driving on the blue ridge parkway

Here are some photos that I took while Will and I drove up to stay in Virginia for a few days after Brevard, via the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's so beautiful! It took twice as long than if we had traveled by interstate, but it was well worth it. Or at least, I felt that way during the first four hours :) Back home in Kentucky now.

Spring Fever

I've been feeling a little antsy lately, kind of wanting to travel or do something different, explore a new place, perhaps?  It's been raining and the smell of spring is in the air! but still it's a bit chilly and dreary out, so inside I stay this morning...here are a few cool things I've seen lately online:

At this site, you can watch how the wind is blowing across the entire planet in real time!

Great video of a teenage hyperpolyglot who speaks over 20 languages (makes you feel inspired and inadequate).

Bird's eye view around the world.

Taking stock of a relationship through yawns. 


Photos are of the famous tulip fields in Holland (have to see it in person one day) from this little article. If you squint they could be mistaken for a Rothko. :)

cheers
xomo

Little Mountain Cabins

Ok, I love Wisconsin, but have you seen this forecast?!  Good grief!  Everyone seems to be sitting inside, talking about where they might like to be instead.  It's been super cold for most of my break, and now it's just getting more ridiculous.  I miss walking outside the most; I started looking through some photos from a hiking trip I took with some friends in the Austrian Alps this summer.  Look at all these little mountain cabins we passed - some of them are so tiny!  The one in the last photo is a little speck.  We stayed for a couple nights in the one in the third photo, with the red and white shutters.  There is a huge network of huts in the Alps for hikers to stay in as they do long treks, and they're really nice and comfy.  And people live in those tiny ones seasonally, perched among the hills, tending flocks :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  2013 really flew by (I only just started remembering to write the date correctly!).  I'm ringing in 2014 in my hometown this year, which is freezing right now, so we stayed in with friends, and watched the little fireworks show at midnight from the window.  I was thinking about how, in 2013, I saw the most amazing fireworks show of my life during the trip to Venice last summer, and I looked through some of the photos this morning.  The one weekend we happened to go there was the one weekend of the year they have this HUGE night of fireworks, where thousands and thousands of people crowd on to one side of the island, and they have an elaborate show timed out, with 3 different boats shooting off fireworks from the water for a full hour.  At the end people cheer or boo, and the success of the show is discussed for the next week.  The whole show was like a constant finale, it was so elaborate.  There were shapes and colors that I had never even seen before!  My favorite kind are the large, arching golden ones, which are so majestic, and they shot off a ton of them at once, seemingly filling the sky.

Wishing everyone a joyous beginning to the New Year! Any resolutions? Goodbye 2013 - You were a great year!  :)

~xomo

Venice

Narrow streets, boats galore, tons of pizza and little sandwiches...starting to look through photos from our Venice weekend! Here are a few to start :)

Austrian Quirks and Questions

AIMS is coming to a close!  We had our farewell dinner last night, and it was - surprise! - a sausage buffet.  (Our opening, welcome dinner was schnitzel.)  I'm going to miss living in Europe, and today I was thinking about some questions I've asked myself repeatedly ever since arriving in Graz.  Here they are:

1.  How do Austrians stay thin when they appear to be constantly eating ice cream, bread, cheese, beer, sausage, schnitzel, and potatoes?  It seems miraculous, although I'm assuming the answer is walking and biking.

2.  How do their digestive systems stay, ahem...regular, on such a diet?  Where's the fiber??  This is the last question in the world that would be acceptable to ask an Austrian, I think.

3.  Why do they wait for the walk sign to cross a tiny side street when there are absolutely no cars in sight?  I walked up to a road that could be crossed in two steps and everyone was gathered around, waiting. At that moment it was easy imagine them all gasping if I were to step forward.

4.  A lot of women here dye their hair colors that would look ridiculous on people in the States.  Yet, they look good.  Natural, even!  How do they pull it off?

