nearing the end

True to form, I have done a horrific job at keeping up with this blog.  Right now, I am at a subpar (service-wise) hostel in Florence, using free internet.  Tomorrow we go to the Uffizi and leave for Rome, our last destination, in the evening.  It’s been almost three weeks since we’ve begun traveling, and I have been in Europe now for exactly four months.  Four months sounds a lot longer than three just by default, as if passing that little number somehow entitles you to more experience and time than perspective would suggest.  Since we’ve begun our Eurotrip on December 18th, we’ve been to Amsterdam, Paris, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Munich, and now Florence.  And although that sounds like a lot and I wish we had more time in certain places (Paris) and a little less in others (Prague, Budapest), everything feels a lot more distinct that I would have imagined.  There’s been little internet access, especially the free kind, and many keyboards that I had to adjust to.  German keyboards switch the y and z letters, and French ones are just all over the place. 

I’ve done my fair share of waking up at ungodly hours.  Travel logs show sleeping overnight on the floor in the terminal (not the gate) of the Madrid airport while trying not to freeze and then ‘waking up’ at 4:30 to get into a crazy line for EasyJet.  We left snowy Amsterdam by waking up at 4 AM yet again to take the train to Paris, only to find that 1) the night buses weren’t running and 2) we had to pay 30 euro to get a taxi to the station.  Then, our train was delayed.  After leaving Paris for Prague at (yet again) 4-5 AM, I think I’ve got night traveling down.  Luckily, our other situations weren’t quite as dire on my sleep schedule.  Two nights ago we took a sleeper from Munich to Florence, which housed about six people in a space that was maybe a fourth the size of my dorm room at school.  On the train, unable to sleep due to excessive heat\cold\noise, I randomly started to remember the strangest things, from high school, middle school, etc.  Maybe it’s the clarity of mind brought on by weeks with poor internet access.  In other words, I was a little less on edge, finally.

But of course, things come to an end.  The realities of having to apply for internships, studying for the LSAT, having to do real work at school, and keeping track of extracurriculars are looming ahead, as always.  Everyone knows, of course, that this is what happens when study abroad ends, and this experience becomes something so encapsulated that sometimes I already feel like it’s just some random memory.  Best to enjoy the moment.

My last night in Spain was full of, what else, horrible coincidence and Voltaire-quality irony.  After having been without internet access yet again for two weeks, it came back that afternoon.  Of course, I could not actually enjoy it, since I was finishing up packing and trying to say goodbye.  Since my bedroom wasn’t heated, I slept in the next day’s clothing, socks, and my winter jacket.  Still froze to death, unfortunately.  It’s strange to think that I won’t be going back to Sevilla, that the first day there was so many months ago, that all you have are photos and random souvenirs.  For a more coherent goodbye, I think Rebecca’s post was better.  I don’t really know what to say about Spain- especially now that I’ve been elsewhere in Europe and seen places that are significantly less beautiful but with a signficantly better attitude about it.  Such is the trade-off that you get, though.  Italy is similar, the same kind of streets, the same trashy teenagers, a more similar language.  It’s probably too soon for me to actually think about what happened.  Maybe by the time I have to study for next semester’s midterms, my eyesight worsening in the library, hoping for even an hour of free time, I’ll think back to watching Glee with Colleen, obsessing over Mad Men, tapas, constantly packing for over 15 trips during the course of the semester… it’s been real.  A horrible sign-off, but that’s all I have.  For now.

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