His First Starbucks

So I've mentioned that I was lucky enough to be asked to spend my last three weeks in Europe with a group of my students in England doing a language course. We drove on a bus across Europe to England (don't worry, we didn't swim across The Channel...we took a ferry!), and we are staying in a very charming town called Stamford in the East Midlands. During the day I teach some of them lessons to some students while others do various jobs in the town, and in the afternoons we take trips. There's one student in particular who has a bit of a special place in my heart...let's call him Jimmy. I realize I sometimes take for granted how lucky I've been to be able to travel as much as I have and see so much of the world. Sometimes seeing city after city and church after church...after church, I become sort of numb and I miss out on the...wonder of it all. Jimmy has definitely reminded me of that wonder I had the first time I came to Europe...the wonder that any traveler should be lucky to have 100% of his/her travels. Jimmy is an 18 year old student who has chosen to have a job and pay his way through the private school I teach at. On the way to England he told me with total joy and excitement in his eyes that he was more excited than anyone for this trip because aside from short trips to Austria, he'd never been outside the small country of Hungary. To see him explore England and his reaction to all these new experiences has been truly amazing. I already have lots of stories, but the best comes from over the weekend when we stopped at a rest stop on the way back from London. There was a Starbucks there, and since there are no Starbucks in Hungary, naturally I stopped. He got in line with me and told me he was going to try his first EVER Starbucks. I told him to keep his money and that his first Starbucks should be purchased for him by a nice American girl. As I handed him his Caramel Macchiato, he struggled with how the little drink sleeve worked on the cup and then proceeded to confirm with me that he was supposed to drink it from the small whole in the top of the cup. He'd never used a 'to-go' cup before. Then we proceeded to speak about his day in London and all the different things he saw and people he encountered. He told me how he really wants to move to England someday now. I'm so glad there are people like this around to remind me to keep the wonder in my eyes and in my heart as I explore new and unknown places. I was once that excited person with joy in my eyes wanting to live in Europe someday. I was only slightly miffed at the fact that we had to tour yet ANOTHER church today...

Roman Holiday

Since I can't really put my Easter weekend trip into beautiful enough words, I hope my pictures can do a little justice at least...

This last one isn't us...even though we realize we both could TOTALLY pass for beautiful and famous 1950's actors. The movie Roman Holiday did inspire this blog title though...plus, I love Audrey Hepburn...

3rd Graders Have Hearts

On Wednesdays I don't have any lessons at the school here in Gyor, but I go to a little village called Kunsziget (pronounced like Koon-see-get). It's such a treat because the kids there are wonderful. I'm considered to be somewhat of a local celebrity at the school (I'm not bragging...it's true...and actually very awkward). The celebrity status is really just a rite of passage for any native speaker going to teach at a primary school. Since it's Valentine's Day on Sunday, I decided that at the expense of the boys' enjoyment, we would all make Valentines for someone important in our lives. Since last year most of my boys responded to the words, "Today we are making Valentines" with grumpy faces, I waited for the response today, especially when preparing to make Valentines with my 3rd graders. True to their gentle and sweet spirits though, these boys managed to not only not complain, but actually be excited to make Valentines! They colored in the lines, they worked very hard, and my cute story comes in amongst all of this attentive work they put in. Little Adrian came to me and kept asking the perfect spelling for every word he wanted to say. He sat and colored and made sure it was perfect. Then he came and whispered to me out of earshot of the other students that his Valentine was intended for Niki, a very cute girl in the 2nd grade class. Gosh, what a sweet boy. After class, he asked me to come with him while he waited for the 2nd graders to go play outside so he could swoop in and put it on her table. This isn't even the best part of the story...my next lesson was with the 2nd graders, and I was able to watch as Niki walked in to find the cute Valentine from Adrien on her desk. A HUGE smile swept across her face and she was beyond giddy the whole lesson. I hope that we can all take a little time this Valentine's Day week (even if it is a holiday more or less fabricated by chocolate and greeting card companies) to do something for someone that will leave a big, goofy smile on their face for a whole afternoon. P.S. while my example Valentine isn't really in good enough shape anymore to send to its intended receiver, I may as well say it here...Happy Valentine's Day, Mom! I love you!

