A blog from the Present

So I feel officially comfortable enough to say this : I am home. I've been home for officially 17 days and the change is still a bit of a struggle.

It hasn't been easy learning to come back home and deal with everything that I've been away from for almost 5 months. Just like it was difficult to get used to the Italian culture, I've found similar, but not as traumatic, difficulties getting used to being in Fresno again.

I suppose that a majority of the struggles that I'm going through would be there either way: having to do with growing up and deciding what I'm going to do with my life, priorities and balance, friends and relationships. It's quite a confusing time in life, and having to adjust to a culture all over again, doesn't help.

But "é vida" right? That's life. After one week of being home, my body finally adjusted to Pacific Standard Time. After two weeks, I've seen the majority of my family and friends (not everyone though...). After seventeen days, I still haven't given out half the souvenirs.

And now I'm trying to busy my days. Lately I've been quite bored, since the high of home has vanished. It's not that i'm unhappy here, but I just look forward to going back to Europe as soon as I can since, now I know how to travel...

First, of course, I need to make some money and concentrate on graduating on time. :)

Day 5 April 30, 2008 Wednesday

STILL IN BARCELONA

I think that I all too often write about WHAT is happening rather than HOW I'm doing. I need to change this because I run out of time in telling my stories. So I shall start with the how.

:) How am I doing? Well, I'm not sure. I've probably had many a mood swing lately. Sometimes I get really homesick, sometimes I just LOVE living in the moment, seeing the most beautiful things. As of now-- I'm doing pretty good. However, this morning I woke up completely wanting to go home. I was pretty pissy actually, I'm not sure how Tina put up with me. But a little shopping sure did the trick.

After we came back from our run YESTERDAY, we showered and saw the park that Gaudi designed. Park Guell. AMAZING. It was probably one of the coolest things about Barcelona. (Pictures to come.)

On our way back from the park, we stopped at a cafe and the waiter told Tina that "her face wasn't from here." We then visited the Segrada Famila and it was pretty awesome. (Pictures, pictures.) While we were going up to the tower, there happened to be two Italian guys in front of us. They were really friendly and we told them that we studied in Perugia. They didn't know how to take a picture though. After the Segrada Famila, we got some cornettos at the park across the street. We then proceeded to walk for TWO HOURS back to the beach for some dinner. (We wanted seafood.) Since we took the metro over to Park Guell and then walked from the Park to the church, we didn't realize how far away we were from the beach and hostel. I can't believe we walked the whole way. Before we knew it the sun went down and we were getting lost at some points (at least I felt that we were lost, but tina is pretty good with directions) and after finding some dead ends and a never ending park, we eventually got to a restaurant that looked "good enough." To be quiet honest, the food in Spain... is not up to par. However, this restaurant had the FC Barcelona vs Man U game on for the Champions League! It was awesome, because they had a big screen projecting the game and there were lots of Spaniards there smoking and drinking and yelling at the screen. I joined in on the yelling part and it was so much fun. Barcelona lost, but it was still a great experience. We then had to walk a couple miles home after our late dinner, and the walk wasn't so much fun... a story, not for this blog... And then we went right to sleep.

So that was yesterday. Today, is when I woke up homesick and shopped. We visited two other buildings that Gaudi designed, which weren't as cool as what we saw yesterday. The "tall skinny, semi-nice looking guy" (who actually is Australian) and i mentioned in a previous blog, actually works at Hello BCN. He recommend a restaurant by the beach. So we stopped there and it was pretty cool. We got to meet some genuine Spanish culture. Then we laid out on the beach for about an hour. It was a good afternoon. In the evening we were going to watch some flamenco dancing, but we couldn't find the place we needed to go to. Tina and I still had a fun night though. We went out and just walked around the city and sat for a bit. She is so much fun and great to travel with. We have good times.

Sorry, that was a quick run down. Tomorrow we will travel to Valencia and I'm looking forward to it.

So right now we are rooming with two French gals. They are currently talking in really fast French. Tina says that they think we are stupid, but i'm not so sure. I know that people say that is the general attitude of the French toward Americans, but I choose to give these girls the benefit of the doubt. Of course if you giggle a lot and speak really fast, mumble, make no sense, often tell them that you are confused, and don't make an attempt to figure out what they are trying to remember (the english words), then that might give the French that vibe.

