Never miss a chance to linger in the moment ...

This may be a strange post for me but I was writing in my journal one night in Santorini at sunset and thought I would share it here :) If it sounds a bit sentimental, keep in mind I had already had a few glasses of wine by this time... I will post more about Greece this week when I get a chance to jot it all down...

I do feel very fortunate for the life I have been blessed with.  I have been given a many great opportunities to see some absolutely amazing places.  I like to think that when life has given me a chance I have taken it more often than I have passed it by.  Tonight I am in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and i think about the trade offs.  My life certainly isn't everything I had hoped it would be by this time in my life.  I like to think I have made the most of the life I have.  And even now after watching an amazing sunset over the Aegean Sea, enjoying a glass of wine, listening to jazz in one of the best B&B's I have ever stayed in ... I think about how I would love to be sharing this experience with someone else.  Every place I go I think of my friends and family and how each of them would enjoy pieces of this place for different reasons.  Why are people so afraid of taking chances I wonder? Every time I have offered to share experiences all I get in return is "no money right now" or "just don't have the time right now".  There is never the perfect time to run off I suppose.  I'm definitely not under the perfect financial circumstance right now and probably spent far more on this holiday then I can afford but WHO CARES? What if I never got this chance again?  And never got to experience this amazing place?

When I'm old, looking back on my life, I will not remember that I spent too much money going to Greece.  I will remember the amazing blue water, the remarkable villages, friendly people and the AMAZING sunset that I am seeing right now ...

Life is short, never miss a chance to linger in a moment because right now is the perfect time



Joyeux anniversaire à MOI! (Usually I butcher the translation so giving it one more go!)

So I have a bit of a confession to make...


While I know many of you think I have it all together and that I am such a go getter, I must admit here and now that I am CRAP at updating my blog - there I said it.  I think we all feel a little better for having gotten that out in the open and we can move on from here :)


I must apologise as it has been a long time since I have posted on my blog but as is often the case with life, mine has gotten away with me and one day has turned into a week which then turned into a month and there you have it - life just slips away from you one moment at a time.  I am back on track though, back in the moment and thought I'd share some of my experiences from the past month.


Probably first and foremost was the celebration of my 24th birthday (maybe that's just a typo but I'm leaving it there as I like the sound of it).   I knew that I had wanted to do something fun for my first birthday away from home as it was a bit of a depressing thought and what better way to avoid a sad weekend on your own wallowing in self pity about being alone on your birthday thousands of miles from your family and friends then to run away to Paris!   I had played with the idea for the weeks before but didn't really settle on going until the day before I packed my bags and boarded the train.  In all honesty I was really excited to take the Eurostar for the first time as it is the high speed train that goes though the underwater tunnel connecting England to France.  I was all worked up for an extraordinary experience but in reality it's just like most other trains with the exception of riding in the dark for a few miles.   If I had designed it, it would have been built as a glass tube with lighting on the outside so you could enjoy sea life whilst on your train journey - engineering limitations be damned! At any rate, it was still pretty amazing that I left the station in central London at 7:22AM and I was in Paris at 10:47AM (a one hour time difference).  By noon I was checked into my hotel and strolling around the grounds of the Louvre and the gardens leading up to the Champs Elysees!  By late afternoon I was enjoying a hot coffee and looking up at the Eiffel Tower!

I had been to Paris before luckily so I didn't feel the pressure of seeing all of the big tourist sights.  The queues were outrageous since it is a big attraction for family holidays during the Summer months.  I walked around to most of the main sights to take pictures but didn't really bother with fighting the crowds to get inside.  I did have an awkward moment with a snobby French woman in Notre Dame but what would Paris be if the people weren't rude to you at least once - all part of the experience in my opinion :)

Paris was actually the first city in Europe I ever visited and I think was the first time I fell in love with the history and beauty that Europe had to offer.  I couldn't wait to order a crepe from one of the street vendors in the morning for breakfast as it reminded me so much of my first trip to the city.  In a strange way the nostalgia of that original visit concreted for me that my first holiday to Paris may have been the first step in a journey that eventually led me to living in London.  It was then that I feel in love with traveling and creating a life from experiences.  At the time, I definitely didn't have the path laid out but in some ways it was the spark that lead to the eventual fire.   Funny how one small change in direction can lead to big changes in your overall journey.

After enjoying lots of good French cuisine, amazing wine and boutique shopping in the Latin quarter, it was time to end my one night stay in Paris and head back to London and work on Monday morning.  I will say that my weekends are far more adventurous here then they were back home - but now I wonder if there were adventures to be had in Colorado and I had just overlooked them because I wasn't in the mode of taking advantage?  Was I just lazy in the monotony of a life I had become so accustomed to that I missed opportunities to enjoy my weekends just as much as I have since I have lived here?   Maybe this experience will teach me to live every day as though I could be sent packing at any time!