Braving the Blizzard

So Hungary is one of those places where the weather can be a certain way in one place, yet totally different just a matter of miles away. Alvin and I decided a few weeks ago that we would celebrate the one-year mark of our beautiful relationship in the exact place where we started dating (or rather, where after weeks of meeting once and constant flirting through the internet, Alvin tipsily exclaimed to a whole bus, "I have a crush on Hanna!") If you don't know how the story went after that and you're interested in being nauseated from cheesiness, please refer to all posts following the date of January 31st, 2009 :-) Anyway...back to the weather...we ventured out from Gyor Saturday morning where the weather was not bad at all. I noticed 2, maybe 3.5 flakes of snow fall as we left the train station. As we ventured farther east however, I noticed that more snow was falling, and there was more snow already on the ground. Oh, dear. After one delay in Budapest which forced a visit to a McCafe, one very serendipitous run-in with a Hungarian friend who read a story entitled The Desolation of Man (persze...) to us for an hour on the next train ride, and a slippery taxi ride later, we finally arrived to our castle in Eger. No kidding. The castle walls were just outside our room... Luckily, Eger has an abundance of activities to do inside while there is a blizzard going on outside. That abundance of things includes wine...lots of yummy wine. When in Rome, right? After too much wine, just enough palacsinta, and some wet and cold toes, the Anniversary Weekend was a success, and I was only slightly grumpy when I had to return to the scary world that we all call Monday...

Győr

Anyone who is not Hungarian or lives in Hungary who pronounces that correctly on the first try gets a huge cookie. Seeing as how my own family still can't get it right, let's just make it easy and say it's pronounced like "jury"...but without the y. Even then, a Hungarian would probably look at you like huh? So yes, here I am in Győr, living and teaching in an old factory building. Yup, no lie. If you were to walk up to my place with me and watch me cheerily open the door, you'd want to take me home from this prison immediately...post: haste. When you walk into the door however, it's a different story. My apartment is arguably the nicest apartment of anyone in my program. I have seating (real seating...not table chairs or stools) for up to 6 people. I have more storage than anyone should have in their life. A bathroom that looks like it has never been used. Yes, be jealous. Oddly enough, I don't have a washing machine or microwave in all of this amazingness...whatever. But otherwise, I'm living like a queen here. I'm also a convenient 40 minute train ride from my wonderful fiancee...which might be the biggest treat of all. Did I mention I have a beyond wonderful fiancee? Oh yea, I guess I did...I am still just thoroughly enjoying referring to him as such :-) More on adventures from Győr soon(not, I repeat NOT pronounced like "gee-yor", "jor"...just give up now...it's a lost cause. :-)

Two Europes Becoming One

I thought this day would be fitting to write a blog about something that I consider to be one of the most significant events in our world's history. Today commemorates the 20-year mark since the Berlin Wall officially came down, ending communism in Europe. I remember going to Berlin a few years ago and taking a walking tour through a place with so so so much history. I remember being enthralled the whole time my tour guide spoke as we walked from the Holocaust Memorial, to the spot where Hitler's bunker used to be, and then to the spot where part of the Berlin Wall still sits. Throughout the city, you can see a curvy line of bricks that marks where the Wall once stood. It's amazing...the line goes through what is now streets, parks, buildings...like it was never there. I was only 4 years old (almost 5!) when the Wall came down, and of course I don't remember a thing about it. After studying the time period extensively in college, and after living in a country which was once part of the Communist Bloc, I have grown to have a deep fascination with this part of our world's history, which effected so many people (I vividly remember a time in college when I realized I'd be Student Teaching during the Fall semester. I was legitimately disappointed and considered putting it off because this era in history is always taught in the Spring. Darn it!) And this day marks an anniversary of a day which would change the course of history in a huge way. While living in Hungary, I could see so many ways in which the communist era still has a great effect on society and culture. Along with that, it's overwhelming to see how far former Soviet countries like Hungary have come in rebuilding and restoring their own history and culture. The New York Times has a great little section on their website today with a couple of articles and pictures of the events commemorating this anniversary...I'm putting a link here to something I found most powerful on the website. It's a gallery of pictures taken by individuals both during communism and after the wall fell...take a look!

My Spotlight on Expatify.com

I was contacted recently by someone who is part of a website devoted to expatriate life. I was invited to post my blog to their website, AND have a "Spotlight" interview on their webpage. The interview posted today...you should check it out! While you're at it, check out the website too...it has a lot of great information for expats all over the world, and some amazing articles for travelers.

