Category Travel

…And it’s all very amoosing

The picture I have here are leaves from a lupine flower. Someone told me that people call the water droplets that form on them lupine diamonds – I like that something as ordinary as a water droplet can become as precious as a diamond.

What I would like to do with this entry is to spend a lot of time on it. To read through my 23 pages of writing from my trip and put together a really nice, consolidated piece that I can edit and re-edit before sending it off into the world. After finishing that, I’d like to spend more time tweezing out all of the different stories I can find from my trip. However, I only have so much time (one day exactly) until I am whisking myself off to my next four-week adventure filled with magic and children so I wanted to send out at least some sort of tip-of-the-hat to Alaska into the world before I left.

If there is anything I learned on the trip, it is that there will never be enough time to do every tourist attraction or see every single monument. I learned that rushing from one view to the next in hopes of catching the next spectacular sight takes away from anything that could be actually enjoyable. Everyone has seen a picture of a train or a bear; capturing that picture is not worth it if it means you see everything through a camera lens. No amount of people on Facebook envying your trip will make it any more enjoyable for you.

What I love about traveling is when I start to slow down, see the people of the area, and just wander with a smile on my face. I get to meet these incredibly interesting and kind hearted people whose stories I am sure I will remember far longer than I will any grand mountain or animal sighting. It is those moments where I stop and realize how lucky I am to be where I am in the world that make traveling feel like such a treat. The funny thing is, is that those things really do not require traveling – I can meet interesting people everywhere if I am willing to listen and I can always be grateful for where I am on this world. So here’s to hoping I can live like I am traveling a little bit more every day because I am always going somewhere.

And I didn’t even throw my watch out the window

It seems like I could have just arrived in Scotland for my first year of university just last month yet here I am and its been a full nine months of hard work, new experiences, and a lot of good times. The featured picture is taken in Barcelona from my trip to Spain and along with working for my pun I figured any picture I put up of some big cool looking monument, you could probably find a better picture of it on the internet, but this moment, seeing all the birds and the ephemeral joy this guy seemed to have feeding them – it was what I was looking for in my trip. I climbed cliffs, wandered through new cities, got back into speaking Spanish, and ate more food than I ever have in my life. My trip went from doing my first outdoor rock climbing in all kinds of weather (including one freak hail storm) on the Eastern coast of Spain near Reus, to exploring Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid discovering both the positives and the negatives to traveling alone and then off to Portugal for a few days with an old friend for catching up, wine, and good food. Although the trip was entirely exhausting and parts of it pushed me further out of my comfort zone than I might have liked, if I had the choice to go back and do it differently, I don’t think there is a thing I would change. Now the semester is coming to an end with the last exams, then London and the summer and there are a lot of mixed feelings about leaving this place but until the very moment my bags are packed and I am getting on the plane, I’m trying to live in blissful ignorance.

Okay but actually, on my walk back from successfully turning in an essay these ducks surrounded me it was really fun, stunning, and mildly terrifying.

On other news, this semester is flying by outrageously fast with spring break coming up then coming back with only four more weeks of classes then revision period and exams. But with spring break in less than a week, I am ecstatic about my plans for Spain with climbing with the Mountaineering society (in hopes that I don’t fall to far behind) then a week of exploring Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid on my own and meeting a friend in Portugal. With tours booked, wandering expected, and camera ready I am directing my little flying carpet on another adventure I cannot wait for.

It was a ball

This past weekend University Hall had its ball and if you hadn’t already guessed, it was Great Gatsby 20’s themed. We had the ball at Fernie Castle (the featured photo is the castle but the picture was from the Fernie Castle website) which, although we didn’t get this view of it at night, was lovely. Jazz band, Ceilidh dancing, and a DJ topped off with a brilliant intermission of fireworks filled our night of classy dresses and tuxedos. The only thing missing from our Gatsby party was Gatsby himself but I guess we can’t have everything!

And found the punniest shop there

Too many fun puns to choose from! Fun fact, the Scottish flower is a thistle, if you didn’t already know. There is also a stretch of street in old town in Edinburgh called the Royal Mile filled with great tourist attractions and shops along the mile walk.

Both puns were too fun not to include along with:

Why the long faces?

Anyway these glorious puns do in fact have a purpose which is to introduce my adventure into Edinburgh with good friends. On Saturday the 24th, two of my good friends and I coordinated the 2 hour bus ride into Edinburgh to spend the day exploring. The city and all its splendor was beautifully swarmed with tourists and selfie sticks. Other than the brisk cold most of the day, I loved every bit of it. I was reminded of San Francisco’s tourism in recognizing the locals from the tourists, moving fast with purpose instead of looking up and wandering. Consequently, I found it difficult to imagine walking by huge, monumental structures everyday and brushing it off as normal but I guess someone might say the same about California.

Along with walking from Holyrood palace (there’s a pun in there somewhere) to the Edinburgh castle, we had the joy of eating sushi and visiting the six floors of optical illusion at World of Illusion and Camera Obscura, shrinking, growing, loosing body parts and confusing others, and overall having a blast.

Although I wish I could say something more witty or thoughtful about the city, traveling with friends seems to have more “in the moment” enjoyments instead of ones that can be described in words.

