"Finally, the very nature of the interviews and the techniques by which they are handled give us a rare opportunity to see to some extent through the eyes of another person -to perceive the world as it appears to him, to achieve at least partially, the internal frame of reference of another person. We see his behavior through his eyes, and also the psychological meaning which it had for him. We see also changes in personality and behavior, and the meanings which those changes have for the individual. We are admitted freely into the backstage of the person's living where we can observe from within some of the dramas of internal change, which are often far more compelling and moving than the drama which is presented on the stage viewed by the public. Only a novelist or a poet could do justice to the deep struggles which we are permitted to observe from within the client's own world of reality."
- Rogers, C. (1947). Some Observations on the Organization of Personality. American Psychologist, 2, 358-368.
More and more I'm realizing the implications of the blogosphere. It is a window into personality, in much of the sense that Rogers talks about -of course minus the clinical psychologist or psychiatrist. Perhaps the internet has come to take on this role, this blog -along with all the millions of others - serving as the medium, and the cyber equivalent of cowboys (see Gibson's Neuromancer) serve as the audience.
What kind of implications is this having for our collective consciousness? Our feelings and emotions are increasingly related to the types of internet activities we partake in, e.g., posting a youtube video on someone's facebook wall, or venting frustration in a blog. In a way, our inner thoughts are becoming more and more public.
This will be my last post in this blog, for the window into this particular time period of my life is now having the curtains drawn over it. I'm fairly confident it won't be my last blog, but we'll just have to wait and see what the topic of the next stage of my collectively heard life will be...
I'm happy that anyone ever read this thing, and I commend you for doing so -be on the lookout for more crazy adventures in new, even more cleverly titled blogs.
PEACE I'M OUTTA HERE!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Capture the flag on bikes
So, I haven't really been posting in the last months or so...which shouldn't really be that much of a surprise, because it's been so long that you've probably already realized that there haven't been any posts for months.
Anyways, I'm starting a capture the flag on bikes game in Minneapolis and I need to upload a picture in order to post it in a forum of bikers in the twin cities (Minneapolis Bike Love).
I'm just going to assume that no one is reading this anymore and forgo any intricate explanation of the rules or any of that jibber-jabber.
Without further adieu here is the map of the area in which the Capture the Flag on Bikes game will be taking place...and if for some reason you are still reading this and are interested in participating, the event will be held on August 13th (my 21st birthday) at 5:30 at Van Cleve Park (15th and Como) near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (see above flyer).
Anyways, I'm starting a capture the flag on bikes game in Minneapolis and I need to upload a picture in order to post it in a forum of bikers in the twin cities (Minneapolis Bike Love).
I'm just going to assume that no one is reading this anymore and forgo any intricate explanation of the rules or any of that jibber-jabber.
Without further adieu here is the map of the area in which the Capture the Flag on Bikes game will be taking place...and if for some reason you are still reading this and are interested in participating, the event will be held on August 13th (my 21st birthday) at 5:30 at Van Cleve Park (15th and Como) near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (see above flyer).
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
European extravaganza part two: Spain + week after travel break
Well, the last week has been quite interesting to say the least...
Among the things I did was riding a 200 year old roller coaster, and seeing the oldest amusement park in the world (400 years old) - Bakken. It's located about a half an hour north of Copenhagen. My host parents took me there the day after I'd returned from my trip, while also celebrating the beginning of a 2 week vacation for both of them. Needless to say, it was amazing and the roller coaster -surprisingly exhilirating for being 200 years old.
I seem to be over the sickness that dominated the latter part of my tra
vels outside of Denmark, maybe due to a solid appetite of meat, potatoes, rye bread, and liver postvej. Or maybe it's due to the lengthening days, and the emergence of spring. On Tuesday I enjoyed the sunlight at a beautiful park across from the Frederiksberg zoo and read a very thought-provoking and inspirational book - Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins. Later this week I finished it, it was one of those books that you simply could not put down. I literally carried it every time I went out at night so that I could read more on the bus to and from.
Thursday was spent at the farm doing various farming activities that are so absurd sounding that I have neither the time nor the patience to describe them. After, I participated in another Ungdomhuset demonstration -but this time was different. It was a celebration instead of a demonstration, for the government has recently given a new house to the youth -or so I'm told (i don't know the exact story). It was a good excuse to walk around the streets of Copenhagen for a couple of ours, listen/dance to some really cool music, and eat some free food rolling buy on the signature Christiana bikes...vegan of course.
Friday was spent eagerly awaiting classes to get done so I could start the weekend -my host family went out of town and my host brother, his girlfriend, Cooper (their cockerspaniel), Nemo, and I were left with the house. In the night time I went to a welcome back part for DIS at Luux to get a free drink, and kill some time before a film that I went to see at 11:00 pm. It was part of a night film festival that was going on the past week or two. The film I saw was called Still Orangutans directed by Ainda Orangotango - a Brazilian filmmaker. The movie was all in Portuguese with English subtitles. It was 81 minutes of one continuous take. The way the movie progressed was by following a seemingly random individual or individuals through a Brazilian city. As the character/s met new people the camera would shift focus on the new individual.
