The Gabtrotter

I am contently sitting in my Lagos bachelorette pad. At 15 euros a night, this place is a great deal. For its supreme location, compared to other cities, this price is really unheard of – it’s even good for Lagos. Wow, what a great deal. I was telling Allan that I did the math and living in some of the hostels I’ve been in would equate to around 400-500 euros a month-, which is great considering that it includes everything. I think if I went to school in Europe I might be tempted to live in a hostel, I’m half joking.

Lagos, thus far, has proved itself to be much more to my liking than Lisbon. It has beautiful weather during the day, and then cools down at night. Also, there are all sorts of great food deals- for example tonight for dinner I had fish, soup, salad, a beer, a water, and a scoop of ice cream, all for 7.50 euros. It was the best deal I found, and it actually tasted good too. The other night I had sardines, boiled potatoes and salad for 7 euros. The restaurant food is a great deal, but wait, it gets better. I went to the grocery store, where, I was able to buy 6 1.5 liters of water for 25 cents – and 5 apples for 75 cents. Can you believe that? I’ve never seen such brilliant prices, even in Mexico.

In addition to all of the great deals, I am very happy about the beautiful scenery. After this Euro-trip, I think, although I appreciate human made beauty, I most enjoy the wonders of nature. What it comes down to is that I just really love the beach. I can spend all day there, and be totally content. I’ve been spending my time at Praia de Dona Ana. It’s very beautiful, but the water is pretty chilly. It is not unbearable, but the water at Cascais near Lisbon was unbearable. It is just so cold, I swear after laying out and then hoping in the water, I saw steam rise from me. I am not the only one that found the water quite chilly, otherwise I would have thought that maybe I had been spoiled from the 4 months of warm Pacific waters I had grown accustom to this past “winter.”

Here are a some pictures from my day-time adventures:

Currently sitting in my hostel, with a sleeping French guy diagonally on top of me (I mean he’s on the top bunk next to me). Everyone else is downstairs hanging out in the lobby, I’ve done my share of that this week, and now I am here. Exploring the slue of websites I have accumulated over the years, I have come to realize that I really miss making videos; in any context. I wish I had brought stuff to edit, or my camera didn’t die, or my external hard drive wasn’t stolen. I guess my creative film odds were against me, like they were in Australia. Every camera I had broke while I was there, except for my most loyal techno-companion: the iphone. So it remains my most loyal techno-companion, I am knocking on every piece of wood I see, and I urge you to too (if anyone reads this??). I don’t really believe in the whole knocking on wood thing, but hell anything is better than nothing.

Tomorrow I am bussing south to Lagos. I am excited about it, for I plan on getting my tan on. I also want to bike around, and I have this vision of reading in the shade of gigantic ocean rocks on the beach; we’ll see if my vision comes true.

It is hard to believe that in exactly two weeks, I will be moved into Cambridge. Wow. Anxiously discussing these plans with my family and friends seems like it was just yesterday, but at the time the plans felt like they were years away. Time sneaks up on you and the predictions become the present almost faster than you had the ideas to begin with.

Traveling is not always easy. Right now I am having a weak moment. I am worried about the future, haunted by my past and thus having problems focusing on the present. A friend of mine had said some unsettling things to me the other day, and I have yet to be able to shake their sting from my soul. What is it they say, “sticks and stones…” such utter nonsense that is, I’d take the stones any day. Sometimes I find it difficult to realize all that I am, or try to be, while in a foreign country. It can get a little lonely on the road, and when these moments happen it can get difficult to remember that somewhere, not too far away, I belong to a community, a family, friends, a school; even though not many people know it here, but somewhere someone does know my name. When I feel lonely during a long train ride, I try to keep as many pictures as I can on my iPhone and I start paging through them. Seeing the smiling faces, the times that have passed, brings sunshine to the chill that loneliness can bring. I think about what my friend are doing now, and I think about the USA and how it is starting to become summer and how that always had meant something to me. It doesn’t really mean anything to me now, because I feel so far away from it all.

*Note, I am starting this post without an exact idea of where I will wind up.

Ha, I guess that ^^ is how I start a lot of things though. Like, this trip – I never really thought that I would end up in Portugal. I don’t even think I had heard of Lagos (my next destination) until Sarah told me about her trip there during our month together.

After living in Lisbon for the past four days I have gotten a pretty good feel for the city. For one, Lisbon, without a doubt, has the most bookstores per capita of any city I have ever been in. Honestly, I turn the corner and there is a bookstore, I turn again and there is another – and then another across the street from the one before. These all matter to me for I am scurrying to buy the last few books I need before classes start in July. Of course, none of these bookstores have what I am looking for – but I cannot complain – I would be stunned to see the complete works of Lord Byron selling at a Portuguese small-business bookstore; although stranger things have happened. For example, 4 out of my 5 hostel-mates tonight all live in Boston. That makes 5 of us… It could be six, but the 6^th roommate has not been around to ask.

