than it is dog..it was awesome. and was supposed to be a police dog so he is super obedient. i love him.

we were supposed to go to mark twain tonight for some kids birthdays but due to lack of sleep and rain we ended up not going and getting cozy in our beds. eeeeeeeee. cant ever watch too much house! also, i made monika watch avengers and now shes obsessed. so she downloaded all the superhero movies and is watching them all. #ironman MUA HA AH AHA

kofola

::::::::DAY 17::::::::::

kofola. kofola, my friends, is essentially Slovakia's coke. NOW, kofola is ONLY sold in slovakia and czech republic, and these are the ONLY 2 countries who's national "coke" is not cocacola/pepsi. today was the first day i tried this 'kofola' nonsense. and let me tell you, i really really like it. its like… coke with some sort of herbs in it? I'm not sure.  check it out though. its kind of like beer (not taste wise) but its often bought on tap at restaurants and bars. interesting, eh? so slovakia does have something to offer! or does this make them the odd ball?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofola

work today was basically a disaster. we lost a mouse. RIP mousey. we injected one of the mice with the incorrect DNA, and i forgot to do the weights of my rats food before i filled it up. lost quite a bit of data today….oops. its ok thought, i just made them up. haha JOKES! you can't do that! its an actual experiment! i'm not in chem lab anymore! but yeah so that kind of sucks but oh well. 

i learned some more things today. these things probably have bit more of an impact on my life. and theyre pretty negative things that i should probably fix. for those of you who know me, you probably know that my brain works at 100,000 miles an hour and i rarely slow down for anything. Shereen and sam will tell you how true this is. This is a problem. it leads to carelessness. I am impatient which also leads to carelessness. Doing these experiments is finally leading me to realize that I need to be more careful. It's never really been a problem since I mean hey, who cares if I get a 7% yield on my crystals in chem lab? not me. so i haven't bothered to try and change it. But who cares if I screw up this experiment? quite a few people, including myself. It is a waste of my time and their time and money. so Goal of my summer: Slow my brain down. be less careless. forgetting to take those values today really chapped my ass and it was all my fault and nobody elses. poop emoji. time to step into the real world and be an adult

I spent a lot of my afternoon just hanging out by the river behind our dorm and taking some pictures

going to sit on the dock 

im not sure why i felt the need to do this

puppy prints and duck prints!

this is mark twain, the bar next to our dorm on ze river

this train was carrying cars..i h ad never seen that before. those boys are just a lil somethin extra in the pic

sick of studying for pathology. break time

don't buy the cheapest spatula

DAY 16

things i learned today: 1) the world's shittiest spatula costs .79 euros  2) i need to buy either oil or no stick cooking spray at the store. i went to go cook my classic egg whites on the hot  plate and it turned into nothing short of a disaster. they stuck to the pan like glue. also,  when i went to go use the spatula, it just bent instead of picking the egg up. things to do tomorrow: purchase new spatula. 3) don't forget to put your cheese in the fridge after you use it. i made a sandwich for dinner last night and left the cheese on my desk all night. 4) don't look too american when you're out taking pictures, people stare 5) don't trust druzba, this will happen to your room light:

6) screens on windows are in fact very necessary/useful. the mosquitos and i cozied up last night 7) im starting to miss my friends and family. not that i hadn't before, but it's becoming a little more prominent 8) i should make kat's creations look a little more appealing… its  a dog fight trying to get people to even put them in their mouths…but they always leave satisfied aka people at work actually ate them! after they stared at them for a while and i urged them to actually try it 9) don't run into your boss when you're leaving work at 12:30… even though we were done with everything we needed to do he still made me feel guilty for leaving that early.. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME! YOU DON'T EVEN PAY ME!

headphones

if u find me walking about here, you'll probably notice i have headphones in. even in the stores. i figure that if i put headphones in, it is less likely that somebody tries to speak to me in slovak, or in general. if i can avoid someone speaking ot me in slovak, i can avoid the awkward exchange of hand gestures, disappointed and confused faces, and just avoid the entire thing. this is not anti-social, although i am, this is just being practical. most of the times this works, however, sometimes it doesn't

im not sure that many things frustrate me more than when people try to speak to me when i have headphones in (slovak or not slovak). even if you had no intention of me needing to take my headphones out, but you motioned something with your hands and mouthed something with your lips, my instinct is going to be to take my headphones out. you should know that this is going to happen.