Occupational Status Update

Well, the time has come. I can officially change my occupational status from "Unemployed dirtbag" to "Substitute Teacher". I can just see my mom reading this saying "Awww, you're not a dirtbag!" And really, for being unemployed, I was somehow quite productive and busy (I swear I missed a few episodes of the Today show in the last two months...ok, at least 2 episodes). When I got the call on Friday that informed me I was "Ms. Nichols" again, I almost danced around and did cartwheels at the thought of money actually entering my bank account. Then I got to thinking...shoot! I have to actually go to WORK! What will happen to Maggie without me to give in to her cute doggie eyes and walk her every morning? My bed will surely be angry with me for neglecting it after all the love it has gotten recently. The endless web chats and smileys with a certain cute boy overseas will surely decrease a little. And God forbid! What will happen to my fashion sense after I miss the Today show and all of their updates on the latest trends?! If it weren't for Today, I would have been titled "Trend-less & Unemployed Dirtbag". I would have never gotten the memo about plaid button-ups being the thing this season (well, I guess all I would have had to do was walk into any mall to see that, but that's not the point). In the end, I suppose that Maggie will just have to wait until after work, days will go by faster, and thus Christmas will get here faster, meaning boyfriend gets here faster (woo hoo!). AND luckily, I have already purchased one of the coveted plaid shirts that are SO in this year. So, I guess I'll wake up on Monday and go make some dollar bills ya'll.

Flooding in Budapest

So there has been a lot of rainfall along the Danube, particularly in Austria. Then it all comes here to Hungary! We did have quite the rainstorm hit Budapest the other night however, taking down some trees in my neighborhood and making it a river...All of this rain along the Danube has made the river very high in the past week or so...to the point of the road going along it being underwater. Here are some pictures Alvin and I took the other day on our walk by Parliament...the one of our feet is on the steps that usually lead down from Parliament to the road!

Ladies of The Night...or Mid-Afternoon...

Being that I am from a little suburb of Denver...heck, being that I'm from the U.S., "Ladies of the Night" are not something I've encountered in any way, shape, or form in my lifetime. The closest I've come to it is watching "Pretty Woman" and feeling uncomfortably antsy at the "sexy" parts. Anyways, with that said and my larger, more intellectual views on the subject set totally aside...my experience from yesterday is newsworthy. Let me preface the story by explaining that this occupation is technically legal in Hungary...with some limitations on where the exchanges can take place (i.e. not near schools, restaurants, etc.). So, Alvin and I were in a little town outside of Miskolc, Hungary exploring and gearing up to watch a bike race today. Our Hungarian friend Greg was driving us around and showing us things. Here is how this experience went down, as I remember it...

• Greg: "Over there is a nice lake, and oh! We have &#%#$*'s here!"
• A & H: "WHAT?"
• Greg: "&#%#$*'s...you know, #@**&(!"
• Alvin: "Wait, beaches or peaches?"
• Hanna: "Horses? Waaiiit, not HORSES....you mean c^%va (Hungarian word for the explitave that rhymes with horse...think about it...)
• Greg: "Yes! They stand on the side of the road and wait for cars to stop!

At that moment, sure enough...at 3:30 in the afternoon, we drove by a woman standing suggestively on the side of the road, another walking towards a car that had pulled over. They were not dressed as my Grandma Helen would approve of. Me, being the sheltered American jumped with delight and this sight and almost felt the need to take a picture. Greg then honked and made another comment I will leave out of the blogging world and up to your imaginations to fill in. Oy vey.

Sziastork!

Ok, so some of you may have immediately noticed my type-o in the title. The term "Sziasztok" can mean "hello" or "goodbye" in Hungarian. One day however, while walking through Alvin's village, we noticed a family of storks living in a next on a telephone pole. I then proceeded to yell out, "SziaSTORK!" and have a laugh attack for about 10 minutes following. This isn't the point of my blog, though. I've spent the better part of the last 3 weeks saying lots of "hello's" and "goodbye's" here. A big hello was when my sister and her (now OUR) friend Kate came to visit Hungary. I couldn't have enjoyed their visit more. They were even initiated into the Statue-Accosting Association of Hungary while they were here! We made a visit to Vienna and Kaposvar, and even made a visit to my school to see my kids wonder who the heck this girl that looked exactly like Hanna was! I've also had to start saying a lot of the word "goodbye" here already, which is heartbreaking, really. My kids have been a huge part of my life this past year, and saying goodbye was not easy for me. I thought I was going to be able to hold it all together and get through it without tears until the last day of teaching as I was explaining to 1.c that I wasn't coming back (some of the kids still don't fully understand I won't be here in September, which hurts me more). As little Zsofi came to the realization, I saw little tears well up in her eyes as she sat with her chin in her hands and yup, that did it. Suddenly, I had 15 crying kids surrounding me making me realize that I really did have an impact on them. Enough of the sad stuff, though. I got to enjoy so many flowers, chocolates, and my favorite...lots of pictures they colored for me. I will not go home empty handed! I also got to go to an end-of-the year swimming party and watch the kids just have fun, outside of school. I couldn't be happier.