Anyways, before I go to bed. I can't believe that I'm actually here. It's almost done. I've worked so hard-- got things done to come to Europe-- and now I am here.

There are some things that I've been meaning to write about:

First impressions. First impressions suck because a lot is built on such things which shouldn't be judged. First impressions are actually a let down. A single person cannot reveal all of themself in such a short moment. Yet so much is built on it.

Take "tall skinny, semi-nice looking Australian guy" for an example. When I first met him, I was annoyed and thought that all he wanted to do was drink and get girls. (He talked about drinking the first time we met him.) But in actuality, he is a really nice guy, and although he is a flirt, he's just curious. All he wanted to know was where I was from. But he was nice and referred Tina and I to a cool restaurant today. I was just in a bad mood the first time I met him.
I think that essentially, all we really know is the surface of a lot of the people around us. It's a good question to ask yourself... Do you really "know" your friends?

I mean, relationships are the most important thing in a person's life... right?

Day 4 April 29, 2008 Tuesday

"Every moment is like a drop in the ocean, the more there are the deeper it gets."

I have Gadjo's song stuck in my head. So today we woke up to run.

Mostly, we ran because we had an interesting night last night. Two of the guys staying in our dorm came in near 4 am hung over and loud. There was one guy from New Zealand who was nice and came in quietly before them, i didn't even hear him. But this morning, Tina got really upset and told them to be quiet. They apologized and went outside, but we could still hear them. Tina and I were pretty sure they were having a "man race" and talking about getting their drugs stolen or something. This moment really made me appreciate the guy friends that I have back home. Most of them are good guys and I don't think that they would do something like this.

Anyways, we woke up and went for a nice long run. I listened to my iPod and sat on the beach about halfway through my run. Tina ran on the the Segrada Familia, and I just watched the waves and picked up seashells. The moment was GLORIOUS. The temperature was perfect, and this time it was not crowded. :)

Rome for the sixth time

Well, I've been to Rome a lot. It is such a huge city that I have not seen everything yet.
A few posts back when I was talking about my hostel in Rome and the girls from Cyprus, Texas and Russia... well, this is the day I had before that post. I simple day in Rome after staying up all night and taking the 1am bus with my school, leaving Perugia for the semester. We took a walk around Rome.


simple sights around Rome. I don't remember exactly what these ruins are, but we stopped when we felt something would be interesting.


The only thing i REALLY wanted to see in Rome was Trevi. I remember reading about this fountain in my sixth grade country report on Italy. I just realized that I forgot to throw coins in the fountain though...


My favorite part of the day was simple people watching with Tina. We sat on the Spanish Steps and they were FILLED with people and beautiful flowers. It was so lovely, people watching is amongst my favorite things to do.

This is partly why i like people watching so much. I really don't know why the bag was on his head. Maybe I should have asked.



I hadn't seen Rome so packed. Tourist season officially started, and wow.

There are immigrants living in Rome who sell random things all over the touristy places for income. They really have no other way of money since they don't have european union citizenship, but i guess it's illegal to do what they do. SO when the police roll around...
...they scatter
a part of the spanish steps

a random church that we checked out

and it was beautiful!
then we stopped on a random grassy hill, on a random street, near the Colosseum to lay down for a no good reason and just be still. It was nice. People liked our idea too.

Day 3 April 28, 2008 Monday

Wow, today is Dad's birthday. Time seems like it is slipping by. I am so scatter brained today, and I figure it is because I need to write things out. A lot happened yesterday, there are many feelings today, thereby: a blog.

Let me just check on what I've already documented... Rome. Alright.

WELL, Tina and I woke up early around 5 am to leave for the airport yesterday morning (Sunday). We slept in the airport until our 9:40 flight to Barcelona, Spain. We were exhausted, to say the least. Lack of good sleep has filled our weekend, and I'm looking forward to catching up this week on the beach.

Coming into Spain, I was hoping that some magic would occur and suddenly my brain would remember and regurgitate all words and grammar of the Spanish language that I've been around forever. However, I guess I was asking for too much. I was disappointed about the language thing (as I always am, I want so badly to be multi-lingual, but I wish it wasn't so difficult) but on a bright note, Spain seems to be a lot friendlier than Italy ever was.