when i just leave them in, nod, and smile, it always turns out that they wanted to actually say something. when i take them out, the person has nothing important to say. 

not like this o no, not like this.

i bought a kitchen

DAY 15 : kat's creations

kat, what? you bought a kitchen? i thought you had one in your dorm? correction: we don't have a kitchen, we have a hot plate with no baking utensils. so i went to the store today and bought a kitchen. as i said before, the girls at work love cake, sweets, etc etc. and as ive said before, i like to bake, but cant cook. actually, i cant bake either, i just make kats creations. so that is what i did today. i made a kat creation. and actually made it on round two by combining two things that were suppose to be separate creations.

kat, why did you have to combine them? ill tell you.
exhibit A: oreo cake balls. its difficult trying to bake things when a) everything in the store is written in slovak b) the country has nothing of what you need. so, i bought what i thought was cream cheese - i even asked some girls in the grocery store. well, first of all, they don't eat cream cheese here. but hela told me they do have somehting similar to it. so i thought, this must be it. the girls even confirmed that it was!!!! until i got home and bea informed me it was butter. i almost made butter balls. so, good bye oreo balls.
exhibit B: rice krispie treats. they don't sell a) rice krispies here or b) real marshmallows. this was going to be a challange, but i knew that. I would work the system. so i bought some chocolate looking cereal and some janky strawberrish things that resembled marshmallows. i also bought nutella because i was going to put it as a layer between the rice krispies.
where exhibit A meets exhibit B: i already told you why the oreo balls had to be cut short, but first let me tell you that when i found out i bought butter instead of cream cheese, bea and i thought it would be a good idea to try and substitute the nutella for cream cheese. it was a bad idea and my hand ended up looking like these pictures combined :

           ^^^^  


           + 


         >>>>


So then my hands were just covered in what looked like chunky poo. after licking the chunks off i had to go wash my hands. now i was really in a rut because i used up my nutella for the rice krispies. so now for the real exhibit A + B:
i decided to just go ahead with the rice krispies. threw what i had thought was cream cheese that was actually butter into the pot, threw some marshmallows in there, stirred it up until it got kind of soft, dumped a bag of chocolate cereal in and mixed it all together. besides the fact that these marshmallow type things tasted like strawberries, i think we were on the right track. but then next of course, i had to add in the oreo/nutella mix. i was creating a mess. the amount of things i was putting in this pot could be compared to joe sayre trying to fit into a dorm room bed. things were starting to overflow. however, i kept going. finally i decided it was time to pour them into my newly bought pan and tin foil and now they sit in my fridge. details on the outcome..to come.

NEW SUBJECT.
coin money.
what? this coin is actually worth 2+ dollars?

coins. in america, guess what we do with coins, throw them in the bottom of our purse, pocket, change bucket, random space in our car. in slovakia, guess what I do with my coins. the same thing. guess who shouldn't be doing that with their coins? me. i forget that the coins here are worth some serious dollars. i can almost guarantee that i have a solid 50 dollars in euros lurking around in coins in all my stuff.  whenever i purchase something, im not really sure, but i think they are asking me if i have the change for what i am buying. i always just hand them a 5, 10, or 20. when i dont respond, they ask me again, and i just kind of nod my head and smile. they keep talking….WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY TO ME!! finally i tell them i don't speak slovak.. anglicky? (english?) and most of the older people here don't speak english, but a lot of hte younger people know a little bit at least because they teach it in their school. but yeah the point of this is that i should probably start using my coins, or maybe just keep doing what im doing, piss off the cashiers, and have a lot of unknown money at the end of my trip.


also, id like to finally leave this post by saying that i finally realize why people come home from a long day at work and say "i need a beer"

first stove sandwich

DAY 14 POST 2!

