Inhaling Life

I’ve been stuck about what to do with this blog. I started...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:40:00 -0500

I’ve been stuck about what to do with this blog. I started it a long time ago to post my photography work on here. However, it turns out that while I love photography, I was getting stuck and blocked because I’m not a photographer. Then I tried posting snippets of writing. Again, it worked for a little bit but writing is not my predominate form of art. I got a wonderful gift for Christmas from a wonderful girlfriend. A really nice microphone for the laptop. It sparked a thought. Why am I not posting music? Really, it’s what I do the most. It’s what I love. And while I’m not planning on giving up on my photography or writing (one of my New Year’s resolutions is to take myself seriously as an artist), I should be posting my strength.

While this is not the most impressive song vocally, I wanted to get back into learning difficult songs on the guitar. I’ve always loved this song and it seemed like the perfect thing to learn to play while I was on duty this week. Give it a listen.

No Other Way written by Jack Johnson. Covered by Luke Doyle.

Snippet of writing from Florence:

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:56:39 -0400

I sat out, overlooking the beautiful city of Florence, tucked away in the hills of Tuscany. The sun had begun its long descend into night, the heat of June’s day had begun to subside, and with one cool gust of air, I had a whole new understanding of Frank Sinatra’s “The Summer Wind.” In the distance, I could hear the faint sounds of a dinner party being entertained by a jazz piano, the clinking of glasses, wine being poured from a carafe, and the audible noises of memories being made, proven by the sounds of laughter and the harmonious chord of Italian vowels. And it was in that moment that I was so in love with love, yet so broken with lonliness. Florence was playing my heart as if a harp, the strings perfectly tuned for some grand concert.

If a single soul had spoken to me in that moment, I would have immediately fallen in love.

Writing from the start of my trip:

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 19:04:00 -0400

“Then I remembered my life in New York: constantly running from place to place, job to job, broken heart to broken heart. New York swallowed me whole within its year and a half of having me in its fists. It turned this small state boy to a workaholic. Consumed by opportunity, running dreams, and empty promises, the amount of coffee stains on my notebook were greater than the hours of sleep I was getting. I knew, in my heart, that going back to New York meant living that life again. Never again could I fathom another opportunity to see Europe, or what I had initially thought was the world. I decided I was going to backpack, companion or not.”

About my absence:

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 10:14:00 -0400

With two and a half weeks left of my backpacking trip, I started to realize how much we rely on social media to pass the time. Hardly ever does my generation just relax alone sans a laptop, an iPhone, or blackberry. It’s kind of upsetting.

For me, Facebook has become a way to be over personal with hundreds of people at once. How many times a day do we read “going to work in the am, then to the gym, then dinner with the fammmm. <3” or something similar on our homepage? Honestly, its not that I’m not happy that you are spending time with your family, but that is not any of my personal business. We have become ‘over public’ with ourselves, publicly showing what events we are attending, who our friends are, and who is in a relationship with who. Quite frankly, if I haven’t spoken to you since high school, it is not my business to know who you’re dating and when you have broken up.

Yet, the pivotal point of hating social media came when I landed at Logan Airport three weeks ago. Within a twenty minute car ride, I had discovered that during my time of my backpacking trip, my cousin became engaged, another cousin was now pregnant, and another cousin fell about 40 feet on a mountain and needed to get airlifted to the hospital. “Why did no one tell me?!” I shouted.
“It was on Facebook, I thought you knew.”

For our generation, there is now an expectation to be on Facebook so you can stay connected with what’s going on. Our only form of communication has transformed behind a computer screen, lowering our ability to actually interact with real human beings. It’s sad. We are becoming as programmed as our MacBook Pros are.

And I am just at fault. While I would love to delete my Facebook and call it a day, there are too many travelers I have met whom I would like to be able to reach out to next time I travel or too many people that could potentially get me a job whom I talk to. So I am stuck in a strange place. Which is why I stopped blogging on here. That was something I had control over.

For the future, I want to continue to share photography and works of my own. I am ever so slowly compiling a memoir of my travel just so I’ll never forget how amazing my trip was. The book won’t be for anyone else but me and possibly my children when I have them, but I would love to share bits and pieces to get feedback. Because that’s why I started this blog: to share my work to see what works. And that is what it will be from now on.

June 6- We left real early for Hvar Island, which worked out...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:57:07 -0400

June 6- We left real early for Hvar Island, which worked out incredibly well for us. We rented a Vespa and beach hopped, met some crazy people in our hostel, fell in love with the island, got the best seafood meal of my life (including great white wine) and then discovered how crazy the night life in Hvar is. Very good chance I’ll move here and never come back.

