Ireland, my love.

"My dancing is freaky?"

My Guinness Hat!

Cause if I had a mustache...everyone would be in love with me!


Davy Crockett had no clue.

The Cliffs of Moher aka my only non-drunk picture in this post.

I've had the BEST time in Ireland. Dublin was incredible. To start off with, Jane (a friend I met at Sasquatch last year) graciously invited me and my sister to stay with her. Her apartment is huge, and we got a real bed, and a real shower, and real hospitality. She was so nice...she even picked us up and dropped us off when we went sightseeing! Unbelieveable. She made our trip to Dublin so much nicer than if we had stayed in a grimy Dublin hostel the whole time. I owe her a gallon of chili con queso dip and a taco bell feast to last the ages (all food she can't get in Ireland, that we share a mutual passion for).

We cavorted and gallivanted around Dublin for 3 days, and although we saw a lot of the city, I can't really say we DID much...except drink. Oh man, did we drink. We even went to the Guiness Factory, which I actually enjoyed. I've never drank Guiness before this trip, but it's so delicious over here! I'm not sure I want to try it back in the states though, because I have the feeling that the reason it's so good is because of how fresh it is. I drank SOOOO much of it over here.

We went out every night in Dublin, and i'll tell you...the Irish can drink. We got wasted every night. There was live music at almost every bar, and they were these little "irish" bands with fiddles and traditional drums and whatnot, but whenever I would shout out "WONDERWALL!!!!", they would always play it for me. I sure love me some Oasis! It was great. Then there was this song called "Wild Rover" that I had to sing the chorus to the bartender to actually find out what the name was...then I scurried back up to the band and screamed out my request (even though they were about 5 feet away), and they played it and everyone in the bar was singing and drunk. The thing is...i'm pretty sure "wild rover" is an irish song...but I have the feeling it's just one of those songs that drunk tourists like and request. Whatever.

While we were all singing along, I yelled at my sister and our friend Nadha..."We have to sway to this song and slosh our beer glasses around!". Only problem? We had already finished our beer. What a dilemma! We obviously didn't have enough time to go back up and order more beer while our favorite song was playing...so...solution? The only reasonable thing to do was to steal people's half finished drinks on the bar just so we could wave them around and crash them into other people's glasses. It was so much fun.

After all the drunk pub singing, we headed to a club to dance our drunk little hearts out. As you can see in the above picture, I came to the obvious conclusion that my sexiest move is the robot. But you knew that already.

Finally when the club closed, randomly these irish people took a shining to us (i guess?) and invited us back to their place for a house party. We said why not? and took a taxi with them...the party was pretty fun. My favorite part was when I got to wear a fake mustache. Apparently my sister was trying to get me to take it off but I refused. I think i look goooooood. Eventually we were so drunk, and sleepy (it was about 4 in the morning), so we took a cab ride back to Jane's and fell in bed and didn't wake up till noon the next day.

The last couple days have been filled with sightseeing and driving. We went from Dublin to Galway, but I was sick so I don't have much to say about that city, then from Galway we rented a car (scariest thing ever driving on the left side of the road in a manual car!) and have been driving around the irish countryside. We went around the Dingle peninsula (that name tickles me), then around the Ring of Kerry today. Gorgeous green pastures, stormy beaches and sheep wandering around everywhere...sigh...it's just what you would think Ireland would be like. I loved it.

Tomorrow morning we fly back to London and then? Well gosh darn! In 3 days (the 18th) I fly home sweet home.

Northern Ireland

So after beautiful Edinburgh, we headed off to the gritty city of Belfast. Personally, I wasn't really interested in it. I know that there is so much history involved within the city...but It's just so depressing. I hate hearing about people killing over religion (although the conflict was more complicated than that), and Belfast has such a bloody history, and still is pretty segregated. I hate the idea of going to a memorial of like, "here's where 20 people were gunned down for no reason!", and then taking pictures of it or something. I know it's important to remember, but it's just pretty sad. My sister really wanted to go though, and I conceded because going to Belfast meant it would be a hop, skip and a jump away from the Giant's Causeway...something I was really excited to see. Aaron told me about this amazing sight...a natural cooling of volcano that made the stones all into these jutting up hexagonal figures. I saw pictures of it online, and I had to go. And I wasn't disappointed at all. It was just SO cool. One of my favorite things i've seen on this trip I think.

Spooked

So I'm being a slacker again...mostly cause i'm too busy having fun to sit down and write on the computer...but I figured i'd give you guys a little picture to tide you over till my next real blog entry. This is a famous cemetary in Edinburgh. I went there to draw it, and got pretty creeped out actually. It got dark while I was there, and I was listening to chad vangaalen, which if you know him, his stuff can sound a little creepy.

