So many things to say! So much has been happening!
It's hard to keep track.
First:
My Dad came to visit in March! It was spectacular! We hung around in London and in Cambridge; had lovely walks, authentic pub adventures (on a modest scale, of course; 1 beer was enough!), and even a mini-birthday celebration for him :) It was REALLY difficult to see him go, as I had gotten so excited to have him come over and we had had such a splendid time, no hiccups. And now! My Mom will be coming in early May (nearish my birthday)--and we'll be headed off to stay the night & dine in a local castle (Thornbury, near Bristol; Queen Anne Boleyn & King Henry VIII stayed there briefly), then to coastal Brighton, and finally to Cambridge before she heads off back to the States. It's really kind of a miracle she's coming at all; my Dad had a conference to attend in Europe anyway, but she's making a special trip all the way over, just to spend around 96 hours with me :)
Also! I went to Vienna, Prague, Krakow and Warsaw--and WHAT a spectacular trip it was. Really, the best. People talk about the cliches of "walking on clouds" and "feet not touching the ground". By the end, I was actually there. I felt like I was living on long gulps of air and was filled with the desire to try the air of every place I could get to. Weightlessness. I wanted to keep going--to Hungary, to Russia, to China. To everywhere. Australia. New Zealand. I didn't want to "come back"--to anywhere! (In a good way). By the end, I wrote in my travel journal:
"New list: Words to delete from my vocabulary (to be ongoing):
--home (to be replaced by "back" and "here" when not simply deleted; examples: I'm here! Or, I'm coming back now! Or, I'm returning!)
End current list"
Krakow and Warsaw were definitely my favorites (Krakow is SO dreamy, small, and perfectly beautiful; Warsaw is municipal in such a ultilitarian, non-aesthetic way, that I loved it for that--simply practical, unassuming, just people in a place living together doing daily and also radical things like squatting--and who knew there would be SO MANY incidental vegan places my friends & I would happen upon in Poland?). The people I met were a.mazing. Not only did I have a great time with my friends (housemate from Cambridge, former housemate from Wesleyan, bff from Amsterdam), but I met some lovely people in these cities who helped us find our ways around, shared some good laughs, and opened up their homes to us. I even celebrated one host's daughter's 2nd birthday with her family--and made them a vegan chocolate cake with ganache and jam for their little party :) I can't stress enough how much I was moved by the generosity and true enthusiastic openness of these people. It made me want to be a better host!
Also, in Prague my Cambridge friend / travel-buddy convinced me to buy Milan Kundera's book The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a novel set during the Prague Spring (1968) and its aftermath. It is an INCREDIBLE book, and perfect for right now, and for traveling, and for thoughts about life and, of course, that nearly-indescribable phenomenon of "being". I loved sitting on trains going between cities and alternating between reading this incredible work of literature, which itself involved travel and its purchase and my exploration of it was a product of my travel, and looking out the window at the evolving landscapes. Traveling with a book really is (or can be) just like traveling with a best friend--especially when it's a "best friend" you've picked up while on the road, and the two are forever, forever intertwined.
NOW, I've just settled my acceptance to go study for my doctorate in Economics at the University of Washington in Seattle--and I'll be moving there in September with one of my BEST friends on the planet (also from Wesleyan). I've already warned her (and demonstrated in a very realistic way!) how quickly I will become / already am obsessed with our housing hunt. I am ridiculously, intoxicatingly excited.
And now I have to focus on my last 2 essays and weird UK-styled 2 final exams for my program here. And then I'm done! In June, some more Wesleyan friends will come through, and then I'll hopefully go hitchhiking and couchsurfing my way through Wales, Scotland, Ireland and portions of England. It'd be silly to leave without having seen anything of this place. Though I am going to Oxford next week (hoorah!). And in June I'll arrive back in Virginia the day before my brother's 21st birthday (yay!) and celebrate with him, and maybe go WWOOFing for a month or two??
And so, dear friends--here I am! Hope you're all well and enjoying a fantastic Spring :)
xoxo
Miranda
It's hard to keep track.