so. all we're working with here is a hot plate, so i made my first stove sandwich. cheese ham and bread. thats whats up. call me chef mettenburg. erin ill have some new meals ready 4 us next year

also, what is this..cat land? where are all these cats coming from? they circle the dorm like its the cat king. but really i think it must be because the college students feed them

honey rings of death and small bathroom stalls

DAY 14

OFFICIALLY BEEN A RESIDENT OF SLOVAKIA FOR 2 FULL WEEKS! AND I HAVENT EVEN TRIED TO COME HOME YET! i think there are one too many people out there who thought i would have.  today work was pretty easy, however, i accidentally stabbed ludo with the needle i was going to use to inject a mouse (with baby mouse DNA). didn't really realize how sharp those things where until it…..went straight through his skin and started bleeding into his glove. but hey, everyone needs a little mouse DNA in them, right? im hoping this turns into a spiderman type dealio - mouseman. this kind of made me feel for the little guys a little more..but not really, we're killing them in like a week.


one of the best things about living here is i can be walking home and oh hey, a vendor selling fruit and vegetables. perfect. i needed some of those. don't even have to go into the store! bought some cherries peaches and strawberries today..maybe their poisoned, but i dont think so because i ate some and am alive to type this. i haven't had cherries in ages…liek since barrett and i would lay out and eat them on her lawn in 8th grade…so thats pretty exciting. however, i recently bought some "honey rings" now, these are the knockoff cheerios. yes, they do have cheerios here…and a bunch of other extremely sketchy cereals, but they were like 5 euros for a bag! so obviously i went with the 89 cent honey rings.. my my my how i have made a mistake. some knockoff cheerios are perfectly fine..but these..these taste like…. im eating the bag they came in instead of the contents. looking at the bag..they look normal, right? wrong! i should have gotten the ones that looked like cinnamon toast crunch..now i know.i guess the "breakfast king" is not such a king after all

my phone keeps sending me text messages in slovak. i have literally no idea what they are trying to tell me. so i asked rodka today to read it to me and tell me what it said. apparently i went from having 20 euros of credit to having 100 euros of credit……what? i really hope thats not right…. i guess thats what happens when you're the american buying a phone from a slovak..who speaks slovak.

its super windy today and i think every single door in our lab slammed shut at least 27 times. litearlly. and when i say slam i mean slam. i barely survive the bang, im not sure how the little guys are surviving it! they probably shit themselves, literally! we call it hte poop of fear. speaking of the poop of fear, when one of our mice died yesterday, i found it with poo coming midway out of butt. talk about a poop of fear. poop of death maybe.

another thing i was thinking about today when i went to the bathroom was why in gods name do some people decided to make bathroom stalls so small? i felt like i was beans in jade's kennel.  and beans looks small in his own kennel! its like…ok, i need some room so i can turn around..unless you want me to back into this stall… literally, walk backwards into it so i don't need to turn around. but that poses a problem. my backpack on my back. i refuse to hold anything i own over the toilet. even if its on my back. you never know what pocket is open or whats going to slip out into the dark abyss of poo. (not that i pooed, just sayin'). if you are smart, you would do the same. so i had to some how turn around, shimmy my backpack off, and sit on this toilet somehow with about 1/2 centimeter of space. with my luck, the cleaning lady was in the bathroom at hte same time as me, and PICTURE THIS:
CLEANING lady: in stall next to mine
ME: trying to move around the tiny stall.
move 1: elbow hit wall "AH"
move 2: drop bag on ground "whew"
move 3: drop pants and hit head on door "god damn it"
move 4: sit
move 5: you know
move 6: get up, pull up pants
move 7: bend over to get backpack
move 8: nail arm on janky toilet paper rack (refer to earlier post for picture)
move 9: manouver myself so my backpack is not hanging over the toilet (i am facing the toilet with bag aginst door)
move 10: reach hand back and open door
move 11: back up out of stall
move 12: hit cleaning lady as i back up because i don't have rear view mirrors

now..all that to go to the bathroom. i think ill stop drinking liquids and eating anything with fiber. they should call me when the bathroom looks like this
then maybe ill take a shower every time i use it. (not!)

just kidding..but seriously…a foot of space would be nice

DAY 13

almost day 14…almost the two week mark….and i am still alive, have not been poisoned by the water, and believe it or not, have actually made some friends (believe it or don't). we finally know whats going out in our experiments, things are on track and looking good. wooh!