Anyways...ONE WEEK TILL I RETURN!!!

Lovely, Lovely Scotland

Loch Ness

Hiking

We bought these ridiculous scottish tams. Yes, we know they look ridiculous, and we love them. There's a pom pom on the back of them too!

An old fortress

A painting of a Broch (fortress) staircase I did

On January 2nd, we started our tour of Scotland with MacBackpackers. It was so great. I'm not usually crazy about the guided tours, but this one was wonderful because we got to see so many places that we never would have if we hadn't been driven around in our little bus. There is so much natural beauty in Scotland...I've discovered that I like seeing the country way more than the city. It's so peaceful, and there were about 10 million scenes that took my breath away. I didn't have many expectations for Scotland, but even if I had high ones, this country would have surpassed them. Our tour guide was wonderful...he was quick and witty and told us all the best stories about Scotland. He even wore a kilt! Haha...authentic Scotsman alert! My only issue with the tour was that he talked all the time while he was driving...he told us umpteen stories about the land we were passing. But, as anyone that knows me knows...I cannot stay awake in vehicles. Cars, buses, trains, planes....they all put me into a coma. I literally fell asleep in between every stop on that bus. Everytime the bus would jerk to a stop though, I would get out, pose for some pictures with Mariette, look around, maybe draw a little...I was totally awake! But after 5 minutes of the gentle swaying of the bus, I would pass out again. I have vehicular narcolepsy. I swear.

We got to see Loch Ness, which was absolutely gorgeous...sigh. One of the prettiest lakes i've ever seen. We even had a Nessie sighting (see above)!!! We went up to the island of Skye...a northern island that was simply gorgeous. We saw rivers, climbed a giant hill, saw cliffs bordering the atlantic...any type of scenery imaginable, we saw it. We climbed up this massive hill to the base of this rock. I want to tell you guys the folktale of where this rock came from.

So once there was this giant. And we all know giants have lots of silver that humans are always trying to steal. Three beautiful maidens happened upon this giant, and wanted to steal his silver, so they started thinking how they could do this? Back then, god wanted to kill anyone who did sinful things on sunday, the day of rest, so the maidens thought that they would make this giant dance on sunday, and so god would smite him, and then they could steal his silver. So they start playing music for this giant around 11:45 pm at night, hoping he'll forget tomorrow is sunday, and dance. He dances for a little while, but as the clock gets closer to midnight, he sits down, cause he knows it's about to be sunday, so he knows he needs to stop dancing. So the maidens get together and say "what should we do?". Their solution is this: They strip down naked and start dancing all sultry around the giant, implying they'll have a foursome with him. He gets a massive boner thinking about it, and gets really riled up so he starts dancing. Just then the clock strikes midnight, and god looks down and says "say whaaaat?" and smites that giant, so he dies and he falls down with his boner still high in the air.

That's what the massive rock is that we hiked up to. A dead giant's penis. As aaron said, "Why doesn't america have any folk stories like that?". Valid question. I think we need some. Why isn't the grand canyon created from some folk story about a massive vagina or something? Huh? Huh?

Hogmanay...Drunk and Lawless

Look!

My favorite picture of the night...right at Midnight.

By the end of the night, we were just taking pictures with old people apparently. Look how drunk my sister looks!We thought this guy's bald head was really gross. So we took like, 8 pictures with it.

Sneaking into Groove Armada

Hogmanay was absolutely incredible. Of of the best times i've had over here. It was just SO MUCH FUN!!! We started off the night by drinking a lot a lot of vodka, but at Hogmanay (awesome), you can bring in your own alcohol, no problem! So we brought water bottles filled with vodka and fanta.
Our first stop? The Hot Chip DJ set. So great...they played so much good music, but the crowd obviously mostly responded to Hot Chip songs. We danced like crazy and I got to hear almost all my favorite songs by them. So after Hot Chip ended, we thought...hmm? What should we do? At this point, we were drunk enough to be reckless, and of course our thoughts were to sneak into the only area of Hogmanay where you had to buy an extra ticket (and what a ticket! Around 50 pounds for a concert (75 dollars!)). No way were we paying that. But we were going to get in...no matter what. My sister had kind of heard the band, and liked them...but I had never even heard Groove Armada before. I just wanted to break the law, honestly. It was way more about the mission than the end result for me. I was drunk, it was new years, and I wanted to do some subversive shit.

You can find all this out by reading the comic I posted above, but for those of you who are lazy, or who can't read my handwriting (probably everyone), I'll spell it out for you.