When Tina and I got to the airport, the next step was to find our hostel. The directions of hostel world said to take a train there, and so we followed the signs to the train stop. Getting on the train was a lot easier than we expected, as we followed the sign to a tunnel and was literally THRUST onto the train and handed a free(!) ticket in the process by some random Spanish airport workers. We walked down the tunnel and at the end of it these people began running towards the only train before us as it was ready to depart. People were encouraging us and telling us to hurry and get on in Spanish. Was this the right way? How do they know where we had to go? Who knows, but Tina and I decided to take a chance and hopped on with our free (?) tickets just as it left the airport.

It turns out that this train was exactly what we needed and it connected with the huge Metro system of Barcelona. From there, we figured out the Metro stop and entrance that we needed. It was pretty easy for me, Metros aren't complicated and they are similar in most countries. This one reminded me of Paris. Anyways, we found out where we needed to go with miraculous ease.

Our hostel for the next 4 nights: Hello BCN. Upon entry, there was this tall skinny, semi-nice looking guy who immediately began talking to us about his morning breakfast kebabs. The first thing I thought was "Who is this guy?" He was obviously not Spanish, his english was perfect, and I couldn't tell where he was from. But he went on and on, trying to make us laugh and frankly, with less than 5 hours of sleep for the past couple nights, running around a strange town with a seemingly 50 lb bag on my back and duffel bag with wheels that refused to cooperate, I was not in the mood. I was a bit annoyed.

So we got our room and decided on taking a "nap" at the beach. We set out to find it and got our first taste of awesome Barcelona.

Barcelona is a big, yet friendly city and has a "sleepy beach town of Cali" feel to it. So far-- I really really really love it here. One of my favorite cities so far. Many Europeans vacation here and I haven't picked out too many Americans at all.

On our way to the beach we got probably the most delicious kebab I've

ever tasted in my life, and ate it on the way to the beach. Before we got there, however, we ran into a random outdoor antique market. We looked around, just enjoying ourselves, not a care in the world. We grabbed a coke before we hit the beach and looked around for a spot.

Let me tell you about the beach. It was an experience. The sun was out and it was hot, so the beach was completely crowded. This was something that I've seen in pictures but always avoided, when it came to Cali beaches. I prefer finding ones that are empty. But there were no secluded areas in sight, so we just dived right in.

And there were people. People with no shame. Many bodies, so diverse, they didn't care what kind of swimsuit they wore. Women went topless, people were simply in their under ware, others didn't care if their bathing suit was a couple years too small or what. It was... I don't quite have the right word for it. I was going to say awesome, but I don't want anyone thinking, "what a freak, she likes those crazy European beaches." But I like things that are different and this was surely different than any beach I've been to.

So Tina and I found a couple of random beach chairs to lay on, which many other people were doing. It was a good spot, there were two chairs next to each other, close enough to the water and far enough from the surrounding crowds. So we tried to nap, and catch some sun and although there were many immigrants interrupting us, trying to make a living by selling stuff at the beach, like beer or massages, it was a comfy spot.

We stayed out there for an hour or so, listening to music and relaxed, when this big, tall, dark man comes up to the French lady and her daughter who were sitting next to us. He was talking to them and they eventually gave him some money. I looked over, and he saw me, and came to use next. HOWEVER, apparently Tina was deep in sleep when he walked to her chair and woke her up. Immediately she became upset with his interruption and before he could say anything, she snapped, "NO, GO AWAY." But he kept talking in some Spanish and as it turns out, he was telling us that we had to pay 5 euros to sit on these beach chairs. But Tina kept refusing because she didn't know what he was talking about. Eventually I translated and she asked him, "well, who do these chairs belong to?" He showed us some tickets that looked totally fake and we weren't buying it. So we said, "fine, we'll move." And he left. But actually, we stayed there. This guy had to be fake because he had no back up plan for when we refused. He didn't call management or the police, he just tried to use some English by yelling at us, "Hey!" Ooh, like that was supposed to scare us. What a scammer.

