thoughts from cambodia

we've been in phnom penh for a week already and I'm in no hurry to leave. the city is nice, not too big- we've been able to walk most places- and not too small that we've run out of areas to explore. it's easy to navigate if you don't factor in the extremely chaotic traffic situation. the people are friendly and my very basic attempts at speaking Khmer have made them even more welcoming; it's inspiring to encounter such friendly people especially while knowing what a tumultuous past the country has had. learning about the Khmer rouge genocide while getting to know the country in it's current state has been very interesting and humbling- and the khmer optimism for the future really shows.

our week here has been unlike any travel experience I've had before. we've only done a few things you would find in a guidebook and have been doing more wandering and discovering things on our own. also, because the country is developing, there are numerous NGOs in the area and through a friend of a friend I've been able to explore what people are doing to help and I got to spend a few days working with Khmer children, which I loved. getting to know a city and its people slowly has given me more time to absorb all the new things that I'm seeing and learning. I can tell that I'll leave here with a higher appreciation for where I've been then I have had after previous trips.

on that note, I'm grateful to be traveling with A, who has really forced me out of my comfort zone. although I may not seem happy about it at the time, I know being uncomfortable and trying (really) new things has helped me to see and do things that I never would have otherwise [thanks!].

so, to sum up these very brief thoughts, even though each day is hotter than the hottest day of a Virginia summer, I'm having an amazing time.

what's next, you ask? this weekend we go to kep, a beach on cambodia's southern coast and next week we'll get over to ho chi minh city at some point. after spending some time in vietnam, we'll go to northern thailand to laze along the mekong with A's cousin. then it's back to the states just in time for turkey and stuffing.

x!

don't you need a break from all this traveling?

someone asked me once (indirectly, via nancypants), you're seeing so many awesome things but doesn't it all run together?  i mean, how do you look back and remember the details? don't you need some sort of break from all this traveling? 

i have gotten in the habit of returning from a trip and immediately beginning the planning for my next adventure; often the planning for my next trip even overlaps with the occurrence of my current trip.  reflection is important and if i don't give myself adequate time to reflect on things i've seen and learned, does that take away from the significance of the adventure?

i wrote the question down along with a note reminding myself to think it over.  i forgot entirely until i was reflecting on my time in alaska.  when i was in alaska seeing the sights and then again, back in virginia, remembering and describing the sights, i kept referring to other places i had been and other things i had seen.  the fall colors reminded me of virginia; the mountains beyond mountains across the cook inlet reminded me of croatian island views; the people were welcoming and friendly like the maltese.  these descriptions might not help others to visualize the beauty that i've seen or the people i've encountered but they help me to remember.  

so here i am in thailand, a place with which i've always been wistfully obsessed.  since arriving a few days ago, i've been so overwhelmed with the unfamiliarity of everything that it's been a struggle to focus on what i'm seeing and learning not to mention trying to plan what i'm going to do while i'm here.  when i'm not staring at everything with my mouth hanging open in awe, i'm digging up familiar memories.  our drive up the doi suthep mountain to the west of chaing mai was like driving in virginia, only more exotic;  the wat at the summit looks down on the city just like monuments in other familiar cities; and the people, again, are as friendly as the maltese.  as one would hope, these few connections are not all i have gained from the past few days however, they do help to make things a bit easier to sort out (at least for myself) as i'm easing into the culture here; a connection to something well-known makes the foreignness less so.  

so maybe everything is running together in my head but only in the very best ways.  i definitely don't think i need to take a break; if anything, i believe the mixing of memories is helping me to remember the details.

also, i take a lot of pictures.

x!

thailand: before

me:  i'm leaving for thailand tomorrow at 6am

 Jenna:  um

what

COOL!

did i not mention?  i'm going to thailand tomorrow. for a while?  definite plans are unknown at this point as, again, i'm letting a friend take the reins at the beginning of this one.  i'll keep you posted on my incredibly lengthy journey, when possible.  

stay tuned!

alaska: anchorage and more

my trip to alaska wasn't what i had in mind but then again, i'm not quite sure what i expected.  as i mentioned before i left, i didn't spend a ton of time mentally preparing for this trip, i just kind of went.  i was visiting a friend, S, and since he's been living in anchorage for the past year, i presumed that he'd just do all the planning.  later, i learned that he wasn't the biggest fan of this plan and maybe i should have done some research about what i wanted to do other than "cool alaska stuff." oops?  oh well.  i had a great time so thanks, S!

i arrived fully rested at 1am and even after going out for some tasty alaskan brews, i was up early the next morning without any feeling of jetlag (woo!).  we met up with a friend and drove around the mountains outside of anchorage in his jeep.  as i was trying to figure out what to wear for this day of adventure, i couldn't gather from S what we'd be doing all day, and it turns out that we didn't really do much other than look at the beautiful sights from the (open) windows of the jeep.

