Evolution of Self

Sometimes I think I do this whole travel blog thing wrong. Does anybody really want to hear about the museums I went to? Or do they want to know that the night before I left for London I went out and met this really cool guy and stayed up until 3:30 am talking to him and then 20 minutes later got in a cab to go to the airport.

Is it important to know that I went to the London Tower or is it more significant to note that in my rush to spend a night out in Rome I left my walking shoes in Rome and walked around London and Dublin for 9 days in a pair of strappy sandals from target?

I feel like I’m growing so much from this entire traveling experience and not because I’m just learning about famous art, hearing new languages, or visiting x amount of museums every week. It’s because I just went 9 days wearing the same 2 jeans that now smell like death. It’s because I have survived on pasta and PB&J’s. Because I met the two coolest travel buddies who laughed when we missed our train and we ended up walking for 45 minutes in a random city in England trying to find another train station to get to the airport.

I kissed a strange Italian guy (sorry mom — there’s an honesty policy on here.), I met a bachelor party on a bus to the Cliffs of Moher and we stopped by a pub and grabbed a round of Guinness. I sat on the edge of a cliff and looked down at the waves crashing against the stone and felt small.

I ran in the rain because I forgot my stupid 2 euro umbrella. I looked at the Cliffs of Moher and marveled at how such a thing of beauty and size could coexist with everything else on this planet.

I can feel myself being challenged and the world demanding I finally look around me and do something. This whole trip – Rome, France, England, Ireland.. all of it – continues to ask me to do things I’m uncomfortable with.

It has been the scariest and happiest time of my life. For the first time in my 19 years here, I am absolutely present. I commented to Michelle the other day that I was in Ireland. And I felt as if I had been in Ireland my entire life. There was no London, there was no Rome. There wasn’t even a Florida to go back to. For those 3 days Ireland was all I had and I wasn’t thinking back to what I had gone through in London or what I would go home to when I got on a flight back to Italy. Finally, I have reached this point where I am absolutely in the moment.

Before I go back to posting about my daily adventures in random places, I just wanted to comment on the fact that in this past month alone I have felt myself really experience the world outside of what I’m comfortable with and I never knew it would be this liberating or this educational. I have loved every minute of it and I feel incredibly grateful to be here for  7 more weeks.

Good Bye London!

To start with Michelle and I knew we wanted to milk the last bit of our London pass for all it was worth so we went with the Kensington Palace, Tower of London, and the zoo.. And my Lord did we fit it all in.

 

The first stop was Tower of London. I would like to be able to gush about the place and rave about my experience there but the reality was that we just weren’t that into it. It was a large castle type place with walls enclosing it.. and yeah they had these great exhibits demonstrating what life must have looked like back in the day but to be honest I wasn’t really all too excited about it! I’m not sure if it was just because it was swarming with people or I put myself in a position where I had high expectations – But I just couldn’t enjoy the experience. In fact it took Michelle and I an hour to figure out how to get out because they only had one exit in one of the castles! But hey – I’m happy I tried it. It was good to realize what I do and don’t enjoy and I’ll remember that next time I try and plan a trip!

  

Next up was Kensington. Honestly I knew nothing about Kensington palace prior to going on the trip but I am so, so happy I was persuaded into making the trip. It was a rather far tube ride, taking us about 45 minutes to get there but when we arrived I felt like I was in another world. We started off walking down this street where all the international embassies were. We then entered into the garden/park where there were so many people just lounging around and soaking up that rare England sunshine. It was stunning. Immediately we felt at peace – we’d been feeling a little rushed because we were trying to fit in so many different activities and both of us were a little sweaty and a lot of frazzled. However once we walked into the Palace the receptionists were sweet and calm and immediately put us at ease.

 

 

The rooms were a muted pink and the carpet was so thick that although there were a number of people the noise level was muffled and it was such a peaceful atmosphere. Both of us just kind of floated through the whole experience in a state of calm and I loved seeing all the British people there to support their royalty. It’s such a fascinating part of their culture that I, as an American, will obviously never understand. I loved hearing little girls getting excited in the “dress” room and I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated the special place the royalty (especially modern royalty) has in the hearts of the English people.

  

 

So a somewhat random stop on our trip was the London zoo. Michelle and I just stumbled upon it in our booklet of free stops with the London Pass and we just decided we had a mutual interest in animals and it would be better than a stuffy castle or snapping a picture in front of Big Ben. So we went!

 

Ohmygod the zoo. It was incredible. I don’t remember the last time I went to a zoo but this place was so stinking awesome. It had GIANT gorillas, tigers, zebras, giraffes, and penguins! They had every type of animal you could want to see. I saw my first porcupine. No big deal.

The two highlights from my zoo adventure was
1)   I touched a donkey
2)   A butterfly landed on me in a butterfly garden

This was such a fun and unexpected stop during our London trip and I’m so happy I got the opportunity to go!

 

On our last full day in London we were set to go to Stonehenge at about 1 in the afternoon, leaving us with only half a day to venture out into the city.  So knowing this we slept in because we’d had a pretty fun wine night the evening before.

 

After we woke up and did our typical egg breakfast we headed over to the London Eye and went to Trafalgar Square. We had an absolute ball in Trafalgar Square watching tourists like ourselves trying to climb on top of the lion statues situated around the large monument.. and then we proceeded to climb on top and take pictures too. The hypocrisy.

And then we were off to one of the wonders of the world.

  

Remember when I mentioned expectations? Well Michelle, Renoli, and I decided it would be one of those things that we regretted if we didn’t see Stonehenge while we were England. To be perfectly honest my expectations didn’t even exist. I knew they were rocks. There’s no arguing that. I was paying a small fortune to see a pile of rocks. The logic just wasn’t there for me.

 

However when we got to the place I was absolutely blown away. It helped that I had the option for an audio tour and so before I even reached Stonehenge I knew about its history and significance – When we arrived a small part of me wanted to cry a little bit. I have never appreciated the size of this “pile of rocks” or the history behind it. It is a standing formation that is thousands of years old, and at some point in humanity’s time, people gathered in the very spot I was standing to partake in some ceremony or another that had importance to them. I’m not sure what it was but I felt a massive amount of respect for their genius for being able to assemble and create something of that scope and exactness (the rocks all aligned to be situated around the sun to create effects with shadows). We took our time and we laid out on the grass surrounding the rocks and learned about the culture of the people who built it. We learned about what must have gone into it, speculations on the meaning of the rocks, and just took in this giant, beautiful peace of humanity’s history.

It was one of the most stunning things I have ever seen and I could not be happier with this pile of rocks.

That night the USA was playing against Belgium.. Spoiler alert: we lost.

It was fun to go to an English pub with Michelle and Renoli as our last hurrah before we were off to London and I think one of my favorite moments was when a stranger at the bar thumbs upped me for ordering a Guinness. I think I must have made my dad proud in that moment.

After we left and cried a little bit about the state of the world, we headed back to our apartment.. and then we went for our last round of McDonalds. 20 nuggets, medium fries, and a large milkshake please.