On to the next adventure - Barcelona this weekend :) Will report back once I return home next week!

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

Going home was a bit strange for me ... I know this is my new home and that going back to Colorado was just a holiday but it felt quite the opposite.  I felt like I was going home and now I'm back in England on my extended holiday.  I wondered on my flight back when that would change?  Will the day come when on my flight back to London, I will feel like I'm coming 'home'?

I think I have changed since I have moved, I may not have realised how much until I went back home.  In many ways it seems as if I have just left and in other ways it seems like I have been gone quite a long time.  It was interesting that in many ways it was so easy to go home and slip right back into my old life and old routines.  Before I left it was that routine that was driving me crazy but now that I have completely changed my life, it seems like a nice break from my life here.  Funny how perspective can change the way you see things.

Speaking of perspective... It was funny seeing things back home now that I have had to change my lifestyle to adjust to European living standards.  There is so much SPACE back in Colorado!  I suppose because I do live near the city now, I have become accustomed to the rows of buildings and houses, narrow streets and lots of pedestrians.  In London, it can take an hour or more to travel 10 miles but when I'm back home in Colorado I can typically travel that distance in 15 minutes or less in my car.  There aren't many pedestrians on the streets back home either because most people own or travel by car.  I was also blown away by the big retail stores and the variety of products that we have at our disposal in the US.  I was shopping with my mother one day in Target and had to stop and marvel at the fact that there was an entire aisle dedicated to toilet paper!  How many toilet paper options do we really need?  Apparently there is a vast difference of opinion amongst American consumers which toilet paper they prefer to purchase.

I did do quite a bit of shopping when I returned home because London is quite expensive so I do think you get better prices and better quality products back in the States.  I guess I'm specifically speaking of clothing in this instance.  I also have been plagued my entire life with the horrible affliction of having ginormous feet (I would like to say that this is an exaggeration but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't won a 'big foot' contest when I was in 5th grade - very proud moment for me I'm sure you understand).  In my defense I am quite tall so large feet are needed to keep me upright but I digress.    I rarely find shoes my size in the UK (size 11 US, size 9 UK), so when I returned home I did pick up a few pairs of shoes as well as a pair of my favourite Silver jeans as well.  Luckily I had gone to the pub the night before I returned home which caused me to pack 'light' the morning of my flight when I awoke on only two hours of sleep to pack my luggage.  I guess that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. 

Seeing my family and friends did make me home sick.  Going home and hanging out with them made me feel like I was slipping back into my own skin.  So many times in the UK I feel a bit out of place or out of sorts working to figure things out.  I know it will get better with time but I would say I'm just now getting past the culture shock of my initial move.  I understand that it was a very big move so I take it in stride.  It was funny that all my friends thought that I would come home with an accent.  I know that some Americans do pick up the accent as I have heard it when I have met up with other American expats living in London.  I really don't see myself picking it up to be honest.  I have a hard time even faking the accent so I'm guessing it won't ever come naturally to me but I guess only time will tell that as well.  I do feel out of touch with what is going on back home and it has prompted me to start reading the US news more this week.  I need to stay abreast of what is going on in my own country and ensure I don't fall out of touch.   This was a tip that was offered to me by another American living here and I see now how right he was that it is important to stay informed about what goes on in your home country.

I do believe that living abroad has expanded my view of the world.  There is so much to see and people are so different every place you go.  I want to experience as much of it as I can in my short lifetime and maybe in the end I will better understand my place in this world.  I think the only way to truly get to know yourself is to push your limits, take yourself outside of your comfort zone and see the ways that others live so that you can learn to appreciate the life that you have.

Stepping back in time ...

Time is passing me by here people!! I really gotta step up my game, get down to business, kick butt and take names, insert additional cliche phrase of your choice here ...

I have now been in London for five months today!  I've travelled to quite a few cities around England as well as Holland, Belgium, and this past weekend to the Czech Republic.  I'm well on my way to hitting my goal of five countries by the end of 2011.  I really am getting a great appreciation for the history that all of these European cities have that is so different from my own countries beginnings.  I think Prague is probably one of the most picturesque cities I have visited.  It was one of the only cities that survived the war relatively unscathed and the buildings definitely reflect that.  Many of the streets are the original cobblestone, complete with narrow passageways and sculptures on every corner. 

