There And Back Again: A Hobbit's Tale By Emily O'Brien

 Hullo,

So I guess I did decide to do one final blog to sum up everything and explain the journey home. It was, to say the least, quite long. And I guess we can talk about me being home because that's also strange.

Our adventure begins one bright sunshiney morning in Venice. Our heroes, Katie and Emily awake early in order to venture out to the mystical land that is The Airport.

One second. I can't write this in third person or I'll go crazy. Let's begin again, shall we? So we woke up early and I took a shower because I knew I wouldn't have another opportunity to be clean until I reached America. One shower later, we headed out to get breakfast, where I performed a flawless execution of ordering my food. Obviously.

Me: Un cappuccino y un ............ donut.

Despite my ordering techniques, I got what I wanted so it all worked out. Katie and I ate pretty quickly before leaving to find an ATM. I had hoped I wouldn't have to withdraw any more cash, but that was incredibly wishful thinking. Being a few euros poorer, we went back to the hostel to check out, collect our stuff and hit the road again. We made it to the water-bus which took us to the airport. It was a rather lengthy ride, but pleasant because Venice is great. Even with the long ride, we made it with a lot of time before our respective flights because I plan on never missing a flight ever again. Should it happen, I will cry all of the tears and my heart will be shattered from distress and will be broken for eternity. So no more missing flights.

Katie's flight left before mine and she learned about her gate and check-in spot well in advance of me. Although we had been hoping to go through security together, it wasn't possible so we said our farewells and parted ways. It was sad to split up because it truly marked the end of my adventure and saying goodbye to an excellent travel companion.

I'm already bored with my traveling. My apologies because it must be even less interesting for you. After we split up, I found out where to check-in and went through security and all that jazz. My flight from Venice to Madrid had an hour long lay-over in Barcelona, the only dicey part of Day One because I had to get my second ticket when I made it there. It was an uneventful trip to Madrid other than that.

I have become quite familiar with the Madrid-Barajas Airport, so I had decided to sleep overnight there before my flight back to the States the next morning. Great plan (sarcasm hand raised). You may recall a couple of posts ago where I was going insane. That was the overnight-in-the-Madrid portion of the trip. I got an overpriced dinner and started looking for wi-fi to help pass the night. I could've paid for it but I was done with spending money so I wrote my new blog post. And read. And played free-cell. And hearts. Somewhere between three and four in the morning I decided that sleep was unimportant. Or something that stupid. I don't know what possessed me to stay up the entire night, but stay up the entire night I did. (Yoda.)

I spent too much time in my head and the coffee I had at six fueled me with energy and crazy. Because my flight was at 10:25 AM, I started looking for my check-in place at 7ish. The Boy Scouts and I now have the same motto: Be prepared and don't be the idiot you goes to Asia and gets stuck on the wrong continent. That's right, right? I had a brief heart attack when one of the employees couldn't find me in the system. Frantically, I called my mommyface, bought half an hour of internet access and found my flight confirmation because hell if I get stuck in the airport another day. Luckily, it all worked out because we are all well aware of the fact that my heart is rather fragile in regards to Missing The Flights.

After making it through security, I ended up being one of the lucky people who also gets searched randomly. Though this is against my principles (Don't touch my stuff. It's where it belongs), I did get to talk to one the guards in Spanish which was already strange after not speaking it for two weeks. The bigger issue, though, was the fact that I had a ton of dirty clothes in my backpack and didn't want the guy to pull out everything. Or look at it. Because, hey airport, look at my underwear. Yeeeeaaaah. I wasn't about that life so much.

After my backpack had been put into order, I began more of the sitting. And waiting. And getting on the plane. I was actually really excited about this plane on account of each seat had their own tiny touchscreen TV so I could choose what music or movies or TV shows to watch and change them at will. True power, my friends. Thankfully, the little screen kept me entertained because I couldn't fall asleep. The flight was really long (9 hours? 10 hours?) and I was unable to be unconscious for any of it. That's right. I stayed up the entire night and was still not successful in sleeping on the plane. What is life?

