Home. Finally! I was relieved to get home and find that Milo was in good spirits and even lost a couple of pounds (this is a good thing; he has quite a few more to lose to get back to his old self, haha.)
I'd so been looking forward to getting home for the past couple of weeks (sad, I know), but now that I'm here it feels weird. That was bound to happen, I suppose --- I have been gone for 3 weeks, plus that week in California before I left for Europe. Did I just get used to not being here?
[...I don't know how to be anywhere.]
Maybe I'm just lagging. Not just jetlagging (cuz I am -- I didn't sleep last night just so that I can try to get back on schedule by tonight for work tomorrow... if that makes any sense), but delayed in my realization that I am finally HOME. Whew.
Anyway, I'm going to take advantage of the few spare hours I've got before life gets back to normal (whatever that is) and try to unpack, maybe do some laundry. I'll try to post up the old blogs that I wrote a couple of weeks ago, but... does that even matter anymore? Hahaha. If I have time, I'll take care of it. We'll see. Today I don't have work, but I do have to take Milo swimming at Edmonds, take my laptop + cord in to Best Buy to get a new one, go to the bank, and then get ready for Ann-Marie's birthday dinner later on tonight. And I might try to finish my pic upload before the end of the day (I've already posted up 10 albums since we got home).
See how I do? Always hit the ground running. ;)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
>>> mini update?
Greetings from the middle of the Mediterranean Sea! I'm sitting in the internet cafe on the ship, en route to Venice (our last stop), and about 100 feet away from me are a hundred people doing a conga line arond a champagne waterfall/fountain thing to the on-ship band playing "Let's Groove". Life is funny that way.
I don't remember where my last post left us at. Istanbul? At sea? Let me check.
...
Okay, now I got it. Istanbul was pretty cool except I was in a terrible mood that day. Got very little sleep and things at home were keeping my mind rancid. Luckily, I've got plenty of people around me to get my spirits up and keep em that way. I've been pretty successful since then to keep myself in a good mood and not thinking about stupid stuff that I'll just deal with in about 8 days.
Back to the topic at hand: travels! Istanbul was tight, but I think I liked Kusadasi (also in Turkey) a little better. We spent most of the day looking for a present for Liz's best friend and we were in luck because she found a beautiful turquoise pendant and a box made of cowbone to go with it. Then I finally laid out on the boat for a couple of hours and read some Vonnegut and got my back all dark. ;)
Athens and the Acropolis were quite the experience. We walked about half a mile to a train station, took the train to Thissio, and then saw the huge climb it would take to get up to the Parthenon. I wasn't too hyped for that because it was 95 degrees out and dusty as hell, but then we found this tourist train thingie that took us almost to the top. We still had to walk up those last 87 marble steps to get to the top. Marble is slippery as @$%#$^, by the way. Us "kids" took some fun pictures at the top, then I ate the best Greek food ever, and then we headed back to the ship.
Today was our last "at sea" day and our last formal night. I spent most of the day sleeping because we stayed up til about 4am last night. The time spent not sleeping was spent eating and/or getting ready for formal night. I didn't realize how dark I've gotten on this trip until I put my dress on (which is mostly white). I don't think people will recognize me when I get home. :)
Tomorrow we pull in to Venice, and then we stay there for a day and a night and disembark Tuesday morning. From there, we will say goodbye to the Magnos and Jamoras (*tear*) and head off to Rome and Florence, and then to London, and then FINALLY I will be home.
My brothers and I have discussed what we will be doing as soon as we get home in about 8 days. We're going to hop into my car, go to Albertson's, and buy Tony's pizzas and Coke and Gatorade and just lie around the house. Sounds like a plan, right?
Unfortunately, my laptop is still dead and so I can't upload pictures until I get home. But you better believe it will be done the moment I get there!
Wish you were here, really I do.
<3
I don't remember where my last post left us at. Istanbul? At sea? Let me check.
...
Okay, now I got it. Istanbul was pretty cool except I was in a terrible mood that day. Got very little sleep and things at home were keeping my mind rancid. Luckily, I've got plenty of people around me to get my spirits up and keep em that way. I've been pretty successful since then to keep myself in a good mood and not thinking about stupid stuff that I'll just deal with in about 8 days.
Back to the topic at hand: travels! Istanbul was tight, but I think I liked Kusadasi (also in Turkey) a little better. We spent most of the day looking for a present for Liz's best friend and we were in luck because she found a beautiful turquoise pendant and a box made of cowbone to go with it. Then I finally laid out on the boat for a couple of hours and read some Vonnegut and got my back all dark. ;)
Athens and the Acropolis were quite the experience. We walked about half a mile to a train station, took the train to Thissio, and then saw the huge climb it would take to get up to the Parthenon. I wasn't too hyped for that because it was 95 degrees out and dusty as hell, but then we found this tourist train thingie that took us almost to the top. We still had to walk up those last 87 marble steps to get to the top. Marble is slippery as @$%#$^, by the way. Us "kids" took some fun pictures at the top, then I ate the best Greek food ever, and then we headed back to the ship.
Today was our last "at sea" day and our last formal night. I spent most of the day sleeping because we stayed up til about 4am last night. The time spent not sleeping was spent eating and/or getting ready for formal night. I didn't realize how dark I've gotten on this trip until I put my dress on (which is mostly white). I don't think people will recognize me when I get home. :)
Tomorrow we pull in to Venice, and then we stay there for a day and a night and disembark Tuesday morning. From there, we will say goodbye to the Magnos and Jamoras (*tear*) and head off to Rome and Florence, and then to London, and then FINALLY I will be home.