Hvar Island, Croatia.

June 5- After picking up some amazing friends at the hostel, we...

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:59:14 -0400

June 5- After picking up some amazing friends at the hostel, we decided to beat the rain that was supposed to come in by seeing the tourist-y things in the old city. Well, around lunch, after I had the most delicious calamari for less than 3 US Dollars, it cleared up and we went back to the beach. Oh well.

Split, Croatia.

June 4- We got to Split at 8am and immediately changed all of...

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 20:58:04 -0400

June 4- We got to Split at 8am and immediately changed all of our plans. This place was just too beautiful and too cheap to go anywhere else. We decided to extend our stay, instead of going to Bratislava, and spend the night on Hvar Island. We went to the daily farmer’s market, got some cherries, and headed to the beach. Yup. Croatia is for me.

Split, Croatia.

June 3- Total day of nothing but train taveling today. Because...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:56:07 -0400

June 3- Total day of nothing but train taveling today. Because the trek from Munich to Split takes about 20 hours total, we just condemned ourselves to staying on the train for a majority of the day. We left at 1pm and will arrive in Split at 8am. While the day of travel was long, I have never experienced a more amazing train ride. We rode through the Austrian Alps and looked out all the amazing small little towns. Totally crazy that these places exist. As someone I met explained, “taking a train ride through the Alps is like six months of therapy.”

Austrian Alps.

June 2- Despite both Brigid and I getting wildly sick the night...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 20:57:40 -0400

June 2- Despite both Brigid and I getting wildly sick the night before (no, it was not the hungover type of morning…), we made the most of our day. We climbed to the top of the tower to over look all of Munich. Man, was it beautiful. Then we ran around at the outdoor stores and such before going to the English gardens park. Upon walking through the park, we stumbled across Nudist Meadow. Yes, its exactly what it sounds like. Then we capped the evening off with delicious food and wine at a outdoor restaurant. A great day, even with the morning puking.

Munich, Germany.

June 1- There were some bumps in the road for getting to Munich,...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 20:56:26 -0400

June 1- There were some bumps in the road for getting to Munich, but once we got here I was just so incredibly happy. There is something about Germany that excites me terribly. I can’t quite tell if its the people, the history, or just the environment itself, but I could definitely live in Germany. I would need to learn Germany first, which is really the stopping factor. I decided I want to pick up Spanish again and then try to finish French. From there, I would love to learn German. This is all sounds crazy, but I’m thinking these are life goals.

Munich, Germany.

May 31- Well the morning started off interestingly enough. I say...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:59:59 -0400

May 31- Well the morning started off interestingly enough. I say this because we went straight to a church that claims to hold the blood of Jesus. After watching a quick ceremony, we got to approach the vile of blood and say a prayer over it. I’ll be honest, I still don’t know quite how I feel about it. After doing a few more touristy things and having cheap food, we decided to ride bikes to the beach, which is supposedly really close. We took a wrong turn and kept peddling only to find ourselves at the Netherlands border. CRAZINESS.

Bruges, Belgium

May 30- We arrived in Bruges with a bit of a sigh of relief....

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 20:56:24 -0400

May 30- We arrived in Bruges with a bit of a sigh of relief. After Prague, Vienna, Berlin, and Amsterdam we realized we hadn’t stopped since starting this travel. Always constantly on the run, always constantly trying to experience the life of the city. When we arrived in the train station, I came to the quick realization that we were the youngest people in Bruges by about 50 years. It was a relief. No night parties. No running around. Just ‘being the people that my grandparent’s think I am.’ (If I shall quote myself)

Bruges, Belgium

May 29- Day two in Amsterdam was a complete success. Even though...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 21:54:20 -0400

May 29- Day two in Amsterdam was a complete success. Even though we slept in a bit (we were very tired from the past few days of traveling), we still got to hit the city. After going to Anne Frank’s House, we went to Vonderpark. The park is insanely beautiful and leaves you with lots to see. We explored above the park before coming back in and finding loads of college kids who were partying by the lake. Again, I was just taken by how lively the city was.

Amsterdam, Netherlands.