First:
My Dad came to visit in March! It was spectacular! We hung around in London and in Cambridge; had lovely walks, authentic pub adventures (on a modest scale, of course; 1 beer was enough!), and even a mini-birthday celebration for him :) It was REALLY difficult to see him go, as I had gotten so excited to have him come over and we had had such a splendid time, no hiccups. And now! My Mom will be coming in early May (nearish my birthday)--and we'll be headed off to stay the night & dine in a local castle (Thornbury, near Bristol; Queen Anne Boleyn & King Henry VIII stayed there briefly), then to coastal Brighton, and finally to Cambridge before she heads off back to the States. It's really kind of a miracle she's coming at all; my Dad had a conference to attend in Europe anyway, but she's making a special trip all the way over, just to spend around 96 hours with me :)
Also! I went to Vienna, Prague, Krakow and Warsaw--and WHAT a spectacular trip it was. Really, the best. People talk about the cliches of "walking on clouds" and "feet not touching the ground". By the end, I was actually there. I felt like I was living on long gulps of air and was filled with the desire to try the air of every place I could get to. Weightlessness. I wanted to keep going--to Hungary, to Russia, to China. To everywhere. Australia. New Zealand. I didn't want to "come back"--to anywhere! (In a good way). By the end, I wrote in my travel journal:
"New list: Words to delete from my vocabulary (to be ongoing):
--home (to be replaced by "back" and "here" when not simply deleted; examples: I'm here! Or, I'm coming back now! Or, I'm returning!)
End current list"
Magickal Krakow
Krakow and Warsaw were definitely my favorites (Krakow is SO dreamy, small, and perfectly beautiful; Warsaw is municipal in such a ultilitarian, non-aesthetic way, that I loved it for that--simply practical, unassuming, just people in a place living together doing daily and also radical things like squatting--and who knew there would be SO MANY incidental vegan places my friends & I would happen upon in Poland?). The people I met were a.mazing. Not only did I have a great time with my friends (housemate from Cambridge, former housemate from Wesleyan, bff from Amsterdam), but I met some lovely people in these cities who helped us find our ways around, shared some good laughs, and opened up their homes to us. I even celebrated one host's daughter's 2nd birthday with her family--and made them a vegan chocolate cake with ganache and jam for their little party :) I can't stress enough how much I was moved by the generosity and true enthusiastic openness of these people. It made me want to be a better host!
"Old" town of Warsaw, reconstructed after WWII destruction
Also, in Prague my Cambridge friend / travel-buddy convinced me to buy Milan Kundera's book The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a novel set during the Prague Spring (1968) and its aftermath. It is an INCREDIBLE book, and perfect for right now, and for traveling, and for thoughts about life and, of course, that nearly-indescribable phenomenon of "being". I loved sitting on trains going between cities and alternating between reading this incredible work of literature, which itself involved travel and its purchase and my exploration of it was a product of my travel, and looking out the window at the evolving landscapes. Traveling with a book really is (or can be) just like traveling with a best friend--especially when it's a "best friend" you've picked up while on the road, and the two are forever, forever intertwined.
NOW, I've just settled my acceptance to go study for my doctorate in Economics at the University of Washington in Seattle--and I'll be moving there in September with one of my BEST friends on the planet (also from Wesleyan). I've already warned her (and demonstrated in a very realistic way!) how quickly I will become / already am obsessed with our housing hunt. I am ridiculously, intoxicatingly excited.
Maybe I'll have a lovely home + cat like this! (Hosts in suburb outside Warsaw)
And now I have to focus on my last 2 essays and weird UK-styled 2 final exams for my program here. And then I'm done! In June, some more Wesleyan friends will come through, and then I'll hopefully go hitchhiking and couchsurfing my way through Wales, Scotland, Ireland and portions of England. It'd be silly to leave without having seen anything of this place. Though I am going to Oxford next week (hoorah!). And in June I'll arrive back in Virginia the day before my brother's 21st birthday (yay!) and celebrate with him, and maybe go WWOOFing for a month or two??
And so, dear friends--here I am! Hope you're all well and enjoying a fantastic Spring :)
xoxo
Miranda
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