11 posts tagged “travel”
Yep! For now, I'm done. Done with my semester, done with my thesis! I just ate a chocolate chip cookie and watched all the trailers for the "Sex and the City" movie on the NYT website to celebrate. Now I'm looking at old photos that I have stored in too many places online.
Tonight's a little celebration for graduation, tomorrow's a picnic and another celebration for a friend who got her Ph.D., and Sunday's the event itself, bagpipes and all. I hope it doesn't rain and it's not too boring. M. cooked all day yesterday so we'd be prepared for these various events, while I was a total witch, grumbling away about All My Work. I hope to be more human from now on. I know I've said that about a hundred times this semester, but now I really feel it.
Next week, we're headed to my parents' and then to the midwest to visit my sisters, brothers in law, and niece. I can't wait to get a change of scene! And see everyone! And traveling anywhere with M. is about the most fun thing I can think of.
The summer will be a nice transition time; several of our friends will be abroad, which is great for them, a little sad for us, but still, I think, an all around good thing.
I don't know what to say, really - I'm just relieved to have everything over with for now.
I leave you with a picture of one of those old wooden roller coasters at Coney Island - a photo I took years ago.
portugal was beautiful. we got back on saturday, after the only harrowing part of the trip: going through jfk. the trip itself was wonderful, with more port, mosaics, laughter, and tiles than i'd ever imagined. more soon.
the school year is over, and i have a few days off to party and pack for m.'s and my trip to portugal on monday. it finally feels real. i'm looking forward to walking around new places in the sun, hearing new sounds, and smelling smells unlike those i've encountered anywhere else... and then someday when i'm back here, walking down a street in philadelphia, i'll be transported back to that time and place, for a second, that day in summer when we were holding hands and following a map...
just a quick note. the visit to my parents' house was lovely; croquet, reading, sitting around and talking, and feeding the very tame and persistent runt lamb with a bottle... it was fun to see the place i grew up through someone else's eyes.
this week i a finishing up schoolwork and doing some celebrating and getting ready to go to portugal! lots of transitions in the works...
i haven't been reading much, though i did see the first few episodes of "extras," and have to recommend it. ricky gervais is a master.
wishing good trips to all who are traveling, and i should have more updates from the road, or at least pictures to show you when i return.
I'll just post very quickly to let you know that M. and I had a wonderful trip to Boston; the wedding was happy and festive, I got to meet many of M.'s friends, I tried ringing a church bell, walked all over the city, and even visited Copley Square, the only place in Boston that I can remember having been to before. We also visited my grandparents, which was great, so comforting and nice. I like the slight confusion and also sort of relief that comes from bringing people from different parts of my life together. The trip set the tone for a relaxing few days back at home, and yesterday it was so beautiful (75 and sunny) that we had a picnic and slept in the sun all afternoon. That is worth any amount of money, and I'll remember it later when I'm locked in the lab working long hours. With any luck, I'll remember it forever.
The end of spring break is drawing near; my friend C. and my sister A. are going to be visiting soon, which I'm very excited about. There are many other things going on, and I've been out of the loop and out of touch, I'm sorry about that. As my mother says, I'd like to mobilize positive thoughts. 2007 is still the year of love; it will take patience and a lot of hope.
Spring break has sneaked up on me, but I'm really ready for it.
Tomorrow morning M. and I head up to Boston, where my friends A. and J. are getting married on Saturday. I haven't been there in years, not since G. showed me around (great Indian food and indie music, Betwixt and Suran Song in Stag) in the late nineties. This is a chance to meet some people who are very important to him, and to see this city that is his adopted home. (One day I hope he feels that way about my city, and I think once the weather gets nicer he'll start to see why I love it, but I know it may take a long time). It's also a time when I'll be with lots of people from school, including my advisor, at a social event; interesting. And hopefully, at the end of the trip, we'll get to visit my grandparents, whom I haven't seen for a long time. This is a neat moment, when each of us can do some show and tell for the other, and at the same time we'll experience things that are completely new (the city with both of us in it; A.'s marriage!).
