Leprechaun Hunting

(Not really, but I wanted a catchy headline..)

We arrived in Galway, Ireland yesterday and this city is everything you imagine Ireland to be with its tall cliffs, its green moors surrounded by short piles of stones that function as walls. These walls were actually built by starving Irishmen during the time of the Great Famine of the 19th Century, in return for bags of food. The Potato Famine has always been so interesting for me -it was a time when most of the population could only afford to eat potato, and when Blight hit, the crop failed and millions of people starved to death over the years. In some places, the statistic was up to 90%, and the Irish people have actually never recovered their population since. It was interesting to note that it should not really have been a famine at all, since it was only the potato that failed. Some go so far as to call it an attempted genocide, because of England's failure to assist the Irish people, seeing them as a second-class people that should have been wiped out. Today, Ireland is actually the greatest donator of famine relief in the world.

I never expected Ireland to be so amazing, nor expected it to be the place where I'd be sunburnt. Absolutely phenomenal weather. We've seen rope bridges. We've seen the Giant's Causeway, one of the natural wonders of the world. It's a series of tens of thousands of basalt columns, resulting from an ancient volcanic eruption. We've been up to the Cliffs of Moher, and The Burren, the former of which was featured in both Princess Bride and Harry Potter 6. There was also a ruined castle nearby, featured in Game of Thrones (which I don't watch, but apparently it's unrecognizable without all the CGI effects).

Today we took a ferry ride up to the Aran Islands. There is also Dun Aengus Fort there, which looked beautiful from the postcard, but I was pretty bummed because we didn't get around to seeing it. We also had a picnic at the seal colony, but we didn't see any seal unfortunately. We went bike riding all around the island, on a 6km route, and I can't describe the sheer beauty of the fields and the animals, and the photos will never capture the atmosphere. What I can just say is that it was one of those unbelievable, pinch-yourself moments that everyone needs in life.

Dublin

As promised, this will be a "doing" post. The journey started off rough. My attempt to be a cool backpacker by cancelling my hostel booking and sleeping (more like staying over) in an airport, checked of my list.

After half a day just on my own and with my earphones, I weirdly felt a lot better, even though my body was telling me otherwise. I love the vibe of Dublin. Everyone talks like leprechauns. I instantly hit it off with the three girls in my room as soon as we found a common taste in music (Mumford and Sons, AND The Killers playing here!), and I even ditched much needed sleep, going a step further to go out with them -shopping! Something I hadn't done in months. I even found a skirt that I liked. Baby steps. 

Jess read out some cutesy romance quote on one of the tees, and I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and vomiting in the inside. But we all looked at each other, and burst into a fit of laughter. Test passed. We ended up talking about history and politics and religion and slang and culture and music. People aren't so bad are they? These girls were locals though. Not backpackers, so we'll continue trying to disprove my hate post later.

Okay I'll try and make this a more useful post -

What I loved about Dublin:

Harry Potter library in Trinity College; funkier city than Belfast; great street music; gelato. And best of all: Temple Bar - coolest place I've been to (despite the fact that U2 owns a lot of the street pubs there. It was the place they made their big break -where they were first signed)

Notes about people in general.

I've often found myself curiously singling out particular groups of people, and filling out their life stories to complete it in my mind, thinking the answer will make me feel just that little bit better. Where is the missing mother in this Chinese family? Is she alive? I pity them for a moment, and someone asks for me. They actually speak English. No, Mama Chang just had to work back in Hong Kong.  I don't know if I'm relieved or disappointed. Why are there a group of 37 year old (yes I did the math) women here - a bad divorce, mid life crisis perhaps? I make a mental note to find the answer on Facebook.

However the bulk of young people fall into the category of "lost souls looking to find their place in this world". In which cases, I have given them almost a single, unified personality, varying only in their sense of dress or brand of backpack/prissy wheelie bag. But whether you're the harem-pant-and-hippy-braid girl, or Lycra-pant-and-fluoro-Nike, I still see a disguise and the pessimistic side of me tries to complete all 22 years of your life. Not in a good way. Is this all a disguise? What are you even doing here? Stupid question Rochelle - do you think you're better than everyone else, here for some special, superior reason? 
What are they doing here? To party or sightsee? Are they so mutually exclusive? I try to find the answer by judging their camera sizes. 

