I said don't give me the brush off; this is big

Aug 23, 2009

Currently listening to: Where do you go to my (lovely), Peter Sarstedt (Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack—which is really fascinating, because, as you will see in my post, this fits eerily well with the content of this blog….it’s a French song in a movie about three American men traveling to India. We get the west meeting with the east, their uncomfortable co-occupation, traveling, and the inevitable searching and learningàthe mission of their journey. Hopefully I come to such enlightening conclusions, as well. Just like the movies, si?).

First, flying. Josh and I took off early in the morning on Megabus to Chicago, mostly sleeping along the way while I also snuck in Kevin’s traveling mix from time to time (which was really good, mister). We stopped for a break somewhere in the middle of Illinios, where all the megabuses usually stop, and we were right near a cornfield. Josh and I saw it appropriate to walk into the cornfield until we could see nothing but corn around us and sky above us. It was a first for both of us that we needed to check off the list; and plus, it was a good tribute to the Midwest. One last little hoorah for our home. (Hi, St. Louis!)
In Chicago we navigated our way to O’Hare, endured many hours until our 9:55pm flight (which we worried we would be delayed, seeing as the weather was rather mischievous that night). The sleep in the flight was the worst sleep of my life—this was because the armrests were waaay too damn low. If they had been higher, like on most other airlines, I could have rested my head on it and gotten some freakin shut-eye. Instead, maybe an hour of sleep for a flight that left at 10pm and arrived in London at 11:15am. Not the best. In London, Josh and I boogied around the airport for a little doing this and that and then departing from each other’s company: Josh into London, and me to the central bus station where I waited for Alison, was hit on a by a British boy who was trying, obstinately, to dress like an Italian, and my first few hours observing Europe and hanging out with pigeons (so London, right?). Alison arrived (!) and we grabbed a quick bite, then hopped a bus to the Stanstead airport and flew to Slovakia. I passed the H out before the plane even took off. Maria greeted us at the airport with a favorite Slovakian snack (yum), we chatted (or is it chat, here?) until the wee hours and then, bed. Maria’s family is really sweet and her place is very nice. She is the most amazing host.

Today, technically our first day in Slovakia, we, of course, got a slower start (jet-lag). After a slow morning/afternoon of traditional Slovak lunch that her mother prepared, we headed out to visit an old castle about an hour away. Thoughts on the castle: Do I not like visiting any places that exhibit or demonstrate ornate wealth? It just kind of made me sick, upset, and completely guilty and stupid for spending time out of my life being there. I mean, I can’t believe how these people (royals) lived and how ridiculous their lives were. How could you ever feel human if all you did all day was “lie in bed day and entertain your visitors” (actual quote)? I’m serious. Will I be seeing this all over Europe? I imagine yes. Will I be feeling this way about everything?—I asked myself, then, what am I looking for in Europe—honestly? What I wrote in my private journal in response to this question was honestly: fun and adorable charmingness, I guess, like little alleys and cobblestone, music on patios, and cafes and colors, architecture. [I know I sound like a ridiculous, idealistic, and ignorant idiot, but after India, what can one expect?] Time envisioned prior: okay, now where does that get me. Perhaps in time I will learn that it is not about the intention or the reason but what I find. Does it not matter where I am, but what I’m doing? If so, then I don’t know: in the larger sense.

I keep thinking back to India, my last, most intense, and longest travel/international experience ever. I keep understanding a lot of my trip here by my trip there. Trying to understand myself as a traveler by the difference; trying to understand the world by the difference. The difference: obviously countless things. Notable things of the day: sheer number of people (all of the everything that that affects. It’s really amazing and I never realized that before—the affect of all those people, of mass populations, limited space), intentions of the people, downtime, how wealth relates to leisure, safety, organization and sanitization, things taken for granted. India was “so difficult, yet humble”, I wrote in my journal. Today, perhaps, I learned more things about India than I did about Slovakia and Europe. Isn’t that really interesting? Wow.

After the castle, we went back to Maja’s house and did some email stuff that we needed to do in order to prepare for the future of our trip; and then, into Bratislava. We toured the city at night with Maja’s friend Jenni (spelling?) and took some fun pictures. After dinner at a pub, the four of us met up with two guy friends at another pub, laughed, moved to our third pub of the evening where we played mean games of foosball (“table football”. Loosers had to crawl under the table) and called it a night.

I am already feeling very effected by things—just by new space and difference (though not stark—Europe is nowhere near uncomfortably different) and the lack of all the people in my life and the energy, day to day, that I usually have (energy as in energy intake from my surroundings, ie activites, people**). I already feel a small loneliness and an isolation. I think a lot of this has to do with the language barrier and the absence of typical activities throughout the day that I like to do. Dan, I had some song from the mix you gave Alex in my head all day, so my thoughts were often with you (hi! How’s grad school??). The true song of the day award goes to David Bowie’s Sound and Vision. You little bitch, you, torturing my mind for a good 10 hours. 12 hours. Good song, though. I used my senses of sound and vision quite a lot today, fueled only by David and his fabulous inertia. I don’t know why I said that. I think it’s cause I wanted to end this blog entry and didn’t really want to have to think about how to end it, so I just wrote something that didn’t quite work in order for you to want me to go away. So here I am, going away. Bye, everyone. How are you, good? Catherine, how’s the job/training? Naguine, New York? Any developments? Etc. Etc. You can all write comments on my blog and we could communicate back on forth on subject. Wouldn’t that be nice. Okay bye!!