About 40 minutes later, our friend came back again. He said "six euros" and pointed to the chairs. Tina said, "What? No. It was five last time." He looked confused and unsure of what to do. By that time, we were done on the beach because the sun had been covered by the clouds and it was getting cold. So we left so this guy would stop bugging us.

We headed down the street where we saw a band drawing a large crowd. We stopped to watch and slowly got sucked into their music. It was a largely diverse group with songs that kept you swaying and entertainment that kept you laughing. They were really good at the entertainment part. They had their set well rehearsed and timed.

I'm not sure how I would describe this band. They were funky, urban yet beachy music that I immediately fell in love with. The had the most obscure style and instrument combination. After taking a few pictures and movies into their set, I told Tina that we needed to get their CD. And I did. They sing in French, Spanish, and English and they are from all over the world. But they met in Barcelona and call this place home.

When the set was over, we were sad to see them go, but we took that time to explore a bit of the city. We searched a bit and eventually found the street Las Rambas. It is a huge street and pretty famous. Wow. It was amazing, there were people galore, shops and street performers like crazy. (I will post some pictures of Las Rambas when I get them, it is in process.) But first let me write about how we got attacked by a mime.

So we were walking down this busy street of Las Rambas enjoying the sights and taking it all in. We suddenly noticed crowds of people crowed to one side of the road, all looking at something. Not sure of what it was, but very suspicious that it was someone famous, we began to walk on the side of the street that people were staring at, towards whatever it was. All of a sudden through a mix of people, I saw a mime waving a gun. Immediately I ran back the way I came, calling Tina's name in the process. Unfortunately, she did not hear me and continued to walk towards the mime instead. So he, hid the gun, and beckoned her, in his mimey ways. She got nervous of everyone staring and said "no." Eventually, she realized what he was hiding and took off running too.

Good thing, this guy was a street performer and the "gun" was fake. We were certainly a small part in his show as everyone watched and took video of what this guy was doing. We took a few steps back to watch what he was doing, and basically, he accosted anyone who walked up his street. Quite annoying, but good entertainment.

After the mime, we sat down in a plaza, completely exhausted. Eventually we settled on eating at an Indian restaurant for dinner. We ordered a whole meal, with starters, first and second plates, the works. The service was awesome and people were so nice to us. Eventually, the restaurant filled up with British men. It was completely crazy. Literally, every chair became occupied by British men, and I'm not sure why. It was such a fun night, the British are funny funny people. Quite hilarious actually. I was so tired though, I got really giggly and began to say crazy things.

By the way, the Spanish eat dinner way later than Italians do. In Italy dinner starts at 8, but in Spain dinner starts at 9 in most places. The hour makes a big difference. By the time we left dinner it was 11:30. We stayed in a four bedroom hostel that night with two girls form Canada one was living in Paris.

The next day we got up and ran along the beach and it was nice. Lots of people run in Barcelona. It's not like Italy. Later, we did some errands that we had left, like planning out the rest of our trip. And later that day saw some more of Barcelona. I had a (stressful) attempt to call home for my Dad's birthday, and finally got through.

We saw some of Gaudi's stuff (pictures later) and ate at a horrible buffet. We are now back at the hostel on the internet/journaling.

For the moment, I will write on how things currently are with me. I am loving Spain, currently. Barcelona is such a great city and I love how friendly the people have been. I really really really want to learn Spanish, increase my Italian skills, and hopefully Russian because I am simply amazed at multi lingual people. There are many people that I have come across here, that I wish I could speak more in-depthly to, but can't. People amaze me. When I was buying my CD earlier, I wanted to talk to the guitarist a bit more, and I feel as though I would have if I was more comfortable with the language. Also, I think I have a problem with telling people how I feel. I am not good at communicating what I'm thinking about.

Anyways, I love this city. I love Barcelona, but as an underlying point, I wish that I wasn't experiencing this all by myself. I know that Tina is with me, but when I go home, she won't be there anymore. It's frustrating for me to get online. I think I need to read my Bible more.

Day 2 April 27, 2008 Sunday

I am waiting in the (FCO) Rome airport right now and I already feel like I have a lot to write. I really am enjoying airports right now. They are exciting--planes coming and going-- people from all over the world.