  Big SLRs = sightseers;

  Small point-and-shoot = party animals; 

  iPhone cameras = the shitface at the party / snapchatter looking for a hot date.
  iPad cameras = umm...

Wait, mine is the small point-and-shoot. iPhone if lazy.

I change my criteria: SLRs now for the rich and superficial. Point-and-shoot for the cool backpacker. Bro, you can find an excellent scenic photo on Google for free. Use your money for more important shit. 

Anyway this was meant to be an apology post but I think I've exacerbated the situation. I'm sorry for being judgemental. No really I felt like shit after I wrote that last one and wanted to make up for it. But this is a journey, it will take time. This is what happens when you write what you think and not what you do. It's bitchy, and not even moderately uplifting/pleasurable to read. I do admire your relative detachment from most materials, some people, and even places. I'll write a better post next time. 

(Christina) Train musings

14/07/2013

So Im sitting on the train on the way to sydney from newcastle. A bit worried because I just had a really good time with my sister and am now returning to 2 weeks of doing nothing again in sydney. I don’t want to go back to being a derp brain.

I’m sitting at the middle carriage.

Because, this:

Not currently being a student, I should buy a full price train ticket. But I didn’t have enough money on my card so I bought a student ticket.

BUT, how much of an idiot can I be!? There are ALWAYS ticket investigators on this line.

$300 fine if I don’t play my cards right. This is gonna have to be some smooth business.

They always start at the front carriage and move through to the back. I have decided to keep my eye out for them boarding at the front. When we stop at the next station, I will get out of the train, and go into the very front carriage which they will hopefully already checked, therefore missing them checking my ticket and potentially stripping $300 from my travel money.

So I could have gone on a hectic bushwalk with my sister today, but decided not to. Because my muscles are whining from going to pump gym class (my first time in a gym!) with my sister yesterday.

I spent the whole gym session wondering how the girl with flabby arms in front of me managed to lift the same amount as the buff male instructor.

And trying to concentrate on doing things in the same timing as the others. Everyone was in time and I was totally out of time; I felt like that exaggerated person in the movies trying to join a pro dance class for the first time.

Plus, I feel like no work is being done; its futile because you are in pain JUST to build muscle, which is purely for your appearance benefit.

I’d rather bike ride to some awesome destination, admiring scenery, hearing the birds sing and the sun shining and butterflies doin their thang and all that jazz.

Ok im over this topic.

Umm. Stupid train! I am HYPER, jiggling my leg. I want to punch something! You know what I hate!? People who just blindly go through life with no holistic thinking, COME ON BRAINS COME ON GUYS GET A MOVE ON TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE THINKING

It cos they act and don’t think and I think but don’t act

See Im doing that now

Far out im so agitated.

Blahhhblbhahbhbha soosdfjlkljasdfjlksjdhlfjksd

Things:

1. That feeling you have when you’re trying to sleep but you have a fever and cant get comfy.

2. I don’t know why people don’t sing more clearly. The following lyrics are an example of what I would write on my ‘Song Lyrics’ website if I had one, because this is what I hear them say. Please now take the time to listen to this song carefully while reading these lyrics to see that I’m right.

‘Secrets’, by One Republic

I need another story. Something to get off my chesssss.

My life gets kinda boring. (Really! Me too! We should be friends)

Need something that I cang confess. 

Turln on my sleeves I stained red.

From all the truth that I’ve said.

Can buy it honestly I swear

Thought you saw me wink no

I been on the brink so

Tell me what you want to hear!

Something that I like those ears

Sinking volley insincere!

So I’m gonna give all my secrets away

This time, don’t need another perfect laaan

Dun get cravings eh to jump in line! (I feel you man. Happens all the time)

Im gonna give all my secrets away.

Etc.