I eventually landed in Atlanta and went through customs and I got a stamp. I had been worried about this (customs, not the stamp), but I really shouldn't have been because I guess I made it through. I mean, I'm here. I began the more waiting in a place where everything was in ENGLISH. Whut.

Let's speed this up a little. I got on the plane from Minneapolis and was ecstatic to find I was in the middle seat. This plane was less cool than the last one due to no tiny TV and the two-ish hours it took to get to the cities was forever. BUT THEN I SAW MY MOMMY AT THE BAGGAGE CLAIM. Excitement! She informed me we were heading to campus to pick up Tom after his final so I got reunited with the U as well. Surprisingly, I was dressed way too warmly for this adventure because it was over 90 degrees and sweatpants are, apparently, not the thing to wear in this weather. Who knew? By the time we actually made it home, "unpacked," and I caught up with my sister and DAD, I had been awake too long.

The Numbers

Hours Awake: 44

Airports to Get Home: 5

Miles Traveled: Too Damn Many

Seeing the Family: Priceless

It took me a few days to recover from jet-lag because naps always seemed like a good idea and waking up too early. (6 AM: Whyyyyy?) Also there were a few bizarre experiences, including drinking my first glass of milk in four months. Weird. And hanging out with my friends who I hadn't seen in that long. And sharing a car with my siblings. And having my room. WHICH HAS CARPET. (There was too much excitement for the last one.)

Originally, I wrote this blog so I wouldn't actually have to explain all of my adventures to everyone. I guarantee this plan has backfired because I spent a good deal of time fielding a variety of....interesting questions from some members of my family. (You know who you are.)

Questions Already Asked

Did any part of your trip remind you of Lady & the Tramp?

Did they sing to you on the gondola?
Really?

What songs did they sing?

Did you see anyone catch any fish?
What kind?

You might be able to imagine others. Maybe you'll  be the next one to ask me one that could potentially make the crazy list. (If it's about fish, congratulations, you'll make the list.)

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

Travel makes you grateful for people. I appreciate all the strangers who helped me out, however big or small this was. I joked with Katie that if I ever one some big award, I would thank the people who carried my suitcase across Europe and no one else. But seriously. People are great. Sometimes. Let's not get crazy.

More on the people situation: I met people who are awesome and I had a great time just being around them because no one had time to play games and put on a facade. Company, it seems, makes travel better.

I found out a lot about myelf. I feel more confident in my ability to navigate the uncertain because shizz happens. Conditions aren't always great and how I reacted to this helped me gauge who I am. Travel measured me, if that makes sense.

Shit happens. I remember saying I expected things to go wrong. But really, I didn't expect them to go as wrong as they did until it happened. The worst experiences (and best) are the unexpected.

I changed. (Granted, everything changes given time. But that is obviously beside the point.) It's like some things in me shifted and lined up slightly differently than they did before. It might be just internal. I might be the only one who notices, but what does that matter? I can feel it.

I do the same poses in all of my pictures. I really need to work on this for my future on the red carpet so I can accept my award and thank the random people who helped me with my damn suitcase.

Don't say goodbyes. I don't like 'em. Just leave. And probably don't look back (Your call).

THE MOST IMPORTANT LIFE ADVICE I WILL EVER GIVE: Pack lightly.

So there you have it, folks. I came. I saw. I sort of conquered. This actually be my last (planned) blog because otherwise I would only be saying, "And then I worked for eight hours. And then I took a nap." Literally, that is my life now, so I doubt it would cause much interest. Surprisingly, I actually liked blogging and would be willing to do more in the future. If something crazy happens to me like I win the lottery or I inherit a lightsaber, then you might hear from me. So possibly some sporadic blogging. But, for now we must part ways.

Like I said, no goodbyes.

Semana Santa & Sass

Hola!

For you, Faj. They are catching goldfish.

