Number Four. "So Far Around the Bend"

Haha, yes this is number four. I think Erin has like 40 posts by now. Oh well.

So... this past week was pretty fantastic. Megan, Kim, Erin, and I went to Barcelona, and then Megan, Erin, and I went to Rome. It is still kind of incomprehensible to me that I have now been to these places.

Barcelona was absolutely breathtaking. The streets are wide and open. The weather is gorgeous. The energy is calm. Everything about Barcelona was wonderful, except that my years of Spanish did not magically flow out of my mouth as naturally as I would have liked. In fact there was no language flow at all. Most of what was used came from Spanish Uno. haha.

We went to Park Guell which was designed by Gaudi.

La Sagrada Familia which was...designed by Gaudi.

The beach which was...not designed by Gaudi.

The Picasso Musesum...not designed by Gaudi.

This really beautiful Park that I cannot remember that was also...not designed by Gaudi.

(sorry, that joke went on to long, but I figured I might as well finish out.)

On our second day there we rented bikes. Oh no. There are bike paths in Barcelona, but you have to get to them. So, picture this:

trying to keep four people together riding bikes through packed sidewalks with hundreds of people on them. I am surprised that several things didn't happen...

1. I didn't fall off

2. I didn't get hit by a car

3. I didn't hit any people

4. I didn't get sued for hitting people

All in all, it was one of the most stressful things I've done hence far. While we were on the sidewalks every few feet is a screeching halt with your feet frantically hitting the ground so you don't run into the 5 people that won't make any sort of path for the bike that is ringing its bell at their backs. Your feet walking you past the baby carriages. Almost tipping over because someone walked out in front of you. Looking behind you to make sure Erin and Kim are still there, then having to swerve and land on your feet because another baby carriage is in the middle of the sidewalk.

Phew. now we are on the bike path. oooh, these are wide streets. two cross, two get left behind. feet on the ground again, paused in the bike lane on the side of the road.

we finally got to la sagrada familia just in time to eat and take pictures in all of 15 minutes before we had to jump back on the death traps and ride back.

Our first night was spent trying to find the beach. We were successful after several detours, one of which included a playground. It was quite fantastic to put my feet into the Mediterranean Sea with a full moon over head. We saw some very jolly drunk Spaniard men swimming. At first we thought they were skinny dipping.

Megan: "no, they are wearing box-...oh no wait, mankinis"

very european. haha

Lets see...I'm just writing whatever stories pop in my head.

Our hostel was real nice, real bright, and real quaint. There was a patio out in the back that looked into the back windows of the surrounding buildings. There were moments around sunset when people's brightly colored laundry was out to dry that it was almost too picturesque. We ate out there several times, and it was a great place to wake up in the morning with the warm spanish air.

Roma.

On the plane flying into Rome I looked down at all the lights and was overwhelmed that I was flying into the home of the spread of western civilization. Although Rome is the birthplace, Rome is assuredly responsible for the spread of western civilization. Rome is one of those places that we talk about, but I never really thought I would ever be there. The city itself is kind of dirty. it is beautiful because of the fabulous piazza's, all full of elaborate and ornate fountains. And ofcourse the Roman ruins are amazing. But Rome as a city is a little grimy.

The first day we observed the outside of the Colesseum and then went to the Palatine, which was Augustus' palace. It was insane to be walking in the middle of these Roman ruins. I am having trouble articulating how amazing it was.

In Augustus' palace there was one area where he had his personal covered sports field that he would occasionally flood via the aqueducts and would proceed to have fake naval battles! one of the coolest facts I learned by far.

We spent the rest of the day walking around in awe of the fantastic Roman buildings. We ate lunch by the Trevi fountains, which was one of the most ornate and fantastic fountains.

what else? Oh! The metro in Rome is absurd. I would suggest that if you are at all claustrophobic...no Roman metro for you. They only have two lines for the whole city because every time they try to build a new one they run into more archeologists wet dreams. Ruins.

