TravelinGirl

Last Day
So it's my last day of "vacation" (in quotes because it's my last day to be away from home, but I don't have to go back to work for a while after I get back). Why am I spending it in an internet cafe instead of out in the world? Because I'm on overload. I had a lovely morning sitting in a cafe (not a coffeeshop) having a croissant and tea and watching the tourists go by, reading and writing in my journal.

I feel like there is no way to do justice to what I've experienced over the last few weeks. I've had my senses bombarded every day for weeks now, and I'm not sure how to really sort that stuff out into something coherent to tell stories about when I get back. I mean, there are a few ready-packaged stories (the luge runs, impressions of tour members, favorites of various things - food, architecture, music, stupid tourist tricks, etc.). But much of the stuff I've seen, done, tasted and experienced has really just been piling up in my brain. I feel like a sponge that's been overwhelmed by the deluge it's trying to absorb - there's just no more space in my brain for more stuff.

I went through some of my pictures last night. It was wonderful to re-see some of the places I've been, relive some of the conversations. I feel like I didn't capture the other tour members as much as I would have liked so that I can illustrate stories about them for the blog. But I have lots of categories for keywords for flickr (which is likely where I'll be posting them - not sure if I'll sort them all first or put them all up and sort and create groupings by keywords or what). When I don't have to pay for my internet access, I'll put all my impressions into a blog entry so you guys can maybe get a feel for some of the stuff I experienced. When I sat down in the cafe to think about things, it was actually rather apparent that I have lots of impressions that come down to my senses - how I experienced things. For instance under the category of sounds - there were a ton of things that came up just in regard to thinking about the sound of the streetcars in Berlin (the rumble along the street, the sound of the validation machine {kachunk}, the announcements about the next stop {imagine the Peanuts cartoons' teacher voice in German}, conversations in the train, etc.). I think with more time to think things through, I can come up with interesting lists for all the senses (sights obviously dominating with architecture, art, graffitti, people interactions, food, etc.; smells having interesting stuff like old library smells, old church smells, piss on the side of buildings smells, fresh-baked pastries smells, schnitzel smells, etc.; feeling/touch - brushing past people in crowded tourist areas, big hugs from tour folks, the feel of a warm comforter on a cold night, etc.; tastes were oddly not as varied as I'd have guessed - lots of schnitzel, apple streudel, some Indonesian food, a Czech cola, etc.)

But how do you capture your impressions? About how nice it was to see Meta (someone from home right when I was feeling homesick), about how overwhelmed I was by everyone's kindnesses on the tour, about how awesome it was to sit over food and have great conversations with people, about how it's so broadening to travel because it makes you start challenging some of your assumptions, about how easy it is to both let things go past you, and to wish that they hadn't slipped by, about how incredibly lucky I am to have had this opportunity, and how excited I am to try to tell my friends all about my adventures when I get home. I'm trying to figure out how to do a travelogue that involves my descriptions of my adventures illustrated with select pictures from the 700+ from this trip. I have ideas, but not sure how to implement them. Will be asking for help/suggestions when I return.

To bring you up to date with what Meta and I got up to - in short, not much. We hung out. Then we hung out at a different place. And then we hung out and read. And then we ate. And then we hung out and read and listened to tv. And that was just fine with both of us. We did not even get around to either the redlight district or the sex museum. (I've seen both before, and Meta wasn't interested, so we had a wonderfully veg-tastic day.)

Can't wait to see everyone again! Call me at home on Monday evening or Tuesday if you want voice confirmation that I made it back. Hopefully I'll have an uneventful (and not full!) flight back home. Ciao!

posted by Unknown @ 5:21 AM