however, i still haven't gotten a real card for living here…which i just now realized…that they said i had 2 weeks….soooooo is today my cut off or is tomorrow my cut off? I better go do that tomorrow morning.. shoot. i also am out of money and the atm wont let me take any out..this can't be good.

but today was pretty uneventful to say the least. maybe tomorrow ill have something more interesting for u.

you know, i know already wrote today, but i just have something to say.

im laying in my bed here just thinking. thinking about the fact that im excited to see the results of the experiments we're doing. you're probably thinking, kat, honestly, stop thinking about your rats. but this is serious. what makes you excited in life is why things are worth doing. the thought of being a doctor, to me personally, is the most amazing thing in the world. now, i know i have not been an intern, nor even been accepted into medical school yet. but the thought of working my brain so much and working so hard for something that i think i will truly enjoy is what makes it ok. coming from the girl who doens't know yet what it's like to be a first year medical student. but im trying.

the main people i can't help but think about when i think about being excited about what you do is robyn and maddy. honestly, i tell them this all the time, to see how happy elementary ed makes them and see how much they love the kids they work with. or myabe not love ALL the kids but they just love doing it. i can't help but admire how much they love their next step in life, which would be their career choice, being teachers.

Another person who i have spoken to is dr. maze. the way he talks about his job, like there is nothing in the world else that he'd rather be doing, i admire that.

or you could be krista pederson..you're not sure where your degree is going to take you, but you know what you want. you know you want to stand for women and their rights, you know you want to help people, reach out, do whatever you can to spread what you believe. Maybe she doesn't know how this will happen yet, but knowing her, she'll make it happen.

monika..my roommate…ive literally never seen anyone as excited about chemistry as she is. she lives to do experiments in her lab. and whats even better is that she loves to cook. she loves to cook because she compares it to chemistry. i wish i liked chem that much…or knew how to cook


too many people go to school and through the motions just to have some sort of career. now i know tht its not easy to find a job that you love, but try. i know that i often go through the motions of college, which is sometimes ok and sometimes not ok. and when i write this, i am speaking not only to everyone but to myself. i am just as guilty as other people in many things like this. and in no way in hell do i have my life figured out, because honeslty, who does? i also am one of the most pessimistic people you will find, and i am aware of that. but sometimes i like to look at it more of being realist. rreally, what do you want out of your life and what will REALLY get you there?

but if someone were to ask me right now what i want to do? there is no debate. i want to be a doctor. i want it so bad that i have nightmares of not getting accepted! i want to help people. what do you want?

DAY 12

peanut butter, shredded cheese, parmesan cheese, fat-free cheese, green beans, marshmallows, dr. pepper, bagel thins, almost anything diet : things i have failed to find at any grocery store.
coffee to go: something i have failed to find in every coffee shop except one.
skinny latte: something i have failed to find in any coffee shop ive visited
the fact my pepsi light cost 2 euros and a beer cost 1 euro: can go either way
a spatula: apparently they don't use them? or maybe my roommate just had no idea what i was talking about..

oh jif you come back to me! you hear!

however, many of those things noted above are the basis of what i live off of. with the exception of marshmallows. none of my co workers knew what rice krispie treats were so i was goign to make some for them, until they didn't have marshmallows that came in big bags. the marshmallows they sell here are in little tiny bags as like candy or something.
when i do buy like a million tiny little bags and find some rice krispies, i will make them some rice krispie treats.

it seems like int he lab somebody for some reason is always bringing something like some sort of cake or something for us to eat. whether its one of their students giving it to them or just maybe it appeared out of nowhere or maybe its a birthdya. who knows. but ive been able to try a bunch of different slovak sweets and its very interesting actually. sometimes hate sometimes like.
laura, one of the girls here from spain, made some sort of biscuit type thing for when sara left. u bet your ass taht im making it when i get home. so good but so simple..no bake..considering we don't have ovens. ay yi yi. or anything but a heating thing that you plug into the wall.

today i decided to stock up on some food so that i wasn't alwasy running to the gas station. which will be so much better. and healthier.

i went into work today but not for very long, just to take some data and such and then met monica in the center. we had lunch at a place called primi. it was pretty good.

