Sluggish...

I have been a slug when it has come to writing recently. I have been consumed with walking, seeing, eating, and all that is involved with travels. It has really slipped my mind what it means to go out and experience the town. Massive amounts of time is spent wandering while the other part of the day is full of meeting people and relaxing from the strolls. This is a poor excuse I know. I will try to make it up to you loyal readers with a more regular account of that which is Europe.

I have promised Barcelona round dos but due to the fact that each day is filled with more and more stuff I am going to go ahead and skip all the way to Montpellier.

We left Barcelona at 9 in the morning after a long night hanging out with an ex boxer and an auzzie friend. It was rough like the way you feel when you are the 3^rd wheel and don’t get the inside jokes. You just kind of phase out stare blankly. The 5 hour train ride was full of those. While on the train with Laura she would once in a while grab a piece of paper and jot things down on it. I thought it could have possibly been her initial plot to pull a practical joke on me, but it was just her thoughts about traveling. She shared some with me that I had once felt. She said on the train she had finally been bitten by the travel bug. That nothing in the world is like it and that she HAS to find a way to keep going after college. I couldn’t help but tell her it is dangerous to get the bite. Like Pringles once you pop you just can’t stop. She started quoting proverbs to me and getting mind blowing thoughts that might change her life. I will have to take full credit for this new outlook.

Montpellier is a beautiful French city that definitely is French. Baguettes and people making fart noises with their mouths(the silent but violent ones) all over the place. I had been to Paris before, but I have not experienced true French people interacting with each other. It might be just me, but the French language seems so stuck up that it is like wiping your butt with gold toilet paper. I took French for a couple year in high school and I lost it all. I wasn’t completely thrilled with it when I was in school and I still am not. If I looked past the words, the people seemed very nice and the scene is wonderful. A woman at the train station did some clever maneuvering to be able to get me on the train. A guy in a pastry shop gave us an extra treat just because. I don’t know if I could live her, but I would suggest it as a fun place to walk around in.

At the moment I am riding a train from France to Torino(Turin). I love trains like a fat kid loves cake(pop culture moment). So simple and so grounded. I don’t feel like my day is dedicated to getting ready to fly, waiting to fly, flying, getting home from flying, then jet lag. A couple days in Torino will give me a little Italian refresher so that I can try my hand at leading my tourist group around.

Moral of the story, relaxing can be just as tiring as activities…