J, the jeep-owning friend, lives in palmer, which is northeast of anchorage.  after meeting him and his jeep, we continued a bit farther north to the mountains and uninhabited areas around sutton.  we drove around on lots of pot-hole-filled "roads" and up some very steep inclines.  for the majority of the day, the jeep was enveloped with fall colors and snow-capped mountains loomed in the not-so-far-away distance; my mouth was open in awe pretty much the whole time.  the views were like those familiar to me from colorado - but on steroids.  we were lucky to have incredible, sunny weather for our sight-seeing and the temperature was just crisp enough that i wasn't cold; it was perfect.

after exhausting the area around sutton, we drove west to hatcher pass which is a popular day trip from anchorage, yet S had never been.  a creek (river?) runs through the pass and there are deserted mining buildings at the base of gnarly, snow-dusted mountains, all making for incredible sights.  at the top of a hill off hatcher pass, we saw a paragliding lesson taking place (so, naturally, that has been added to my bucket list).

 i mean, just thinking back on these views and looking at my pictures, i am realizing that there's no way i'll ever be able to help you to understand how amazing it is (although i'm going to try my hardest).

on day 2 we took a little jaunt down south of anchorage to homer.  we stopped halfway, in soldotna, to eat breakfast, buy me a flannel shirt, and for my first kaladi brothers coffee experience.  then we continued down along the cook inlet and stopped at the most incredible overlook just before getting into the town of homer.  homer is a fishing town, so it's right on the water.  from the overlook, we could see across the inlet to mountains and mountains beyond mountains forever.  again, the weather was beautiful so the clear sky was reflecting off of the water and all the mountains to create the most incredible array of blues in the distance.  right in front of us was a ton of alaskan fireweed which turns red as it's dying out at the end of summer.  the red fireweed, the yellow trees, and the blue mountains, water, and sky - who knew alaska could be so colorful (i didn't)?!  i could have stood at the overlook just staring at the view with a giant grin on my face for the whole day, it was so breathtaking.    

and THEN in addition to these incredible vistas, there is a glacier just around the bend!  glaciers are crazy looking and they're all over the place (i probably saw 5? during my time in alaska and canada).

later in the week, i had some free time with which to explore the city of anchorage.  i was able to use S's car and went about my days as if i lived there; it was pretty nice.  i started off a few of the days with a yoga sesh at laughing lotus anchorage.  i'm so glad i thought to seek out a yoga studio in the area; while cooped up in a car during the days to come, i was glad i had been able to move around and stretch my body.  other things i loved about anchorage were kaladi brothers coffee and tidal wave books.  because of their incredible convenient proximity, i was able to make multiple trips to tidal wave books and kaladi brothers coffee.  as i was sitting in a comfy chair by the fire at kaladi brothers, diving into a book from tidal wave, i only remembered where i was when the barista shouted, "alaska chai ready at the counter!"  i also discovered normalcy at the kobuk in downtown anchorage; here i was able to go about my travel routine of (more) coffee, reading and postcards (and a homemade pumpkin donut!).

    

other highlights of anchorage time included dinner and a movie at bear tooth pub and restaurant - tasty pizza, in-house-brewed beer, and a movie theatre?! i had never experienced such a combination and i  have to say i was a big fan (although the movie, midnight in paris, was not among my favorites).  also, our last night in the city we drove to the west and saw the sunset over the water.  to the northwest, we could just barely see mt. mckinley through the clouds, which was incredible, since mckinley, north america's tallest peak, is more than 100 miles away from anchorage.  oh, and the sunset was kind of pretty.

alaska is just a grand expanse of nature and anchorage is a speck of population amidst the emptiness; a typical small city dwarfed by the overwhelming nature surrounding it.  i was captivated by the mountain views just outside of anchorage much more than i can ever remember before of another mountain view.  in alaska, it's all you can focus on when looking to the distance; it's all you see because it's almost all there is.  sure, there are people, but not too many of them.  for such a huge state, it has a less people than many major cities in the lower 48 (to use the alaskan term).  it's just spread out quiet, which is kind of nice.

and then crazy things happen like a moose eats your bushes.

x!

keeping you in the loop

hello friends!

as you all know, i'm in alaska.  in doing my best to pack light, i decided not to bring my computer on this adventure.  while i love my macbook, it is definitely not the lightest thing to carry around (especially not as i'm running through airports).  thus, i'm restricted to blogging from an iDevice.  again, while i love both my iPod and iPhone, for some reason, they do not like to let me blog.  this tragic combination of no computer + fickle iDevices has made it terribly difficult for me to tell you, in detail, how amazingly gorgeous alaska is.  

so here's the solution. follow me on twitter! you'll see to the left, that i've added my twitter feed.  go ahead and "join the conversation" to follow me on twitter directly and to see more than my 4 most recent tweets.  

of course, i'll still be giving recaps of my adventures but this way, you can keep tabs on me while i'm out and about and all over the place.

x! 

i'm going to alaska.

so a while ago, i gave you all a preview about what i was up to this fall.  then i got busy actually doing it all and haven't shared an update.  sorry about that.

today i leave for alaska, my first major adventure of the fall.  the current plan is to fly to anchorage and in a few days, hop in a car with my friend, S, and drive back to virginia.  but that's not all - S wants to go ALL the way down to new orleans and THEN back up.  now, i'm not sure how your US + canada geography is but canada is huge and alaska is very very far away.  this endeavor will involve driving almost all the way across canada and reentering the usa around north dakota.  let's just glance at this map over here to the left. see alaska, obviously top left and then north dakota is in the middle (it's a green state) and virginia, way east (yellow).   last night, S said the total mileage estimate was some enormous number like 6,000.

