L.I.Z.s on the road no more.

the L.I.Z. adventure has come to the end.  the fest in spain was the perfect finale; in fact, i'm not sure i could have traveled any more after the week of insanity.  

other liz is (hopefully) over the atlantic ocean right now and i'm back in trieste.  i'm here until friday and have no real plans except to drink a lot of coffee and eat a lot of gelato.  i will be catching up on a lot of backlogged blog posts to hopefully have a fresh slate upon my return to the states..  so! get ready for many outdated posts about travel adventures from months ago. it'll be fun. 

x! 

L.I.Z.s on the road: the FEST

oh man.

other liz and i are in benicassim, spain for the festival internacional de benicassim.

it is quite possibly the most intense week of my life and last night was only the first night of the music. we spend our days on the beach and the music begins at 6pm and runs through the night.  no, that doesn´t leave much time for sleeping and it´s so hot that sleep is uncomfortable unless you´re on top of a float in the ocean. my skin is so saturated with sunscreen from constant reapplication that i´m not sure it´ll ever come out of my pores.  i would venture to say that the beach is more crowded than north myrtle during UVA beach week in may and i have seen more hilariously awful tattoos than should exist in this world. 

wish me luck on survival of the weekend.

x!

ps, i´ll be stateside in less than a week!

L.I.Z.s from the road: episode 3

since the last update, we've spent approximately 19 hours on trains, buses and boats but have made it to hvar island in croatia!  our perch on top of a hill looking out over the adriatic sea is definitely the most beautiful place we've been to on this trip.

to backtrack a little bit... during the first part of our trip, the weather was uncharacteristically COLD.  i say "uncharacteristically" because it was late june, i'm actually not sure what the weather is normally like at this time of year in prague, budapest, or belgrade.  i just know that it was june and i was cold and not happy about it.  not being the only l.i.z. to feel this way, we were all three incredibly anxious to get to the coast.

so, the other day (i'm so lost as to what today's date is, what day of the week it is, or how quickly time is passing) we got on a train in belgrade heading to bar, montenegro.  after something insane like 11 hours, we made it to bar and then took a taxi (with a hilarious woman that kept trying to chat with us despite the fact that we had no common language) to budva, the "montenegrin miami," where we stayed for a couple nights.  even at night, it was much warmer in montenegro and we were excited. that is, until we woke up the following morning to an overcast sky.  luckily, the weather cleared up and we were able to enjoy some blue skies and a good number of beach hours for our two full days there.

on monday, july 4th (the only date i will remember from the whole trip), we took another 10 hour bus ride from budva to split, croatia!  after the bus, we took a ferry across the sea to hvar island and have 3 more nights in this incredibly gorgeous haven.  dubbed "the sunniest place in europe" by wikipedia, we are optimistic for the weather.

today, other liz and i rented mopeds and drove them all over the island -- we passed lavender fields (the smell was amazing!), bopped around the old town, stari grad, and stumbled upon a secluded beach cove for a late-afternoon swim.  it was a pretty excellent first day on the island.

tomorrow, V comes to join us!  we have a long list of things we still want to do on the island including hiking up to the old fortress, going to the beach club in the woods?, finding other secluded beaches, taking a taxi boat across to a smaller island for a sandy beach day, etc. etc. 

x!

L.I.Z.s from the road: episode 2

current location: SERBIA!

since we last spoke, the 3 lizs spent the night in the danube-front marriott in Budapest, which was incredibly luxurious.  we collectively took 4 showers, primped excessively, hoarded toiletries, got a late checkout and stayed in bed until noon. it was excellent.

after wandering around budapest a tiny bit more and enjoying some delicious Thai food, we hopped on a train last night at 2330 headed to serbia -- we're getting back to other liz's roots.

i've had a few overnight train experiences this year and none have been horrible.  have you seen the episode of seinfeld when kramer hangs out with all the japanese men and they sleep in the dresser, each in an individual drawer? well, this felt kind of like that. or like sleeping in a coffin. either way, it wasn't my favorite.  i did really enjoy it when the customs officer (at the serbian border) laughed about us all having the same name.

today, we are covering beograd (where they use cyrillic, making navigation difficult, and currency is confusing but we think things are cheap?) and then tomorrow we're off to montenegro!

we are having a great time but I am exhausted. I am just a tornado of emotions, so much is going on inside that I'm just emotionally and mentally drained-- I'm homesick but foo which home? America or the home I've created in Trieste? Or do I miss the people- which people? My family and friends in the states or the family I've come to have over the past year? It's really sinking in that this year is over and I've said goodbye to a lot of people. Those who matter most, I know I'll see again but the uncertainty of when is still sad, you know?

