I still have a blog?

Hm... I guess I do.

Lets see... what can I update the dispersed masses about...

I can cook. Yeah, that seems pretty important. So far, my attempts at cooking have all been successful, including the Crock Pot Pot Roast! Wow, that looks redundant.

I'm in the process of a building a brand new website, despite my lack of website knowledge.

I'm also thoroughly enjoying my new apartment in cambridge.

Hm... that seems good, for now. I'll have to keep writing, I suppose.

Teeny Tiny Dogs.

I am NOT the first person to say this, but what the hell are these little tiny dogs? There's not even a whole ton to write on the subject - yes, they're adorable in the fact that they'd probably fit in my back pocket, but C'mon... seriously?

When your leash weighs more than your dog... it might be a gerbil.

When I moved to New York, I assumed I'd see rats. I just didn't expect so many on leashes.

The New York Subway - AKA, "The Normal Game".

Riding on the Subway this morning, I noticed a common behavior among everyone on their commute to work. As we collectively traveled to our monotonous downtown careers, it seems we got into step by the time we stepped onto the train. What I encounter every weekday for a 20 to 30 minutes is what I have now dubbed: The Normal Game. 

The rules are simple - seem normal. Granted, there are many strategies to the game, but the point is that you only have to seem normal, even if you aren't. 

Trust me, many people aren't. 

Anyways, onto the strategies. The first is one I personally indulge in - the ever helpful iPod. I turn on some music and ignore everyone else. Its pretty effective on the auditory front, but on the visual front, there lies yet another problem. Where exactly do you look? Many focus on reading the same ads that they've read over and over again, while others vainly stare at themselves in the reflections of glass against dark tunnel walls. In this way, they win the game because they seem normal.  But when you think about it, is there anything normal about staring at one spot for the entirety of a subway ride? Not really no. 

Strategy two - the visual distraction. A fortunate convenience is the free newspapers available to everyone. An unfortunate nuisance, on the other hand, is the free newspapers available to everyone. 

Should I explain? I should probably explain. 

When you take a relatively small space and fill it with a certain number of people, its only relatively comfortable. When you add in newspapers, a teeny tiny little "u-n" slips its way in there too. I'll let you figure out where, smarty pants. The fact is, with everyone trying to seem normal, they make an over-the-top effort not to invade anyone else's personal space. With a newspaper, its like a train full of linebackers. 

Which brings us to our last strategy of the Normal Game - don't affect anyone else. In short, many people take this to mean don't touch anyone and shudder at the thought of physical contact with anyone. 

Side note (you didn't think I'd get rid of these, did you?):

Many people, especially guys, will forfeit the game for personal gain - ie. The hot girl who has an empty seat next to her.  Rowrrr. 

To top it off, I've found that many people will apologize for even the littlest accidental touch. 

Oh, our elbows bumped? My Bad. 

Oh, our toes touched? Sorry!

Oh, my hand brushed your ass? Can I get your number? 

The point that I've failed to keep short is this - crowded subways are inherently awkward. Its a fact of life. 

But for the sake of tradition, lets keep playing the game... It's funny to see people lose. 

A month later...

Since my return to the land of the free, plenty has happened, and yet nothing has struck me as worth noting a blog. When traveling, I felt almost obligated to keep going to accompany my pictures, but without exciting photographs of distant lands, the drive just isn't there anymore. Nonetheless, a recap of the last month.

- Bamboozle Festival (May 3 and 4)
Amazing concert with amazing friends, certainly no complaint on this end.
- Internship at Interference Inc. (May 12-August 1st)
Working in New York City. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I'd be allowed to complain.
-Spending time with amazing, amazing friends (Ongoing)
Need I say more?


That said, I've decided to take an observational turn with this blog. Call it impersonal if you will, but the future is going to focus more on the latter half of the title.

Look out, "The World", I'm watching you.

The End of an Era, Pt. 2

Well, blogger decided to go all wonky, so here's part two of the same post. 

The next couple days were spent in London, but it was hard to really settle down before we flew back to Boston on friday. We arrived around 9:30 PM EST, meaning it was really 2:30 AM in our minds. I spent the weekend with old friends, the one's I hadn't seen for 3 months, knowing on Sunday I'd be flying back home and finally be situated.  

I also managed to find an apartment with Jacki, Billy and Mike, along with Aunt Roni and Uncle Marc who were very helpful! 

So here I am... a couch in America. It feels good to be home, but at the same time I'll miss the small town feel of the castle. Most of all, I think I miss the camaraderie that comes from living in a castle with 80 other students. Already i've seen the effect that we've had on each other, and I know everyone has grown over the semester. I only hope that we all stay close, but without the castle to physically hold us together, its clear that nothing is going to be the same. 

Nevertheless, we'll always be able to say

Hey, remember that time we biked to Germany?

Hey, remember that time we ran across Venice to catch a bus home?

Hey, remember that time we went to our first coffeeshop in Amsterdam? 

Hey, remember that time we lived in a Castle?

The End of an Era.

Here I sit, on a couch, in a living room, in a moderately sized white house, in a small state in a fairly large country known to many as America. 

This is home, and yet... this is no castle. 

The last 2 weeks in Europe were spent, for the most part, at the castle in Well. My Eurail pass had run out, so it was much less expensive to simply stay put. We traveled into Amsterdam for a day trip, but other than that it was a very local experience. Many others had the same idea, so the castle was far from lonely. 

