Here's something that the Irish Independent brought to my attention today and that I will probably be watching like 10x per day for like...the rest of my life.
Also love that we were just rocking out to Bohemian Rhapsody last night at the Slipper. Gotta love the intense mutual appreciation that builds for songs like this especially after a couple drinks - air guitar and all. Brilliant, truly, and wanted to share with anyone who hasn't seen this yet. Enjoy!!! Over and over again!!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Well! Here we go!
Jeez, guys, busy as ever, and missing everyone as always.
This past week has probably been my low point here, as can be seen in the post below. However! We are adopting a new strategy. Enough of that noise! I'm on the offensive now! In a manner of speaking. Whatever that means. I'm still working it out.
As you can maybe see, the sleep deprivation still hasn't quite been remedied. I got sick again last week, which resulted in me missing several classes. Took Friday as a recovery day, and quite literally did NOT move from my bed for the entirety of the day, until about 4 or 5 pm. At first I felt guilty that I was missing hours for my internship, and guilty that I wasn't in the library studying or prepping for any one of the assignments I've got up in the air in the moment, but I decided that I needed to get better. So, instead of all that, I stayed in bed, ordered delivery, and watched old episodes of the West Wing on my computer. I'm serious, that's all I did for the whole day. That's right guys, I let LOOSE ;) And it was fantastic.
Saturday was an interesting day. By the afternoon, I was feeling healthy again, and ready to be productive, but alas there was something more important than work to address. It has been pointed out to me that over the past few months I may have not been the best friend that I could be to a lot of you, in various ways and for various reasons that we don't need to get into now. If any of you feel as if that is the case, as if I've been taking a bit too much advantage of your friendship, or in any way taking you for granted, I am sorry. Very sorry. The new strategy mentioned above involves adopting new behavior and attempting a new outlook over many areas of my life right now, and a big part of that is trying to make right this thing in particular. I really do love you all and despite appearances sometimes, I do very much appreciate everything that all of you do for me.
I talked to my Dad on Saturday evening for the first time in quite a while. He, like other family, was worried about how I was getting along here and could tell just by my voice that I was upset. He asked me what was going on and I told him - trying to successfully juggle schoolwork, internship, the co-op search and my relationships with friends didn't seem to be going very well, and was definitely taking a toll. Like he can usually do, he cheered me up. Somehow we managed to get on the topic of kilts - he wants me to bring him back one for Christmas so that he can wear it to Christmas parties and show it off to his friends. I swore up and down that kilts were Scottish and didn't have anything to do with Ireland, but that I would see what I could do. Turns out there are Irish kilts too, so don't I feel like an idiot. At the end of the conversation Dad told me to go out and have some drinks on him, it sounded like I needed a good time and I shouldn't be stressing so much in a place where I'm missing out on so much fun. With that endorsement, I got together with a few of my favorite people here and headed to my favorite pub, where we had a great night of laughter, conversation, flirtation and ridicule with some of the locals and our favorite bartenders. It was a much needed respite.
Highlights of the evening:
1) Being told by a bartender who had never met me before that the beer I was drinking (Smithwicks Irish Ale) was only for dirty hillbilly men and that I wouldn't be drinking any more. The following conversation ensued.
Me: You can't just not serve me the beer I want. I like Smithwicks! Whats wrong with liking Smithwicks?!
BT: I told you already. I'm not serving you another pint of that trash. It's not suitable. Pick something else.
*I glare at BT for several seconds but he does not comply. Silence ensues.*
Me: So if hypothetically I asked for a Budweis---
BT: Are you kidding me woman? You're in Ireland and you're ordering a Budweiser? No, you can drink that shit back home.
Me: It's better here!
BT: Bullshit.
*More glaring*
Me: Fine! Why don't you just give me what you think I should be drinking then!
*BT contemplates the taps, then pours a Heineken* (Note: There is no light beer here. What had just occurred was along the lines of ordering a beer like a Dogfish or something else with strength, and then being refused only to be served a Bud Light.)
Me: Seriously?
BT: *smirking* That'll be 4.60, m'dear.