We started by going to a little gate blocking off the park and begging with the security guard to let us in...Of course, our friends had our tickets, and they were already inside, and won't you please help us out sir? We're just two damsels in distress (cue batting of the eyelashes)! No go. I'm pretty sure we were pretty obvious, and the day after we heard multiple people talking about how THEY tried to beg the guards to let them in too.
So instead, we found an exit area from the concert, and snuck in there. It went through this bathroom area, and there were two guards standing right there, but I went down, and right then it was midnight! Fireworks went off everywhere...it was really beautiful, and even more beautiful because I used that cue to say "Mar...come look at the fireworks" and out she walks past the guards, like we're not doing anything wrong...we're just two girls looking at fireworks gosh golly! So we look at them for a bit, and when we think the guards have relaxed to our presence, Mariette pretends like she wants to take my picture (well, she actually does, but she was also using it as an excuse for me to edge further into the park). She says "back up!" a couple times, as she keeps taking my photo, and then we just RUN for it. We ended up being backstage, but we were too drunk to realize it at the time...so we have to JUMP a hedge to make it to the main concert area. I boosted up my sister, then she helped pull me over (with some drunk difficulties). And then....we made it! We got to be front and center for the groove armada concert, without paying a cent. Amazing. It was such an awesome night. I had the best time. I hope everyone else's new years were awesome too!

EDINBURGH! SCOTLAND! CAPS LOCK!

Don't worry, this is the view from our hostel. Yes, it's across the street from a Castle.

Overlooking some random Edinburgh park

Edinburgh is magically delicious. We arrived early in the morning of the 31st...got about an hour of restful sleep, then took a free walking tour. We learned so much about the city. It has so much cool folklore and architecture and weird things about it...it's just a really cool city. And although it is by far the coldest city i've been in so far, it's really beautiful (I guess that makes up for it). The walking tour was really fun, although the guide was pretty annoying (he thought he was sooooo funny. And he got barely a chuckle out of us. I actually kind of felt bad...all his jokes landed super flat). But the stories he told were really cool. It's like every statue, every building and every pub has it's own backstory. There's so much history here.

Meeting up with Mariette

Reunited and it feels SO GOOD

Look at me pretending to know how to read

Modern art? I thought it was a stripper pole! Hyuk Hyuk!

How wonderful is it, after 2 and a half months of traveling alone...to see a familiar face? Especially that of my sister! Mariette and I met in London on the 30th. It was so, so great to see her again. I haven't even seen her since June...which is way too long to go without seeing my sister. Seriously. My parents flew her out as her birthday/christmas gift, and i'm so happy they did. It's so much fun to travel together...even if we do squabble a bit. I'm sure you'll notice some changes to my blog from now on because...My sister loves taking photos...you lucky people! You'll now be assualted with loads of photos of me, instead of the crudely drawn cartoons you've grown accustomed to (just kidding). It's actually really nice having her here...although I hate taking photos, I like looking at them, and I HAVE taken some myself...but my sister goes nuts. She's taken more than 300 photos in 4 days. Yes. That is my sister. Different, no?

So anyways, we both flew into London, she from Portland, me from Lisbon. We met in the tube at the airport, and it was so nice to be able to TALK to someone. We chatted the whole tube ride, and I couldn't stop grinning. It was like I forgot what it was like to be able to have a conversation. It was great.

We didn't have that long in London so we hit up the Tate Modern, a modern art museum that I really liked last time we went there. There was a lot of different stuff than there was four years ago, so that was really cool. I saw a quote from Picasso that I really, really liked.

"Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life."

I just thought that was really beautiful. We spent a couple hours there (I snuck in some crunchy cheetos. They only have puffed cheetos over here, and as weird as it is, the crunchy ones were something I really craved. They totally taste different! No, Cindy, unfortunately they weren't cheddar jalapeno ones. I had asked my sister for those, but she couldn't find them (a snowstorm is no excuse!). Anyways, the crunchy cheetos were amazing. A little, bright orange, cheesy taste of home.)

We left that night for Edinburgh on an overnight bus. I'm not going to lie...the overnight bus was so terrible. We were crammed up so tight, it was so uncomfortable, and I was sitting next to two people who admitted they were mental patients. Oh really? Thaaaaaat's nice....?

How I spent my Christmas:

My Christmas Eve

Hopefully this isn't as impossible to read as it seems while i'm posting it. This is a comic I did of what happened my new years ever. I was really, really drunk. The ending cracks me up, because I DID dance the robot to "video kill the radio star" in Lisbon on Christmas eve, and I DID overhear someone from the hostel criticizing my dancing, and when I heard that, I got so drunkenly pissed off. I can't even explain the rage I felt...like, who are YOU? I'm a GOOD dancer. Hahaha...The hilarious thing is: Hey. I know i'm an awful dancer. Especially when I'm drunk, I don't mind making a fool out of myself, and I don't care what I look like. I just let the music move me, and I know most of the time it turns out looking really goofy. I've come to accept it. I just think it's funny that I was so offended by it when I heard the girl say it when I was drunk. Like I wouldn't know that my dancing is freaky? C'mon people!