The Portuguese by far have the best English I have encountered in a country. Even old people speak English without an accent. I mean this with no disrespect to the elderly; just most commonly the older generations in Europe were not taught English at an early age like the present generations. Of course I have met a few people who don’t speak English, but I am very impressed by those who do, for not only do they speak it – they speak it well. On the other hand, it has been a little disappointing because I would like to try and speak more Portuguese; however, eavesdropping has been a good method of practice so far.

us at the Panethon, Rome

The one-month whirlwind with Sarah has come to a conclusion; although my own journey continues.   It is almost impossible to know where to begin talking about our trip, but I will eventually. I really want to do something with all the information I have accumulated and the random stories of experiences and new people met. I am in the brainstorming process now, but am open to any suggestions. I am taking a memoir writing class in the fall, perhaps I will use some of this there. Traveling is just one big learning experience. Of course there are moments of indulgence, but for the most part, it has been one lesson after another. I have to force myself to start writing more, especially since I will be alone the rest of the way. Classes start July 5^th, and I will move into Cambridge July 4^th. July 4^th has always been my favorite holiday, so it will be interesting to celebrate it in the country Americans celebrate their independence from.

Sarah in front of the Parthenon, Athens

One conclusion/ beautiful thing I have observed is that people are people no matter where you go. This is most obvious when observing people on the metro. In all of the metros in all of the world, people get on, and a lot of times you can find similar expressions on people that you have seen in other cities. You wonder if you had seen these faces before. People chatting on their phone, sitting listening to their ipod, people heading home from work or school, tourists, couples – same faces just different races — same common feelings, the commonalities amongst humanity. It is these commonalities that make art, movies, history a uniting force.  As Sarah observed, no matter where you come from, what your status is, or what type of person you are – you can go to Rome and still appreciate The Colosseum, or Athens and the Parthenon, etc. At least a part of each of us are still amazed by our past, and humbled when in the presence of such influential pieces of our history, such as artworks like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. People with so many different cultures and backgrounds all wait in line to see the Mona Lisa. Part of traveling is of course seeing these things for yourself, but also recognizing the why you go to see them, and noticing what is around you when you finally do. Maybe the reasoning behind the fame of the Venus de Milo does not quiet make sense to you, but there is still a level of appreciation for a piece of art that was around when Julius Caesar was creating the 365 day Roman Calendar.

The crowd around Mona Lisa, Paris

Quickly, quickly- for I really must be getting to bed. Sarah and I are so far so good. We enjoyed and accomplished a lot in Prague, saw mostly everything that I wanted to see (I would say everything but there was this memorial that sounds great in my Let’s Go book, but I’ll talk more about that when I have time).

Sarah and I are not backpacking in the most classic sense, which I prefer… We are suticasing through Europe, I guess in theory it seems easy to hike around with this huge bag on your back – but to me it sounds entirely unappealing. Especially when you can just stroll along the cobblestone, better than just adding unnecessary baggage (ha, pun). Also, not to judge, but just to set the bar: I have noticed an uncomfortably large amount of adult backpackers. I really hope to god that when I am an adult I am not so broke that I have to resort to traveling as a backpacker in Europe. Unless, that’s what I really wanted to do, I hope it doesn’t happen. But, famous last words I guess. *Sigh* I’m loving this whole suitcasing through Europe though. It’s fun. Packing is a crisis, every destination I’ve tried to eliminate unneccesary items —  but it still feels heavy. Oh well, Vienna tomorrow. I just keep thinking of that Billy Joel song…

“Slow down you crazy child, you’re so ambitious for a juvenile.”

One thing though Billy, shouldn’t you be ambitious when you’re a juvy? I mean, as an older adult it can get to be a little late — although it is important to hang onto that ambition. I’m going to stay ambitious, and I am a crazy child. C’est la vie Prahaha good times were had, more to come.

Oh yeah, PS

The people at the hostel thought we were French today. Compliment #3 of the joined Sarah and Gabby adventures

2 and 1 were people asking us for directions, which cracked us up because we like to look like we know what we’re doing…. well, we practice what we preach.