so. yeah.  S has recognized that i have never driven in a car longer than 6 hours and even that wasn't all that recently -- he's worried about me.  i've put it out there that i may want to be dropped off at a major airport along the way to jump ship.  then S will have to continue on his own and that will be sad, but i just might not be able to handle it. 

i am feeling incredibly unprepared for this trip and i can't pinpoint why although there are many factors that could be contributing.  first of all, we'll be camping in the canadian wilderness for about a week; i've been camping before and i've spent lots of time in the snow, but i have not done both of these things together.  do i have the right clothes? am i going to be freezing? i'm fully prepared to wear every article of clothing in my backpack while sleeping in a tent.  but still, i'm nervous.  the nerves i have are very different than any i had before unplanned trips last year, in fact, i was always more excited for unplanned things last year, but those trips were predictable.

it could also be that i've never done anything like this (camp in canada OR drive across the country) and it's just so vastly unknown that i can't wrap my brain around it.  everyone has been telling me that this will be an amazing experience - a cross country road trip! when else will i have the chance?! and apparently we'll be "chasing autumn south," and fall is my favorite season, chasing it could be fun.  my friend, A, told me yesterday that there's just something about a road trip that can't be described adequately; the passing views create a gorgeous panorama that you can't possibly recreate, you only know how beautiful it is if you're there, looking out the window (i wish i remembered exactly how eloquently he said that) -- and we all know how i feel about a good bella vista.  

it's not that i'm not excited, because i am.  i know it will be an incredible experience that i might not ever get the chance to have again and that's exciting.

stay tuned, hopefully i'll be able to update along the way.  i can tell you how cold i am, how beautiful the sights are, and how excited i am for a shower.   

x!

filling up the passport

after paying a ridiculous sum of money to have extra pages added to my passport, i realized that i had achieved my goal of filling up my passport before the expiration date in august 2017.  i set the goal for myself in the fall of 2009 and did not expect to complete the task to quickly!  living on the border of the EU last year really helped me rack up the stamps (mainly from the frequent visits to croatia).  

so now i'm ready to tackle the goal again.  i've still got 6 years until expiration and now i have 52 fresh pages.  to get started i'm going to alaska and canada in 2 weeks and then thailand in october.  that's right, big things are about to happen.  

stay tuned! 

x.

ps, don't you want to get postcards from canada and thailand? just click the "donate" button to the left and help me out with postage :) 

cronicles della mia cucina: brooklyn dinner party

last week, in new york, i got together with some friends i hadn't seen in a while; we gathered at one girl's brooklyn apartment for dinner.  i was in charge of wine, D was in charge of delicious baked goods and J brought the ingredients.   since i was the only guest who doesn't live in the city, we spent a lot of time talking about me and my last year in trieste.  it was nice to be doing what we did so much of last year with a new group of people.  it was comforting to be cooking with friends while i was talking about cooking with friends on via della guardia.  we talked about trips i had taken and made plans for new trips; our conversations flowed just as they had in italy - with the help of italian wine.  and it was especially fun to learn that i'm capable of cooking delicious things that don't involve pasta (thanks for the delicious recipes, J!)

shrimp and avacado salad with crispy tortillas

adapted from here

ingredients: 

tortillas sliced into strips

5 tbls olive oil

kosher salt & black pepper

1.5 lbs peeled & deveined large shrimp

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tbls fresh orange juice

2 tbls fresh lime juice

2 romaine hearts, sliced (about 5 cups)

1/4 small cabbage, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)

1 avacado (or more, avacados are yummy)

directions:

heat oven to 400 F.  toss tortillas with olive oil & salt; spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until golden and crisp (7ish minutes)

in a large bowl, toss the shrimp with cumin, salt, and pepper.  heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  cook the shrimp until golden and cooked through. 

in another bowl, combine the juices with 3 tbls of olive oil, salt, & pepper.  add romaine, cabbage, avacado, and shrimpg.  toss to combine; top the salad with the crispy tortillas and serve!

roasted corn with manchego and lime (YUM)

adapted from here

ingredients:

6 ears of corn

2 tbls olive oil

2 tbls unsalted butter

kosher sald & black pepper

1 jalepeno, finely diced

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 lime, cut into wedges

1 cup finely grated manchego cheese (YUM!)