2) Our BT buddies had been sneaking us free food from the big private party going on in the other room for most of the night. Upon finishing a chicken wing, and unaware of the insult he was committing, Will popped the bone into his now-empty pint glass to be disposed of. He was - of course - instantly chastised by the bartenders, but they made peace and Will ordered another pint of stout.
A little while later, one of the BTs, Paddy, came out and told us that we should get ready, because something really funny was going to happen soon. Over the course of the next few minutes, the other bartenders stopped by our side of the bar and told us the same thing, and they were clearly excited, but insisted on keeping us in suspense as to what it would be. We were all intrigued - including Will - and persisted in questioning the bartenders as to what was going to happen, but they wouldn't give it up. They just kept coming back around. "Seriously guys, like 10 minutes, its gonna get real funny in here." "I'm telling you guys. 5 more minutes. Hysterical, seriously."
By this point, Will had gotten down to the final stretch of his Beamish pint. We didn't notice that for whatever reason, all three bartenders had gathered at our end of the bar. As he went to toss the rest of it back, enough of the opaque stout moved so as to reveal the chicken bone, which had been sitting at the bottom of his pint for the entire time he had been drinking it. Trust me when I say, ladies and gentlemen, that hilarity ensued.
Generally it was a really good time with the bartenders and the locals and it was a good mental health experience in that it reminded me of all the fun I should be having here and made me resolve to do everything I can to make more time for such things.
Sunday was a day lost to recovery and work, but Monday I got up bright and early to write my paper on the problems surrounding the re-emergence of populism in Latin America. Got it done on time, happy with it, and it was nice to write about something that I actually enjoy learning about and have a real opinion on. (The potato famine, while interesting, didn't exactly inspire a lot of excitement when it came time to write about it). I did the paper! I went to class! Both classes! I went to the gym! And then, after all of it, I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday at the very same pub. It was the first time in a long time that I felt productive and accomplished and was still able to have fun. The plan is to try to do more to incorporate this kind of a thing on a regular basis. After all, there's less than 4 weeks left! I'm missing out!
Anyhow, I'm optimistic. I'm starting to get a handle on work. I've been given amnesty by my professors in the light of sickness-related absences and such. I've rallied, and we're giving this another go in the home stretch.
I'm heading off to Geneva and Paris this weekend to visit some friends from back home. I'm looking forward to it, because we will have all just missed out on seeing all of your beautiful faces during Thanksgiving. Should be great, it's my last chance to really get out of the city, and I'm really pumped to spend sometime with Cathy and Jay.
I know I'm behind on this guys but as always I appreciate the readership. Take care and everyone please enjoy your Thanksgiving! I'll be thinking of all of you :)
This past week has probably been my low point here, as can be seen in the post below. However! We are adopting a new strategy. Enough of that noise! I'm on the offensive now! In a manner of speaking. Whatever that means. I'm still working it out.
As you can maybe see, the sleep deprivation still hasn't quite been remedied. I got sick again last week, which resulted in me missing several classes. Took Friday as a recovery day, and quite literally did NOT move from my bed for the entirety of the day, until about 4 or 5 pm. At first I felt guilty that I was missing hours for my internship, and guilty that I wasn't in the library studying or prepping for any one of the assignments I've got up in the air in the moment, but I decided that I needed to get better. So, instead of all that, I stayed in bed, ordered delivery, and watched old episodes of the West Wing on my computer. I'm serious, that's all I did for the whole day. That's right guys, I let LOOSE ;) And it was fantastic.
Saturday was an interesting day. By the afternoon, I was feeling healthy again, and ready to be productive, but alas there was something more important than work to address. It has been pointed out to me that over the past few months I may have not been the best friend that I could be to a lot of you, in various ways and for various reasons that we don't need to get into now. If any of you feel as if that is the case, as if I've been taking a bit too much advantage of your friendship, or in any way taking you for granted, I am sorry. Very sorry. The new strategy mentioned above involves adopting new behavior and attempting a new outlook over many areas of my life right now, and a big part of that is trying to make right this thing in particular. I really do love you all and despite appearances sometimes, I do very much appreciate everything that all of you do for me.