So after sleeping off my hangover the next day then doing my "job"...oh wait. I haven't talked about my responsibilities at the hostel yet. Ok, here goes. I get free accomodation which is 20 euros a night, pretty much equivelent to around 25-30 US dollars. In exchange, I made their beds. I made around 5 beds a day. You do the math to see about how much money I was making per bed. And it only took me about a half an hour to make them on average. Ahhhh... bliss.

So I made the beds then because it was christmas, I had a "special" responsibility that day. I had to baste the second turkey for the christmas dinner our hostel was giving. So me and Alicia went to the other annex of the hostel, basted the turkey every 20 minutes for about 4 hours, and watched "Children of Men" and "Sin City". Two of my favorite movies. We then got free dinner from the hostel: The best turkey i've ever tasted, mashed potatoes, amazing green beans and apple crisp for dessert. It was fabulous. If only I could forget that it was Christmas!!! It would have been a wonderful day! No, just kidding...the day was actually really nice except for the fact that when I finally got to skype my family, the internet connection was so slow the video was a joke, and I couldn't even hear what they were saying. That got me in a really really bad mood. But I hope everyone else's christmas was lovely...I missed everyone...not just my family. I missed you, and you...yes! And even you! I love you all!

Christmas Abroad!

Where I was...

Where I wished I was...

Hm...Chrismas abroad. What is there to really say? It was pretty awful. It was my first christmas away from my family, and the first christmas I would have spent with someone I love (romantically, that is). So of course it was hard. It doesn't help that you guys all got a beautiful white christmas (which I heard got annoying after awhile, but still!). I couldn't help romanticizing the snow, the more I heard about it.

I spent christmas eve doing some retail therapy with my new friends, Alicia and Juan (two of the best people i've met traveling so far...canadians of course!). I found this dress at H &M that i've been looking for for probably a month and a half, at every H & M in every city I go to. I finally found it in the color I wanted and in the size I wanted, so that definitely gave me a little christmas cheer. Lisbon was beautiful, and bustling with people all making their last minute purchases...it got me in a bit of a christmas-y mood, which was nice. That night we played christmas carols and a group of us watched Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer on my laptop (I had downloaded it). It was pretty fun, but I was just trying to get christmas out of my head. I couldn't help thinking about all the things I was missing about home. So I proceeded to get wasted (of course!). Merry Christmas to all and to all a good drunk!

Wasted Days

Hello my lovelies! I've missed you all dearly, and I apologize profusely for the lack of posting in the last couple of weeks. Yes, i've been a slacker. Yes, I spent a lot of time lying on the couch in my hostel reading. But yes, my computer is completely broken. So cut me a little slack. It's a lot harder to blog when you have to use hostel computers...and I know you guys only look at the pictures ("what's this funny text stuff underneath?"), and it's REALLY hard to upload pics on stranger's computers in order to share them with you. So there's my apology and my excuse. Now that THAT's out of the way...

After Porto, I posted that one super lame entry about Nice (see below). That leaves a lot to be desired, and a lot to be explained, so let me start at the beginning.

I had about 5 days left on my eurail pass, and I really wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been, and somewhere I really wanted to go. I've basically seen all of Spain that I have interest in, so I thought...umm....somewhere relatively close by, somewhere pretty...why not Nice? My sister went and loved it, and since the only city in France that i've seen in Paris, I figured it would be a good experience. So I booked it out of Porto and headed to Nice. The route was Porto-Lisbon-Madrid-Barcelona-Marseille-Nice. That should have given me 2 days in Nice before i'd have to start heading back to Lisbon to work in the hostel over christmas. The trip there should have taken me an overnight train and the rest of one day. Did it? Hahaha...remember...this is MELINDA'S trip. Can anything go right? I think not. So to start with, my overnight train from Lisbon to Madrid pulled into the station 3 hours late. I don't know why it was so delayed...they DID offer us a free espresso though, from the train's dining car. "Oh really? A free espresso? That really makes up for the fact that i've missed my window of opportunity to make it into France today. Gee...thanks." So I got into Madrid, then took a 3 hour train to Barcelona, and realized there was no way I was going to make it into France that night, so took up residence in Kabul hostel (I'm practically a regular there...I spent almost 4 days there with Katie and Natasha). The staff totally recognized me...kind of embarassing since they probably just remember me as the crying girl in the bar seeing as how last time I was dealing with a "no money, new bank card isn't working, i'm going to miss my train" situation. Anyways...I hung out with some english guys that night and drank massive pints of beer so of course I was hungover for my second day of travel the next day. Brilliant. I left for France, but once I got to Marseille, I was informed that...(drumroll please?)...There was a train strike. I had to wait about 5 hours for another train into Nice, putting me into the city around 10:30 at night. So I didn't get to see any of Nice that day...but no worries, right? Because I had a whole other day to peruse the city.

