Isn't so bad. Actually, it's kind of awesome. But even more awesome are the Dodos, who put on what might have been the best live show I've ever seen. They had another band opening for them, Noah and the Whale, that were also awesome.

For those of you who don't know it yet, there are these rental bikes in Paris now that cost one euro a day, can be ( Read more... )

One thing I didn't mention about my trip to Brussels happened in front of the American Embassy. I was expecting the place to be more or less barricaded. However, I didn't think that they would go so far as to block off the entire sidewalk, thus forcing pedestrians to walk in the busy street. The razor wire wouldn't have surprised me either, had it ( Read more... )

I was at a birthday party last night, which was being held at a club by my apartment. The reason for choosing this location was that Thursday night is 90s night there. I was excited to go and get down to Kriss Kross and Vanilla Ice, but, to my disappointment, horror, and embarrassment for not having realized it earlier, this was a night of European ( Read more... )

I saw Vampire Weekend in Brussels on Saturday. They pretty much ruled, except for the fact that they don't stray much from the way their songs sound on the album. Oh well, they're very tight.

Four of us rode up. We rented a car for €82 and spent the whole weekend chowing down on chocolate and waffles, both of which completely live up to their ( Read more... )

I booked my ticket for another trip to Serbia. Maybe this time I'll actually make it to the town my great-grandfather came from ( Read more... )

It's 6am. I can't sleep because I'm freezing. Sanja told me I would be staying at her firend's place. I didn't know she meant a male friend. That's not so bad in itself, but her hardly speaks English! Last night, the two of us stayed up late while I tried to learn some Serbian. That was fun, and I did learn a few things. However, he has only one ( Read more... )

11:00am

I'm in the plane on my way to Belgrade, we're still sitting on the runway. I almost didn't make my flight because Deutsche Bahn had some problems with the tracks in Bruchsal, where I was supposed to change trains. As a result, I had to overshoot and ride all the way to Karlsruhe, then get on a train to Stuttgart, which wasted a good hour, ( Read more... )

Indulging a favorite pastime of mine, namely reading poorly rated Pitchfork music reviews, I came across this line about an album by a guy named Jack Peñate:

"Listening to Matinée straight through is exhausting, like being trapped in the kitchen at a college party while someone with curiously wide eyes Explains It All to you."

Call me an egoist, but ( Read more... )

Eavesdropping: the bane of English speakers all over Europe.  While you can generally assume that most people listening in on your conversation don't understand most of what you're saying, that doesn't take away from the fact that they're being rude. I've come up with a means of combatting this nuisance, and it's quite a simple solution. Anytime I ( Read more... )

Goddammit. There's a travel warning for Serbia now.  The gays have said that if I decide to go to Belgrade next month in spite of this, they're going to stage an intervention. Not to mention the fact that my dad has been shitting a brick ever since I told him about my plans for Easter. The weird thing is that my mom doesn't seem to be as bothered ( Read more... )