I talked to my Dad on Saturday evening for the first time in quite a while. He, like other family, was worried about how I was getting along here and could tell just by my voice that I was upset. He asked me what was going on and I told him - trying to successfully juggle schoolwork, internship, the co-op search and my relationships with friends didn't seem to be going very well, and was definitely taking a toll. Like he can usually do, he cheered me up. Somehow we managed to get on the topic of kilts - he wants me to bring him back one for Christmas so that he can wear it to Christmas parties and show it off to his friends. I swore up and down that kilts were Scottish and didn't have anything to do with Ireland, but that I would see what I could do. Turns out there are Irish kilts too, so don't I feel like an idiot. At the end of the conversation Dad told me to go out and have some drinks on him, it sounded like I needed a good time and I shouldn't be stressing so much in a place where I'm missing out on so much fun. With that endorsement, I got together with a few of my favorite people here and headed to my favorite pub, where we had a great night of laughter, conversation, flirtation and ridicule with some of the locals and our favorite bartenders. It was a much needed respite.
Highlights of the evening:
1) Being told by a bartender who had never met me before that the beer I was drinking (Smithwicks Irish Ale) was only for dirty hillbilly men and that I wouldn't be drinking any more. The following conversation ensued.
Me: You can't just not serve me the beer I want. I like Smithwicks! Whats wrong with liking Smithwicks?!
BT: I told you already. I'm not serving you another pint of that trash. It's not suitable. Pick something else.
*I glare at BT for several seconds but he does not comply. Silence ensues.*
Me: So if hypothetically I asked for a Budweis---
BT: Are you kidding me woman? You're in Ireland and you're ordering a Budweiser? No, you can drink that shit back home.
Me: It's better here!
BT: Bullshit.
*More glaring*
Me: Fine! Why don't you just give me what you think I should be drinking then!
*BT contemplates the taps, then pours a Heineken* (Note: There is no light beer here. What had just occurred was along the lines of ordering a beer like a Dogfish or something else with strength, and then being refused only to be served a Bud Light.)
Me: Seriously?
BT: *smirking* That'll be 4.60, m'dear.
2) Our BT buddies had been sneaking us free food from the big private party going on in the other room for most of the night. Upon finishing a chicken wing, and unaware of the insult he was committing, Will popped the bone into his now-empty pint glass to be disposed of. He was - of course - instantly chastised by the bartenders, but they made peace and Will ordered another pint of stout.
A little while later, one of the BTs, Paddy, came out and told us that we should get ready, because something really funny was going to happen soon. Over the course of the next few minutes, the other bartenders stopped by our side of the bar and told us the same thing, and they were clearly excited, but insisted on keeping us in suspense as to what it would be. We were all intrigued - including Will - and persisted in questioning the bartenders as to what was going to happen, but they wouldn't give it up. They just kept coming back around. "Seriously guys, like 10 minutes, its gonna get real funny in here." "I'm telling you guys. 5 more minutes. Hysterical, seriously."
By this point, Will had gotten down to the final stretch of his Beamish pint. We didn't notice that for whatever reason, all three bartenders had gathered at our end of the bar. As he went to toss the rest of it back, enough of the opaque stout moved so as to reveal the chicken bone, which had been sitting at the bottom of his pint for the entire time he had been drinking it. Trust me when I say, ladies and gentlemen, that hilarity ensued.
Generally it was a really good time with the bartenders and the locals and it was a good mental health experience in that it reminded me of all the fun I should be having here and made me resolve to do everything I can to make more time for such things.
Sunday was a day lost to recovery and work, but Monday I got up bright and early to write my paper on the problems surrounding the re-emergence of populism in Latin America. Got it done on time, happy with it, and it was nice to write about something that I actually enjoy learning about and have a real opinion on. (The potato famine, while interesting, didn't exactly inspire a lot of excitement when it came time to write about it). I did the paper! I went to class! Both classes! I went to the gym! And then, after all of it, I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday at the very same pub. It was the first time in a long time that I felt productive and accomplished and was still able to have fun. The plan is to try to do more to incorporate this kind of a thing on a regular basis. After all, there's less than 4 weeks left! I'm missing out!
Anyhow, I'm optimistic. I'm starting to get a handle on work. I've been given amnesty by my professors in the light of sickness-related absences and such. I've rallied, and we're giving this another go in the home stretch.