I don’t even have internet to check if I’m right.

ARGH THAT WAS NOT A USEFUL BLOG.

(Christina) small things made big

Hellooooo

What. What? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Chuffin and nuffin.

The world is your oyster, someone told me very dreamily and oh so wisely a few days ago.

Yes, it is an oyster. Only the rich like it, its overrated, its sort of circular in shape. And it stinks. Get a life; but get yourself the life you’re already in before you go thinking what you don’t have is better than what you do.

Okay there’s my critical little blurb, sorry to all the dreamy explorers of the world. The world has heaps of cool stuff in it, I’m sure its great.

But you see I used to care, and now I don’t. Because true freedom is hidden in our ‘trapped’ world; the one we have right here and right now. The one I’m always trying to get out of in order to be ‘free’, to be somewhere else better. But I have never really been happy, and maybe that’s why- this SOMETHING ELSE, this huge looming voice that continuously says ‘you are doing this all wrongly, do SOMETHING ELSE’ is actually WRONG. The freedom is that no matter where you are in life, you can choose to take it positively.

End of rant.

On a sort of related plane, time management.

You know how people often say the more they have to do the more free time they have? …………...No?...…ok

Neither have I.

What am I saying? I’ll just say it. I mean that when you have heaps to do, you sort of get into a ‘roll’ of doing them, you feel smooth, efficient, intelligent, a little James Bond-y.

Opposite is when you have nothing to do. You become sluggish, and you are ABLE to do less. Your brain becomes confused, inefficient.

As the the ‘To-Do’ lists diminish, perfectionism and restlessness rise.

That’s why I took so long to blog anything on this page.

I wrote, rewrote, wondered if it was too long or too short, wondered if it was boring or not correct, ended up deleting it all, knowing I’d have time to write another.

I’ve been just sort of bumming; walking a lot, seeing some friends, watching movies, bike riding, sitting. It takes me a long time to do anything.

I went to try and buy shoes at kmart. (Ermm, not for me, for my friend- I buy mine from Prada).

It took me 2 hours- I narrowed it to two pairs and was getting ridiculously riled up about which to get.

‘Half the price, ugly purple lesbian style

vs

Double price, ugly, converse-look-alike, less lesbian but still masculine’

Wait! I’m too bogan. Get some flats. Ew no they’re so restricting, you cant run to the bus stop in them. Get comfy converse, be free! Don’t be restricted by social norms. No, you’re too old for converse, they’re twelvie material. Ok im getting the purple lesbian ones. Ew no. So which ones? They’re all crappy here. Go to some other shop? No, they’re too expensive. I have to save for travel. Kmart is my only option. What do I need again? Far out its hot in here! My face is all flushed. Turn off this mp3 its killing my brain.’

I am standing in socks with lots and lots of size 10 shoes scattered around me.

There is this one girl who keeps trying to come into my aisle to look for converse shoes, but awkwardly sees im still here taking up the whole space and unconvincingly pretends to be needing slippers instead.

I’ve been here for an hour.

‘Buy any pair. It doesn’t matter. Ok so which? Saying that a decision doesn’t matter doesn’t give you a solution. THEY’RE JUST BLOODY SHOES! YOU ARE PATHETIC, YOU CAN’T EVEN BUY SHOES.’

Start sweating.

Girl hovers again. Piss off! Ok Penna dearest. Pretend you’re all cool, put up another of your shows.

Stop your brain. Numbly pick up a pair, any pair, DON’T THINK ABOUT IT and go to counter (Self serve. Avoid having to worry about what the cashier thinks about my size 10 feet).

Leave.

Put on mp3, full blast. Concentrate on the shapes and colours of the music, it always stops your continuous monologue. Go home on bus; if you can’t choose to think peaceful thoughts, block them all. Now I’m either numb, or overloaded anxious.

Get home, realise you don’t even fit this pair; they’re size 9.

People usually blog their hobbies? My hobbies are not really much. They involve getting through everyday things.

