Last location: Zadar, Croatia

Current location: To be disclosed…

Next (and final!) location: Dublin, Ireland

The trip’s beginning to wind down! On June 21st I’m officially flying from Dublin back to New York City. Reasons to be excited to return to the United States exist (a routine! a gym! normal towels!), just as reasons why I can’t bear to leave exist (the joy of creating homes in new cities, the beautiful, detached calm of floating around an area where you can’t speak the language). I’m hoping some of my favorites (meeting new people, the feeling of limitless possibility, and witnessing the kindness of strangers) will return with me.

Over the past month (and a half?) I visited Edinburgh, Inverness, the Isle Skye, and Glasgow in Scotland, and Split, Dubrovnik, and Zadar in Croatia! I didn’t write much in the United Kingdom because for the first time in a long time I felt more like a participant than an observer, and as observation has been my self-appointed, full-time job for a few months now, the sensation wigged me out! In comparison to the rest of Europe (and the vast majority of the world) the cultural differences between the United Kingdom and the United States are negligable, so all of the sudden it was as if my little blinking dot self had reappeared on a radar screen. A little vacuum formed in my mind where typically commentary, appreciation, and inspiration flourish- and I filled that vacuum with stressful (normal) post-graduate questions like, “‘Where do I go next?”, “Where’s home?”, and “What’s home?”- really fun, puzzling stuff.

Of course this isn’t to say I found every city in the U.K uninspiring! I already discussed a bit how I love Cardiff, and in Scotland I wrapped the dramatic, moody landscape of the Highlands (Inverness and Isle of Skye, specifically) around me like a security blanket. Isle Skye is the sort of magical location where the personification of elements makes sense. When you stand at the edge of a cliff and watch the stream of a waterfall get caught by the breeze and flung into open space,  an abyss, as it descends to the ocean, when that same wind so desperately tries to streak over the surface of the water to reach the point where the sea surges against the land you can follow the serpentine movements as it twists and strains, racing forward hundreds of feet below, when that same powerful movement of air glides alongside the raggged face of the land with such precision it delivers a chorus of echoing tones skyward (like the sound someone makes as they blow air over the lid of glass bottle), you just have to believe in the spirit of nature. Everything feels too alive and saturated with energy to be meaningless.

After the United Kingdom, flying to Croatia felt like sliding back off the radar and landing in someone else’s glamorous vacation. In Croatia, the mountains rise behind a hazy screen of heat and serve as the backdrop to daily markets and immaculate Roman ruins. Mounds of dark, glossy cherries rest under canary yellow umbrellas as the heady scents of lavendar, strawberry, and salted meat compete for dominance while throngs of tourists and locals move between the stalls. I met up with two friends from back home, and we happily passed the time swimming, eating ice cream, and applying liberal amounts of sunscreen- I now boast a quite impressive clog tan. It felt as if every other traveler had crisp, clean, expensive linens to wear (in contrast, my look was rather rumpled).

And as for my current location…I’m back in Paris! So you get to hear me talk about how much I love France (again!! woot woot!).The Paris that exists in Spring and Summer is the Disney version of the city. The national ennuie has long been banished, and the stone facades of the buildings bake and glow in the sun’s spotlight. Beneath that same sun, the rushing Seine perfectly duplicates the colors of a glaze we used in high school ceramics class- a swirling blend of amber, mossy green, sky blue, and lavendar. Add a subtle, pale gold sparkle around the crests of the waves churned up by the tour boats chugging by, and there’s the Seine in May (or early June). On cloudless days the sky’s reflection spreads over the murky water like a thin layer of fresh butter; the sweet, decadent blue simultaneously appears rich and light. Trees shimmer and glisten as branches shimmy in the breeze and each individual leaf momentarily turns metallic beneath the sun’s Midas touch. And here it doesn’t matter that I’m completely broke (the spontaneous two and a half weeks in Scotland amounted to around fifteen hundred dollars I hadn’t previously penned into the budget…) because I’ve spent months finessing my skills for France’s national sport and favorite pasttime; people watching.

The early summer air provokes memories of the last time I visited France in June, now six year ago (my first trip to the country, when I spent time in the Alps, the Loire Valley, and Paris), so images of cool mist rising from glacial rivers, evening trains pulled through sleepy chateaux towns by their occupants’ collective desire for rest, and rows of gingerbread chalets flood my mind. I’m reminded of so many firsts; my first truly spontaneous conversation in french (with this sweet, frail, wrinkled and white-bearded french man who sat down beside me on a bench one evening in Amboise and casually started talking to me- my internal reaction was far from casual, and I stuttered a whole lot), my first macaron, and my first walk through the woods near Chamonix, where I was convinced I would happen upon Rip Van Winkle snoozing through the decades in some shady grove (I paid no mind to the fact that Rip Van Winkle was supposed to be sleeping somewhere in the Hudson River Valley). Now being here, being happy, and loving the country, I feel grateful with each breath for being able to visit on so many different occasions.

Well, that’s all for now! Tomorrow I’m heading back to the city where I studied two years ago (Rennes!! I get to eat galettes! And go back to my favorite park! And cafe! And take all my old walks! So excited.) and then on Tuesday I fly to Ireland. Hope everyone’s enjoying the beginning of Summer back home! I’m heading your way in two weeks! (EEK.)