My brothers and I have discussed what we will be doing as soon as we get home in about 8 days. We're going to hop into my car, go to Albertson's, and buy Tony's pizzas and Coke and Gatorade and just lie around the house. Sounds like a plan, right?
Unfortunately, my laptop is still dead and so I can't upload pictures until I get home. But you better believe it will be done the moment I get there!
Wish you were here, really I do.
<3
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
>>> lessons learned in the mediterranean
I've gotta make this quick --- Internet minutes are a-wasting!
So, tough break. The power cord for my laptop appears to be broken and I have no way of charging my laptop, which conveniently is devoid of battery power. So until I return to Seattle on September 16th, I won't be able to upload any pictures or copy and paste the entries that I had already written out for this blog. !@$#@%%$*@#$)@$!(!@!#@~!!!
I will try to break it down for you right quick because the point was to keep you posted on what I'm up to and I've been gone for over a week now and I haven't been posting ANYTHING!
BARCELONA: really hot, cool city, beautiful people, cool architecture, nice scene. I liked it.
MARSEILLE: also really hot there, really really beautiful scenery, too expensive though!
LUCCA/PISA: really really hot, kind of boring historical stuff, and once you take your obligatory picture with the Leaning Tower, there isn't anything else to do there.
ROME: really really really hot, dirty, got ripped off by one of those tour bus thingies, the Vatican is cool, people at the Vatican were not cool (cut me off in line several times trying to buy rosaries, of all things!), Trevi Fountain is beautiful, but all in all I was not a fan of Rome.
NAPLES/POMPEII: really hot, kinda dirty, got bug bites, pedestrians are always in danger, people on the buses and trains are always in danger of pickpocketing, but hey, the PIZZA WAS GOOD.
MYKONOS: beautiful scenery, lots of wind, we took a lot of great pictures that you'll probably never see because I can't upload (grrr!), and had the best day because it was all strolling and pleasant chatting and taking pics.
Other than that, we've all been stuffing our faces on the boat and been gradually getting bigger and bigger (except for Alex, who only gets buffer --- but he's a personal trainer, so he's exempt from the "get fat on the cruise" rule). I'm getting along really well with Ricky and Paco, as well as the other "kids" on the boat with me.
The thing is, though, I'm still pretty homesick and I've only been gone for about a week. It's been the longest 8 or 9 days (I'm not sure) everrrr and I'm still not going to be home for another couple of weeks. It's really making me realize how hard it would be for me to relocate to another country and it's also making me realize how much I depend on my social connections with friends. Shouldn't family and family friends be enough social interaction for me? I guess I just really miss my usual routine and the comforts of home. I guess. I dunno, I've been having a lot of time to reflect on this trip. We'll see what happens when I finally get home.
AUGH, the laptop thing is going to drive me insane. I feel like my links to civilization are all getting severed?
Shouldn't this be the best time of my life? Why doesn't it feel like it?
Really, really, really wish you were here.
<3
So, tough break. The power cord for my laptop appears to be broken and I have no way of charging my laptop, which conveniently is devoid of battery power. So until I return to Seattle on September 16th, I won't be able to upload any pictures or copy and paste the entries that I had already written out for this blog. !@$#@%%$*@#$)@$!(!@!#@~!!!
I will try to break it down for you right quick because the point was to keep you posted on what I'm up to and I've been gone for over a week now and I haven't been posting ANYTHING!
BARCELONA: really hot, cool city, beautiful people, cool architecture, nice scene. I liked it.
MARSEILLE: also really hot there, really really beautiful scenery, too expensive though!
LUCCA/PISA: really really hot, kind of boring historical stuff, and once you take your obligatory picture with the Leaning Tower, there isn't anything else to do there.
ROME: really really really hot, dirty, got ripped off by one of those tour bus thingies, the Vatican is cool, people at the Vatican were not cool (cut me off in line several times trying to buy rosaries, of all things!), Trevi Fountain is beautiful, but all in all I was not a fan of Rome.
NAPLES/POMPEII: really hot, kinda dirty, got bug bites, pedestrians are always in danger, people on the buses and trains are always in danger of pickpocketing, but hey, the PIZZA WAS GOOD.
MYKONOS: beautiful scenery, lots of wind, we took a lot of great pictures that you'll probably never see because I can't upload (grrr!), and had the best day because it was all strolling and pleasant chatting and taking pics.
Other than that, we've all been stuffing our faces on the boat and been gradually getting bigger and bigger (except for Alex, who only gets buffer --- but he's a personal trainer, so he's exempt from the "get fat on the cruise" rule). I'm getting along really well with Ricky and Paco, as well as the other "kids" on the boat with me.
The thing is, though, I'm still pretty homesick and I've only been gone for about a week. It's been the longest 8 or 9 days (I'm not sure) everrrr and I'm still not going to be home for another couple of weeks. It's really making me realize how hard it would be for me to relocate to another country and it's also making me realize how much I depend on my social connections with friends. Shouldn't family and family friends be enough social interaction for me? I guess I just really miss my usual routine and the comforts of home. I guess. I dunno, I've been having a lot of time to reflect on this trip. We'll see what happens when I finally get home.
AUGH, the laptop thing is going to drive me insane. I feel like my links to civilization are all getting severed?
Shouldn't this be the best time of my life? Why doesn't it feel like it?
Really, really, really wish you were here.
<3
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