1/4 cup thinly sliced chives

2 tsp finely grated lime zest

directions: 

preheat oven to 450 F. roast unhusked corn on a baking sheet, turning occasionally, until heated through and crisp-tender (about 15 minutes). let cool, shuck corn and cut kernels from cobs.

heat oil in a large skilled over high heat.  add corn kernels and saute until heated through and golden brown.  add butter; stir until melted. season to taste with salt and pepper. 

transfer corn to a large bowl/platter; sprinkle jalepeno and crushed red pepper flakes over.  squeeze lime wedges; sprinkle with cheese, chives, and lime zest. 

check me out!

hello friends! guess what? we're featured in this months issue of the South Roanoke Circle - south roanoke's own neighborhood newspaper! 

you can download an electronic copy here and check it out (page 11)!

the article is a modified version of this post from last september, it's so crazy to think that was a whole year ago! 

x!

the joy of snail mail

 in the past few weeks, i've been spending a lot of time organizing my room in my parents' house.  in it are boxes upon boxes full of unorganized things from the past 6 years of my life.  in order to effectively live in this room while i'm not gallivanting somewhere else, i must unpack.  as a part of this process, i'm cleaning out drawers and other spaces to make room for everything that must come out of boxes.  one of the most entertaining drawers that i've cleaned out has been my nightstand drawer which was FULL of notes i received from friends during middle and high school.  no doubt, these notes were passed to me during class, in the halls, or put on my car for discovery at the end of the day.  many were folded in intricate origami patterns and some were written so cryptically, i had no idea what the message was.  rereading them brought back so many memories of weekend parties, crushes we had on so many different boys, and many other things that have slipped from my memory since high school graduation; i was so glad that i kept them all, reliving each one of them was hilarious.  

yesterday, i was telling a friend about my note drawer discovery and i was surprised to hear that he had a similar (but much smaller) old collection of notes from years back and had recently reread them in a fashion very similar to what i described.  we reminisced about high school, how much time had passed, and how much we had changed since and he posed the question, when's the last time you passed a note to someone!? and i realized that i still write notes all the time.  

no, i'm not folding them intricately and passing them during class, but i write and send notes to friends and family all the time.  many of you are lucky to be on my postcard-recipient list to which i'll write you colorful and (i hope) exciting postcards from my travels and to those of you who sent me handwritten greetings in italy, i always reciprocated.  it's true, though, that we are a dying breed and it's much more likely to send (and receive) an email, text message, or some other form of electronic greeting than an actual letter in the mail.

i recently passed along a challenge to talk to people and now i'm extending it to include the act of sending a letter because what a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters.  you can't reread a phone call [liz carpenter].

along with this challenge to you, i want to send even more postcards during my travels!  in the states, a postcard stamp only costs 29 cents but postcards themselves can cost anywhere from 25 cents to more than a dollar.  that, my friends, can add up.  and then all over the world, international postage varies.  for example, to send a postcard from italy to the united states costs 1.84 euro which (with the current exchange rate) equals $2.57.  when you add in the cost of the actual card, that's more than $3 a postcard!  just thinking about the quantity of cards i sent out last year and how much money i must have spent in total boggles my mind (i don't think i'll do the math, i know it was a lot).

so, i'm asking you all to help me out.  if you like postcards, donate to my postcard fund!  if you appreciate the dying art of snail mail, help me to keep it going!  to the left of this post, underneath my "about me" section, you'll find a button labeled donate.  all you have to do is log in through paypal and very securely send some postcard money my way!  your thoughtful donation will be much appreciated!  


and don't forget to take the time to sit down and write someone, they'll appreciate the thought.


x! 

talk to strangers

in this day of text messages, email, and ten thousand other ways of communicating, how often do you actually talk to people?  one of the greatest things i learned during my travels last year was that strangers only exist if you let them; by striking up random conversations with people i don't know, i met some of the most interesting people (and they gave me some of the best travel advice!).

since returning to the states, i find that people are less interested in random conversations with strangers.  i also find myself succumbing to the ease of sending an email or a text from my iphone instead of actually dialing someone's number.  thankfully, the daily GOOD's september challenge arrived in my gmail inbox (ironic?) and has helped me reexamine my ways.

this month, they are challenging everyone to "connect with people" and i am on board.  check out the video below to see what all the fuss is about.

my favorite part, "don't just write on someone's facebook page, CALL THEM!" 

as GOOD's senior editor, cord jefferson writes, "the goal is to remind you not only of how tight-knit communities can be, but also how big the world is, and how easy it is to lose track of someone you know and love."  

in this day of excessive internet use, it may seem simple to keep in touch with everyone you have ever known with just the click of your keyboard.  the world's extensive connectivity also can make the world seem so small sometimes; how often do you play "the name game" and find out you and a stranger have a mutual acquaintance?  but when you actually think about it, the world really is an enormous place and how often do you genuinely reconnect with old friends?

so pick up the phone, and give someone an old fashioned phone call, make friends with your neighbor, and send some underrated snail mail. 

:)

next up in the life of liz: fall 2011

when i typed the title of this post, i initially typed "2010." that's wrong.  it's 2011 and really almost 2012.  when did that happen?! it really is true what they say, "time flies when you're having fun."  as my sister said the other day, "how much faster is it going to go when we're OLD?!"  i'm not sure how the acceleration of time with age works, but i don't want to waste any of my 20s trying to figure it out -- i know i need to enjoy it while i can; i only have one life. 

so what am i going to do with these epic years of mine, you ask? what have i been up to since my grand return to america at the end of july?  well, besides spending lots of quality time with all those people i missed last year, i've got some pretty sweet plans in the works.  i won't give away all of my hopes and dreams because, you know, i don't want to jinx anything.  but i will give you a high-quality preview. 