I'm heading off to Geneva and Paris this weekend to visit some friends from back home. I'm looking forward to it, because we will have all just missed out on seeing all of your beautiful faces during Thanksgiving. Should be great, it's my last chance to really get out of the city, and I'm really pumped to spend sometime with Cathy and Jay.
I know I'm behind on this guys but as always I appreciate the readership. Take care and everyone please enjoy your Thanksgiving! I'll be thinking of all of you :)
Monday, November 16, 2009
Homesick?
Disclaimer: This post is a soul-searching post. It wasn't really written for you. This is one of those times where this blog isn't so much that as it is a journal. I organize my thoughts by talking them out. When for whatever reason that doesn't seem feasible, I write them down. As such, this post is scattered, nonsensical and possibly more than a little bit whiny.
.....
About a 15-20 minute walk from our campus here at DCU is a shopping center called Omni. We probably hit Omni at least once per week. From there, we can catch the bus to the airport, we can get our American fast-food fix (it sports a Subway, a McDonalds, and a Burger King), we can mail our postcards and we can get our groceries.
I was on a grocery trip today and when I wandered through the wine aisle, for the first time since I've been here I found a small section of Argentine malbecs. The malbec is a wine that I became familiar with as it was the perfect companion to the delicious red meats of Buenos Aires, but it stuck with me. I liked its strength, the heady punch it had. When it became my wine of choice even after I returned to Boston, I would look at the bottle's Mendoza wine label and remember a great trip where I met some amazing people and had an amazing adventure. People who know me well know that I'm a creature of habit. I find comfort in things like eating the same kind of sandwich, drinking the same kind of smoothie, the same kind of wine. I find something I like and I stick with it. I found the malbec in Argentina, and I stuck with it in Boston.
I haven't thought until right now whether or not there might be a deeper meaning to why I do that. I always thought it was because I was lazy, or uncomplicated in that way - where if I found something I like, why ignore it? Why not embrace it? But thinking about it right now, I think there might be something else to it.
I move around a lot. In two years, I've lived in three different countries, in all of seven different "homes". For someone who hates packing up and moving around more than pretty much anything, it seems like I've made quite the habit of it. When I feel homesick, I don't long for a place. I don't think about a house or an apartment. More than anything I think of people - friends mostly, but lately, surrounded by the unfamiliar, the people who make my sandwiches at ABP, my smoothies at Freshens, my meals at Bombay get quite a bit of affection as well. I miss being able to walk into a place and be recognized, I miss getting my food before I even order because everyone knows what I want. That might sound spoiled and high maintenance but that's not how its meant - I also miss being comfortable enough in a place that I get teased by the staff for being there 3+ times per week.
Pretty soon after I started out on these adventures of mine, I realized how important home is to me. I cannot even begin to describe the value that I put on the friendships I have - they are the most important thing in the world to me, and I would go to the ends of the earth to protect them. For years, home has been less of a place for me, and more so a group of people that I've relied on to fill that gap. I absolutely do not underestimate the incredible opportunities that have allowed me to make my college experience into what it has been, but recently I've realized that it has come at what I believe to be a considerable cost. Since I've began college, I have never actually been able to settle. I can't go more than a few months without having to put relationships on hold, without having to pick up and readjust, restructure my support system, come up with a new strategy to deal with life's challenges. Maybe that's why I take the comfort I do in things that seem so trivial - ABP's smoked turkey club wrap, Freshens' Caribbean Craze smoothie, the raspberry chipotle chicken salad at Quiznos. As stupid as it sounds, those things are home to me. They're comforting. Just like sitting down with a good malbec is comforting.
Just a little over a month ago I had to write an essay stating why I would make a good candidate for the international co-op program. I said that I thrive on new challenges. I believed that to be true when I wrote it, and I guess I'm not quite ready to discount it yet. But here I am, in a foreign country, taking some of the most difficult courses I've ever taken, busier than I've ever been, with great opportunities to both learn from and make an impression on a new place, and seemingly endless challenges - projects for work that require that I roll together all of my experiences in international education to create a new, comprehensive product; projects for classes that require that I collaborate across time zones to produce a product in conjunction with students across an ocean; the search for a co-op job that requires me to establish an un-ignorable presence from thousands of miles away. Do I feel challenged? Absolutely. Am I thriving? Absolutely not. I am anxious. I am exhausted. I feel more isolated than I've ever felt in my life, as if slowly but steadily I'm being stripped of every support system I've managed to build for myself, and as if every new challenge is just a reminder of that fact. I feel weak, and because of that I feel quite a bit terrified, because I find myself under the impression that there is no end in sight.