OR SO SHE THOUGHT.

The next day at breakfast I was talking to one of the guys from the hostel that worked there, and asking him about maybe making it to Carcassone (a small french city) after I saw Nice. He told me that no matter where I was planning on going, I should go to the train station that day to make a reservation because the french holiday was starting, so the trains were going to be very busy. So I headed there first.

I dealt with an asshole guy who was laughing with his other ticket agent buddies as he was telling me that there were NO trains out of Nice within the next two days. You have to understand that I was desperate. My eurail ended in 3 days, and even if I couldn't get all the way back to Lisbon, I NEEDED to get closer...I could buy a bus ticket for part of the way, but a bus ticket from Nice to Lisbon would be ridiculously expensive. So I begged him...anything? "NO." He had no sympathy, and kept speaking in french with his buddies and laughing as I teared up and ultimately cried in front of him. So embarassing. It just felt so hopeless. So I said "thanks anyways" and went to cry in the corner of the train station. I had no idea what I was going to do. Finally a different train agent called me up to her counter (she took over my "case" i guess), and told me my only option was to leave Nice that night at 8:00pm. I took it. So basically, I spent 4 days in travel for less than 24 hours in Nice.

Was it worth it? That's a very good question, and one i'm not sure I have an answer to. Nice was absolutely gorgeous. The water was a sparkling jewel, the sunset was so pretty, I could walk around in my cardigan...there were so many nice things about the city. So of course I was glad that I came. I just don't know if it was worth it.

I spent my less than a day in Nice #1. Going to the Chagall museum (truly incredible. Chagall is one of my favorite artists, if only for his use of color). #2. Shopping (I bought a new top...screw the fact I can't close my suitcase without sitting on top of it!). #3. Drawing and painting. I've got a story about that too.

Often when I'm painting something, people sometimes come up to peek over my shoulder to look at whatever i'm doing. Usually it's just kind of embarassing. Sometimes i'll get some vigorous head nods with smiles (approval from strangers? YES!), sometimes people will try to talk to me (sorry, i only speak english), and sometimes, like in Nice...they just won't go away.

While I was painting a landscape of the beach this creepy old guy came up to look at what I was doing, and he sat next to me. Point number one: He was probably 50 years old, and was trying to hit on me. Point number two: He reeked of tobacco and made me want to gag. Point number three: He couldn't really speak english, but gosh darn...he was going to try to sit and talk to me for almost a half an hour! All these points made me want to give him a big "fuck off", but I was trying to be the polite foreigner. I kept trying to ignore him and just finish the painting, but was finally driven off when he put his finger in my yellow paint and tried to "put the sun into my drawing". I wanted to murder him. Seriously. I all but yelled at him to not touch my sketchbook, and then I packed up and left, telling him I had to meet someone. So frustrating...I hate being run off because of some creepy guy! I finished the painting by memory.

And when I was working on the painting above, this younger guy came up and tried talking to me for a bit, then lingered around my shoulder for like...10 minutes! What are you supposed to say? Um...personal space please? I had to keep one eye on my painting, and one eye on my bag. I'm so convinced i'm going to be robbed again. I hate being so suspicious, but I feel like I have to be now.

So that was my story of Nice. I did really like the city. I hope you guys don't think i'm the most negative person in the world...of course good things happen to me...but the bad things are so much funnier, don't you think? I headed back to Lisbon that night at 8 and arrived 2 days later at 8 in the morning.

Nice was....nice (hyuk hyuk)

Sights checklist...

Eiffel Tower?...check.

Van Gogh Museum?...check.

Giant Creepy Baby Head Statue in train station?....CHECK.

I guess I can go home now.

Porto, Portugal

Random Porto Tower

And the heavens broke open....and there was....MELINDA!

Painting of Porto

After my lovely time in Lisbon, I headed to Porto for quick day of sightseeing.  It was one of those cities that some random person I met in my travels (a spainard in Zaragoza) told me to go to, so when I got there and opened up the guidebook I was like..."uh...why did I come here again?".  

I ended up loving Porto too.  I think Portugal itself is just such an amazing place.  It's just not touristy at all, which leaves you feeling like you're discovering some amazing thing that no one else has taken advantage of.  And Portugese people are all so nice: even the ones working in the train station.  I don't know if i'm having such warm sentiments towards Portugal also because it's one of the only new places i've traveled to on this trip (belgium too, but my wallet was stolen there!  Fuck you Brussels!)   My hostel was pretty crappy; I was in a room with probably 13 other people, and it smelled like a mixture of B.O. and dirty socks.  Luckily it didn't bother me THAT much, cause i'm still sick, and my nose is stuffed up.  

