The First

We arrived in Amsterdam with energy, the adrenaline of a late night and of what was before us. Conversely, we stepped out of the plane in Dar and into the thick swelter of the night. My contacts were packed safely in my bag and so i saw it all through the blur of exhaustion and my poor eyesight.
We slept under a veil of mosquito nets. We spent the following day wading into a steaming Indian Ocean.
The next morning we arrived at the Lazy Lagoon Island Resort. We tanned, we swam in the cooler waters, we snorkeled in the reef and woke to the cries of the bush babies.
We drove throgh Mikumi game park and saw animals unrestrained by cages. We, instead, were caged.
And yesterday we arrived on campus. They washed our clothes, which the rain then rinsed clean.

Also, Emily is wearing a skirt.

Canada Likes Me So Much They Tried To Keep Me

I guess this post could also be titled "America Hates Me So Much They Tried To Give Me Away" and if it was it would be more accurate, but I am trying to me a positive person so lets ignore that side comment and talk about my little trip to Canada that almost never ended.

Today The Pops and I decided to go up and see the falls. He hadn't been to Niagara since before him and mom were married and even then he didn't cross the border and see them from the good side so I said "What the heck, lets make a day of it." So after eating a good breakfast and playing ping-pong we left Houghton destined for The Canada. Here is what I learned from this experience.

1. If you get an hour out and realize you don't have your passport, its okay.


2. Canada loves old people so much that they just let you into their country without asking for ID.


3. The falls look cool in the winter, but the ice that is covering the viewing area looks cooler.


4. Cheep batteries might last as long Duracell at 70F but at 25F they lie down on their death bed and moan and complain and go into cardiac arrest ever two to three pictures. Though, once you get them back into the warm car they become more lively than Jenny is loud.


5. US Border guards bark loader than they bite. Lets say two guys only have their driver's licenses with them (which is not enough for crossing the border from Canada according to US Border Law) they will still let you in without even pulling you aside and looking though your car.
6. The Anchor Bar is considered (by one magazine at least) to be the best place to bring out-of-towners. The have good wings, and maybe every out-of-towner should go there, but the fact that a bar is the best thing a "major" city can offer sort of makes you wonder.
   
7. Oh... And Buffalo should stop trying to be NYC.
   
   

Lessons from California

After months of boycotting this blog I am finally writing on here because for the first time since May of 2007 I am traveling for fun. So here it goes...

1. Caitlin is not a bad driver (I would like to see any of you who make fun of her drive in LA)

2. Eating a frozen banana on Balboa Island is everything I thought it would be

3. Fast food really is better in California (In and Out)

4. Peaches is in fact the greatest cat ever...even though she is enormous

5. Sleeping on a street corner in LA is what Dan likes to call "Urban camping"

6. A statue of a raptor is a legitimate lawn decoration if you have millions of dollars

7. Point Loma University is what Houghton College dreams of being

8. Mexican food gets much better the closer you get to Mexico

9. If you have enough money, you can live wherever you want and do whatever you want

10. Finally, no matter what Tilson or Caitlin tell you...Del Taco is nothing more than Taco Bell with a different name

What I learned through my travels and lack thereof this semester,

I never feel like I've spent too much money when it involves books or plane tickets.

Even the biggest airlines lose luggage.

It is possible to feel more at home sleeping on the cold floor in a foreign country than in my own bed, if I'm surrounded by the right people.

Crappy internet and international calling rates are just minor inconveniences in communication.

Apparently I am the reason I skip class and don't do my work.

I did, despite what I may have thought going in, survive this semester. On to Africa.

No plans,

I haven't thought out this post. I have no grand statements to make. Just observations and documentations.

It rained the day we left California. Caitlin said that the skies were long overdue for a weeping. The sky here in London is always weeping, but I would like to imagine it felt a bit more sorrow yesterday. We walked through Hyde Park to have you're last meal in Kensington Palace and our ankles were all chilled from the puddles we stomped through.

We said goodbye in a tube station and I rode back by myself and listened to music and stared at my reflection in the window. I wondered how much of my story is visible to people who see me. It seems strange that people can look at me and not also see my friends.