Here is little Zsofi from 1.c. Lili and Mate, enjoying the water.

And now I have a couple weeks to just enjoy Hungary! Alvin and I have already started aimlessly wandering around Budapest, along with hitting up sites on our "list". Here we are, climbing up Gellert Hill in Budapest! I'm happy to know Hungary isn't done with me yet! Nor will it be in July when I leave...I think I'll be back soon enough :-)

Wake Up!

So yea, I woke up today and it hit me that today is June 8th. Yes, in one month exactly, I will be on a plane going back home to the States. I will toss the emotions of that idea aside for now though and focus on what amazing things are happening NOW. I had two of my best friends from home visiting, and they left yesterday. I LOVED having them here to just talk to, laugh with, have them meet the boy, and basque in good news together. To Han and Jo, thanks a MILLION for spending the money and time to come see my world over here, and I am so happy you got so explore some more of it too! I love you so much.We spent Saturday at Lake Balaton wandering around the lake and also saw Alvin in a bike race. This wasn't just any easy bike race though...it went the whole way around Lake Balaton (that's about 200km, people!). He finished in about the top 30 out of about 1,000 racers, and I'm really proud of him. He even managed to have enough energy afterward to meet the girls and answer their pressing questions :-) In the picture below, Alvin is all the way on the left of the group, in the elbow pit of the man with the tattoo. Good lucking seeing it! It was quite the sprint to the finish!In other news, this is my last week of teaching! I'm trying to enjoy and savor the last hugs and fun moments with the little ones before I leave. Tomorrow I get to go to Parliament with 2.c! So excited. Also, my sister Katie and her friend Kate fly into Budapest Thursday. I absolutely cannot WAIT to have my sister here. So yea, there's way more fun to come before July 8th...so we'll consider that later :-)

Day On The Duna

Friday was "Day On The Duna" at Varosliget for the 1st through 4th graders. I went along happily on the 90 degree day and aside from a lot of heat and mosquitoes, it was awesome! It also included the following: food, playing ball, playing tag, food, ice cream, hand holding, food, English games that the kids WANTED to play, a funeral, bumps and scratches, food, running happily, and lots of love. Here are a couple of pictures for you to enjoy!

Zsofi and Lilla enjoying ice cream (what, kids eating? CRAZY!)Oooooh they are so cute waving at the camera!He is so shy, but he pulled his hair out of his eyes, pointed at himself, and said, "Hanna, picture please.""Hanna, too sunny!"

Where is your money?

So, some of you already know that I lost my wallet last week. Yes, I honestly am not sure if it got lost or stolen, but all I know is that I got money out of the ATM, got on the bus with Alvin, and by the time I got home, it was not there. Luckily, there were no charges made on any credit cards, and only (this does hurt, but it could be worse) about 75 dollars worth of money was in there (including the monthly metro pass I had JUST bought two days before! Grrr...). All in all, I am not too incredibly upset, because it could have been worse. It can be replaced, I still have my Passport, my health, and happiness....things happen. Whatever. Anyways, Monday, I mentioned the said wallet-losing to a couple teachers at school. One even noticed I was carrying my cash around in a Ziploc baggie. How barbaric! Really though, I had forgotten about it...until today. I was in the hall, talking to some of my kids...when about 1O kids from 2.a ran up and asked me, "Hanna! Where is your money???" Huh? My money? Were they asking me for money? Did they want to know where it was so they could take it? Well kids, it is in a Ziploc bag upstairs...but I would rather you leave it there so I do not have to venture to the bank again and try speaking to a bank teller about it. Then one kid acted out something falling out of a bag. Ahhhhh. They wanted to know if I found my wallet!!!! I told them no, I did not find my wallet. I made a sad face, just to get the point across. Suddenly I was attacked by hugs and hands petting my hair. Man, I love the therapy that comes with teaching kids!!!