Traveling sick is pretty awful.  All I want to do is curl up in bed and sleep till I feel better, but of course I need to GO GO GO and rush around to see as many sights as I can!  Only 5 more days left on my eurail pass, by the way.  I took 2 sudafed on my only day in Porto...woop woop!  It was pretty weird.  I felt super light-headed the whole day, and once while I was painting I felt like I was falling even though I was sitting down.  Pretty weird.  I haven't taken any since.  I was hanging out with a french guy in Porto for awhile, and I spent a good 20 minutes trying to explain to him how when I'm home, instead of taking medicine to get better, all I want is some 7up and Chicken Noodle Soup.  I guess in France, they don't have those "food" remedies, he told me that they just go to the doctor whenever they're sick (because they have reasonable healthcare of course).  He also didn't know what Campbell's soup was, so I had a hard time trying to explain to him about that too.  Oh, silly american things that you take for granted.

We walked around the city for a bit then took a train to go see the amazing beaches.  I want to come back in the summer SO bad...apparently there's really good surfing, but the beaches are just so nice even now!  I really enjoyed seeing them as they were yesterday...cloudy and windy and a little chilly...it reminded me of the oregon coast so much!  I'm such a sucker for anything that makes me feel like i'm home at this point.  P.S. Only 1 month and 2 days till I return!  

Last night I got on a train at 6:48 pm and continued to take train rides from then till 3:30pm today.  I went Porto-Lisbon-Madrid-Barcelona, and WOULD have gone Barcelona to Carcassone in France, but My Lisbon-Madrid train was 3 hours last getting to Madrid!  Ridiculous.  That changed my plans a bit, but I don't mind.  I'm feeling a lot more light-hearted about traveling.  My luck has definitely changed for the better...I'm already excited to go back to Portugal to work/play in Lisbon, I'm heading for Nice tomorrow, and someone here in my Barcelona hostel just suggested a good hostel there, and on my train from Porto-Lisbon I sat in the 1st class section for 2 hours without them noticing, and I didn't even buy a reservation for that train at all!  When they found me, they just made me sit in 2nd class, even though they should have made me pay.  To be fair, I honestly didn't know it was the 1st class section.  And I didn't buy a reservation because I was running late.  But anyways...lucky me for once.  Yay!

Some creepy things I've seen so far.

So whoever thinks that when I get back home, they'll be a massive photo drop of stunning buildings, gorgeous landscapes and beautiful pictures of Europe, you'll be disappointed.  I've discovered that I REALLY don't like taking pictures.  When I find some building/scene compelling, i'm trying to draw it.  That way, there's some involvement in the whole traveller/environment scenario.  The deal is this:  I am not a good photographer.  Add that with no passion for taking pictures, and all you have is me pointing my camera randomly and thinking, "Oh, people at home will be mad if I don't take a picture of this".  And THAT'S no fun, right?  I want to take pictures for my own enjoyment, and make it not be a chore.  SO...without further ado...here are some photos that I DID take.  These are the things I want to remember about my trip.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.  

The only photo I took in Madrid.  The creepiest Tellytubby with a cameltoe i've ever seen.  It looks like satan.  It will haunt my dreams, I can tell you that.  

They're OBSESSED with life-size nativity scenes in Spain and Portugal.  This was one I walked through in Zaragoza, complete with sound system shooting out sound effects of donkeys "hee-hawing" at random intervals.  

Check out the close up of this guy:

YIKES!  What is he so angry about?  I don't even know who this guy is supposed to be in the whole jesus story.  I don't remember a man with porridge playing a big part in the story.

By far, the creepiest thing ever, and therefore, my favorite picture.   What is it?  I have no idea.  The rest of the statue is completely life-like.  They're sitting on this demon creature.  I don't know who made it, but they have some issues, I can tell you that.  CREEPER alert.

Feeling A LOT better

Thanks to everyone for the sweet words of sympathy and encouragement.  It means a lot to me that so many of you were concerned with my highly emotional last posting.  I've been feeling a lot better since that night.  The day after my night of depression, I went on a free walking tour around madrid, and I really enjoyed it.  The city was beautiful, and although I was wearing 2 pairs of gloves and my hands still hurt from the cold, it was really fun.  I left that night for Lisbon, Portugal.  

And Now, I'm in Heaven.

