>>> 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