Thank God that Face Paint Was Water-Based

Hello all. Another week rolls to a soggy end here in Edinburgh - today making the fourth of fifth consecutive day of drizzles and high winds. An Edinburgh native I met on a bus the other day told me that this is the only city he's been to where you can walk completely around a city block and have the wind blowing straight into your face regardless of what direction you're going.

But all is well, despite the weather. The sun is beginning to set later (when I arrived it was geting dark at 3:30pm-ish).

To the right is a "T.K. Maxx" store. Isn't it "T.J." in the US? I wonder why the name difference?

I've actually been thinking about the differences in language here a lot recently. For instance, instead of "yield" signs, theirs say "make way." If you think about it, that means that their signs are more expensive to print, requiring seven letters instead of five. They have us beat in the case of real estate, however, as "For rent" turns into "To Let" - and I keep thinking they say "toilet." So it is cheaper for them to manufacture apartment advertisements, I guess. That's another place they have us beat: flat vs. apartment. Elevator vs. lift, too. What's this called? Linguistic Economics?

Kickboxing has been going well. Went on Wednesday and there's another session tonight. Went out to a black-and-white themed party organized at a club by the university last night. Woke up and forgot that I had black paint decoratively dotting and streaking my face - I looked like a monochromatic Braveheart. Good time, though.

I planned my Spring Break travels yesterday and it's looking to be quite the ride (train ride, actually). My tour will take me through nine major cities in England, France, and Italy over a twenty day period. The plan, in order of destination, is: Fly from Edinburgh to London, then London to Paris by the Chunnel, and, by rail pass, Paris to Nantes to Bordeaux to Milan to Venice to Florence to Rome, with a stop at Bologna. Then from Rome I fly back to London to connect with a flight to Edinburgh. All plans subject to some degree of change, of course. I get about one full day and two half-days in each city, with the exception of about four full days in Paris. Then, the day after I get back, my exchange program runs a free trip to the Argyll (pron. "argyle") Forest over three days - Loch Lomond, woodland, hiking, canoeing, etc.

The above map is of my intended route.

In London I'll be with a friend who is studying at Dublin this semester, Bridget Holmes. My friend Erin Feeney teaches English in Paris, and I'll see her one or two days there. Kappa Sig brother Dan Levinson is at Milan, and fellow writing tutor Judith Stapleton is living in Florence, so I'll have friends in about half the cities I'm visiting. The rest of the time I'll by riding/flying solo - which I'm not concerned about, and actually find exciting. The only downer is that I'll either have to self-time a lot of pictures or else paint "tourist" on my forehead and get others to photograph for me.

As far as luggage goes, it can get pricy to travel on economy airlines with more than a carry-on, and I by no means want to lug around a duffle bag everywhere. Thus I am presently resolved to take my well-equipped backpack only. I'll probably be wearing the same shirt in a lot of pictures. Planning on packing pretty lightly, as I'm sure I'll accrue trinkets - you know, rocks from famous poets' gardens, etc - and the like to tote back to Edinburgh.

My only uncertainty lies with whether or not I should take my laptop with me. I'm a careful guy with pricy/important possessions, but I acknowledge that I'm going to a lot of places totally foreign to me, full of possibly shifty characters, with a slew of unexpected events waiting for me. That said, I don't know if bringing my laptop - possibly (for good or ill) my most important day-to-day possession - is a grand idea. Internet might not always be available anyway, rendering most of the computer's utility null in any case. So for now I'm resolved to leave it in Edinburgh. If young European gentlemen-in-training could get along in the 19th Century during their 'grand tours' without a macbook, I think I'll scrape by, too.

So if anyone reading this has advice, warning, tips, insight, or knows anyone living in these cities I could possibly stay with for two nights or so, shoot me an email or leave a comment!

I've begun compiling a list of tasks I want to achieve over my twenty day European jaunt. A few highlights include: horseback riding in Italy, bordeaux in Bordeaux, three streets two towers in Bologna, gondola ride in Venice, find a mime in Paris, &c &c. Suggestions welcome.

And for those of you thinking this collected relation of my travel plans a shameless exhibition of under-appreciation for the magnificence of what lies before me, I bid you recall this: my last two spring breaks have been spent, respectively, in Middletown (should be called Middle-of-Nowhere-Town), Delware with the rowing team on a cold lake, and Glen Rock, New Jersey during the worst storm that North Jersey's seen in a hundred years, with no heat, electricity, internet, access to the roads, or ability to make warm food. So I think this is karma kicking in.

Right: Spring Break 2010. Woo!

In other news, I'm keeping up with my classes. Have a paper due Monday that I wrote last week on the most depressing poem ever written - The City of Dreadful Night by James Thomson. A very interesting piece of work written in 1873 by an author suffering from depression and insomnia about a hellish ever-benighted London where the external world is void of religiosity or emotion, with mankind constantly attempting to project their internal feelings and beliefs onto a substantially detached, dead landscape. Charming tale. Despite the author's afflicted state of mind, the poem contains impressive subtlety and underlying meaning.

Time for me to make something to eat and start reading for next week. Had the opportunity to go home with Calum to Glasgow (only an hour away) this weekend for his friend's 18th birthday festivities, but already had Saturday-night plans. I will get to Glasgow eventually, however, and Calum says he'll be back for certain.