If I’m completely honest, I never thought I’d be updating from Europe, and I’m not just talking about this new year post, but any post in general. Sure, I’d dreamed of living in a foreign country, but who hasn’t? I always thought it was one of those things on my “bucket list” that would just always be there, as a quaint thought in the back of my mind. It’s interesting to think about how completely unexpected nearly everything in my life has been. If you had asked me when I was a senior in high school, I would have told you that I was going to go to college and then grad school to become a psychiatrist. Instead I have an English degree (I didn’t love books then), spent 10 years running around the country and playing music with my best friends (I didn’t play bass then), became a triathlete (I couldn’t actually swim then and had never even heard of a triathlon), and moved to Europe (I had never even thought of living abroad and only very rarely thought of traveling). There have been sacrifices--boy, have there been sacrifices--but I consider myself quite lucky. So what’s the message here? Don’t make plans? All of life is an unexpected adventure? I don’t know; I don’t have the answers. I just think it’s amazing where my life has taken me and almost shudder to think how differently my life would have been had I skipped touring for grad school and rushed into a full time job.
2009 was a very turbulent year in the already crazy life I had created. Maybe turbulent isn’t the right word, but a lot of big stuff happened. I went on two tours and the stressful life of scraping-by and touring finally got the best of me, so I quit the band. Maybe the decision is still too fresh, or it’s too early to tell in the grand scheme of things, but that might be the only decision I’ve ever made that I really regret. I knew that if we couldn’t “make it,” at least to the point of being able to support ourselves, then it would have to end some day. I know we had some small success, were able to tour the entire country multiple times, and sell records in Japan, so I should feel good about that, but there’s going to always be a part of me that wishes it could have gone on forever. I ran my first marathon, which I trained for nearly all year. I moved to Hungary, which has been hard, but good for me.
For whatever reason, I think 2010 is going to be a good year. I’m actually looking forward to a little normalcy. I’ll get to come home. I’ll get to see my friends. I might be able to get a really good job. It would be nice to finally start digging myself out of debt, have health insurance, and be able to do little things like buy my family Christmas presents (which hasn’t happened for a number of years). I’ll spend a lot of time swimming, biking, running, and reading. I’ll probably train for another marathon and half Ironman (I hope to do my first Ironman in 2011). I don’t usually get this way with the new year, but I feel like 2010 has a lot of potential, and I’m making plans to make it great so that it doesn’t pale in comparison to the last 10 years that I’ve spent having the best time in my life with my best friends.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Krakow (Part 2)
The alarm goes off at 9 and I’m probably still a little drunk. We drag ourselves downstairs to eat the free breakfast, which is far better than any free hotel breakfast I’ve had in the states, and includes scrambled eggs and ham. Unfortunately, we have to choke down our food because neither of us are feeling that great. Now aware of where we actually are, we walk the few kilometers to the city center and find the bus station. We buy tickets to the town of Oswiecim and get on the bus. The trip takes about an hour and a half, and because of our crazy night and lack of sleep, neither one of us have a very comfortable ride. I have the same initial experience with Auschwitz that I had when I went to the Alamo--I’m completely confused at how it exists in a town. I always imagined it would be located in a barren field somewhere far from civilization, but there is a town living in the shadow of this monument to horror; there is a mall within walking distance from the gates.
There’s not much that I could tell you about this place that you’re not already aware of. In addition, there’s no way to describe the gravity of that place--the way it has the ability to make your heart so heavy and pile more weight than you think you can handle upon your shoulder--so I won’t even try. The one thing I noticed that I wasn’t expecting is that it isn’t ugly; the grass was green, there were birds singing in trees, the buildings don’t look terrifying (from the outside). I had almost assumed that the things that happened there would have had a Chernobyl-type effect on the land. Anyway, we walked around and through the buildings, many of which have been turned into sort of a museum. It was nearly 3:00 by the time we left, which meant we didn’t have time to go down the road to Birkenau. I am told that it is even more gruesome, and that children under the age of 14 aren’t allowed to visit that site. It’s probably a good thing that we couldn’t go, because I don’t know how much more either one of us could handle.
We’re pretty quiet the entire ride back to Krakow. We get to town and go find a polish restaurant for some food. It has a log cabin feel, with a stone hearth and blazing fire in the main room, as well as some delicious food. Full and warm we walk back to our hotel to shower and nap again. We head back into town and meet up with some more people from CouchSurfing. Zenia, who is a first generation Pole from Chicago, and her friends Matt from London and Echo from China. They take us to a techno dance club that is too loud. JM and I don’t feel like drinking because of the last two nights, so we sip sodas. Echo has some crazy stories, when you can hear her, but Zenia and Matt are more interested in making out. We hang out until about midnight and then call it a night.
There are couple of inches of snow on the ground when we wake up. Our free breakfast is delicious this time around, and we’re feeling pretty good about the trip, overall. We get packed up, check out, and head back to the main market square. We walk around for a little bit and then start making our way to the bus station, determined to get it right this time. There’s a giant, four-story mall on the way, so we walk through. It’s packed with people and looks like any other mall. We get on the bus and watch two year old movies overdubbed in Hungarian, but with English subtitles. After nearly eight hours on the bus, we finally make it back to the apartment. The really strange thing about taking a trip from Budapest was that the whole time I kept thinking that when the trip was over I should be going home, but instead I knew that I would be going back to Budapest. Still, it was a great trip. Next up is Rome, tentatively planned for late February.
There’s not much that I could tell you about this place that you’re not already aware of. In addition, there’s no way to describe the gravity of that place--the way it has the ability to make your heart so heavy and pile more weight than you think you can handle upon your shoulder--so I won’t even try. The one thing I noticed that I wasn’t expecting is that it isn’t ugly; the grass was green, there were birds singing in trees, the buildings don’t look terrifying (from the outside). I had almost assumed that the things that happened there would have had a Chernobyl-type effect on the land. Anyway, we walked around and through the buildings, many of which have been turned into sort of a museum. It was nearly 3:00 by the time we left, which meant we didn’t have time to go down the road to Birkenau. I am told that it is even more gruesome, and that children under the age of 14 aren’t allowed to visit that site. It’s probably a good thing that we couldn’t go, because I don’t know how much more either one of us could handle.
We’re pretty quiet the entire ride back to Krakow. We get to town and go find a polish restaurant for some food. It has a log cabin feel, with a stone hearth and blazing fire in the main room, as well as some delicious food. Full and warm we walk back to our hotel to shower and nap again. We head back into town and meet up with some more people from CouchSurfing. Zenia, who is a first generation Pole from Chicago, and her friends Matt from London and Echo from China. They take us to a techno dance club that is too loud. JM and I don’t feel like drinking because of the last two nights, so we sip sodas. Echo has some crazy stories, when you can hear her, but Zenia and Matt are more interested in making out. We hang out until about midnight and then call it a night.
There are couple of inches of snow on the ground when we wake up. Our free breakfast is delicious this time around, and we’re feeling pretty good about the trip, overall. We get packed up, check out, and head back to the main market square. We walk around for a little bit and then start making our way to the bus station, determined to get it right this time. There’s a giant, four-story mall on the way, so we walk through. It’s packed with people and looks like any other mall. We get on the bus and watch two year old movies overdubbed in Hungarian, but with English subtitles. After nearly eight hours on the bus, we finally make it back to the apartment. The really strange thing about taking a trip from Budapest was that the whole time I kept thinking that when the trip was over I should be going home, but instead I knew that I would be going back to Budapest. Still, it was a great trip. Next up is Rome, tentatively planned for late February.
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