The inside of the colosseum and the vatican was the second day. I had a bruised heel, so my day was already a little hindered. And then, as we were walking (with a bruised heel) in the rain on the way to see the Pope, my umbrella broke. One little limb at a time. After the first one I was like, ok...its fine...just looks gimpy. But as we kept walking, one, two, three. It ended up in the trash. So I limped along, wet and cold...on the way to the vatican. not a happy camper.

Saw the sistine chapel. It is poorly lit in order to protect the paint, but because of that it kind of take away from the grandeur of it. or maybe it was because I was limping and wet. Now I'm not going to lie and say that i wasn't amazing, but it didn't take my breath away like I had expected it to.

Oh, the hostel in Rome wasn't as nice, but it did have free pasta dinners. haha, thats a plus.

Hmm...so yea. Those are the things that came to mind. I'm sure there are plenty of other blog worthy stories, but comon....you aren't expecting much at this point. haha.

i miss everyone. and no matter how far I travel, I can't wait to come back home. You are all greatly missed by the jet setting cate.

the end.

Number Three

Oops. Much like every diary/journal I've ever tried to keep...I am obviously falling very short. It is interesting, I've always been very introspective, you would think I'd be a wonderful journal-er. Not the case. Anyway, I was going to just forget about it...it's been too long I don't want to catch up. But Erin convinced me, "it's been a month, say what you've learned in your first month" wise words from a girl who's hair I dreaded for 6 hours. So fine...you aren't gonna get a lot of detail about trips or specific nights...but you'll get highlights, and maybe some lessons I've learned.

So. We've been here a month. Here is a list of places I've been since I feel off the face of the blogger earth.

-Hampton Court Palaces

-Brighton

-Edinburgh Scotland

-Loch Ness and the Scottish Highlands

-Stonehege

-Bath

-Oxford

Phew...I think that's it. I'm uploading pictures now. It's taking forever. But you won't know that, because if it works you will just see the pictures and it will be nice.

Every place I've been has been fantastic. I think my favorite so far has been Scotland. The highlands are absolutely beautiful. I have a new life goal and that is to go backpacking in the Scottish Highlands. One of the most breathtaking places I've ever been in my entire life. If I was to pick a city to live in out of the ones I've visited so far...I'd say Bath. It was so beautiful, so quaint, so full of history. It also had the calmest energy of any of the cities. There was still a city energy, but it wasn't a frantic energy.

We've started a weekly dinner tradition at my friend Raquel's house. She lives with her boyfriend who is working for American Express over here on a rotation so they don't have landlords. The house is really great too. Neville's, her boyfriend, best friend dan is living with them too. We go over and make dinner, play games, drink. Good times. Some of my most comfortable moments have been there.

Erin and I make dinner together almost every night. Our third housemate from Romania doesn't come down very often. She is sweet though.

Lets see...what else?

Classes are going really well. Naturalism and the Actor is gonna be really beneficial. I can already tell that I am going to walk out of that class a better actor. Staging women is fascinating. It's the first real feminist theory class I've ever taken and it has definitely awoken my feminist tendencies. I told mom that I left angry after every class and she said that it was ok. "you have to let your angry innerwoman out every now and then or she will get bitter" It's true. Don't wanna hold it all in until one day I just blow up and kill some random guy on the bus...or turn into some militant feminist that can't have a conversation without brining up the phalice. So I'm giving my angrywoman some breathing room during this class. It feels good. My literary theory class is insane. It is my earliest class, 9 am on fridays, and it kills my brain every time. Last week we talked about Sassure's theory on linguistics. I won't go into it...but holy shit. Look it up if you want to rock your brain. I mean once it was broken down I understood it better, but his actual essay was like me trying to read a fucking calculus equation. I was looking at sentences and I knew I knew all the words, but I couldn't figure out what the fuck he was saying. It was like a different language. And the ideas themselves were intense enough anyway. So yea...look it up.

Um...on Wednesday Erin and I are going to see "Bright Star" a film abt the poet Keats, at the London film festival. It's the only one I've bought tickets for. I'm uber excited. Number one, bc what a cool thing to go to! And also...the previews for the movie look beautiful.

Oh, I watched sunshine cleaning the other day. Movie recommendation: YES.

Watched Into the Wild today. good.