My first munro

Okay so not everything has been down hill since, but the pun was too good and it did kind of work since after my weekend trip I had the pleasure of jumping right into revising (studying) for exams (finals). This post is incredibly late but about 2 weeks ago on the weekend of the 28th of November I had a little adventure up into the Scottish Highlands to where this picture was taken at Glen Affric (close to Loch Ness). I went on this Christmas trip with the mountaineering society from Friday to Monday and managed to keep up for one of the hiking days making it up to the top of the mountain while the second day I got to take this picture while doing some light walking and making it back to the cabin we were staying in, to do some writing of my own while having the joy of looking out of the window and seeing a picture that looked like it was taken from the lord of the rings or some other fantasy land. The cottage

I kid you not, this place made me feel like old Sophie trudging through the wastes from Howl’s Moving Castle while I slowly trudged up the hill pushing against the wind always following a bit behind the rest of the group hunched over and thinking “I am too old for this” even if I’m really not, just too out of shape for it. Sophie’s line “when you’re old, all you want to do is sit and look at the scenery” constantly ran through my head along with “I’m fatter than ever yet the wind blows right through me.” All that aside, it was absolutely beautiful with good company and great weather (for Scotland).

Watching some of the other people on the trip practically be able to run up the mountain, I couldn’t help but think that I’m the type of person who will write about adventures and intensity, while the people I’m with will be the ones who actually live them and I was in awe. I realize I love the physical activity and adventure, but I seem to prefer to take pictures and do things like admire the way the clouds form in the sky and how the mist consumes everything. I spent the weekend looking up to people my own age and just admiring their immense confidence in themselves and what they were doing. It felt almost like I was in a movie, but a supporting character instead of the main which I am completely okay with because it means I get to come along for the ride, enjoy it, and just concentrate on showing myself a really good time. Overall an extremely inspiring weekend to then go back and start studying…

one last picture.

Really I just lose focus

Stopping in the middle of the pavement (sidewalk) to take pictures of trees or sunsets I do get some weird looks.

Maybe I am acting like a tourist but it makes me think, why can’t I be a tourist where I live? Seems to me all tourists are doing are admiring the place and seeing it brand new and to me, that seems like a pretty great mindset. I don’t see why I shouldn’t appreciate where I’m living and really look around instead of taking it for granted. Before I came here, the idea of coming to Scotland was just kind of a dream idea – some sort of unknown Narnia filled with everything perfect, but then I’m actually here and a lot of people here seem to say that about California. It made me think about why we can’t appreciate the thought that maybe we are already in Narnia or Hogwarts; we just have to realize it. So yes, I am going to act like a tourist and take pictures and enjoy the fact that I’m here, suffering through torrential rains and then being able to appreciate the calms afterwards when this picture was taken.

Although there is always school work to be done and lectures and tutorials to get to, there should always be time to smell the roses, pet the dogs and cats, and appreciate a sunset.

Pun explained below…

The featured image is of Sally’s hall because wow beautiful stuff man but the most important thing in this post is this picture:

Just yesterday I realized they don’t call these Lay’s potato chips. I would write more actually talking about my life but the essay worth 25% of my English grade is calling.

The amount of time needed to write a decent tribute to halloween did not manage to show itself yet time moved on and there are new stories to tell. As Vonnegut would say, so it goes.
On a side note, the photo here is from the window coming out of my music lecture and every time I’m leaving the lecture it seems I want to photograph it all over again so this time I finally did.
Last night I went to my first poetry slam (just watching not reading) and it was beautiful. Being in a room full of people knowing they all appreciate the way words can somehow line up together to make something beautiful is on its own inspiring. Listening to others share their thoughts and words in forms that sound like how chocolate tastes is inspiration to a new level for me. I wanted to be up there, but I also was so delightfully happy to listen. I realized that I’ve had lines running through my head that needed to be written down for weeks if only I had the time and last night, after the end of the slam, after listening to a beautiful rant about vaginas that made me laugh, and think, and relate, I stood in the cold night air and wrote and I was happy. This was what came of it..

THIS IS FOR YOU
Your eyes look like starlight.
Don’t tell me I’m wrong. You tell me.
You tell me at two in the morning,
Lying in bed, struggling to remember your breath no one will love you for you. I do.
But maybe I’m no one to you.
Maybe I’m just a girl you pass on the street.
The person you meet
At a bar Friday night because you’d rather be there
Than alone with your thoughts where
sleep threatens nightmares.
So maybe I am no one, a stranger
But when the voices whisper
No one will love you
I’m here to say that’s not true
You make faeries come out to dance
And fire blaze bright in the night
Your smile could match that of a child
In Disneyland.
You are a miracle.
You can’t deny
That’s why
You’re parents named you that
And even when
The harsh words they send
Cut deeper than any knife to your skin
And the voices scream no one can love you
They’re wrong.
Because believe it or not I am not
No one
And I love you.

Scattered around, there are these seemingly random huge piles of leaves that the winds have swept together that can get up to maybe a foot deep. Of course, the best thing to do with these piles is to run through them, kick up all the leaves, and harness the five-year-old within.
I’ve found it amuses me to no end to watch peoples’ reactions after seeing a girl in overalls (dungarees) walking down the street, hair out of control blowing all around her head, clutching a large bag of spinach and a bag of sugarsnap peas, wearing the biggest grin you could imagine. This is my life and I am just fine with it.
As a side note on the picture, my shoes are down under those leaves somewhere…