As you may (or may not) know, my Mommy-face and Claire are here in Spain with me. Unfortunately, however, all is not well. Why? I am missing a key piece of my life, one I may not have mentioned as much in my past blogs. This is not due to carelessness, but rather my mind has repressed my memories because it is too painful to deal with. That's right, I miss my Dad. He was unable to come to Spain due to... stuff (that's a technical term), and now I am left to suffer the consequences. I do my best to pay attention to all the fish I see, in hopes of remembering how great he is, but alas this doesn't make up for the actual being that is My Dad. So just know, we all wish he could be here in Spain, helping add to the sass. (One and a half months til I see the Most Handsome Dad Ever!) I miss you more than all the (spiral) Mac & Cheese in the world!

Thursday

Regarding the less important part of this blog: my Mommy and Claire made it to Toledo on Thursday afternoon after (I believe) a few language mishaps and a little luck. Both were quite jet-lagged but in good spirits because Spain. After my classes, I took them on the grand tour of the city where my Mommy realized I was a genius for telling her not to rent a car. It would be impossible to drive in Toledo because the streets don't believe in being wide and straight and drivable. They turned in rather early to catch up on beauty sleep and so they wouldn't be dead the next day. Sidenote: My mom was rather impressed at my ability to negotiate a cab for the next morning and less impressed when I told the receptionist that she was afraid of missing the train, which is why we had to leave so early.

Friday

Friday morning was an early wake up call. Just kidding. After breakfast, I headed over to the hotel and found both Claire and Mams still asleep. Apparently time changes are difficult and I forgot. (More repressed memories?) They got dressed and ate, but we still had a couple of hours to kill before we needed to be at the train station. Because the hotel was really close to the Cathedral, we decided to go there. And, yet again, any description I can give will not do what we saw any justice. The building is massive on the inside and a combination of simple and complicated. And beautiful. The words I use are actually meaningless until you see it. Words don't actually express the....everything (especially the work involved. 270ish years to complete a building?!?). I kept thinking (along with my Mommy) back to the book The Pillars of the Earth, which is a story revolving around the building of a 12th (11th?) century cathedral. I clearly didn't appreciate the descriptions prior to seeing a similar building. I am constantly amazed by my experiences here.

It was also a day of travel and trains among other things. We headed of to the train station and went first from Toledo to Madrid and then Madrid to Sevilla. Minor hilarity (and major sass) ensued due to the language barrier.


Mom: We aren't on the right floor! We need to go to the P one!
Me: Okay, that's upstairs. "Planta Primera" is first floor.
Mom: *looks at sign* That's not what it says! The words aren't the same!
Me: Mom, it means the same thing. Don't worry about it.
Mom: The words aren't the same!

After a brief disagreement, we made it to the right floor (the first floor!) and made it onto the train. My mommy-face was relieved and I believe I passed my translator test, so all was well. Claire and I snagged seats next to each other and spent the ride A) writing terrible poetry for a school project B) swapping sisterly gossip and C) talking about how cute the little boy in front of us was.

A Sample Of Poetry:

I am a panda.

My main hobby is eating

All of the bamboo.

The rest of our poetry session yielded very similar results and included me trying to convince Claire to present her project in the form of an interpretive dance. If you agree, leave a comment. I would be willing to pay her and put up a video because this is probably the greatest idea I've ever had. I honestly can't think of a more hilarious poetry project. No joke.

While this was going on, a really cute little boy kept peeking back at us and smiling. He and his dad were sitting right in front of us, and that kid was probably the cutest thing ever. I want one. But only for like ten minutes.

A conversation

Dad: [in English] Marcos! Don't draw on the window. When we are going by the countryside, all we are going to see is the dirt. You are going to be missing out on all of the beautiful views. 

Marcos: [in Spanish] You can still see through the window, Papa.

Dad: I know! But we don't do that. You will be distracted and it's bad for the window.

Honestly, the whole trip the kid was being both cute and sassy to his dad, and his dad would patiently explain why he couldn't do something. (I want my chocolate, Papa! ... I know but if you don't eat everything else and I give it to you, you will be spoiled.) So, so cute.

Upon our arrival, we took a taxi to our hotel and unpacked. We decided to get an idea of the city, so we meandered around the streets, finding a few of the major attractions. The main issue became finding a place to eat and my apparent lack of practical knowledge in the form of knowing words for food. Results were mixed.

I knew enough for one night, but not nearly so for the rest of the trip.