(an extended) labor day weekend: new york city! people i can't wait to see include: my long-lost ladybird, IST ex-coworkers who are educating the new york city youth at a charter school in brooklyn, J, who will absolutely be my first famous friend with her sure-to-be-rapidly-approaching broadway musical debut,  some sisters (a fellow ginger and twin b), my favorite princess (who's engaged!!), and many others.  i'll be there for pretty much a week and who knows, at that point the city may have sucked me in and i might never leave. 

if i do make it out, 

september 8th - 11th: dc/northern virginia!  again, so many of my favorite people live densely packed into this small area that i just hope i get a chance to see them all.  concrete plans so far include hanging out with V and her family; i have been suffering without my roommate/coworker/travel partner/friend since she left me in trieste on july 11th.  i'll get to see her as cheerleading coach in-action and i'm hoping her dad will cook us some delicious puerto rican food.  or maybe we'll make italian food?  we'll probably eat a lot; it will be delicious. 

later in september: a weekend in charlottesville for some other liz time (which will surely include a "cville highlights" journey before she leaves for oxford) and some concerts with friends and the family, some days at the beach (which days are yet to be determined), and then! an unprecedented alaska/canada/other places road trip adventure.  no, i have no idea what i've gotten myself into but i'm excited. 

other goals: i've been told i'd like chicago and seattle.  i also have some friends who are out of the country in some pretty cool spots that i might need to visit....

stay tuned for updates! 

x!

back to school riddle

happy back-to-school season!  this is the first year in a very long time that i am not going back to school myself.  i'm keeping in touch with all my teacher friends across the country and internationally and it's strange to hear about their back-to-school responsibilities and to not have some of my own.  i think i'm really going to miss teaching this year; once school is in the swing of things and i don't have a class of my own to brag about, i'm not quite sure what i'll do.  [teacher friends: get ready for me to want to come and hang out with your classes.] 

anyway, to keep my brain up and running to its highest potential, i gave it a little task this evening.  well, really, daddy-john gave me the challenge and i merely accepted.  once i found out that he hadn't actually solved the riddle, i was all the more eager to complete my assignment.  apparently einstein wrote this riddle last a very long time ago and said that 98% of the world's population would not be able to solve it.  was he right? 

___________________________________________

fish riddle

there are 5 houses in a row that are each a different color.  there is a person of a different nationality in each house.  the owners drink a certain drink, they each smoke a certain brand of cigarettes and also have a certain pet.  no owner has the same pet, smokes the same brand of cigarettes nor drinks the same drink. 

the question is: who has a fish? 

clues: 

- the british man lives in the red house

- the swedish man has a dog for a pet

- the danish man drinks tea

- the green house is to the left of the white house

- the owner of the green house drinks coffee

- the person who smokes pall mall has a bird

- the owner of the yellow house smokes dunhill

- the person who lives in the middle house drinks milk

- the norwegian lives in the first house

- the person who smokes blend lives next to the one that has a cat

- the person who has a horse lives next to the one that smokes dunhill

- the one who smokes bluemaster drinks beer

- the german smokes prince

- the norwegian lives next to a blue house

- the person who smokes blend has a neighbor who drinks water

__________________________________________________

immediately upon receiving the riddle, i assumed it was some sort of trick and the answer could easily be found within 5 minutes.  however, i worked on it for an hour.  to confirm your suspicions, all of the owners do actually live in their fun-colored houses (a question i had before starting, going along with the trickery theme).

good luck! happy back-to-school! 

x.  

virginia is for lovers

to many of you, it may seem that i don't like my home state of virginia; i wouldn't be surprised if you thought this, since i spend so much time leaving it. 

however, virginia is gorgeous and i love it here. 

yesterday as i drove from richmond to roanoke, right through the heart of the state and some of the prettiest of the blue ridge mountains, all i could think of was the beauty of the lush, green mountains and the clear blue sky.  they say that the day after a hurricane is always the prettiest and that could have been the reason for yesterday's divine conditions, except that the blue sky indicates that today will be just as nice. 

i'd like to think that my little bit of virginia is always this idyllically beautiful. 

planes, trains, and automobiles.

last week i had my first american train ride experience.  i took the amtrak from LA down to san diego in california and it was pretty similar to every train ride i've ever taken in europe (minus a particularly offensive smell).  the ease of travel by train in europe was always one of my favorite parts of living there and i wish that a comparable system existed here in the states but it just doesn't.  although there are trains running between many major cities, it's still often necessary to have a car ride to the actual train station.  in my opinion, this somewhat defeats the purpose of having efficient train transport.

we all know that i like to travel (see: my life).  however, in the past few months when it has been the main focus of all of my days, i have begun to especially enjoy the process of getting from point A to point B instead of only the destination.  you know what emerson said, life is a journey, not a destination.

view from the amtrak in california

my favorite mode of travel, i think, are train rides.   i don't get motion sick and can spend time doing the things i might not get around to doing during the chaos of each day (reading, writing, listening to music).  another thing i love is the scenery; we all know i love a good view.  in italy, the train tracks seem to cut right through many of the most beautiful places; i always enjoyed looking out the window at the olive farms and the endless rows of grapes waiting to become wine... i also remember thinking the same about the english countryside while taking the national rail in the UK.  it's so relaxing to sit and be transported while taking in views of countryside you might not otherwise be exposed to.  one of my favorite memories from my time in siena during the spring of 2008 was seeing the beautiful tuscan countryside with it's rolling hills and copius fields of sunflowers during a trip to or from my quaint medieval home.  i was happy to discover that the same is true of the amtrak in california; the view of the beach as i rode to and from LA was pretty hard to beat.

