Last year I went overseas for the first time...it was awesome. I went from Barcelona, to England, and then to Ireland. I was fortunate enough to have a friend who's family owns a home in Barcelona but it was rented out while I was there so I crashed on a mattress in the garage. My roommate was an old beat up washing machine name "sputnik"-best roommate I ever had (jk, I'll post a pic of Sputnik later). The England visit was what brought me out there, I was studying at Oxford. But as for Ireland it was just where I was flying out of so I took a couple days to explore where my family was from. All of this, I wanted to do by myself. I saw it as a right of passage. So many people warn women about all the things they need to be careful of, especially when traveling. They are all crap.
I found very friendly people everywhere I went and it was a remarkable trip. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying be completely carefree and have fun all by yourself with no worries. But traveling as a woman alone should be no different then walking around your hometown alone. It's important for anyone who's alone anywhere regardless of gender to be aware of your surroundings, and don't get wasted. I feel like the first suggestion is pretty obvious and the second may be a little crass but honestly it's quite simple and true. People anywhere will try to take advantage of a person whose had too much to drink, maybe not every drunk night but really when you're alone-it's not worth taking the risk.
While at Oxford I had this great professor, Dr. Nock...we called him DocNock after the Spiderman character, DocOc-so cheesy but awesome. After class he would buy everyone a pint in the Undercroft campus bar to continue the conversation because as he said "progress is measured in pints"-a saying he stole from an English brewing company. The pub scene, I found while traveling was far less about getting drunk and more about having a pint or two over some good conversation. This is a gem. How did America lose this important aspect of pubs? There are too few pubs here in the states that have that feel of just going to a pub to enjoy some good conversation over a cold pint. I digress but I really loved this about Oxford.
DocNock and I got to talking about my travels and me keeping a journal of everything. He suggested that I write a book and title it something to the effect of Jackie Kerouac Conquers the World, we got a good laugh out of that. So here's to DocNock and my feminist traveling alter ego Jackie Kerouac...
I am horrible at keeping in touch with people. I feel like there are so many people in my life that have helped me and who mean so much to me that I have to find a way to be better at staying in touch. This is a way for people to stay updated on my life, hopefully I continue writing and people enjoy reading what I have to say. I'm going to try to keep this informal too. The grammar may not be perfect but I feel it's more important to write then to worry about proper grammar.
Finally, one thing I found while traveling alone was that I would often think of people either close to me or old friends. Like when I saw Gaudí's Casa
Milà I was reminded of my old sorority sisters. The building was inspired by the ocean and mimics waves, my sorority's symbol was the anchor. Little things like that came up all the time. They made me smile very warmly and wish that those people were there with me in the moment. One afternoon, I was sitting in Park Güell drinking a sangría looking out over Barcelona (this was one of my favorite things to do in Barcelona) there was a wedding and all I could think of was my then boyfriend Brian. You get the idea. Well, Brian and I are getting married so now I have someone to share most of my travels with.
My life and it's memories feel like a quilt. All the individual memories have their own uniqueness like the various fabrics that make up a quilt. The thread that binds all the fabric is love...love of life. The batting (the inside of a quilt) is the people, the people who've had an impact on my life. They keep my heart warm. And there you have it, tah dah...my life as a quilt.
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