Lisbon is my FAVORITE city i've been to so far in my trip.  There's just this charm about it...steep hills, and cobblestone streets, and narrow alleys, and no tourists, and nice people and beautiful weather....a million things about it, make it so incredible.  It feels undiscovered.  And the hostel i'm staying in is by far the best hostel i've ever been in.  The people are incredible, it's super laid back, every night they give out free shots...and, I know this sounds really weird, but it smells like my grandma's beach house.  You know how it is with smells, right?  How certain ones evoke feelings you can't control.  I feel like i'm home here.  Everything about it makes me happy.  I walked around the city and saw a million things I want to draw.  Our hostel has a Portugese mother come in 3 days a week to make a home cooked dinner for the hostel for only 5 euros a head plus dessert (really cheap over here) and the food was incredible.  Sooo.....I decided that for the 9 days in between when my eurail pass ends (December 21st) and when I need to fly back to London (December 30th).  I'm going to stay in Lisbon.  I talked to the manager of the hostel, and i'm going to do a couple hours work for the hostel every day in exchange for free accommodation!  I'll be making beds, or wandering around the streets handing out flyers to tourists, or working reception, or any number of random tasks.  I'm so excited!  So i'll be in Lisbon over christmas which should be fun hopefully!  

I just got sick, which sucks...a flu/cold thingy that isn't being helped by the free shots you can't refuse (literally, people won't let you.  I was just handed a tequila shot as I was writing this, and I said "Oh, I really shouldn't, i'm sick", and the girl said "Yes, but THIS will burn off all your sickness" and gave me a stern look till I took the cup from her hand.).  Yesterday I walked all over the city and painted the hill scene, but today I tried to take it easy and I slept in (so nice!) and read for awhile, then painted a scene from inside my hostel, cause it was raining anyways outside, so I couldn't do any art out there.  It was nice and cozy inside though, so I didn't mind.  Plus, I'm going to have a lot of free time to wander the city when I'm here for 9 days!   

No pictures

I'm alone again...and depressed again.  Some of the things you don't realize about traveling by yourself, unless you have done it, or are smarter than me and realized these things before you left:  

1. If you're traveling in a country that you don't know the language of, get ready to be silent 24 hours a day.  Most days, I don't open up my mouth except to mutter out disjointed questions or "excuse me" (in whichever language applies) so I can get by whatever person is blocking the way of my house of a suitcase.  

2.  Unless you're ready to make an effort...I mean REALLY make an effort to meet people EVERY day, prepare to spend most nights (and days) completely alone, surrounded by groups of people laughing and talking that already knew each other before they came to the hostel.  I deal with it by being the creeper in the corner with a paintbrush.    

3.  The only way you meet people is when everyone is drunk or drinking.  

4.  Most people you meet are assholes.

5.  No one is better than your friends at home.  

When me and my sister were traveling together, we had the best time...seriously.  Besides having each other, it was supremely easy to meet people, and a lot less stressful cause when you got in bad situations, at least you had someone at your side.  I practically have a panic attack every time I get lost at night (and it happens a lot).  I think a part of it too is that we were traveling in the summer as well, when EVERYONE else in the world is traveling, so everyone is young and free-spirited and like minded and ready to have a good time.  It's so rare to meet travelers (particularly travelers that speak english) during the winter season.  Of course: cause who in their right minds would WANT to travel in the miserable cold?  I know I don't.  

Sorry if this is depressing (I know it is) and pathetic (I know it is), but it's how I feel.  Most days, I barely smile.  It feels weird when I do.  I don't even have a picture to show you guys, cause today I was in Zaragoza, and I sat in front of this giant spanish palace/cathedral thingy, and it was incredible, but I didn't even want to draw it.  I'm bored of drawing!  I'm not inspired right now, and that's the worst part.  I need the depression to fuel the art, but right now all I want to do is hibernate in a warm cuddly bed with my love and the latest episode of the office and a meal of smartfood popcorn and taco bell hot sauce.  

I realize most people reading this post will say: Oh my god, shut up, stop whining, you're in fucking europe for god's sake!  I'm not saying that I haven't had good times...and the countries are amazing, of course!  But don't judge me until you've spent 2 months by yourself with no one you know and no lasting contact with people over 2 weeks (egypt tour).  Please don't judge.  

Basking in Barcelona

So this last weekend was AWESOOOOMMMMEEEE (cue singsongy voice).  Katie Schalk and her friend Natasha came to Barcelona, and it was a wonderful 3 days of booze, falafel and Gaudi.  I had SUCH a good time with them.  It's just so weird to all of a sudden be able to talk and talk and talk...it's really nice, actually, cause most of the time I have no one to talk to over here.  We ran around and saw a lot of the sights, and went out on a pub crawl on saturday night that kept us out till 4 in the morning.  The pub crawl was only 10 euros, and that included a free power hour of beer and sangria at a bar, then 4 bars, then a club at the end.  We also got free shots at every bar.  Needless to say, we got hammered.  We were all pretty proficient at slamming down the drinks in the first hour...i'm pretty sure I had around 7 beers, while Katie and Natasha gulped down the sangria (ugh...I don't know how they did it).  None of us spent any money the entire rest of the night, which was our goal.  Drinks and club entry in Barcelona are crazy expensive, so thankfully we were cheap drunks.  