May 28- After a crazy weekend in Berlin, we headed to Amsterdam...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 21:00:26 -0400

May 28- After a crazy weekend in Berlin, we headed to Amsterdam (for the second time). We got to the hostel and realized we were staying in the building that most postcards take photos of. I was, for the billionth time on this trip, reminded how lucky I am and how amazing life is. Few people get to even leave where they are born and here I am, running around Europe after spending a semester in London. Amsterdam is a very special city and near and dear to my heart. Between the interesting combination between old and new, the canals, and how friendly Dutch people are, there is great consideration of permenately staying in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam, Netherlands.

May 27- After sleeping for a few hours, we came to the quick...

Thu, 31 May 2012 21:39:36 -0400

May 27- After sleeping for a few hours, we came to the quick conclusion that nothing was open in Berlin on Sundays. We ran to the TV tower, just to see it, and then met some people at our hostel to have a quiet night of cheap food, good coffee, and a tame bar. We really had an early night in (compared to most) because we got back to the room at 3am.

Berlin (is crazy and I love it), Germany.

May 26- I slept a good 8 hours on the train (out of 10) on the...

Thu, 31 May 2012 20:50:58 -0400

May 26- I slept a good 8 hours on the train (out of 10) on the way from Vienna to Berlin. It was clear to me that all the travel was finally catching up with me. The second we got to Berlin, I fell in love with the city. There is an exciting energy that is young and excited. The city certainly is not clean, there is graffiti everywhere, but you can tell that its just getting started. Well, we heard a lot about the nightlife, so we decided to give it a try. After leaving the hostel at midnight, we did not find ourselves coming home until 7:30am the next morning. The dance halls in Berlin are crazy and when we left at 6am, people were asking if we were okay and why we were going home so early. All of this, lead to being at the Berlin wall (East gallery) at sunrise, which I wish I had my camera for, though so happy is wasn’t with me all night. Still, Berlin could definitely be a place for me.

Berlin, Germany.

May 25- Brigid and I were even lucky we caught the train. After...

Wed, 30 May 2012 21:50:42 -0400

May 25- Brigid and I were even lucky we caught the train. After a late start in the morning, cause of the late night before, we ran to the train to luckily catch it in time to travel to Vienna. We met her friend and sat out overlooking Vienna as the sun set eating pasta and drinking wine. Things couldn’t get any more perfect until we did a bit of exploring of the rest of Vienna, by night, and going to some of the nightlife. Tomorrow we will head to Berlin (we were only in Vienna for a night to store Brigid’s luggage, similar to mine in Amsterdam) and I’m excited to finally stay in a city more than one night.

Vienna, Austria.

May 24- Arrived in Prague today around 12pm to be picked up by...

Wed, 30 May 2012 20:58:27 -0400

May 24- Arrived in Prague today around 12pm to be picked up by Brigid, Joe, and Price. After packing a picnic to eat on a hill that overlooked the city (wine included), we climbed the highest point in Prague and then did some paddle boating. The paddle boat, I have to say, really made this day. Something about the water, the sun, the friends, and the good cheap beer we were drinking, suddenly reminded me that its summer and that I’m alive. And really, how luckily am I? To have such good friends and be able to travel to such amazing places. Later, we had a delicious dinner and chased it with cheap delicious Prague beer (by far the best I’ve had) and karaoke. Good night? I think so.

Prague, Czech Republic.

May 23- I clearly was not in Paris long enough. Not nearly long...

Sun, 27 May 2012 10:51:06 -0400

May 23- I clearly was not in Paris long enough. Not nearly long enough at all. I took the overnight to Paris to mainly meet Meg for the day before overnighting-it to Prague to pick up Brigid for the next two weeks of out trip. I was so happy that I was able to meet up with Meg. Meg has a heart that is the most genuine of any person I have ever met. So, it was great to meet her and catch up. After hitting all the touristy attractions, Meg, Marie, and I went around in search of ice cream, good food, and cider. All of which was incredibly successful. After, we met their couch-surfing host and sat on a boat drinking wine to cap of the day. Needless to say, I need to go back to Paris.

Paris, France.

May 22- The weather completely cleared up in Nice and my time...

Sun, 27 May 2012 10:34:04 -0400

May 22- The weather completely cleared up in Nice and my time really just begun. I do say, I think I can mark a turning point in my life of when my feet first touched the Mediterranean Sea. It really makes me never want to go to a beach that isn’t in the Mediterranean. Then I walked around and used my little French in the Old Town to ask for the best socca. I don’t know quite what socca is but someone recommended that I try it while I was here. So, after asking locals their favorite place for it, I got the most delicious lunch for €2. When you go to Nice one day, its a must try.

Nice, France.