Oh, life.

x

L.I.Z.s from the road: episode 1

First of all, blogging from my "iDevice," as other Liz has me calling it, causes many more capital letters than I use intentionally and I can't seem to create the center alignment that I recently adapted for blog entries. Also! My iDevice sometimes changes things to be spelled in a British way such as centre and favourite, so excuse me.

I'm disregarding all these nuances to update you on where the 3 Liz's are in their journey. You're welcome. It will be a brief summary of the highlights but you'll be caught up to speed.

Today is our 3rd day in Budapest. I'm obsessed with this city; I think it may be my favourite of all the places that I've visited this year (so far, at least). Today we check out of our fabulous hostel and move to the river-front Marriott (thanks marymom and daddyjohn!), about which Eliza has never been more excited.

After spending Saturday night (which turned into Sunday morning) through early Monday morning with Ron (coincidentally in Budapest at the same time) exploring the city on bikes, yesterday we ventured to Lake Balaton! Sitting by the largest lake in Eastern Europe (possibly all of Europe) was a relaxing break but produced a bit more collective sunburn than we hoped for.

Before making our way to Budapest, I reunited with "my Liz friends" in Prague. I liked Prague but it didn't blow my mind. I'm reluctant to write it off completely, however, because I've heard so many people rave about it. When I arrived, it was much colder than I had anticipated and I was very distracted with seeing my friends after so long. I was getting used to the travel routine that other Liz and Eliza had created with each other and trying to get filled in on everything I had missed. I'm assuming that these factors played a large part in my opinion, or lack of opinion, of Prague. I'll have to go back some day.

Now that we're in Budapest, we're in a groove of traveling with each other and I'm familiar with the city (having been here just a few weeks ago) makin things super easy. Tomorrow night, we're geading to Belgrade, Serbia and then we'll make our way over to the Adriatic coastline (hopefully our sunburn will have healed and our skin will be prepared to bask in the rays again). I'm excited.

Yesterday, I kept forgetting what country I was in. I don't know if it was sitting by the water and thinking it was the Adriatic (the Lake Balaton situation was very much like Barcola), or the train rides or unfamiliar language but more than once I was confused about our location. It was the most enjoyable state of confusion I've ever experienced.

More updates to come as we make our way through our itinerary.

X!

L.I.Z. adventure begins

school's out for the summer and tomorrow, i'm off. 

7am train to venice, plane to prague, somehow arrive to hostel (and to my l.i.z.s).

my bag is packed (well, it's not actually packed yet, but everything's there, ready to be put into the bag. i was hoping it would happen magically?) and i have my passport.

as the seconds of our lives are ticking away, you have to realize that life needs to be an adventure.  hans zimmer

i'm ready. 

the near future is looking to be quite nice

today, i bought two little wish bracelets from a street vendor near the canal.  you're supposed to tie the bracelet on with 3 knots and make a wish with each knot -- the bracelet has a base color and each color stands for something different, love, hope, friendship, career, etc.  your wish should probably correspond to the base color of the bracelet.   when the bracelet falls off, your wish is supposed to come true -- you've heard of these.  well, i tied them on and after an hour or two, i hadn't come up with wishes yet.  even after seriously focusing, i still could not come up with something to wish for.  at first, i was frustrated that i couldn't decide upon something specific but really, nothing to wish for? things must be going okay!  i mean, in all seriousness, what could i have to complain about? i do have a gazillion things to be doing in preparation for the end of the school year, moving out of my apartment, and saying goodbye to those who have been my family for the past 10 months but at the same time, i have so many good things happening.  tonight i ate homemade spaghetti carbonara that was just "thrown together" by V, i only have a week of school left until summer, i'm rendezvousing with two of my best friends in prague in 9 days and i've got about 6 other trips in the works.  life is good.

in the past few months, as my friends and i have all been job searching, trying to decide what to do when we leave trieste, i've had a lot of conversations (and time to think) about plans for next year and weighing the options.  stay abroad? return to the states? keep teaching? go another route? if stay abroad, where to go? if return to the states, where to go?  as you may or may not know, i've decided to focus on traveling next year (unless some incredible opportunity for employment comes along and knocks me off of my feet), within the US and abroad.  i've got people in cool places that i need to visit and i was so indecisive for so long about where i wanted to go and be for an extended period of time that it just seemed like the right decision for me.  hopefully, living the life of a perma-gallivanter, i can continue to work out what i want to do more long-term.  but for now, i could not be happier with my decision to not really have a plan (who am i?!).  