Its funny how when you're left with nowhere else to go, you really get a chance to explore your environment. It's a shame that it took us 3 months to discover the magical hiding spots in Well. To be brief, many of us wished we had known sooner about the 50's style diner, the playground with an AWESOME zip line and of course, the ever amazing sand dunes. 

Sand dunes? in HOLLAND? you must be kidding me. 

Folks... I kid you not. 

The sand dunes are tucked away, about a 10 minutes walk from the castle. We were lucky enough to hear about them, but few of us actually visited until these last couple weeks. On our last weekend at the Castle, after exams were all finished we went out to the Dunes and had a bonfire, a mini-farewell for the castle students. We ran around the blazing glory, drinking our last dutch beers, and burning the papers we never again will need to read. 

It was nothing short of amazing.

Spain never sleeps, even though I do.

From Croatia, many of us traveled to Barcelona - It seems that when everyone was making plans to leave, someone found out about the cheap 30 euro flight to Barcelona and told the rest of the castle. In total, we had around 40 Emerson students on a single flight - some of whom were only flying to Barcelona in order to fly back to Italy.

Now, Geography class - If you were to fly to Italy from Croatia -a bordering country - why does it make sense to fly across europe twice? Because airlines hate making our lives easier.

Upon arriving in Barcelona around 6 PM, we took the metro to the Kabul Hostel and checked in - which, unfortunately, takes a LONG time with 20 people arriving at once. A group of us went out around 9 and explored the city at night, starting at La Rambla. Barcelona truly has a spirit of its own, unlike anything i've seen before. The party never seems to stop, and pop art decorates the streets everywhere. Whether its a giant statue of a lobster or a billboard-sized mural, The alternative style of Barcelona is clear anywhere you look.

Side note -  There was a point that I looked at a structure in Barcelona and remembered that I had seen it before - in a Tony Hawk game. It was an awesome realization and a little lame at the same time. 

We continued our walk, ending up at the beach, dancing on the sand. Something i've experienced over and over again is how amazing it is to be with your friends in a foreign country, doing the same things you would do anywhere else. Around 11 or 12, we arrived back at the hostel and crashed, ready for the next day of adventuring. 

Thursday consisted of lunch, fun in the sun,  and obscenely warm weather. Jacki, Deven and I traveled up to a park where Gaudi designed several statues and buildings in the morning, then got Paella on the way back to the beach. Squid ink is an AWESOME cooking tool. We lied out, then hung out at the hostel bar for a little, then went to a flamenco show. 

Friday involved more walking around in Barcelona, particularly in search of souvenirs before I hopped on a train to Madrid with Erin. We arrived in Madrid around 6 or 7 and headed straight to one of the fine art museums (for free, thanks to our student IDs), which promptly closed at 8 o'clock. From here, we walked onward to our hostels and met up again in Puerta del Sol - the city center.  Erin and I wandered in search of tapas, which ended up being cold meats and cheeses, but still pretty good. Afterward, we headed in early, planning to meet up again around 9 am. 

Now, thoughts on Madrid. I've been told that between Barcelona and Madrid, you like whichever city you go to first better than the second. I hate to fall into a trend, but it was true. However, Madrid certainly had its charm - its older and more conventional, but a beautiful city overall. I think its like comparing Washington DC to New York City - there's a distinct national feeling tying them together, but they remain completely separate entities. Neither can completely represent the country, but together they provide a nice overview.

 I had the Cliff Notes version of life in Spain.  

 

At 9, we met back up and headed to the museums again. We knew that we only had a few hours until we needed to meet up with another group of Emersonians at noon, so we didn't waste anytime. Unfortunately, we still got a little lost. As we made our way through what we thought was the botanical gardens, we realized we were not where we thought we were. 

wow, that was a doozy of a sentence to read. 

Anyways, we hit up the museum and the Botanical gardens, then walked back to Puerta del Sol to meet with Jake and Co. Then, after finding them we went BACK to where the museums were to a beautiful little pond/lake. They rented out row boats for 45 minutes, so we divvied up and rowed around. By the 30 minute mark, we were kinda just floating, soaking in the sun on the beautiful day. 

After Row-Row-Rowing around, we headed to the modern art museum, where i proceeded to overload on Picasso - seriously, some 200 hundred pieces by the guy in an exhibit is enough to drive anyone crazy. And of course, since I was now crazy, I moved on to my favorite painter - Dali. Ohhh Dali, how I love thee. 

From here, we all explored more of the city until around 9 pm when Jake and Co. went back to their hostel, while Erin and I played a game called "Kill 6 hours in Madrid!"

We spent the first half sleeping in her original hostel, since they were nice enough to let us hang out there for a couple hours. However, at 1 am we left and wandered the Spanish streets, which, if anything, were MORE alive than they had been at 9. The city truly never sleeps.

We wandered around, avoiding spending much money and at 3 am ended up back at Jake and Co.'s hostel, where we had planned to meet and taxi to the Airport. 

Fast forward about 5 hours and we landed in Frankfurt, Germany to find it SNOWING. Seriously Europe, get it together. Fast forward another 8 hours and we arrived at the castle, just in time to miss Dinner. Bummer.