We may have stolen a menu so we could look up some of the words.

Saturday

Why do I have so many things to say??? Saturday morning, we went across the street to get our breakfast. Pastries, coffee, and sandwiches mmmmm... We were ready to start the day. It was raining, so we bought a couple of umbrellas and hoped for the best (and no. The best didn't really occur). We decided to go to the Cathedral, and, like the one in Toledo, my words are useless. So...pictures! I mean, I could say that it is impressive and the stones tower above you and create an elegance that awes you; honestly, that means very little compared to actually seeing the place. Even with pictures, the scale is lost. (Go to Spain, guys!) We could climb the tower (it wasn't flimsy metal like the Eiffel Tower, so it wasn't that bad.) and got some fantastic views of the city. Incredible. It was a fascinating place, especially because we are here during holy week and it makes you appreciate the site more.

Unfortunately, it was raining again by the time we left the Cathedral and the rest of the day involved Claire and I being rather soaked. That is life, I suppose. The Alcazar was quite close to the Cathedral so we ended up there. This was also completely worth seeing because of it's beautiful architecture (first try on that word I spelled it half in Spanish and had to show Claire) and gardens. I'm going to only post pictures of it because my abilities are sub-par in the description realm and pictures! (I'm rapidly becoming worried because I couldn't remember what I did yesterday. Also, I spent forever talking about a train ride and hardly anytime on the cool stuff. Yowza.) Claire became extremely excited by all of the animals we saw, including the peacocks inside the gardens. (Because if you tame chipmunks for fun, why wouldn't you be excited about all the lil aminals?) This might have been my favorite part of the trip so far because it was so gorgeous. And huge. It was almost endless and seemed to have secret rooms because you could just keep going forever. (I mean, until you couldn't).

After the sight-seeing, we went back to our hotel room to snack (Cheez-its!), relax and dry off. My mommy was wonderful and used a hair dryer on my pants and shoes to make them no longer feel like I had just been in a monsoon and more dry and homey (I'm sorry, first word I thought of and I wasn't changing it.) 

After The Relaxation Period, we went out into the wide world again in search of the Biggest Wood Thing in the World (Metropol Parasol). My thoughts were this would be akin to the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, however I was both quite wrong and pleasantly surprised. You can climb the giant wood thing (my favorite) for the best view ever. Also, because it wasn't tower shaped and you can't really see the ground, it wasn't absolutely terror-filled for me. As far as not-tower-shaped goes, it looks sort of like a wooden blob (amoeba) with a path that winds around like a snake. I have quite a few pictures from there because it has some excellent vantage points.

Now you are thinking, Emily, your title has the word "sass" in it. You've told us very little about the group dynamics that led you to choose this and where the conflict is. Because sass implies conflict.

You are in luck, my friends! There is nothing that can make my mom and I sassier than A) being lost and B) having to find food. There was a discussion of sorts (i.e. lots and lots of sass going on) until we located both ourselves and food.

(Claire, obliviously: Do we know where we are?)

Food was slightly better because we knew what we were getting but it was pretty clear we didn't choose the best restaurant. Third time's the charm? We headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Sunday

We woke up early (lies) and my Mommy-face kindly brought back breakfast for Claire and I because laze was involved on our part. We had a few things on our checklist to do, namely see the Plaza de España, Torre de Oro and the Plaza de Toros.

To start off, we headed to the Plaza de Toros which is where they hold the bullfights. We took a tour of the place and saw a museum of bullfighting stuff (kee-rap, as my Dad would say). Today was actually quite beautiful unlike the monsoon that was yesterday, so it was a perfect day for this. I would like a fancy bullfighting costume because they have bling. (6000 euros just for a cape!) Bullfighting doesn't start til April, but it was cool just to see the ring.

After, we went just down the street towards the Torre de Oro (Tower of gold). It used to have some significance in regards to shipping but we didn't pay for audio-guides so my knowledge of the place is minimal. When we got to the top (it wasn't that high) we had a good view of the river and parts of the city. Our first two activities of the day didn't take very long, so we still had quite a bit of time to view the city.