But I've also had a thought about this: Americans are really good at sticking out. It's a nation-wide hobby. I hope that I've done an okay job at covering up my tracks as a few people have asked me or assumed that I spoke fluent Italian. And honestly-- I hate to disappoint them. I am really encouraged to learn even more... hopefully.

But what is really on my mind is this: I don't rather enjoy traveling with those who refuse to submerse into the culture, thereby clearly sticking out and doing things that other Europeans stare at. I notice it. I think it's smarter to try to submerse. Maybe people have other opinions, but it's just my thought.

Anyways, I'm not even gone yet, and I'm thinking, "I can't wait to travel more someday." I'm really tired and can barely keep my eyes open...

Last Photos of Perugia

the ever-so-famous Mini Metro

Wonderful Parma

April 26th Saturday

The following is taken from my journal which I kept with the idea of posting entries on this blog. Although, of course I'm going to make some grammatical changes, etc, I'll try to keep the mood the same to when it was originally written.

Leaving Perugia

Well, this morning I left Perugia. It was weird and a bit emotional. Most people were at the bus at 1am, either saying goodbye to everyone and leaving for their own trips or getting on in order to take the group flight home to the United States. A lot of people were crying. I didn't feel like finding anyone for an emotional goodbye. I was anxious to get on with my travels as I now realized that I had no place to call "home" for the night. I was not allowed back into my apartment and this was the true feeling of "backpacking" through europe. Quite frightening.

It was mind boggling as the bus was leaving from Perugia. The bus was quiet and most people were sleeping-- outside it was dark. I couldn't see much except for my glowing iPod in hand and the city lights outside my window. The bus was making the usual winding trip down the hill of Perugia one trip that I quite often made during the semester. This was the last time, I thought. I suddenly realized that it was all worth it. I was glad to have studied abroad, not matter what.

After we arrived at the airport around 4am, I got a luggage cart for one euro. I needed it and it majorly released the my stress since my luggage was so heavy and I had 3 bags, not counting my backpack and purse.

Tina and I had to wait until 7am to leave the airport.

I also had some stress from other relationships the past few days, so I took the opportunity to talk to people that I really hadn't talked to much the past semester when we were all in the airport waiting.

As I look back on things, there are many that I would have done differently if I got a chance to Study Abroad again. But these changes only come with the knowledge that I have, since having this experience.

For me though, the time was right to say goodbye to all the dear friends that I made in Italy. This whole trip has been a trip of good timing, each place I go and see seems to just flow into each other, feeling just right.

So many of my friends were just going back home today (April 26th) and although Tina and I took the bus to the FCO Rome Airport, we had a flight leaving to ESPANA, and not Estati Uniti (United States).

So we quickly gave our rounds of hugs and left before anyone could get too teary eyed. I just wanted to avoid awkwardness if at all possible.

And now I am in a hostel. So far, apart from the not great hostel conditions (beds, shower, etc) I'm having one of the best hostel experiences. We are rooming with five people, in a room of four beds. There is a girl from Cyprus, Texas, and Russia (Moscow). It's really great because they are all cool people and we had some good conversations. But it is time for bed soon.

The girl from Russia and I really hit it off. I love talking to her, she is so nice and so cute. Her accent reminds me of my friends from home and I love it.

Anyways, things like this reminds me of home which I'm trying not to think about because I'm worried that it'll be a disappointment for me. I haven't heard from anyone lately, and I'm afraid that I might go home to less friends. I hope that I won't be expecting too much, when I do go home. But this is just a fear that I have, we'll see.

Home

I'm feeling rather nostalgic right now. Today was a great day and a wonderful end to the week. I arrived at the LAX on Tuesday night and spent the following two days with my family.

I celebrated a good, ole' fashion Mexican BBQ with my family and had my grandfather's 71 birthday party in the days following. Home... just felt like home. I was neither excited or disappointed to be here. It just felt like it was the next leg on my journey.

However, home did not come without it's own changes. As soon as I walked into arrivals, I noticed that my dad shaved off his moustache, my mom grew more grey hair, and my brother was a few inches taller and a few inches buffer. My brother was the one to change the most as he also contributed a new licence and officially deemed MY car as "ours." The final change of home was the addition of two new and completely adorable puppies who are such a joy to have around.