This week I got an email from one of the best friends anyone could ask for. It talked about nostalgia, it reminisced for a time when all of us could be a little bit more careless, when we didn't have to think about things like GPAs and careers and student loans and resumes and interviews. When we had summer vacations and could stay up all night watching movies and talking and driving til the sun came up and then sleep all day the next day, guilt-free. When we could spend money on concerts and road trips instead of on rent and bills. Someone probably told me that those were going to be the best years of my life but I kind of wish I had paid more attention.
I sound so old! I sound so jaded! And I HATE it. I hate that dumb things like real life are getting in the way of me being young and carefree and happy. The kicker is? I don't ever remember feeling carefree, even back then. I guess I'm a little worried that I might have missed my chance.
I'm rambling. I have a pile of work that I can't even bring myself to look at. Work about suicide bombings and terrorist politics and the questionable feasibility of "true" democratic politics in Latin America. Sometimes I wish that 3 years ago when I got myself into this stuff someone had slapped me across the face and reminded me that I do actually like things like cinema studies and art.
The Omni center is fully decked out in all of the Christmas glory that any mall deserves. Anamatronic Santas and glittery trees hanging from the ceiling and everything else. It has been for a couple weeks now. Seemed early to me too. Then I realized it's because we'd missed Thanksgiving. I've never been without at least some sort of Thanksgiving before.
I bought the malbec in the supermarket today. I was excited for it. But for some reason I almost don't want to touch it. I bought it because it was something familiar that I could be nostalgic for. I thought it reminded me of home, but I guess these days I can't quite pin down what home even is anymore. Sometimes it feels like it doesn't exist at all.
.....
About a 15-20 minute walk from our campus here at DCU is a shopping center called Omni. We probably hit Omni at least once per week. From there, we can catch the bus to the airport, we can get our American fast-food fix (it sports a Subway, a McDonalds, and a Burger King), we can mail our postcards and we can get our groceries.
I was on a grocery trip today and when I wandered through the wine aisle, for the first time since I've been here I found a small section of Argentine malbecs. The malbec is a wine that I became familiar with as it was the perfect companion to the delicious red meats of Buenos Aires, but it stuck with me. I liked its strength, the heady punch it had. When it became my wine of choice even after I returned to Boston, I would look at the bottle's Mendoza wine label and remember a great trip where I met some amazing people and had an amazing adventure. People who know me well know that I'm a creature of habit. I find comfort in things like eating the same kind of sandwich, drinking the same kind of smoothie, the same kind of wine. I find something I like and I stick with it. I found the malbec in Argentina, and I stuck with it in Boston.
I haven't thought until right now whether or not there might be a deeper meaning to why I do that. I always thought it was because I was lazy, or uncomplicated in that way - where if I found something I like, why ignore it? Why not embrace it? But thinking about it right now, I think there might be something else to it.
I move around a lot. In two years, I've lived in three different countries, in all of seven different "homes". For someone who hates packing up and moving around more than pretty much anything, it seems like I've made quite the habit of it. When I feel homesick, I don't long for a place. I don't think about a house or an apartment. More than anything I think of people - friends mostly, but lately, surrounded by the unfamiliar, the people who make my sandwiches at ABP, my smoothies at Freshens, my meals at Bombay get quite a bit of affection as well. I miss being able to walk into a place and be recognized, I miss getting my food before I even order because everyone knows what I want. That might sound spoiled and high maintenance but that's not how its meant - I also miss being comfortable enough in a place that I get teased by the staff for being there 3+ times per week.