I've decided that I'm always going to at  least try to take public transport whenever I visit a new city.  Granted it's not always easy when you're trying to read signs that are in a foreign language but I think its worth giving it a shot.  It's far less expensive then trying to take cabs everywhere and if you can master it you can really widen the scope of your visit because its so much easier to get around to all the sites.  I easily navigated from the airport to my hotel via the 119 bus and a few changes on the Metro.  I stayed on a boat hotel on the river, the Boat Hotel Matylda.  The room was small but very modern and the hotel staff was really helpful and friendly.  Breakfast was served on the other boat and was great each morning to get me started and then a LONG day of walking until it was time to go - BACK TO THE BOTEL (not sure if anyone else has the song I have in my head when I say that! ha ha).

I thought that I might have run into more issues not speaking the language in Prague but as in most tourist centers of major cities pretty much every one I came into contact with did speak at least enough English to communicate.  Almost makes me feel guilty being in their country and not having mastered at least the basic phrases but the Czech language is not exactly the easiest to master.  I did try a word here and there but I think I only succeeded in completely butchering their language (my apologies to the Czech people by the way).

I spent most of my time wondering around, although on my second day I did join one of the many free tours that you can pick up off the main square in Old Town.  They basically work for tips and the one I joined was a three hour walking tour mostly around the sites in Old Town and then ending at Prague Castle.  I'm not sure how accurate all the historic facts were but the guide was great and I loved the way she told the cities stories and legends.  One Czech tradition that she seemed to love telling is of "defenestration" or throwing people from high windows to their deaths.   The incidences that have been recorded throughout history were instances of revolt but it is interesting how it does repeat itself in the history of the city.  From my tour I learned two lessons: 1.  Stay away from windows on high floors when in Prague and 2.  Anything was possible in the 1400s which was the time of magical happenings.

I spent the last day in Prague visiting the sites around the Jewish quarter.  I paid 200 Czech Crowns to get a pass to visit several of the sites around the area.  The first was a memorial center where the names of all the Jewish people that died written on the high walls of three rooms.  A voice is on the speaker reading through each of the names and the recording takes three days to read off all the names.  There was also a room of children's drawings, some that depicted typical scenes of any childhood artwork and others showed scenes that were unique to the Jewish ghetto from the time period- it was very touching.  I also visited the Jewish Cemetery that was also a very interesting site, with tombstones stacked one on top of the other.  Since they were only allowed the small plot of land for all their burials, the bodies were stacked many high to make room. 

With each city I visit I feel like I learn more about the world but also a better understanding of my place in it.  It makes you realise how different people are and how we each come from our unique place and time in history.  I'm very lucky for the opportunities I have been given in life and even though I have loved taking every step of my journey I am so fortunate to take, I also know there's a lot to be said for going home.  And where is my next holiday you may ask --- well there is NO PLACE LIKE HOME! Happy Independence Day!

Lessons learnt care of London Transport system

Lesson 1 : Patience
   You never know when you will be stuck at a bus stop...waiting... stuck on a train platform ...waiting.... stuck underground on a hot, muggy tube ...waiting ... diverted to a different station in order to wait for another route to open up.  A strong public transport system definitely has its upsides but it also has its downsides as well and you have to learn very quickly to roll with the punches and be flexible with your schedule at all time.  London has always been a leader in the public transport arena with the oldest underground train network in the world that was first built in 1863 and while that makes them pioneers, it also makes their network REALLY old.  

Lesson 2 : Silence
   There is nothing stranger then being packed on a commuter train with hundreds of other people so tight that you can't even move and it being so quiet that you can hear a pin drop.  No one talks or makes any noise on these trains and it is so strange to be in such close proximity with so many people and not hear a single word spoken from any of them.

Lesson 3 : Never take the stairs up from the Covent Garden tube
   I always try to opt to take stairs when there is an option versus taking a lift.  I made this crucial mistake at the Covent Garden tube station once when I saw a sign that said there were 193 stairs to street level from the underground.  Honestly, it didn't sound like that much at the time but about halfway up you realise the horrible mistake you have made!  Later I found out that climbing these 193 stairs is the equivalent of going up a 15 storey building.  Well, trust me, that is good information to have so I'm sharing with all of you.

Lesson 4 : Always stand on the right 
   Nothing drives locals nuts more then tourists who stand on the left hand side of the escalators in the tube stations.  Standing is on the right and the left is to be open and available for those who chose to keep walking up/down the steps.  This is a well oiled machine for commuters who are on these transports every day and God help you if you get in their way. 