We went around and saw all of the Gaudi architecture.  His stuff makes Barcelona such an amazing city.  How amazing would it be to see that stuff everyday?  And why do we not have any living architects or artists that create such jaw-dropping integrated city designs?  Nowadays, it seems to be so much more about shock value...like people have run out of ideas on how to change the art world, so they resort to the gross-out factor, or just abrasive works that "challenge" the viewer.  I'm all for challenging the viewer, but it can be done in a way that doesn't make them want to throw up.  

Katie, Natasha and I parted ways on monday night...i've been alone since, which sucks.  After having such a fun weekend with people, it's actually harder to be alone again.  

p.s. the drawing of them is when we were at Park Guell.  It was nice to draw someone that wasn't me for once.  

What REALLY happened to my wallet

Tours

By the way, the only thing I saw in tours? Some creepy black children statues. Who DOES'NT want a little slave statue to hold your drink on a hot summer's day? I know I do.

p.s. as aaron pointed out, they aren´t necessarily slaves. Sorry!  It just seemed like that was the idea: They're in goofy outfits, and they're carrying trays!!!  The only reason I jumped to that conclusion is because I kind of felt like that was the point. Like, "Egad Cornswallow, remember when we had little slave children to serve us cool lemonade by our crops?" "Well, Humphrey, wait till you see my newest acquisition! Almost as good as the real thing!".  I can't tell if i'm digging myself into a hole i'm not going to get out of...umm.....i just thought they were ridiculous.  That's it.  

Paris

I ended up going to Paris for 3 days after the Tours disaster. Paris is an incredibly gorgeous city. There's just this feeling when you step out on the streets...it's arty, it's posh, it's naturally gorgeous, every building takes your breath away....it is a truly incredible city. I'll give it that. But, on the other hand, I dealt with a lot of Parisian people on this trip that were blatantly hostile. And yes, of course if you speak french they're nicer to you. I don't speak any. I met some guys in the room in my hostel who were from Australia, and we were all just chatting about traveling and stuff, and 2 of the people we were sharing the room with came in, and we said hi, and they said (in french)..."do you speak french?" and we all said sheepishly..."no, sorry", and the guy just gave us this look of disgust and said "You're in France and you DON'T SPEAK FRENCH???" We were all taken aback, and embarassed...but there's no need for such rudeness. My feelings were really hurt. I speak some spanish, but most people I meet don't speak any languages other than english. But everyone wants to learn about different people and different culture. Most people wouldn't travel anywhere if they had to speak the language to do it.
While I was there, I did learn how to say (I don't know how it's spelled, because I just said it) "Ou ay (where is) _____". Because I was lost. Constantly. One day, I walked around for almost 2 hours trying to re-find my hostel. In the freezing cold rain. Here's an idea: don't travel by yourself when you're notorious for being the worst person at directions in the whole world. Cause that's me. Ah well...
I've been to Paris before, so thankfully I didn't have to do the rushed sightseeing circuit (louvre, musee de orsay, arch de triomphe, eiffel tour, notre dame), so I was free to see some things I missed last time I was here.
I went to the catacombes, which I really liked. 6 million people were excavated from a giant cemetery and placed in a giant hall underground, with the bones arranged in a "aesthetically pleasing arrangement". It was kind of creepy, kind of cool...but an amazing experience.
On my last day I went to Versailles (I had actually been before), and it was phenomenal. Last time my sister and I went there, the hall of mirrors (which is the grandest thing about the palace) was under construction, so it was quite underwhelming. This time, it was so opulent, it took my breath away. I really wanted to see Versailles again because I love love love the movie Marie Antoinette, and when I saw Versailles this time, I saw it through the eyes of the movie...the grand state it used to be in. It was great.
The last thing I did in Paris was paint Pont Neuf. My favorite bridge in Paris, it has a bunch of individually carved, different faces carved into it. I just love it. And while I was painting, I ended up meeting the nicest Parisian I ever have. He came up to talk about my painting, then we chatted for a bit. He was just so friendly, and he really warmed my heart back up for Parisian people. Because I don't want to stereotype any group of people, but the majority of people I met this trip to Paris were really mean. So it was nice to meet someone that didn't scoff when I said I didn't speak french, and who took an actual friendly interest in me.
So that was Paris, and last night I took an overnight train to Barcelona. I'm here now, waiting for Katie Schalk, who i'm SO EXCITED TO SEE! It'll just be so nice to see a friendly face in this foreign land. Cheers!
Melinda