Pretty soon after I started out on these adventures of mine, I realized how important home is to me. I cannot even begin to describe the value that I put on the friendships I have - they are the most important thing in the world to me, and I would go to the ends of the earth to protect them. For years, home has been less of a place for me, and more so a group of people that I've relied on to fill that gap. I absolutely do not underestimate the incredible opportunities that have allowed me to make my college experience into what it has been, but recently I've realized that it has come at what I believe to be a considerable cost. Since I've began college, I have never actually been able to settle. I can't go more than a few months without having to put relationships on hold, without having to pick up and readjust, restructure my support system, come up with a new strategy to deal with life's challenges. Maybe that's why I take the comfort I do in things that seem so trivial - ABP's smoked turkey club wrap, Freshens' Caribbean Craze smoothie, the raspberry chipotle chicken salad at Quiznos. As stupid as it sounds, those things are home to me. They're comforting. Just like sitting down with a good malbec is comforting.
Just a little over a month ago I had to write an essay stating why I would make a good candidate for the international co-op program. I said that I thrive on new challenges. I believed that to be true when I wrote it, and I guess I'm not quite ready to discount it yet. But here I am, in a foreign country, taking some of the most difficult courses I've ever taken, busier than I've ever been, with great opportunities to both learn from and make an impression on a new place, and seemingly endless challenges - projects for work that require that I roll together all of my experiences in international education to create a new, comprehensive product; projects for classes that require that I collaborate across time zones to produce a product in conjunction with students across an ocean; the search for a co-op job that requires me to establish an un-ignorable presence from thousands of miles away. Do I feel challenged? Absolutely. Am I thriving? Absolutely not. I am anxious. I am exhausted. I feel more isolated than I've ever felt in my life, as if slowly but steadily I'm being stripped of every support system I've managed to build for myself, and as if every new challenge is just a reminder of that fact. I feel weak, and because of that I feel quite a bit terrified, because I find myself under the impression that there is no end in sight.
This week I got an email from one of the best friends anyone could ask for. It talked about nostalgia, it reminisced for a time when all of us could be a little bit more careless, when we didn't have to think about things like GPAs and careers and student loans and resumes and interviews. When we had summer vacations and could stay up all night watching movies and talking and driving til the sun came up and then sleep all day the next day, guilt-free. When we could spend money on concerts and road trips instead of on rent and bills. Someone probably told me that those were going to be the best years of my life but I kind of wish I had paid more attention.
I sound so old! I sound so jaded! And I HATE it. I hate that dumb things like real life are getting in the way of me being young and carefree and happy. The kicker is? I don't ever remember feeling carefree, even back then. I guess I'm a little worried that I might have missed my chance.
I'm rambling. I have a pile of work that I can't even bring myself to look at. Work about suicide bombings and terrorist politics and the questionable feasibility of "true" democratic politics in Latin America. Sometimes I wish that 3 years ago when I got myself into this stuff someone had slapped me across the face and reminded me that I do actually like things like cinema studies and art.
The Omni center is fully decked out in all of the Christmas glory that any mall deserves. Anamatronic Santas and glittery trees hanging from the ceiling and everything else. It has been for a couple weeks now. Seemed early to me too. Then I realized it's because we'd missed Thanksgiving. I've never been without at least some sort of Thanksgiving before.
I bought the malbec in the supermarket today. I was excited for it. But for some reason I almost don't want to touch it. I bought it because it was something familiar that I could be nostalgic for. I thought it reminded me of home, but I guess these days I can't quite pin down what home even is anymore. Sometimes it feels like it doesn't exist at all.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
BARCA BARCA BARCA
Hello!!
So again with the regrets for not being able to post as often - I've got a few different posts going now and someday the skies will clear and I'll be able to finish everything and get back on track with this, which I WISH could be higher on the list of priorities for me.
But at the moment I'm on vacation and as my travel partner is still struggling with the concept of wakefulness I get to take a moment and talk about it for a bit. Isn't that exciting? I think so.
Alas, the story of how I came to be here is a little bit sad. We're in the midst of Reading Week here at DCU, meaning no classes Monday-Friday. I had planned a 6-night trip to Spain - 2 nights each in Barcelona, Sevilla, and Madrid and was looking forward to getting away from the school work and be able to do one real trip, have myself an actual mini-backpacking experience, as I have been much busier than I expected to be and it would be nice to get away and see a little bit of a beautiful country. Unfortunately, at the last minute I decided that there really was too much work to do and that I couldn't afford to be put more behind by a week-long trip, so the trip was shortened to just the two nights in Barcelona.