More on Indiana Jones....

So, remember the epic story of how Indiana Jones is a parent of one of my students? Well, I have a huge update friends...if you haven't read the beginning of this story, I would recommend reading it before continuing. Either way, the shock value of this story is still high. First of all, I received an update recently on the current occupation of the man who I thought was ACTUALLY Indiana Jones. I was informed that he is a hunter. How anyone makes this their daily occupation, let alone in Budapest, Hungary is beyond my comprehension. Anyways, today I walked into school a bit antzy because I had to substitute and take all 30 children in my 2b class...this class includes the four boys that make me want to tear my eyes out every time I have them. As I walked down the hall to their class, I noticed some of the boys in the class were playing "guns" in the hallway, and shooting with their fake finger-guns into the classroom. Naturally, I just thought, "Boys...", and turned to walk into the classroom where my horror of 2b was blown out of the water by what I saw. I turned to see the former Indiana Jones playing guns with the kids. But formerly being Indiana Jones, he did not use his silly fingers as guns. No, he was pointing a hunting rifle as big as me at all of the children and pretending to shoot. Now, this was a source of HUGE culture shock, because if this were to occur in America, chaos would ensue and the story would inevitably be all over national news. But in Hungary...it's a totally normal way to play. Shocked, I looked at the teacher who looked at me like "Awww, isn't it cute?" (nem, no ma'am, it is NOT). When he finished his pretend mutilation of all the 2nd graders in the classroom, he put his huge hunting rifle back into it's lovely velvet cover, tipped his hat, and said "Csokolom, visontlatasra", and was gone.

Hanna Nichols, official tour guide for cute boys visiting Budapest...

Ok, no...I lied. I'm not any sort of official tour guide in Budapest for attractive boys (although I'm sure a few of you got your hopes up). But over the weekend I did in fact have the privilege of showing a super awesome (and yes, very cute) boy around my "'hood". I must say too, that it will be a hard weekend to top on the list of "Awesome Weekends in the Life of Hanna Nichols". I won't give a complete run-down of the weekend, as I'm sure some of you might have to excuse yourselves to vomit during reading, but I'll give you a few highlights and some pictures to give you the idea...you might puke anyways though...sorry! :-)

• Got to experience every girl's ultimate dream of seeing a guy in the distance at a train station with a huge smile on his face...for me. I can think of a few of you who are done already. Mwahahaha.
• A lovely stroll around Castle Hill at night (the best thing to do in Budapest, according to this esteemed tour guide), along with some Forralt Bor and Bartok to top it off!
• Saturday was spent at Statue Park with Lauren and Jules, her visitor. Statue Park is where Hungary decided to toss all the statues put up around Budapest during the Soviet Era. Of course, they didn't see much need to make it very convenient to get to, but I loved it! We had fun accosting statues all day.

I get to go visit Alvin's (see above reference to "cute boy") digs next weekend, so more to come. :-)

Yet another cute kid story that will melt your heart....

Yup, I have plenty of these ones saved up in my head for rainy days when I need a pick-me-up. Here's just one kid story that happened today: Through the end of this week, I will be making Valentines with my little ones, and it all started today. My personal favorite way to make Valentines is to make "heart people". It is just like it sounds. You cut out a big heart. You make a face on it with heart eyes and a heart nose. You make arms with heart hands...legs with heart feet...you get the idea. Anyways, I made a whole lesson out of it with the kiddos and I was helping them write out notes on the back of their heart people. Most of the kids were making them for their mothers. I was having them write a simple message..."Happy Valentine's Day, Mom! I love you." One of my little ones, Aron...who has a new baby sister (named Hanna actually...he loves to tell me that and he even sent me pictures in the form of an email once). He decided to make his for her, and he wanted to write his own special note on the back. He approached me during class (keep in mind, I didn't know who he was making it for at the time), and here's what he said...