i wasn't always happy with my lack-of-"real"-job for the fall and i couldn't have reached this point of content without really hashing out the pros and cons with everyone around me.  in tuck everlasting, one of my favorite books and the novel we are finishing the year with in class, one of the characters says, "people got to do something useful if they're going to take up space in the world." and i could not agree more.  however, what i want to do is travel the world and tell people about it - inspire them to "step outside and see what's shaking in the real world" (as a friend of mine says).  is this desire a desire to do something, or would the end result just be bragging?

a common question that many people ask (and must answer) is, "what do you do?"  as a favorite redhead family member says on her design blog, sweetboo, it's becoming more difficult to succinctly define "what you do" in today's world.  i could not agree more.  when people ask me, "so what are you going to do in the fall?" i know that they mean, "do you have a job, or what's the deal?"  and no, while i don't have a full-time teaching job lined up, that doesn't mean i'm not going to be doing anything.  in fact, i'm going to be doing a lot of things!  these things might not be traditional employment options, but i'm planning to broaden my horizons through travel, fund those travels along the way,  and learn a lot -- not everyone can say that about their day jobs, am i right?!      

maybe i'm wrong.  so, should i be searching for a more "normal" immediate future?  a friend, M, is having a hard time deciding what to do next - she's deciding between traveling the world and having a job that will look good on her resume, a "normal, professional" job.  but what is normal?!  there really is no "normal" anymore, people in this world are all over the place and you can't compare yourself to others -- you must do what is right for you in the moment.  following your own head is how you will make it to where you're supposed to be -- how you'll find your "normal."  thankfully, the more i talk to people, the more i'm noticing that everyone is growing more conscious of this which makes it easier to do what you want.  who cares what is considered normal?  

now, i don't know what all the answers are (are you surprised?), everyone has to figure out what is right for them.  i do know that we shouldn't dwell on things for too long, stress should be avoided like the plague and we mustn't forget to have fun.  as dr. seuss says,  life's a great balancing act...but there's fun to be done!

so, as i said in the beginning, i've got a lot going on but no complaints, life is good.

x!

L.I.Z.s reunite: summer plans, an overview.

even though i have more half-written blog posts about past trips or at-one-time-current thoughts than i would like to admit, i thought i'd let you know a little bit about what's to come in my near future before telling you everything that i've been doing recently (and longer ago than recently).

this morning, two of my most favorite people arrived on my continent! other liz and eliza made it to paris today, after what i believe may have been quite the chaotic journey.  regardless, they are in my time zone and i am thrilled.  they are going to gallivant for a bit while i survive the last week of school (EEK! more on that to come) and THEN i will be meeting them in the czech republic to begin what is going to be the most epic adventure we 3 elizabeths have ever embarked upon.   

the schedule: 

10-14 June: Paris (other liz + eliza)

15-17 June: Bruges (other liz + eliza)

18-21 June: Amsterdam (other liz + eliza)

22-24 June: Prague (l.i.z.3)

25-28 June: Budapest (l.i.z.3)

29-31 June: Belgrade, Serbia (l.i.z.3)

1-3 July: Budva, Montenegro (l.i.z.3)

4-7 July: Hvar, Croatia (l.i.z.3)

8 July: Ancona, Italy (l.i.z.3)

9 July: Bologna (l.i.z.3)

after which, i will return to trieste to bid adieu to roommate elizabeth (so many elizabeths!) who will leave on 11 july and then i will promptly turn around to meet other liz near valencia, spain for the benicassim music festival 

then it's july 18th and i'm back in trieste. all i know about the rest of the summer is that i will be at OIB for the first two weeks of august and then la mia programma fermata.

so, i have 10 days (oh shit) to pack up my life, in an organized fashion, so that i may ship half of it back to america and keep the important bits in various locations so that i will have everything i need throughout the summer.  10 days doesn't sound that bad, but during those 10 days i also have, the last 5 days of school, a staff dinner, 5th grade graduation, a graduation lunch, and many other things that i'm sure i'm forgetting right now (that's a good sign).


also, my room looks like this:

typical, right? 

well. instead of worrying about it right this second, i'm going to go to barcola for the afternoon and preso il sole! 

happy saturday! 

x.