train rides are especially fun with a group of people such as my carnevale train ride in march.  it's logistically nice when you can travel in a group and no one has the responsibility or driving or navigating.  it's more relaxing when no one has to worry about getting lost or being on time.    

i also have an unusual obsession with train stations.  the efficiency of the system amazes me, especially in italy which is an incredibly inefficient country; the trains are the only thing around that don't seem to be on 'italian time'.  the tracks weave in and out and overtop of each other so much that a crash seems like it should be inevitable - and what about the intertwined wires running above the tracks?! what do they do?! who controls which trains arrive where?!  and all the lines and repetition are totally cool looking.  

i have never particularly looked forward to plane rides.  this may be beacuse i have taken them for granted for the past 24 years... obviously i enjoy the airplane as a means of transport but the actual ride and airport time involves a lot of waiting around and it often makes me wish i could teleport.  i am often immediately put to sleep when sitting on a plane which yes, makes the ride go faster, but it also makes me feel like i'm wasting time and then at the end of it all i'm groggy and my neck hurts.  

one thing i do love about plane rides are the unique bella vistas; what can beat the view from take off and landing?  the chance to see an entire city (and often the surrounding suburbs and countryside) is one that isn't possible from a train, you can only get that view from the air. 

view of san francisco from the sky

in a car ride, you have the most freedom; you choose the speed, the direction, the route, and everything involved with travel companions and entertainment during the journey.  i missed driving while living abroad but i didn't feel like i needed a car to travel in europe which was great.  in the states, however, there are few cities in which it's easy to live without a car.  and even while it may be easy to live in a big city without a car by using public transportation, it's often hard to leave the city without a car.  the thought of being stuck somewhere terrifies me.  

really, i'd just like a good one of these:

x!

some habits die hard

in my recent gallivanting around california, i've found that some habits are hard to break.  i've been following the same travel patterns that were a part of every trip i took last year.  my priorities have been to bask in the sunshine, write postcards, and drink good coffee.  i've been stalking illy coffee and it was surprisingly easy to find in california.  however, it was also not even close to as good as the real thing and i was often disappointed.  i remember having similar frustrations in eastern europe; i just don't know how to order coffee outside of italy.  i suppose i'll have to learn to survive without a caffe macchiato  or capo in b as i write during my american travels.

reflections on trieste

since returning to the states, i've been that kind of busy that makes your heart warm.  i've had too many phone calls and messages and i've eaten lots of delicious meals (mexican food!).  i've already been to cville, richmond, roanoke, wilmington, and the beach and have seen many of the people that i have missed this past year.  what little alone time i've had in the past few weeks, i've spent reading or planning trips to california, new york, and elsewhere to visit even more friends!  

so, obviously, i haven't really much time to officially reflect upon last year.  i mean, every morning when i drink my illy coffee and sit reading, i think about my roommates and our via della guardia daily routine, but that's not the same as really reflecting; it still feels like i'm on vacation and will be going back to trieste any day now.  

except that i'm not.  all that's left to do now is make sure i'll always remember how incredible the past year was. 

________________________________________________


in april, i started writing this post.  it was beginning to sink in that the end was approaching and i had finally begun to like living in trieste.  along with both of those things, however, i just got so much busier working hard and playing harder and i never found the time to actually post it.  then, just after i returned to the states, i discovered this article on travel and leisure's online site and i remembered that i had never finished the post.  it seems as if everyone is discovering trieste now, just as i have left the city, and having lived there, i feel some authority in my review of the place.  since everyone else is writing about my city, i might as well join in.  


earlier this year, this article on trieste was featured in a new york times blog.  i read it, enjoyed it, thought about it for a bit, made a note to reflect and blog on it, and then quickly got distracted and forgot to revisit the almost-post.  a few weeks later, i received an email from a friend of my grandmother's who was based in trieste during world war II, with a link to the very same article.  more recently, another article was printed in the nytimes travel section and the wheels in my head began turning.  why is everyone so into trieste all of a sudden?  before learning of the school and becoming interested in a job there, i had never heard of the city.  nothing major has changed in the city recently so it seems as if everyone has just stumbled upon trieste all at once. 

both articles in the times give overall positive reviews of the city but go back and forth before reaching their final conclusion.  the articles got me thinking, do i agree? what is my opinion of trieste?  i still haven't formulated a succinct answer for the inevitable question, "how was your year in trieste?"  and while this question will rarely receive an answer that does the truth justice, i should have something mentally composed.  

so.  what about trieste?  is it magical? miserable? mediocre?

in trying to form an official review of the city, i've been looking at some old blog posts.  very early in the year i said, "i love my city."  later... i was introduced to the rain + fog + bora combo that trieste is famous for and my opinion changed a bit.  at the same time as the weather became horrendous, i was reading jan morris' trieste and the meaning of nowhere, and by the title, you can imagine how negatively this impacted my opinions of the city. during the last few months, however, the weather was gorgeous, i knew my way around, had italian friends, and really quite liked it. 