5.  Why do they like aperol spritzers?  This is a very popular drink, people seem to be having it all the time.  It looks like liquid orange jello, and tastes similar, except more bitter.
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Photos are from around the neighborhood during the blue hour.  (I used to say this and then one day realized it was a real term!)

xomo

Cliff Jumping in Croatia

Croatia might be the most beautiful place I've ever been!  A little group of us rented a car and drove through Slovenia (also stunning and I've never thought twice about the country until now) down to Pula, where we spent the weekend exploring different coastal areas along the Istrian peninsula.  Everywhere was a mix of white, rocky coasts, red earth, deep green pines, and the clearest blue water I've ever seen.  You can see straight to the bottom no matter how deep it is!  Because there are no sand beaches in that area, everyone suns themselves on rocky ledges and then jumps off them into the sea.  It was so funny watching little kids clamber up onto really high rocks, and just hop off without a second thought!  We saw a couple adventurous boys jump from about 50 feet, but it seemed like most stuck to around 15.  Older kids and adults will do anything (check out this video).  That's me jumping off in the pictures above!  That ledge was around 30 feet high, and that really got my heart pumping - it seems so high when you're standing up there.  We all took turns working up the courage to step off of it, and then the next day in a different area, Will did one that was closer to 45 or 50 feet high, and one of our friends jumped off one that must have been almost 60 or 70 feet!!  Wow.  

Lately on Instagram

AIMS is really flying by, and I haven't posted that many photos partly because it has been busy, and mostly because I'm using photos from Will's camera on this trip, and my computer has trouble processing them without overheating because the files are so large.  (My computer has a problem with overheating anyway, but it's been really bad lately.  I bought it refurbished and it's fine except apparently this particular model had trouble with that issue.  Ahhhh.)  Anyway, my own camera is currently out of commission, so I signed up for Instagram before coming over to Austria.  Here are some recent photos!  The schedule for the orchestra at AIMS allows us to travel on weekends if we want, and I've taken trips to Venice, Croatia, and hiking in the Alps.  Everything has been stunning and wonderful - I'm really looking forward to getting this picture situation sorted out.  Also, we're currently having a heat wave here, and gelato consumption is going way up.  The ice cream here is outrageously good, which is not surprising, just delicious.  So far I've tried melon, blueberry, apricot, peach, plum, orange yogurt, cherry yogurt, ricotta blueberry, mango, mango cream, grape, lime, prosecco raspberry, pistachio, chocolate, hazelnut, and coffee.  Ahem!  I often share it with other people... :)

Dusting off my Passport!

Other big things are happening, too!  It's been 2 years since I was last out of the country (I cannot believe it's been that long!  Seems like just yesterday.), and now my severe wanderlust is being satisfied this summer - I'm leaving for China in a week!  My university's orchestra is going on tour, and we're headed to Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin.  We just received our itinerary, and besides performances, it includes visits to gardens, museums, temples, a boat ride, an acrobatic show, riding on the bullet train, and seeing the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square...the list goes on.  It sounds like it will be a very packed trip.  I'm pretty excited because I don't think I would have thought to put China at the top of my list of travel destinations anytime soon, and I don't know if I'd feel comfortable just heading over on my own for a visit, so this will be a great way to get a first taste.  I was talking to my dad, and he said that's how he felt about going behind the Iron Curtain when it was still the Iron Curtain; he went on tour with his school choir, and that was the best way to do it.  And then he said that there was one slightly sketchy part of the trip where he and his friend went off to Budapest for the day on their own and exchanged currency on the black market, "but everything worked out well."  Whaaattt??  Crazy.  You learn something new every day.  Anyway I can't wait!  Also, more travel news coming up soon...

~xomo

ps:  photo from the window of my friend's flat in Paris, where he graciously took me in for a week when I visited a couple years ago :)

Photos from Egypt

 No special breakfast at home today because I had a class that started in the early morning and provided food, but I wanted to share these photos that Justin and Trish took, who moved to Egypt a few weeks ago and will be living there for nine months.  They're expecting a baby and working on various projects, and the whole thing is a giant whirlwhind!  They started a  blog to share stories, and here are some amazing pictures, a few of which are above.  I think about them all the time, over there in another part of the world, livin' life.  Incredible :)

Take care out there!
xomo

I really wish...

...that all the people I loved in the world could live wherever I was living!  I moved around so much these past couple of years, and gradually it became more and more difficult for me to say goodbye whenever I had to leave anyone.  Living in different places is exciting, but it's also tiring to start over so many times, so now I'm happy to say that I'm moving to Lexington, KY to start a graduate program, and I will stay in the same city for two whole years.


These pictures are views from the balconies of my different homes in all my major moves - Costa Rica, Jerusalem, Worcester.  I was always surrounded by so much beautiful scenery; I love thinking back on it all.  And then, a shot of the cello, who is always willing to follow me around, no matter where I go :)  I wonder how we will get on together in Kentucky?