I'm not mentally prepared for any of this, but over the past few months, I've discovered something: the kinds of situations (meeting new people, seeing relatives) that I used to worry about and make contingency plans for are now just part of life -- I can let them happen without planning, and they're lovely.
One thing I have been thinking about is place. I had almost forgotten what it was like to graduate from college and leave behind the people and memories and spaces that were so important to me. The Boston I'll be seeing will be different from any specific time when he lived there, but at the same time much of it will be unchanged, the memories rising up from sidewalks and wafting out of doorways as if they'd just been waiting for him to pass by. The main thing I'll need to do is listen.
just a few short updates:
first, i'm pleased to say that it's been a couple of weeks since i stopped drinking caffeine, and i feel pretty much the same as usual, which i'm happy about (maybe i wasn't that addicted; maybe i don't need it that much; maybe if like the taste of coffee i can just drink decaf), and i also know a little more about what's going on in my body (i'm tired today, not for any mysterious reason involving too much coffee yesterday, but because i got no exercise last week because i had a cold, and because i was busy dreaming about taxis and a baby named sophia and friends from high school and mothers and indian imports and protests last night). tip: don't eat coconut gelato at midnight after waking up from a nap unless you want to become a parent in a dream.
hah. still writing like i'm caffeinated, at least. guess that's what counts.
also, my parents are having a great time in thailand, eating lots of fruit (which i ordered them to do). they had a mangosteen, one of my all-time favorites, which is impossible to import to the US, for various reasons. it's got an inside that looks like garlic and tastes like grapes and melon, and an outside that looks like an eggplant. what's not to love? anyway, my parents are living it up, apparently. i'm sure we'll see my mom wear a sarong yet. if anything could ever make her do that, thailand can. someday, i'll be very happy to go back there, especially to the northern towns i haven't seen, and some of the quieter islands. (although the buildings on the islands are generally squat, i think there's probably a balcony or two).
also, i had a fun musical experience today. i've been thinking about going to see sebadoh this spring, with A. and hopefully M., which i'm really excited about, so i downloaded some music of theirs to play for him, and found that, though i hadn't heard some of my favorite songs for at least seven (more likely ten) years, i knew the words perfectly and felt those same old feelings, the time that B. had a sebadoh party and almost convinced the band to come, the time i watched the movie "kids" with G. and was really moved and horrified by it (sebadoh has a great song on the soundtrack, "spoiled"). anyway. it was fascinating to see that somewhere in the folds of my brain lie the lyrics to sebadoh's song "ocean" and all the feelings that go with them.
finally, i've had enough with this worry about writing. why don't i just find some of my old work and start revising and sending it out? there's got to be a way to get back into the groove. thanks to C. for the encouragement.
beijinhos!
last night we booked our tickets to portugal! ten days at the end of may with nothing to do but walk around and listen and eat and get to know a country neither of us has ever visited before... i can't wait!
Oh, Oregon, for your mountains and beaches and mists, your polite drivers who smile at each other and photograph the snowy woods during traffic jams, instead of honking and swearing... your families who welcome me and your melancholy musicians, your lovely breakfast foods and your icy driveways, your sleep without dreams and your waking hours full of them, thank you.
well, for better or for worse, i finished working drafts of some thesis-related materials yesterday, biked through pouring rain in the dark (surprisingly exhilarating), had great thai food with friend g., got up early to have my school friend s. over for breakfast and bitching (in a good way), and then flew to iowa to visit family.
it's so nice to be here -- it still hasn't sunk in that i can, and should, watch movies and open presents and eat cookies and run whenever i want and generally relax for at least a few days before starting to study for a take-home exam and a presentation for next semester and thesis work. i've been in actual work mode, hard to believe given the turmoil of the semester, so i need to switch out of it.
i'm sure it'll sink in tomorrow. singing christmas hymns will help. before i know it, i suspect i'll be so relaxed all i'll be able to do is lie around and smile....