in T+L, reggie nadelson describes trieste as "a handsome italian city."  for me, trieste was never as much italian as it was international.  having previously studied within the medieval walls of siena - rich in tuscan culture - i feel knowledgeable in what is truly italian.  trieste had about as much in common with siena as it did with america (not much), which really shocked me at first.  for me, trieste was the melting pot of italy and eastern europe with a bit of austria mixed in.  when traveling to italy, few tourists will choose trieste over the more popular, more italian, destinations of rome, florence, and venice.


in fact, one of the things i liked the most about trieste is its lack of tourists; i noticed that most tourists move through the city only on their way to more popular eastern european destinations just across the border.  as i'm sure most will agree, it's nice when your city isn't dominated by people wandering around lost and asking for directions.  since they weren't overwhelming in trieste, it was refreshing when someone came to visit or a stranger approached us to ask questions - we enjoyed the sporadic opportunity to share our home with visitors instead of growing annoyed with constantly having to show it off.  this is a fact that was reinforced for me when talking with my mom.  after their time in trieste, my parents went to venice for two days before heading back to the states.  they loved trieste but to sum up their days in venice, my mom said, "i'm glad i went, but it was crowded and expensive. i don't really need to go back."  the lack of large-scale tourism in trieste makes life more affordable and real.  trieste isn't a place to come and be a perma-tourist.  living in trieste is more like the real world, in a good way, instead of some fantastical life of constant vacation.


on the other hand, at times in trieste, i felt more alone than ever before in my life and these moments spurred great amounts of self-reflection.  while i didn't reinvent myself, i did have a lot of think time and did a lot of rediscovering myself.  there were many times in the beginning when i found myself resenting the loneliness of the city "for talking, thinking, writing, wandering," but one of the major things i learned about myself this year is how to spend time alone.  i confirmed that i am an extrovert; i love to be around people all the time which made it hard for me to prioritize "me time"  but i also learned to appreciate solo activities and how to enjoy the laid-back vibe that the city has; by the end, i loved the fact that the city was "for talking, thinking, writing, wandering".  


so trieste is relaxed and beautiful.  these things are great!  however, i'm a social 24-year-old and more-than-occasionally missed the obvious existence of social opportunities.  as jan morris so perfectly states, "at the end of an autumn day's work, the city hardly feels as though it is preparing for an evening out."  with an elderly population, the city shuts down quite early in the evening.  whenever i traveled to more bustling cities like berlin, london, amsterdam, i didn't want to leave.  being hidden and isolated in a beautiful corner between western and eastern europe was great for developing new hobbies and traveling to random spots but i struggled in the beginning because i didn't want to travel every weekend and i wasn't looking to discover new hobbies.  i didn't see all that much wrong with who i was when i arrived in treiste.  retrospectively, however, i am very glad i was forced to calm down.  i live a much richer life now than i did a year ago.  i cook, i run, i read, i write.  these are all things that i have always appreciated and i'm glad i had time to remember my appreciation.  even with the new appreciation of these hobbies, however, i did miss the bustle of people.


trieste is truly unique because it has all the components of a major european metropolitan city:  easy to get to (airport, train station, major highways, boat options), major events (la bavisela, barcolana), international schools (multiple), a good university, a double-decker sight-seeing bus, and incredible sights to be seen.  so what gives? where is the bustle i missed?  it's the people, i think, that give it the lonely feel.  no one is overly friendly, a majority of the population is over the age of 80 and the few young people in the city are either set in their ways and uninterested in meeting new people or go home to their parents' houses in nearby cities every weekend.  these circumstances create some difficulties in meeting locals.  i wonder if the people have always been like this?  has the city always been lonely?  and is that why many famous writers, including italo svevo, james joyce and sigmund freud, have written here -- did they come here to hide in their words?  how did they know it was a place "to be left alone...?" and why didn't anyone tell me?


the unfriendly nature of the triestine people could be attributed to the melting pot culture.  because many triestini have diverse, international backgrounds, they don't have as strong a national identity as they do a triestine identity and pride.  there is much smaller population of people with whom to relate.  even sandro, the unusually friendly man who accepted our hitch-hiking plea that one time from slovenia, spoke of the "melting pot" nature of the area that makes it unique.  we asked where he was from, and he said "i was born in trieste, but i have quite a mix. i've got austrian, croatian, slovenian, and italian, so this is where i live. we are all of mixed background here."  the triestini aren't italian, they aren't croatian, they aren't slovenian - they are triestini.  and you can't simply become triestini, it's what you're born into.  


so, trieste has the full spectrum of weather patterns ranging from mind-blowing sunsets to the treacherous bora and an aging population that is impossible to make friends with.  many people have written that it's a good place for the drifter, "a loitering kind of place."  morris says that trieste "gives me a waiting feeling as if something big but unspecified is always about to happen."  it's a stopping point on the way to greater places and greater things for those who stop through.  when i was there, it felt like a very inbetween place.  but what was i on my way to? i never could decide (and still haven't decided).  i was constantly asking myself, "why am i here?!" and "what am i doing next?!"  was it a coincidence that i spent this year of indecision in trieste?  while i was there, i remembered things that i had previously lost sight of; i cleared my head and rediscovered some of my priorities.  is that what trieste is for? to find yourself?   


