Just a quick update....
Our trip is going amazingly! We spent a week in Spain with our friends from London, visiting Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, and Barcelona. For the most part everything went without complication...besides a cancelled night train that put us on a 12 hour train ride to Barcelona during the day, and a dirty hostel that left us less than excited about spending the next five weeks in hostels (details when we get home). Ross and I split from the rest of the group yesterday and made our way to Italy....another 25 hours straight on the train, we were excited to get here. We are in Cinque Terre right now, 5 small villages on the Italian Riviera. It is a lesser known vacation destination and it is AMAZING!! Today we hiked the five villages, climb rocks, dipped our feet in the mediterranean...unbeleivable. We found a small room up a thousand stairs that has views into the apartment next door and the italian rooftops....its great. and we bought a bottle of chianti for 3 euro. i love italy.
tomorrow we are off to sorrento. another long train day, but it wil be broken up by a stop in pisa.
Hope that keeps everyone up to date a little on our travels. It is wonderful to hear from you whenever we get the chance to check email!
Friday, April 28, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
and we're off
Believe it or not I actually packed up my life. For the next five weeks everything I own is fitting on my back. 4 shirts. 5 weeks. It could get interesting.
Ross and I leave tomorrow. Five of weeks of holiday. It's pretty amazing.
The abbreviated version of our trip:
19 April - 26 April Spain
27 April - 3 May Italy
4 May - 18 May Egypt
18 May - 23 May Greece
24 May Colorado
I will try to update the blog as much as possible, but internet time could be scarce in parts. Until then.....
Ross and I leave tomorrow. Five of weeks of holiday. It's pretty amazing.
The abbreviated version of our trip:
19 April - 26 April Spain
27 April - 3 May Italy
4 May - 18 May Egypt
18 May - 23 May Greece
24 May Colorado
I will try to update the blog as much as possible, but internet time could be scarce in parts. Until then.....
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
that time already?
I can't really believe that I'm writing this blog. It's hard for me to imagine that my time in London is almost over. My last day of work is on Thursday. My second cousin Charissa is studying in Northern Ireland this semester and will be visiting London this weekend. I'm looking forward to having an excuse to revisit my favorite sights one more time. As my stay in London is drawing to a close I'm finding myself reflecting on the past six months. It's sort of bittersweet right now. I really do like life here, and I think that with a few small improvements I could really get used to being here for an extending amount of time. Alas, I knew from the beginning that there would come an end, and though I am sad to leave I am excited to travel, and excited to see what comes next in life. It doesn't help that I've been reading "Notes from a Small Island," a travel memoir by Bill Bryson. It's the story of Bryson, an American who takes a trip around England as a sort of farewell to the country he's lived in for 20 years, before returning to the states. Reading his reflections on his love affair with Britain makes me feel a bit nostalgic myself, and yes, I do realize that 6 months is nothing compared to two decades. But still, he has inspired me. And so, bear with me because this may take a few posts, but I'm attempting to put my own "leaving thoughts" down on paper.
On Saturday night Ross and I went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant near Piccadilly Circus. We got into a discussion about London moments...those tiny aha-moments when you realize that this is actually your life. I get these realizations often, especially here. I'll be on a bus and hear a kid behind me say something to his mum in a tiny little english accent. Or I'll be walking home and find a quaint street that I never knew existed. On our way home from the restaurant that night we took a shortcut to the bus stop and walked through Trafalgar Square. The fountains were lit and Big Ben was glowing in the distance. Almost simultaneously, we both said, "yeah, this is one of those moments."
After doing some keen mapquest investigating I've come to find out that I walk .9 miles to work, one way. From my flat to the grocery store/tube stop is another mile. So, on any given day when I walk to and from work, and to and from the store or to the tube (which actually is most days of the week), I walk 4 miles. That's not to mention lunch, bad planning when we walk from the tube home, then back to the store, then to the movie theatre, or any other combination of locations. I love walking around the city. Sure it's cold and windy, and rainy sometimes. But it allows a lot time during the day to think, or listen to music, or just breathe fresh air-well as fresh as it gets in smog city. I keep hoping that I'll keep walking this much when I get home, but for some reason hiking down Baselline just doesn't sound as appealing as Kensington High Street.
I always laugh a little about how I have to describe Colorado - "it's somewhere between Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon" British are fascinated by the idea of visiting America and taking a road trip - the idea of driving in one direction for more than five hours without hitting water sounds so glamorous to them. My boss Charles told me that he has a dream of renting an rv and driving across the states. He told me that he expects a traditional American backyard barbeque when he comes.
I have learned to make a really good cup of tea. Even Ross will agree.
On Saturday night Ross and I went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant near Piccadilly Circus. We got into a discussion about London moments...those tiny aha-moments when you realize that this is actually your life. I get these realizations often, especially here. I'll be on a bus and hear a kid behind me say something to his mum in a tiny little english accent. Or I'll be walking home and find a quaint street that I never knew existed. On our way home from the restaurant that night we took a shortcut to the bus stop and walked through Trafalgar Square. The fountains were lit and Big Ben was glowing in the distance. Almost simultaneously, we both said, "yeah, this is one of those moments."
After doing some keen mapquest investigating I've come to find out that I walk .9 miles to work, one way. From my flat to the grocery store/tube stop is another mile. So, on any given day when I walk to and from work, and to and from the store or to the tube (which actually is most days of the week), I walk 4 miles. That's not to mention lunch, bad planning when we walk from the tube home, then back to the store, then to the movie theatre, or any other combination of locations. I love walking around the city. Sure it's cold and windy, and rainy sometimes. But it allows a lot time during the day to think, or listen to music, or just breathe fresh air-well as fresh as it gets in smog city. I keep hoping that I'll keep walking this much when I get home, but for some reason hiking down Baselline just doesn't sound as appealing as Kensington High Street.
I always laugh a little about how I have to describe Colorado - "it's somewhere between Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon" British are fascinated by the idea of visiting America and taking a road trip - the idea of driving in one direction for more than five hours without hitting water sounds so glamorous to them. My boss Charles told me that he has a dream of renting an rv and driving across the states. He told me that he expects a traditional American backyard barbeque when he comes.
I have learned to make a really good cup of tea. Even Ross will agree.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Um, yes, that's right, those are his and her jackets......seriously REI should be paying us to be models. It's a little bit ridiculous sometimes.
Last night my boss invited Ross and I over for dinner. It was a small gesture - take away curry shared with him and his two sons - but I felt very privileged by it.
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