Some of you knew me the last time I went to Barcelona...that little mini-exchange my junior year of high school. I came back and was absolutely certain that I had found my future home - plans were made in my mind that I would go back some day and live there, study there in college then somehow find a job. Things didn't work out that way, once I reached college it was Buenos Aires that drew me in and I'm glad it did, and once I arrived down there I saw many parallels between that city and what I remembered of Barcelona, and I loved it.
And now, more than 5 years later, I'm back! Just for a short couple days but already I'm remembering the feeling that the city gave me the last time I was here. It's beautiful, the people are friendly, the weather is nice - basically just one of the more gorgeous places in the world that you can imagine. And, as any city is going to be much different when you're 21 than when you're 16, its like discovering it all over again. The hostel is a blast, the worldwide Australian invasion (seriously - they're everywhere) makes for a very good time. Last night on a whim we joined a group from the hostel on a cross-city journey that stopped to pick up people from the sister hostels and eventually ended up, drunk, at the Barcelona stadium for a match...Barcelona against, well, someone else. Barca demolished them 5-0 after toying with them and not scoring at all in the first half - it was a good time and had us nicely worn out at the end. After spinning our wheels for a while we decided that we were content to just head back and sleep, and such a good decision it was, as I was running on something like 7 hours since Sunday and Will was on something similar.
Now, we're well rested, Will is up and ready to go, and we're off to do some power sight-seeing/lunch eating before we have to figure out what tonight will bring. Anyway, thought I'd get you all an update and I'll talk to you soon.
Love you all and take care!
So again with the regrets for not being able to post as often - I've got a few different posts going now and someday the skies will clear and I'll be able to finish everything and get back on track with this, which I WISH could be higher on the list of priorities for me.
But at the moment I'm on vacation and as my travel partner is still struggling with the concept of wakefulness I get to take a moment and talk about it for a bit. Isn't that exciting? I think so.
Alas, the story of how I came to be here is a little bit sad. We're in the midst of Reading Week here at DCU, meaning no classes Monday-Friday. I had planned a 6-night trip to Spain - 2 nights each in Barcelona, Sevilla, and Madrid and was looking forward to getting away from the school work and be able to do one real trip, have myself an actual mini-backpacking experience, as I have been much busier than I expected to be and it would be nice to get away and see a little bit of a beautiful country. Unfortunately, at the last minute I decided that there really was too much work to do and that I couldn't afford to be put more behind by a week-long trip, so the trip was shortened to just the two nights in Barcelona.
Some of you knew me the last time I went to Barcelona...that little mini-exchange my junior year of high school. I came back and was absolutely certain that I had found my future home - plans were made in my mind that I would go back some day and live there, study there in college then somehow find a job. Things didn't work out that way, once I reached college it was Buenos Aires that drew me in and I'm glad it did, and once I arrived down there I saw many parallels between that city and what I remembered of Barcelona, and I loved it.
And now, more than 5 years later, I'm back! Just for a short couple days but already I'm remembering the feeling that the city gave me the last time I was here. It's beautiful, the people are friendly, the weather is nice - basically just one of the more gorgeous places in the world that you can imagine. And, as any city is going to be much different when you're 21 than when you're 16, its like discovering it all over again. The hostel is a blast, the worldwide Australian invasion (seriously - they're everywhere) makes for a very good time. Last night on a whim we joined a group from the hostel on a cross-city journey that stopped to pick up people from the sister hostels and eventually ended up, drunk, at the Barcelona stadium for a match...Barcelona against, well, someone else. Barca demolished them 5-0 after toying with them and not scoring at all in the first half - it was a good time and had us nicely worn out at the end. After spinning our wheels for a while we decided that we were content to just head back and sleep, and such a good decision it was, as I was running on something like 7 hours since Sunday and Will was on something similar.
Now, we're well rested, Will is up and ready to go, and we're off to do some power sight-seeing/lunch eating before we have to figure out what tonight will bring. Anyway, thought I'd get you all an update and I'll talk to you soon.
Love you all and take care!
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