i have not yet figured out why so many people seem to be obsessing about trieste right now, all at once.  but, i think it's ok.  adding a bit more tourism won't immediately turn the city into a fantastical spot for perma-vacationers.  maybe the added visitors will inspire the city to get a bit more bustle in its step.


i don't know all the answers but i do know that i am a lot different from who i was a year ago, before leaving for trieste.  for me, trieste was a place of discovered opportunities.  i realized things i was capable of and things that interested me.  throughout the year, i felt like i could do anything.  at the beginning, i wasn't sure if i loved it.  but i grew to like the city in the end.  maybe it just takes some time to get used to trieste, a natural adjustment period unique to the city?  you know, i have heard of a thing called culture shock.... 


i do think that without meaning to, the city of trieste helped me to focus on myself and what i wanted out of life.  whether it was because of the city itself or because of the specific circumstances surrounding my year in trieste, i don't know.  but i do know that i loved it, it was hard to leave, and i would love to go back someday - even if just to see another incredible sunset. 

home sweet beach house

before moving to trieste a year ago, i had never lived by the water.  however, i was lucky enough to enjoy a seaside home with the increasingly frequent trips my family took to our house on ocean isle beach, north carolina.  living on the edge of the adriatic sea was amazing.  the sea breeze was refreshing and the views of the sun setting over the horizon of the sea were some of the most majestic i have ever seen. 

since returning to the states and arriving at ocean isle for our annual family beach vacation, i have missed the elegant clarity of the adriatic sea.  i was predictably disappointed by the green, cloudy quality of the atlantic ocean and for the first few days i was reluctant to go for a swim; i was scared of what i wouldn't be able to see swimming below me.  the atlantic is also much warmer than the refreshing adriatic sea and i just didn't think it would be as good; i didn't want to forget the feel of swimming in the adriatic sea.  

i held out for a while but today, the sweltering heat gave me no choice and i took my first swim in the atlantic ocean in a year.  no, the water wasn't as cold, salty or crystal-clear as the adriatic.  despite the slightly warmer temperature, it did refresh me and i realized how much the familiarity of the waves and the rest of my favorite things about ocean isle beach are helping me to readjust to america.  

reverse culture shock?

by no means am i claiming that i have been in the third world, however, it's still weird to be back in the states. 

i remember going through the required prep classes before studying abroad my third year of college and two of the things they warned us about were culture shock and reverse culture shock.  i remember being incredibly annoyed that i had to sit and listen to what i thought was nonsense at 10am on a saturday morning.  i also remember not really experiencing it at all during or after my semester in siena.  "well it was only italy," i thought.  and this time, it still was only italy, but this year was so much more.  i've been trying to reflect upon the year little by little as it has gone by so i'm sure you're aware that this past year was so much more than me living in italy.  i made friends that i am sure i will keep for the rest of my life and they helped me to grow into someone with many more goals and interests than she had a year earlier.  i traveled to some incredible places and saw and experienced too many things to even begin to list here.  AND i taught some of the coolest kids i've ever met. 

and now i'm back in america.  why isn't everyone dying to hear stories?  why do i only get the question, "how was italy!?" i don't have any idea how to answer that question.

i'm pretty sure i'm making my way through the stages appropriately and i'm hoping that "readjustment and adaptation" is quickly approaching.

we'll see? 

x!  

america, you are overwhelming.

ah, the good ole usa. i'm back. and i am overwhelmed.  my head hurts from being able to understand everyone's conversations around me and why are they complaining about everything? yes, i know that the heat is sweltering.

but anyway, i have made it back across the pond in one piece.  i'm in richmond right now with nancypants and will be in cville tonight (yay!) before returning to roanoke tomorrow night.  hopefully this week i'll get to see harry potter, eat some mexican food, drink some hoppy beers and not be too distraught about the lack of wonderful coffee.  and then! on to OIB next week. 

i really shouldn't complain, i have quite the cushy few weeks planned.  they will hopefully ease my transition back into the land of the plenty.

stay tuned, as i'll still be updating those backlogged posts from last year's travels (partly for reminiscence).

 x!

my obsession with the sunset

i'm sure it's no secret that my favorite time of day is the evening.  after work and before it gets dark, when the sun is making it's way down to the horizon and the sky takes on a character different from earlier in the day, i always find myself mesmerized.  when the sun sits high above the world and the skies are blue, life is good.  but during the indeterminate time between afternoon and night, the sky turns into an incredible piece of artwork that can never be accurately predicted.  

while the sunset never looks quite the same each day, it always happens.  wherever you are, whatever the weather is like, the sun always makes its way down and past the horizon.  and even though it's not always miraculous or even visible, it always happens - it exists everywhere and no matter how my day has gone, the sky will change in the evening, thus making the sunset somewhat of a comfort for me.

i believe that my obsession stems from just that - the consistency.  when little else is consistent in my life of travel and chaos, there's always the sunset.