When the Colors Start to Fade

Alright. I am what some would call an "emotional" person. I cry. Often. On my trip over here, though, I came across an article in Yoga Journal on this idea of seeing emotions as separate from the self. It was essentially a meditation on riding emotions in the way a surfer rides waves. I've been thinking about this concept a lot since I've been here and have yet to shed a tear. Anyways. For those of you who I haven't lost due to the yoga talk, today I got quite misty. The sun finally came out and all the colors here just... popped. I walked the trail that follows the outter moat, and got honestly choked up
at how beautiful and unbelievable the history of this place is. This place was built in the 12th century. TWELFTH CENTURY. That's not even really in the teen centuries yet. These pictures can't begin to capture how lovely the grounds are, but I'll let you have a peek anyways. Love and breakfast sandwiches*



*I am tired of eating salami sandwiches before 11:00AM.

Weather and Noise

So I am officially the sleepiest person on the trip. I've slept through 2 events so far and this poor RA's job basically consists of waking me up, waiting for me to dress, and taking me to where ever on the grounds everyone else who has the good sense not to sleep for 12 hours has gone to. This morning I slept through breakfast, but caught the last 30 minutes of the castle rules and regulations meeting (led by Huber, the lovely groundskeeper with the sweetest accent).

Then lunch (this country is really big on cold cuts) and planning some travel. It looks like we're going to get around to way more places than I had thought. We head to Amsterdam as a group on Monday, Bruges Wednesday, Venice the week after, also London, possibly Ireland, and either Spain or France.
--------
Continued...

I am again exhausted. After dinner tonight, we went to one of the two local bars. I think the whole town was there. All 12 of them. It was fun, the Dutch people are very friendly and everyone in our group is still getting to know one another. Then, 15 of us went out to the biggest nightclub in the country today. This place was massive, it had like 5 different rooms with a new DJ each, it can hold up to 6,000 people. It was fun for a little while. But started to get crowded, sloppy, and... clubby. It was interesting though, dancing in a club in Europe, all girls were much safer from getting grabbed or approached from guys than they are in America. Except by American tourists.

Some people are so embarrassing.

Raining in Baltimore

Actually, raining in Holland. I'm in a jet-lagged, car-sick, hungry daze, but I'll fill you in on what little I have seen of this amazing place so far.

My flight was interesting. Sat next to a Russian woman who had no reservations about ordering me food/drink while I was asleep, tucking my blanket around me tighter, and waking me up to watch the (not so) funny part of the movie she was enjoying. She was sweet though, and talking to her made the time go by quickly. Probably only got a full hour or two of shut eye, though.

I had no idea what to expect getting off of the plane. Bear with me, readers of mine who are better travelled than I. I got scared. I thought of stepping off into this mass of confusion, prostitution, and drug dealing where I would be lost in the language barrier. Hardly the reality. Everyone we've encountered so far is fluent in English and the airport looked hardly different from the one I spent the better part of yesterday in.

The drive from Amsterdam was about 2.5 hours... In the beginning it didn't look any different than driving the 101 towards Gilroy...'cept it is totally flat. Tons of cows, horses, goats, etc. But as soon as we (8 of us in a shuttle with a very friendly Dutch man) got into the country, it morphed into a landscape I can not compare to anything I've seen before. Again, I was in a sleepy, disoriented stupor, so I didn't take pictures. But honestly. Excuse the cliche, but I didn't know there were so many shades of green. It just stretched for miles and miles along the highway. Farms with these quaint little lumpy cottages and windmills all along these green fields lined with perfectly placed trees. Also, the rivers and lakes are still and flat, making the only break in color the dark slate of the pools.

Then we pulled off the freeway. I can not begin to describe the town of Well. It's like a cross between the beautiful neighborhoods you see in WW2 movies (we are quite close to Germany) and some perfect little town you walk through in Disneyland. I'll wait until I can post pictures.

Same with the castle. Oh wait, I LIVE IN A CASTLE!!! It's like Harry Potter. But better. No pesky owls darting around. The grounds from what I've seen are gorgeous, two moats, a Dutch RA named Johnny. Seriously?! This is my life.

I can hardly keep my eyes open, and while I've been resisting the temptation to nap, I think I'm about to give in. Send emails.

Meanwhile, All The Days Go Drifting Away

Top: Me with a grouchy face and too much luggage.
Bottom: One of my favorite places in Boston. At the right time of day, the reflection of the old stone church on the contemporary glass high rise is beautiful.

Somewhere in the Middle of America

Well, technically on the East coast of America. But no Counting Crows songs have lyrics about that.

Just arrived from San Jose into Logan Airport. Good news is I slept the whole flight. Bad news is I can't check my luggage for another SEVEN hours so I'm stuck in the airport (too lazy and poor to get a cab and lug my 50 lb suitcase around the city). Brutal, brutal, brutal.

Leaving last night was, to be quite honest, really rough. There's a lot going on at home and in my personal life and Bagel is probably on the last couple of weeks of his life :( It was hard to leave. Kept busy most of the day, though. Knocking out as soon as we took off didn't hurt either.

Anyways, if anyone wants one last phone call while I'm on American soil, God knows I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

<3

These Days

Agh (pronounced: ah-guhhhh).

I leave in two days and I have not even begun to pack. And anyone who knows me as a traveller knows that packing well is a skill set I was not born with. It's hard, though. I'm being pelted with distractions everywhere I turn. New Grey's Anatomy episodes, Mom feeding me (and feeding me and feeding me), Dad wants to see Iron Man, my bright shiny new CAMERA...

Just got a new SLR camera for the digital photography component of the trip. It. Is. Beautiful. I feel beautiful holding it. I've mastered the casual, natural technique in which I've seen so many photographers throwthe camera strap over a shoulder. My abilities at actual photo taking are another story...

Anyways, I've got to take two self portraits by Wednesday and send them into the professor. I can't help but notice the likeness in my self portrait taking and the 15 year old girls who post snapshots of themselves onto myspace.com.

Wish me happy packing (if there is such a thing).

From December to Today

It's finally May (I've been waiting for May since the first time it snowed in December) and thus far, May is driving me crazy.

The apartment my mom and I found fell through. Emma's been really sick the last couple weeks (plus I know she's just dying not being able to row) and it's really hard to hear about anything going wrong at home when I'm far away. Also, I'm really restless just waiting around this week to go home. Granted, I could put the nervous energy to work and wrap up this five pager I've been procrastinating on ...

Anyways. I added a new Twitter widget to the blog. My Twitter account is quite lame. I only have one friend and it's my dad. Not that my dad doesn't rule. He does. Majorly. I just don't think Twitter has quite penetrated my peer group yet. Or I have no friends. One of the two. 

With any luck, I'll be an essay writing machine from now until Wednesday and my next post will be a) less boring and b) from California. 

(Also: the picture in this post is my Things That Make Me Happy List and is in this context dedicated to one, Halie Danielle Nicolosi)