All posts tagged: friends

| sunsets, excitement |

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Sometimes people enter into your life quickly and unexpectedly and then leave just as fast. But even though their time is short, you can still learn something about the world or yourself. You just have to let it happen, or these moments may just pass without you even knowing they were there. Couch Surfing has allowed me to meet some really amazing people from Cambodia to the United States; from Russia to Chile. People with similiar opinions, people with different views and everything in between. I’ve met people who will be in my life forever and those who were just meant to pass by for those few hours or days. But in the end, they’ve all opened my eyes to another part of life; or reminded me of passions I may have set aside. The last person to enter my life has reminded me to not forget the beauty in the most simple moments  — And even though I always try my hardest to enjoy where I am, to embrace evey new experience in my life, …

| just call the germans & tell them a lie |

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The title of this post may lead you to believe I want to write about god knows what — however, this post is about music. And no, I have nothing against Germans. Being surrounded by music is something that I’ll always look for in my life. I can’t imagine my life without it. Even though I play around with the guitar a little bit, it’ll never be like hearing truly talented musicians play. I was lucky to have grown up in a home that always had music on the radio, a CD playing, or melodies pouring from my brothers bedroom from one of the few instruments he plays. Then when I went to college I surrounded myself with talented friends who could play the guitar, sing, and simply had a love of performing. And now again, my life here in San Sebastian, I have found myself in the midst of artists from around Europe. I couldn’t imagine spending my Sunday evening any other way – glasses of wine, freshly baked cookies, and good friends sitting around and making …

| WHAT’S BRAVE TO YOU? |

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We sat  in a bar during ‘las navidades’ sipping on glasses of red wine and nibbling on a selection of pintxos as we talked about being away from our families over the holidays to the meaning of the word brave. Julie is one of the few American woman I’ve met here in San Sebastian and we are kindred souls, despite the 35 year age difference. She’s adventurous and, as some would say, brave. To us, this is a silly word, but we hear it often. She recently dropped her life in the United States to move to San Sebastian and better her Spanish. Even though she doesn’t plan on staying here as long as I do, I did the same exact thing just a few months ago. Many friends back home and many new friends here have told us the same thing: you’re brave for packing your bags and taking off. We’re always humbled when people compliment us on our decision to move, travel, and leave our own country, however, we would never consider ourselves brave. Adventurous, yes. Free-spirited, maybe. But brave? We don’t feel …

| the beauty of couch surfing |

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When I say that I use CouchSurfing [CSing] to meet new people when I travel or while living in my own city, I get mixed reactions from isn’t that really dangerous? to wickedddd. When I first heard the idea of CSing it seemed a bit odd to let a stranger into your home, possibly give them keys and trust them openly with your things. But then I realized that’s essentially what you do with moving into a shared apartment with strangers – except you live there a bit longer than a few days. I started little by little with CSing and decided to make a profile. I went to visit a friend of a friend in London and we made references for each other and so it began. She was the first one of my friends to actually use it for real while traveling through Spain, and little by little I started to become more involved and more open minded about the idea. Since then I’ve travelled through nine different countries using CSing to meet locals …

| when the words won’t flow |

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Even though I consider myself to be a writer I hardly have anything to show for it these past couple months. I should force myself to write a little every day, to push my limits, but sometimes the words just don’t flow. I think about writing almost every day, about what I could write about, about how I need to keep searching for more publications where I can submit my ideas. It didn’t occur to me until last night while talking about writing and the dry spells writers go through that I needed to make a change. Some friends were discussing how writing is a therapy, a cure to help you get through hard times in your life, but it’s also a therapy during the good times as well. Whether or not the word come easily, you still have thoughts and experiences to share. And in this moment I need to force my words little by little – but I need to get them out, I need to or else these memories and special moments …

| grateful: last week of sept |

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Starting in mid-August I started a project called 21 Days of Gratitude. I wrote down three things a day for which I am grateful. Since the project came to an end I haven’t been writing down my gratitude daily – however, I’d like to make it a weekly routine. I’d like to consciously take time out of my day to think about what makes me happy, what I’m grateful for, and share it with you all. I know those 21 Days helped me to take each day and find what’s beautiful around me – even if I’m feeling down. The simple fact I can read and write should remind me of how lucky I truly am. So for the last week of September I have the following to be grateful: Weddings – seeing the happiness first & love between two people. Makes me believe in the tradition despite all the divorces and people abusing the right to be married. Smiling or saying hello to a stranger. When people say thank you when you’ve helped them.   So, what are …

| I’ll MISS THIS |

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Driving to Augusta this morning with the country radio station revving me up for an all day conference I needed to be awake for – it hit me: I only have two weeks left in this country for a long time. I only have two weeks left driving my truck, listening to country music on the radio, and living with my parents. Some things I’ll miss more than others, some will just become fond memories. I’ve realized these are some of the things I’ll miss the most from the USA: My family My friends Snuggling with Lily Driving the yota a.k.a. my toyota tacoma Blasting country music and driving down back roads The way the leaves change & the smells of fall in Maine Not having to pay rent (or the heating bill, the electricity, etc.) Relatively cheap peanut butter – but let’s be honest, I’ll probably still buy it in Spain I’m sure as time goes by once I’m in Spain I’ll realize more things that I miss about this country. But I can’t dwell on …

| THE WORLD KEEPS TURNING |

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I made it to Madrid in one piece, but slightly delusional. The one thing I didn’t prepare myself mentally for was the jet-lag. I had never traveled far enough for it to every have an effect on my body. Here I am, two two hour naps later, and I’m up at 3:50 AM . . . whoops! Before jetting off I said my farewells to my parents and Rodrigo (our Chilean exchange student). We parted ways and I made it through security where I met Ryan at Terminal E5 in anticipation of our adventures to begin! The first stretch of our flight took us from Boston to Dublin – a five and a half hour flight. Ryan and I took our seats; he was solo in the four-across row and I had two others sharing my row. Of course, I moved to join Ryan – I wasn’t going to let him enjoy his four seats all to himself. Aer Lingus blessed us with a large selection of movies, games & tv shows to choose from …

| WRITING, A DYING ART |

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Today a stranger approached me in the park and asked what I was writing. I had seen him and his grand daughter stroll past me earlier as I lay in the grass, writing in my journal on Primrose Hill in London. His presence startled me as I hadn’t seen him walking towards me. He introduced his grand daughter, Sofia, and then began to ask what I was writing. I shared with him & Sofia that I have been traveling for the past three months by myself and I found it comforting to write in my journal about my experiences and reflect on everything I’ve seen and done. He explained to me how he was very impressed with my act of writing pen to paper. It’s a dying art, you see. For me, writing has always been apart of my life. Since elementary school we learned the proper way to draw letters from print to cursive. We were graded on our ability to produce clearly written letters, and I was good at it. Maybe that’s why …

| I GUESS YOU NEED A VISA FOR THAT |

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I left Las Palmas de Gran Canaria yesterday afternoon after a week of relaxing on the beach and working on the base for my summer tan. I hopped on a plane and set off to Scotland under the impression that I’d be volunteering at a Bed & Breakfast in a town called Dornie in the North. Assuming I was doing nothing wrong I approached the Border Control ready to quickly state my plans and pass through to get my bag and hunker down in the airport for a night of on & off sleep while I waited for my bus to the North in the morning. Let’s just say things didn’t go quite as planned . . . After playing a game of 20 questions with Mr. Border Control he took me aside and told me I had two options: 1) He refuses me entry to Scotland under the pretense that I was going to be working illegally in the country without a Visa. According to him, in order to volunteer one needs a Visa …