Eg, I leave the apartment holding my phone and wallet. I sit at the bus stop waiting, still holding my phone and wallet. I get onto the bus, still holding my phone and wallet. I dip the ticket, sit.

I realise my phone I am holding is actually the tv remote control.

I pretend I’ve taken it to fix it so I don’t look like an idiot to the other bus people, and I take out the batteries, peering into the battery compartment.

To be fair, I’d been in an alternate life that morning, imagining myself as a physiotherapist.

Its alright! I’ve taken steps to be more immersed in my beautiful life around me here in Australia. I’m going to canberra for a week to stay with my friends, (stealing my sister’s car to drive down; she’s da bomb. So is the car- a bomb I mean). And right now, I’m partying hard in Newcastle…

…In my tracksuit and with a cup of tea on the sofa.

I call it baby steps.

Hate post

I hate backpackers. Why do I try so hard to be one. Sure there's the initial buzz of meeting new people and finding common interests, but once that all dies down, I'm back to the square where I know I'm not going to want to meet them again. Yet we'll remain cordial friends on Facebook, and the photos you took together will still look great and happy and maybe like you've known them for more than a few days.

I hate the expectation to party up and be sociable with strangers. That's not what I'm here for. I'll come out some nights but don't expect me to be that wasted chick on the corner every night. I hate that all everyone talks about is where they're headed next, even though I'm the one asking (hah). I hate this crap about "endless possibilities" and so-called freedom and decisions. Get a bit of resposibility in life. I'm the worst person to talk but I can't make decisions for you. 

I hate your dumb quotes that sound so amazing and long-winding, and "so deep" you say, but is complete and utter bullshit. Your poetic language doesn't impress me. What's with the relativistic bullshit. No, life is not a hazy dream as you call it. And no you shouldn't love nature more than you do people.

Highland Adventures Day 2

Today is my second day of the Highland Adventure tour. A group of some 43 people, mostly Kiwis and Aussies, in a group going to the Scottish Highlands! Our tour guide is awesome and really funny. He's really young too but he knows a lot about Scottish history, and we love listening to the accents. I reckon I'm getting pretty good myself actually. He wore a kilt too, or a "man skirt". At the beginning we had to do an ice-breaker activity so we had to ask the person next to us 1) what animal they would be and why, and 2) whether they were a "scruncher" or a "folder"! I already knew the girl next to me because she was also staying at the same hostel as us the night before, plus we get along because she's Wellingtonian too! Also did you know that every time somebody puts recyclable things in the non-recyclable bin, a baby dolphin is punched in the face? True story.

Anyway we have been seeing the most amazing, picturesque views.. ever. The highlands are truly beautiful. I've never seen such green, misty hills and clear water. Pebbles visible deep down underneath in Glencoe Valley, with the occasional old ruined castle floating around. 

Today we took a ferry from the port of Mallaig, towards the Road to the Isles. We also saw Glenfinnan Viaduct, the bridge there is the famous one featured in Harry Potter for the Hogwarts Express.

We also went to a whiskey distillery and I thought I'd suddenly love whiskey cos like we're in Scotland and I could pretend to be rly rly cultured, but alas no - the stuff is disgusting here too.. But do appreciate how these things are family-owned and really treasured. The people are the friendliest I've met, and so simple and happy. A lot of them even believe in faeries, which I think is the cutest! Our tour guide was telling us about a millionaire wanting to buy a simple estate here, and was outright refused by the owner. They're not slave to materialism.

Can't say I'm very happy about the fauna though. Yesterday we were having fish and chips just by the pier, and as I was putting fish in my mouth, a seagull stoops down out of nowhere and takes it away!! I was really sad because it was a big piece too..

Last night we went to a Scottish pub and listened to some pretty awesome live Scottish music and did lots of traditional dances. Lots of fun for everyone, and I have a new favourite drink -strawberry and lime cider! Where we are now, the sun doesn't set until past 12am. I've been having so little sleep every night in Europe. Backpacking is not a holiday. Okay it is.. But I guess it's good because I always have something to do so I don't think about my own tiredness all the time, but at times you can really feel it.