I am far away this semester. There are events taking place without me in Houghton, NY. But this new form of friendship that I have been exposed to seems to stretch across farther distances than I thought possible. When we are younger, bonds are broken over summers apart. Now, the Atlantic doesn't seem to stand in our way.

I miss people, but it is a feeling I have become used to. Its insignificant now, in face of how thankful I am.

Why yes, there are more people than just Lindsay in London.

I didn't realize how thorough an updater Lindsay has been, but I suppose when I found this out, I figured that meant I didn't have to write. Others don't agree with this logic and are forcing me to write.

The excitement and adventure paired with traveling often blinds us from the obstacles. I feel as if I'm having the greatest semester of my college career, and yet when I look back at things that have happened, I've been through a lot of shit. My camera broke within the first two weeks, my identity was stolen because I'm an anxious poor fool, a fever drove me to delirium, and other more painful, personal experiences have followed; however, I could not be happier about any of these things happening. In fact, my semester would not be as incredible as it is if one of these stretching times did not occur.

I have 15 days left in London, and I haven't figured out how I'm going to say good-bye. How will Houghton's route 19 ever satiate my need to take bus 19 down to Tottenham Court? Will Big Als ever make me as happy as our regular Hope and Anchor? Damnit, Houghton, why can't you be a lot a bit more like London? Actually, the one thing Houghton has on London (besides the people) is milkshakes. I can't wait to have a good ol' American milkshake! Speaking of good ol' American...

Star Spotting: Kid Rock in South Ken with nasty white trashy hos. He wore a Detroit leather jacket. God bless America.

Also, yeah I went to Paris,

I went with my grandmother and my Gagi. We got on the Eurostar and I met my new friend Anna. We went from the train to a bus. From the bus to a boat. From the boat to a bus.

I feel like I saw Paris through a window. Gagi and Grandma exclaimed throughout the day that, "this is the way to see a country!" but I don't think it is.

At one point, we took an elevator to the first floor of the Eiffel tower. I spun around in a circle taking pictures while they bought me a key chain in the gift shop. My camera died.

They wanted to take the elevator back down but I told them I was going to take the stairs. As I climbed down, I felt like I could breathe for the first time all day. I felt like I was in France, not in some Disney world version of it. I was walking and I was breathing and my new passport stamp was practically burning a hole in my bag.

I love when cities live up to their reputations, and Paris most certainly did. But I want to go back one day, and I don't want to get on a tour bus once.

So in conclusion, try not to see Europe through a window.

Crossing paths,

Her name was Anna and she was eleven. She was on my train to Paris and she had red hair that reached down to her elbows. She also had a black hat on with her navy blue sweat shirt. Her parents both grew up in Ireland, but they had lived in Illinois since she was a baby.

She was sitting across the table from me and staring at her lap. Her mother was stretched across the aisle chatting with the women there. She told him how Anna hadn't been able to sleep the night before because she had been so excited for Paris.

"No mom," Anna told her, "it was because I didn't have a book to read."

So Anna and I got to talking. She told me how her father had died the year before. Her mother had taken her out of school to go on this trip because she wanted to distract her from it. She told me she was writing a book and she was in the sixth chapter. She told me that in a few days they were visiting Scotland so she could visit the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter.

Then we talked about books, and her mother came into the conversation. She told me Anna had been a reader for as long as she could remember and she didn't understand it. Why, the woman asked me, would a girl prefer to stay inside with a book then play outside? Why did Anna insist on wearing that hat all the time? She told Anna not to bother me but I assured her it wasn't a problem.

Anna and her mother told me a lot of things, but I couldn't say so many things I wanted to.

This afternoon I stood outside Christ Church in Oxford in order to catch the merest glimpse of the field where the first Harry Potter movie was filmed and I was just as excited about it as I would have been when I was eleven. There are parts of me which are very much still eleven. Except that now I am not the same person when I was eleven because I have company.

So the things I wanted to say to Anna were this - That one day reading is going to be the cool thing for her to do. That she should never stop writing her book. That one day she will meet people just like her and finally get to talk about things with someone. Things that she cares about.

But I knew I couldn't stop her from feeling lonely. Plus, by this time we were in Paris and Anna was following her mother down the aisle and off the train.

I walked through a field full of sheep poo,

World conquerors.

Blenheim Palace

Oh, that's just my future house.















With an incredibly spacious backyard.