Defeated, and admitting to myself that I had gotten to the train station way too early, I decided to try and buy some stamps and send a couple of postcards. The lady in the little store in the train station said that she didn’t sell any stamps, but across the way there was a post office. I half-smiled at her, thinking, yeah right like a post office is going to be open now. I stroll outside, defeated… Looking around, seeing nothing. Then, I notice this building with a Polish flag swinging from it. I walk up to it, not only is it a post office, not only is it open (and open 24 hours!) it has wifi! FREE wifi! And there is a nice little table where I am able to fill out my postcards and update this here blog thingy.  It is a beautiful thing when the unexpected happens.

It’s crazy to think that I’m writing this entry from Poland. I’m in Krakow tonight and then going on a day trip to Auschwitz tomorrow morning.

I took the train from Prague to Krakow. There is a stopover and because our train broke down and caused a two hour delay, I was required to share a van cab with a Canadian, a couple from Singapore and a guy from Vienna. It was one of those side trip random adventures that I’ve always thought only happened in movies. While we were driving through Poland, I couldn’t help but note that a year ago I never would have expected to be driving through Eastern Europe – Poland even. I’m happily surprised; I like not being able to predict what great adventures await me.

So far I’ve been to: Madrid, Barcelona, Prague and now Krakow. I’m headed back to Prague on Sunday, I’m going to try and take the night train. However, someone told me that it’s a bit unsafe in standard 2^nd class on the night train, so I’m probably going to either upgrade to 1^st class or just take the day train. I’m going to have to make my way to the train station tomorrow and figure it out.

Barcelona was beautiful, but it really does have a sketchy feel. Matt and I were constantly being offered drugs. I also didn’t like the feeling that I always had to be worried about my wallet being stolen – in fact what I did was wear my passport neck wallet underneath my shirt – but that just made my shirts look weird. See below.

Somehow Matt and I survived Las Ramblas (the main tourist street in the old part of Barcelona), and neither of us had anything stolen.

Prague was fun the two days I was there, but I didn’t really get a chance to sightsee. I was mainly hanging out with Matt before his trip, he leaves tomorrow. When I get back Sarah and I are going to be starting our journey together and we will have a very packed itinerary in Prague and everywhere else.

Right now I am happy to have a really nice room (I’ve never had such a nice room in a hostel) and am ready to catch up on some sleep debt that I’ve accumulated these nights of fun.

Tonight I had some real Polish pierogies. They were potato cheesy deliciousness- especially since they were SO cheap. I love Eastern European prices, love them. I am 25% Polish and my Great Aunt, whom I was extremely close with was 100% Polish and was very proud of her heritage. She would be really happy to hear that I am visiting where the Gabriel family first started. It’s so crazy to be in the country where your name originates, not that I am meeting anyone from the family or anything; it’s just warming to be in your family’s homeland. No one else in my family has been back here, so it’s also cool to know that even though I am one of the youngest, I am still interested in remembering our roots.

After being back in the United States for a solid 10 days, I’ve come to the conclusion that that chapter of my life went by too quickly. I guess because it is this faraway place, it has the ability to seem less real than other chapters. Whereas, with things I miss or think about around here, I am reminded of them much easier since I am surrounded by them or pass by them regularly.

The night of our goodbye party, I mentioned in conversation that it is a sad realization that “this is the closest we will all ever be again.” My friends and I from this trip will probably never be in such close proximity at the same time, and as close again emotionally. There are always exceptions to the rule, but it is unlikely and that is a sad realization. For, there are not many times in life where you grow close with people and know for a fact that this will be as close as you will ever be, I guess when certain friends are moving or you are leaving you always assume that you’ll have the chance to be close again because you’ve had them part of your life for so long. With study abroad it is a bit different than that.

I guess that is what makes studying abroad such a highly regarded experience: for a short while you experience what it is like to live and create a world in another country, with different friends, different foods and life-altering experiences. For the most part, all of these experiences and ways of life are temporary-, which in a sense romanticizes the whole thing. Already, I have a tendency with nostalgia only remembering the good and forgetting the bad—oh sweet memory. As I think about the times from Australia, I remember them with fondness and appreciation more and more.

My friends and I at our goodbye party

Sitting, waiting, wishing, hopin’ at the terminal here in Boston Logan. My airtran flight to Akron/Canton is delayed. I tend to fly Airtran from Boston because it’s usually so cheap; I think this flight cost me 40 each way. In order to compensate for the inconvenience they are throwing in a free one-way ticket to anywhere they fly. I’m thinking Bahama- come on pretty mama. The return flights are pretty cheap; it would be a nice break for the winter. ☺

My dad is insisting that I argue for a free hotel tonight because it’s going to be very difficult for them to drive out to Akron at 12:30AM, but I don’t think it’ll work: I’ve already tried.