Watched Twilight. Judge if you will. I wanted something mindless. I got what I wanted.

Umm...oh yea. As aforementioned-dreaded erin's hair. might take it out..she hasn't decided. took 6 hours. i'm a great friend. hahaha.

What else? Oh, life lessons learned. Haha...I'll do that another day, says the girl that never updates this thing. But I will...I'll try at least twice a week.

If i remember anything else of even slight importance I'll let you know.

I keep saying "you" as if there is someone specific reading this.

Hmm.

ok..see i'm glad i mentioned the pictures . they aren't uploading. so i'll upload them another day. OR. look at facebook.

Until another day.

the end.

Number Two

So yesterday I had the great pleasure of feeling like shit.  The day wasn't that bad, I found some new boots.  I'm not sure I had the energy for central london yesterday though...right when we got there and got on the street from the tube I was annoyed by the amount of people. But that is beside the point.  Anyway, the day was fine.  My stomach has felt off since I got here, but I chalked it up to nerves, but yesterday evening it became more.  There are not gory details don't worry, but to make it sweet and simple I did not feel at all well.  That with an overwhelming feeling of wanting my mother to take care of me put me in quite a mood.  I borrowed Music and Lyrics from Erin...turns out it is pretty cute.  It was nice to just lay in bed and watch that, keep my mind off of the knots in my stomach.  Slept through most of the night except for one midnight incident...but I promised you no gory details so that is where I will leave that.  

Today I took it easy; no need to push my limits.  I think that is one thing I'm slowly figuring out. Just because I am here doesn't mean that I am not still who I am, and I am allowed to still live the kind of life I want.  I don't have to always be a tourist.  I don't always have to be busy.  I don't always have to be out.  I got to talk to Tommy first thing today which made my morning much better.  Then I managed some food...phew. Then Erin and I watched Pride and Prejudice.  Very british...haha. Did you know that you have to change your region to watch a dvd from the uk? I am not sure why...nor am I really sure what that means...but I did it, so now all the dvds that our landpeople have are workable on my computer. that is nice.  some things never change...most nights a movie sounds better than a pub.  so shoot me. now now...i'm not gonna be some antisocial hermit...just saying. 

so yea, number two wasn't as eventful as number one. but thats what a blog is isn't it? the assumption that my boring details are of some interest to you...

the end.

Number One

I'm not sure who will end up reading these...but some people have already received uber detailed emails of the first couple of days.  Not going to repeat that. However, I will start with yesterday. 

Yesterday Erin, Kim, and I went to the British Museum.  Took the train into Waterloo.  We actually found Trafalgar square quickly (it's pretty damn close, but I was still proud).  Location memories came back for that area, but beyond that...no way.  Pulled out our maps, yes I allowed myself to look like a tourist, and headed towards the British Museum.  

That museum really is unbelievable. I want to know the history of the actual building...what was it before? If anything...

I kept thinking that not only will millions of people never experience that, but more upsetting is that millions of people wouldn't care to.  I feel like, not only in America, we have lost our regard for history and culture.  I don't know, maybe it was because I kept thinking about the American guy that had been in front of me in a line the other day.  Loud and bombastic, "typical" American.  Talking about how his friday was going to consist of sleeping and beer.  Now maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt, but for the sake of my argument...I doubt he'll spend a saturday in the British Museum.  Not because he's stupid. Not because he's American.  Just because we don't care anymore.  We are always thinking so far forward that we never look back.  

There are tons of pictures on facebook btw. 

I'm still trying to transition right now.  For those of you that know me really well...I'm not a big "going out" person.  And since classes haven't started I'm not really sure what to do with myself.  The days are fine, but at night, for the moment at least, I feel like my choices are go out to bars or hang out at home.  And the thing is...I don't mind not going out.  But then I feel like I'm wasting the experience.  I dunno...I need to give myself some more time to figure it all out.  But some things never change-I still expect myself to have it all figure out from the get go.  

Anyway. I am going to go buy some stamps so I can send a certain someone their birthday card. 

So there it is. I am here. Trying to accept that I am ... Learning Along the Way. 

The end.