Lesson 5 : Free reading materials 
   There are no lack of free papers in the stations throughout London and you will find them everywhere.  I'm also becoming a fan of the magazine that they are shoving at you each week called the Short List. 

Lesson 6 : Do not press your ticket against your phone
   So those that know me, probably know I'm one of the most clumsy people on the planet and I'm not great at juggling my bag, my phone and my tickets on the best of days so they often end up all in the same hand.  Unfortunately, if you put your ticket against your mobile phone it de-activates the strip for the electronic readers in all the stations. For the rest of the day, you'll be flagging down the workers to show them your ticket manually and begging them to open the gates so you can make your train.  I still do it every time I travel, so I guess this lesson is still a work in progress. 

Lesson 7 : Mind the gap
   Mind the gap was adopted in 1969 as the warning for the Transport for London at all trains / tube stops to warn passengers to watch their step getting off and on the trains.  How do I know this fun fact?  I goggled it of course! I googled it originally not because I was curious what year the phrase was adopted but because I was curious how many people fell into the gap before the warning had to be posted EVERYWHERE you go!  I guess some people just need to be reminded that it's not a good idea to put your foot into an empty space between a train and platform that will cause you to fall several feet onto a track below a fast moving train. 

  

Spreekt u Engles?

So finally got to take a quick trip out of the country, my first since living in the UK.  Now that I have experienced how easy it is to travel from London I think I'm going to be hooked! :)

Amsterdam was a beautiful city.  So many things to see and so much history to explore.  I've never been much of a museum person.  I will take in museums that have something of particular interest to me but I've never really been the type to go piece by piece through an entire museum taking in every display.  After looking at the most common tourist spots in the city, I did decide to visit two while I was in Amsterdam.  The first was the Anne Frank museum which turned out was just around the corner from my hotel.  I had decided to get up early as this weekend was a bank holiday here and the city seemed to be very crowded with tourists. I got to the museum just before it was scheduled to open only to find that there was already a queue (English for line ha ha) to the end of the building outside.  It was one of my only 'must see' sights for my visit to Amsterdam so I jumped in the queue and waited my turn to buy a ticket.  The tour actually takes you through the front office of Anne's father's business and then takes you through to the secret annex where eight people hid from the Nazis for just under two years.   I think Anne's story always touched me because I was an pre-teen girl when I first read 'The Diary of Anne Frank' and remembered really relating to her and thinking how terrifying that must have been for her and her family.  The family had built a movable bookcase in front of the door to the annex to hide the back apartment of the home and from the day they went into hiding never came out until they were discovered in 1944.  It was amazing to see the apartment and the reality of how the families staying there lived for almost two years.  The windows all had blackout curtains on them to ensure they weren't seen moving in the apartment from the outside so the rooms were very dark and small.  While there are no furnishing in the rooms today there are models showing how they fit the eight people into the few small rooms. On the walls in Anne's room, you can see where she glued magazine and post card photos of film stars from the time to decorate her small space.  On one of the walls you can see where the two young girls had drawn pencil lines on the wall to track their growth over the two years they were caged in the small space.  Everything there were small reminders that while life was stifled, it did go on for the family while they hid from the atrocities outside.  It was a bit like being in a church or a memorial as everyone touring were very quiet and somber walking through each of the rooms.  Anne and her sister died in a concentration camp just one month before the liberation.  Only Anne's father Otto survived of the eight people who were in hiding in the secret annex.  If you haven't read the book before, I would highly recommend it.  With the vision of their secret annex fresh in my mind, I do planning on reading the book again for my own reminder and benefit. 

I also went to the Van Gogh museum.  I had remembered in my freshman art class at university the story of the tortured Van Gogh cutting off a piece of his own ear and putting in the mail to one of his love interests.  If you know me at all, then you know I have always been fascinated by the macabre things in life and this was no different.  I recognised several of the paintings so it was amazing to stand in arms reach of some of the most iconic pieces of art of our time.  I'm by no means an art critic but I did enjoy his style of painting and how what seemed like a chaotic series of small brush strokes melded together to really show the life of the scenes he was depicting.  His style was very unique to the time when he was painting and as the museum is ordered chronologically, it was interesting to see how his style changed at different stages of his life and how the topics and colours of his pieces changed depending on his mental state.