Not the KKK

We headed to the Plaza de España next, and were stopped part of the way by a huge procession. Sevilla takes Semana Santa (holy week) really seriously and they have huge floats and people dressed up and everyone (everyone) is out and about. The crowds were huge around the Plaza because of this but we were able to witness some more of the culture. It was amazing to see although I'm glad we are heading to a different city tomorrow. The crowds are crazy! We wandered around and admired the Plaza because it is super beautiful (pictures!). We stayed there for quite a while and even got warm (in stark contrast from the cold rain of yesterday.)

In the middle-ish afternnon, we went out to eat at a crowded (like everything) pizzeria. The pizza was good (not Italy-quality though) and we decided to go back to our room to rest up for our exciting evening out on the town (that might be an exaggeration). After my mommy's power-nap (and uploading pictures to Facebook) we went out again to catch a Flamenco show.

Another brief sidenote: During this entire trip, I've been the navigator. For those of you who know my skills in this field, that is downright terrifying. I can barely get around St Cloud, let alone foreign countries. I don't even know...

Impressively, we didn't get lost on our way to the show. Unfortunately, it was all sold out so we were directed to another place where we could see the dance. But alas, for that was closed so we got a little bit to the Lost and Stressed and Sassy stage of the day. The crowds didn't necessarily help the situation. But ice cream did.

Because of the hecticness of the streets, we called it an early night. We are, more or less, prepared for another adventure to a new city tomorrow.

Adios until next weekend!

Adventure Is Out There!

For those of you who didn't know, I am currently in Toledo, Spain! And if you didn't know, you probably haven't been talking to my mom. In like a year and a half. (Sorry, mom, you just tell everyone. EVERYONE).

First thing: It's pronounced "Toe-lay-doe." Jokes about me going to Ohio will result in severe eye-rolling. (Dad.)

My flight here went relatively well, despite the fact that I couldn't sleep for the eight-hour trip over the ocean. Foolishly, I was under the impression that I could sleep anywhere. NOT accurate. And apparently plane seats have been cursed by some black magic because they shrink as time goes on. So it goes.

I've been here for a(n eventful) week, so I'll try to get everyone caught up.

Day 1: Extreme jet-lag. And time-disorientation (It's a real thing. Don't question it). We explored the Toledo and got quite lost. The streets here don't believe in being normal so they're all really skinny and long and curvy. If a kid scribbled on a sheet of paper, you would have the layout of the city. No joke. We wandered around the Fund (La Fundacion Ortega y Gasset) for an hour before we actually found it again. I'm so glad the city is so beautiful otherwise my sleep-deprived brain would've had a breakdown.

Day 2: We had a few placement tests and an interview to sign up for classes. I really don't remember much about this day to be honest. I think we walked around the city some more with slightly more success in Not Getting Lost.

Day 3: Bus tour of the city! Our bus took us around some of the outer roads of the city and the hill-mountain things across the river. We got off the bus and walked back to the Fund. It was really cold outside (by Spain standards. I'm becoming a pathetic Minnesotan). I only understood about 30 percent of the Spanish being spoken because my brain was broken that day. Whatevs whatevs.

Day 4: Class started and MY 21ST BIRTHDAY. Lucky for me classes are on the same floor that I live on. 30 second commute? *rubs hands together like evil mastermind and cackles* Excellent. I had 2 classes, one that's a Spanish history-geography-economy-crash course type of class and an art class about the mixture of Jewish, Muslim and Christian cultures. Both seem like they'll be pretty interesting. On to the good stuff. A lot of students went out later in the night and we went to a bar with hams hanging from the ceiling. Tons and tons of hams. I had a delicious Sangria, and then we went out to a club. Spaniards must not believe in sleep because they start coming out at 3am, when we start going in. I don't even know. Either way, the celebrating was fantastic and I can't believe how great the people I've just met are.

Day 5-6: Recovery. Jet-lag and staying out too late having resulted in the need to recharge. Last night we had a movie night and today we've just been hanging out at the Fund.

Next time on the Emily O'Brien Show: Pictures and a better description of the program and where I'm living and whatever else seems interesting.

Peace out.