i got to sleep in today for the first time in a long time..it was fantastic :D

now a few comments about druzba. druzba is where i live. to pronounce it its like drew+z+bu in butt. drewz+bu(tt) = druzba.

druzba..the dorm that doesnt sleep. now, here, druzba is considered one of the quiet dorms. which, to be honest, i think that it is pretty low key and quiet here at times. however, the fact that there is no air conditioning leads us to open our windows. i love our windows. they are the best thing ive ever seen. except when you want to go to sleep. they dont have screens or anything and they literallyt aken up an entire wall. so when you open one there is just a giant gaping hole that stands between you and the outside. itd be too easy to jump from. thank god though, im not suicidal. im on the third floor and can hear people's footprints on the ground outside when they walk by. i can hear almost every conversatoin from about 5 rooms up down right left and kitty corner to mine. now u may see why i say the dorm that doesn't sleep? the rooms are actually pretty decent and decent size, however im not sure what im sleeping on but i dont think it should be considered a bed. its a wooden box with cushions on it that look like they are from my 200 year old grandmas house. needless to say, i do manage to catch some zzz's most night. however, after sleeping on this for 3 months, sleeping on my bed at home will be liek sleeping on a fluffy cloud that god so graciously himself handed me and said "here kathryn..please..sleep on the fluffiest cloud i own tonight" i honlesty think that this fluffy cloud might be so comfortable that i wouldnt sleep. i would need a hard piece of wood because thats what my new back issues have adjusted to.

OK this is no jokes here, at all. this is what my bed looks like, except you need to take out the wooden things in between the cushions (even though they might as well jsut be there) and take off that back that you would lean against if you sat on it. that is what my bed is. and im actually serious. minus the pillow, but whoever decorated that couch knows whats up.

having guests sleep over that don't live here: these people expect you to pay them like 2.5 euros per night that you have somebody stay in your room here. are you kidding me on? ll pass on that one and just hope that they don't ask to see our cards for proof that we live here. that is a jok.e im already paying you to live here, don't tell me i can't have a guest! (not that i have any) but if i did, id have a qualm with this.

ther are only 3 washing machines in the entire building. this buildling is the size of maple willow larch at isu or like two of reno at iowa, depending on where u go to school. 3 WASHERS. NO DRIERS. no worries though.. i think i brought enough clothes to last me so ill never have to use them. haha jokes. kinda. but really, ill have to go down there soon enough. actually its "up" because its on the 5 floor and im on the 1st which is technically the third. i dont know.

long post today..sorry. hope u didnt fall asleep. laterz

DAY 10
oyy i missed a day. im gonna recap yesterday in a very short paragraph.

went to work, got rat food in my mouth. where i was working looked like the texas chainsaw massacre because of all the blood. came home. went to sleep..never woke up

DAY 11

had to work today…. yes…on a saturday. for 6 hours.
went in at eight and got home around 2. killer man. and hey guess what!!! im going back tomorrow!! and every other day! but we're done with our metabolic cages for the week so now we have like a 2 to three week slight break with the rats praise god. now more focus is on the pre ecclampsia mice.

when i got home i climbed right back into bed and am still in bed. first i made mariajo bea and monika some american taste. ….. i used a tortilla, put nutella, marshmallows and banana on it. that is real. i guess thats all murica has to offer. and bought my dinner from the gas station again..those subs there r truly my life here. i think ill just start buying footlongs from subway and storing them in my fridge. that could be good. and yes, yes they do have a subway here.

also, ive come to realize that living with 3 other girls, toilet paper goes pretty easy. we're already out and we ahd so much last week! i thought erin and i used a lot of toilet paper! what! also, after someone poops in the bathroom bea always comes running with spray that smells good…its hilarious. gotta poo u gotta poo

im also wondering whetehr i live in slovakia or in ames currently. because it seems that all i do is work and sleep and drink and repeate and now i know a site i can download movies….. i mean i walk around the city after work a lot but i still feel guilty that i am not living the country up to its fullest. if i didn't have to be in the lab on the weekends we were goign to go to vienna this weekend…but unfortunately i couldnt. wed be traveling probably if i wasn't working.

but im excited for july when my mom and grandma come! hopefully ill be less busy and i can take some days off :D

adios