• Aron: "How to spell 'I love you'?"
• Hanna: writes it on the board
• Aron, a few minutes later: "Ok, now how to spell 'mine beautiful Valentine'?"
• Hanna, before even noticing the grammar mistake: "That's nice! Who is it for?"
• Aron: "Mine beautiful Valentine sister, Hanna."
• Hanna: melts, then proceeds to give him a hug for being so dang cute
• Aron: awkwardly hugs me, gives me a weird look, then returns to his work
• Hanna: Recovers, then quickly makes sure he writes "my" and not "mine" :-)

Catching Butterflies

So, this week, my 2nd graders are learning verbs, along with the phrases "I can", and "I can't". Today, we were working on writing sentences and we were talking as a class about what we can and can't do...I wrote things on the board like: "I can ride a bike", "I can't skateboard", etc. Then I told the kids that they needed to write 5 sentences about what they can/can't do. They had interesting answers like "I can [play] Playstation!", and "I can play the recorder" (I should know, I hear "Hot Cross Buns" being played alllll day in the halls). Then two of my favorite little girls, Flora and Nori came up and wanted to say something about butterflies. They kept saying "I can't...", then jump around and clasp their hands. When I realized what they were thinking, I almost melted in a puddle right there because it was just about the cutest thing ever...they wanted to say "I can't catch butterflies with my hands." I automatically thought about non-kids, like myself, and I ran through my head all of the things we always say we can't do...."I can't be smart enough", "I can't be good enough", "I can't be beautiful enough", etc. It made me really wish we thought as simply as my students, who don't care about any of those things...they just care about catching butterflies in their hands.

Aw, crap....

I will tell you this story in the form of my exact thoughts as they played out while riding on the bus today....Hmmm...what a chilly day. Sun, are you there? Don't you love me anymore? What will I have for dinner tonight? Wow, what an unkempt looking man that is standing over there in the corner of the bus. He looks wiggly. That's a lot of traffic out there on the highway...it's getting dark. Wow, why is the unkempt man squatting down now? Wait, why are his pants at his ankles? WAIT a second...WHAT is that on the floor? Why are all the people backing away!? Crap. Literally. Uh-oh...laugh attack coming. The mysteriously unkempt man just pooped on the floor of a moving bus. The bus has stopped...people are angry. Maybe this is my que to get off the bus, which will soon be smelly and contaminated. Laugh attack starting. Ok, stop offending other riders by laughing. What the hell? A man just dropped trow and pooped on your bus. Laugh away.

The Budapest Marathon

Today I experienced my first time running in a race. Fortunately for me, my first ever race turned out to be in the beautiful city of Budapest! I ran in the Budapest International Marathon, but of course I chose to run the "Mini-Marathon"...which was a 7.5k (or about 4.7 miles). My super-duper running partner, Carla brought up the idea a few weeks ago to everyone in the program, and of course we were the only ones who ended up committing to the run. I couldn't have asked for a better buddy! As anyone who follows my blog closely knows, I have been running a little bit while here in Budapest (and it always seems to be an adventure...), but I definitely have slacked the past few weeks. I was a little antzy this morning as I pinned my number to my shirt, but it was a beautifully sunny day...and there was a chill in the air that made it perfect running weather. Carla and I set out at about 9 to head to Hosok Tere (Hero's Square) where the race started. We got some pictures, stretched, cheered on the marathon runners (and quickly basqued in knowing that we would NOT be running for the next few HOURS) and then went to the starting gate and anxiously awaited our race! As I heard the countdown from 10 in Hungarian, I knew it was almost time, and then we set off down Andrassy Ut! Andrassy Ut is basically the Champs-Elysses of Budapest...while it's not QUITE as grand, it is still pretty specatular and I was feeling incredible as I ran with a huge crowd of people down this huge street. As we ran back through Varosliget (City Park) and rounded the finish line, I was quite excited when I saw Carla's face at the end...yes, she's a superstar runner and ran ahead of me in the first 5 minutes...but she was there at the end to cheer me on!! When I pulled up, the first think she asked me was, "was that your first race?!" I hadn't thought about it, but then I said "Well yes, yes it was!" I had been so focused on actually running and the fact I was running IN Budapest, I had never stopped to think this was my first race...AND I had just finished in quite good time! I was so excited and proud of myself! I really don't consider myself a runner. I am more of a hiking, biking type girl. I usually hate running actually...but today was so much fun, and it's served as sort of a motivation to keep it up! Well, let's be honest...once I get back to CO, I might just go hug a mountain and hop on my bike and ride off into the sunset and never run again...but when in Rome... :-)