I don't think I could post about Amsterdam without talking about the obvious things that people typically visit for.  So aside from the unique architecture and gorgeous canals running throughout the city, there is of course the coffee shops and red light district.  I think because I was a woman travelling alone, I did avoid these for the most part but it is worth mentioning how open the use of soft drugs and the sex trade are within the city.  I think I was contact high most of the days when I was strolling through the central districts of Amsterdam.  Coffee shops are the only place where small portions of soft drugs like hash can be bought and consumed for personal use.  It is not uncommon to see someone smoking while walking down the street and while I was told it's frowned upon, its not really something that the police focus on.  I didn't visit the Red Light district at night just because I felt like it would be swarming with seedy men and I didn't really think I'd feel safe being a single woman down there alone but I did walk through during the day just to get a feel for it.  It was interesting as there were women standing in the windows who were barely dressed, waving to men to come in and see them.  I guess it does stand to reason that morality and how you look at these things is a cultural construct and while we may be uncomfortable with the display of something that we were taught was wrong, its not universally believed to be so.

Enough of Amsterdam already!! Let's talk about chocolate and waffles!! :) I did take a day trip into Belgium as well.  I had the choice of a few different cities and chose to go to Ghent and Bruges because they were the smaller cities with more of the medieval city center that I find so charming.  We first visited Ghent which was a very small village which didn't seem to have as many tourist and a very small quaint city center.  I only had an hour and a half so I strolled around the many shops, bought my obligatory piece of Belgium lace and then went straight into the cafe known for their Belgium waffles.  I've never been a huge waffle fan if I'm being honest but it was pretty amazing.  I had mine with strawberries and cream and the waffle was definitely fresh and kind of just melted in my mouth.  I'm sure it was a billion calories but if you ever visit, just go for it - so worth it!  

 We then went on to Bruges, a slightly larger city with an amazing city center of old medieval buildings.   It was so much fun just wandering through the cobblestone streets and every other shop was a chocolate store so who am I to complain.  It was amazing seeing all the chocolate treats and the smell of chocolate seem to almost be a part of the city landscape.  I did sample a piece of chocolate from one of the shops with a cup of coffee in one of the small parks.  I also had a traditional Belgium meal of mussels and frites (fries) with mayonnaise.  It was a yummy dinner before heading back the three hour bus ride to Amsterdam. 

My last day in Amsterdam I decided for it to be a relaxing day. I slept in that morning in my teeny tiny bed and when I finally did venture out I went down to the flower market to explore.  I sat out at one of the canal side cafes enjoyed a coffee and a salad and read for an hour or two.   I enjoyed the slow pace of the day.  It seems that the Dutch culture supports this pace as they never seemed in a hurry to rush me off.  The Dutch in general seemed like a very happy welcoming people.  The city was also streaming with cyclist, I don't know the hard facts but it seemed like there were more people with bicycles in the city then in cars!  I also liked the fact that I didn't feel so 'tall' as there were several women far taller then me there.  I loved the Dutch language as well, so different from any other.  I didn't pick much up on my visit because as with most European cities, everyone I encountered did speak English.  It seems a diservice to American children that they only learn one language (just barely)  when it is common place all across Europe that they are often fluent in at least one other language then their native tongue.   

I really did enjoy my visit to the Netherlands and Belgium and now that I've been bit by the travel bug, I'm hoping this is just the first in many trips to come!

I'm not Canadian!!!

I wonder how much me being an American really is a novelty some times.  I clearly stand out the second I begin speaking and while Brits are very astute at sizing up other Brits by their accent and figuring out very quickly what area someone is from based on small differences in the way they talk, they have no clue when it comes to American accents. We spent an entire night in the pub once with them trying to teach me the subtle differences in British accents depending on where someone grew up but I have to admit it never really sank in.  It could be due in part to the large amounts of lager that I had consumed but I digress... I can't even really tell the difference between a Welsh accent which is a ghastly mistake by their standards!

In much the same way, they have no idea the differences between American accents.  While I could pretty quickly delve out what region another American is from, I sometimes think that they only associate Americans with either very thick east coast or southern accents.  The rest of us are apparently Canadian.  I have now been mistook for being Canadian on four different occasions because my accent is so 'flat'.  I guess the Colorado accent doesn't really have anything distinctive to make it stand out and it's not as if I could pick out another Coloradan here if they were to walk up to me out of the blue - but Canadian? 

I actually find that most of them don't even know where Colorado is geographically within the US.  Most of them know the big coastal cities like NYC, Orlando and San Francisco but then kind of look at me confused when I try to explain where Colorado is relative to the coasts.  But really that makes perfect since, doesn't it?  It's not like I could have told you where Sussex was as compared to Yorkshire before moving here and the US is geographically far more spread out then the UK is really.  Why would they care where Denver, Colorado is?  It's not really a vacation spot for most Brits :)

So now I guess all I have to decide is do I continue to correct people or should I just go with being Canadian when I meet new people.  It could be fun, eh?