It was hard for me to be home again, and sometimes I became really nervous to be here. It was difficult to adjust back after I had become used to living the way I did in Europe. The two lifestyles were completely different.

Today, however, was really crazy. I finally got to see the majority of my friends and spend all day visiting everyone. I think today was one of my most favorite days. I realized when I was in Barcelona spending some quality layover time in the airport, that if you want to become happy, all you have to do is hang out at the arrival gate for a bit in the airport. It will seriously lift your spirits faster than anything else. And that was what today was like for me. Joyful meetings all day long.

I know that I keep promising this and haven't so far delivered... but I really want to finish off this blog with what my travels afterwards consisted of. I don't have the complete pictures yet and have to wait for Tina to upload them online for me. I think I will get them soon.

:) I love you all.

Cheers!

Oye!
I'm in London-town today and it is a good time. Surprisingly and strangely, it is sweltering here. Usually London is not like this, and I choose to think that I brought the sunshine with me. :)

Well this is it. Its about 3pm and tomorrow at 11am from Heathrow I'll be boarding my flight home. I cannot believe that it is already time to go home. I feel like it all completely whizzed by me.

It's been a good time in Europe and definately learned A LOT of things. I've been humbled by God. I've been taught how many DOZENS of blessings I have. And I hope that these lessons will not simply be a memory, but effect just how I live my life back home, and even today.

Well, I should be off. I'm going to explore the rest of the day. London has been kind to me so far, with a surprise visit from FPU alumini Jordan Wiebe and a visit to Platform 9 and 3/4's. :) I hope to have photos up soon!

Chillin in La Spezia

I am currently in paradise.

Yep, thats right, i found it. And paradise is called: Cinque Terre.

Look it up, and ill bet you still wont understand. Not until you come here yourself, and I hope you all do. (and bring me with you) Really. Im thinking of offering my services for guided tours of Cinque Terre, and a bit of an Italian lesson. All I require is a plane ticket and floor to sleep on. = )

No, but really. Today is my last day in Italy and I am so sad to leave a country Ive grown to love and become frustrated with at different times. But in all actuality, I love this place. I will always think of it as part of my home.

Im coming home on Tuesday, and when ever I think of it, i get really nervous so I am trying not to. Im not sure how i feel about coming home yet. I dont know.

I some stories that I cant wait to post with pictures, so I want to continue my blog with these last 2 1/2 weeks of travel when i get home.

The exchange rate between the dollar and the euro and the dollar and the pound is depressing.

Im excited for mexican food when i get home. And for my new puppies that my parents got!

Im not excited to miss cafe and cornettos every morning at the bar.

Im at an internet cafe and they are closing for pausa...
so ciao!

After School

Here I am sitting in the HOME HOSTEL in Valencia, Spain. I've been traveling for exactly one week now and I'm finally back into the groove of living out of a bag. It's not too easy, backpacking in Europe. It takes a lot of strength mentally and physically. Especially mentally, especially when you've been away from all your loved ones for over four months.

Right now, Tina and i are just wasting some time, awaiting our overnight train to Granada. I am enjoying all this travel, new things to see constantly, new cultures to experience.

However, at the standstill moment (awaiting an overnight train)... I am plagued with curiosity of how things at home are going. Over four months is a long time to be away, and although I have much company of Tina and people that we meet along the way, I still feel a strike of loneliness whenever I go on Facebook/Myspace. Perhaps I shouldn't do it, but I do. And then I wonder about my friends and family back home. I wonder how they are doing and I wish that they could all keep blogs so I could understand, even at the tiniest bit, of what I've missed in their life.

Anyways, here is a spur of the moment blog, as I begin to log off. I will head home in about 12 days. Tina and I head to Granada tonight and then back to Italy for a few days. We will part and I will be in London until I go home. Needless to say, I am super excited for the remaining travel I have. I can't wait to see Cinque Terre (in Italy) and Granada and London!! But I suppose feelings go both ways sometimes.

I am also keeping a journal and taking a few pictures, so I want to complete this blog of travels when I come home, and hopefully post what I have if I can find time.

Anyways, that is that! And I hope that whoever reads this is having a wonderful night. I will see you all soon, Adios!