One last memorable thing that happened to me, before I get into the meat of this post - Spain, took place on Sunday night. DIS was nice enough to purchase tickets to a football match (FCK (Copenhagen) vs. Mid-Jylland (mid-Jutland) for everyone enrolled in a Danish language class. Although FCK lost (the team we were supposed to be supporting) lost, it was a great experience just to be in a football game in Europe -although I was expecting a little more rowdiness...oh well.
Nothing worthwhile happened in the last two days...(just kidding of course, I only need to move on to the second week of my travel break).
Spain
My first arrival to the country home to the Spaniards was coming in from a 5-hour layover in Paris between trains. I got on an overnight train from Paris to Irun -a town located near the border of France and Spain. From here passengers continuing to Madrid were led off of the train to a bus that took us a few kilometers away to a different station. From there I was able to secure my arrival in Madrid -however, some of my companions on the train were not so lucky...Coincidentally we ran into a few of them later on while strolling through the inclined, narrow streets of Madrid.
Madrid
The capital of Spain was greeted by yours truly at Chamartin Station, located about half an hour on the metro away from the city center. I was supposed to meet Jenn
a at the station, but due to a miscommunication -mainly on my part (lack of important arrival info)- it did not happen. To add to the madness of my nearing 24-hour travel day, both the tourist information office and the internet cafe in the station were closed because of some holiday. I decided to go to the city center and look for internet access there -the address of the hotel we were supposed to be staying at was stored in a message online. Eventually I found one, and made way for the hotel. On the way, Jenna and I seemed to have just run into each other out of the blue. It was an exciting moment, and the start to a series of events that will be discussed as best and concisely as possible in the following.
The next few days were spent relaxing, walking around the city, and talking about life. Our hotel resembled more of a simple room inside a house rather than the typical idea of a hotel that comes to my mind when hearing the word. Just look at that view! (our window looked into the central part of 4 buildings connected to each other -from a birds-eye view it would like like to squares sharing a center.) I ended up making a few euro while playing the ol' guitar on the side of the street. Madrid probably had the most street performers out of any country or city I visited -with the possible exception of Paris. Given the population, however, there may be a proportionally larger amount of musicians and performers than Paris.
Regardless, the stay in Madrid was a nice period of relaxation in some decent weather for once. We walked through this massive park and stopped frequently to just absurd as much sunlight as possible, or take a nap. We ate dinner one night at Plaza Mayor -a huge open plaza surrounded by tall, ornate buildings, at the bottom of which were a multitude of restaurants to choose from. After deciding -more of a task than one would think -we chowed down on some good ol' fashioned Spanish Paella (you can't go to Spain without getting a little Paella). I guess I should also mention that Madrid was bustling with activity the entire time I was there, and especially at night. My theory is that the siesta's that are so common in Spanish culture give the Spaniards the ability to stay up until dawn.
We left Madrid in the afternoon from one of the coolest train stations I was at throughout the entire trip (see picture on right). I noticed immediately, even before I saw the jungle in the center of the station, the feeling of dampness in the air. An intricate watering system sprayed mist periodically into the canopy of the jungle. The indoor ecosystem with its extensive greenery cooled tensions, but the humidity was uncomfortable. Little did we know, the train ride would take nearly 7 hours (Madrid to Valencia...stupid regional trains), and the atmosphere of Valencia would be nothing like either of us had ever seen...
some more pictures from Madrid...
Valencia - Las Fallas
We came into Valencia at sunset, and because the train took so long, we were late for our first of two rendez-vous', each with separate times and locations, with our hopes in finding a place to stay. The popularity of this festival can be described in numbers, i.e., the non-festival population is around a half million and during this week in march it grows to an estimated three million. The train station was bustling elbow-to-elbow with people going to and fro. Once again, just to our luck, the tourist information office was closed -so we were mapless. Luckily, as we were asking directions -or should I say attempting to communicate since both Jenna and I only speak enough Spanish to get by- a generous lady just gave us an extra map that she had...let the games begin...
During this festival each city block builds elaborate 'monuments' that are fantastical, comical, and the highlight of the festival. To give you a taste, here are four of my favorite (see below) -among the hundreds scattered throughout the community of Valencia. Some of them are 100ft tall! We spent our first hours in Valencia in awe of the surroundings -streets jammed with people, 4 year olds lighting M-80's at every corner, and a constant barrage of muffled audio that consisted of a mixture of the voices, fireworks, and vendors.
So there we were, in Valencia without anywhere to stay, but with a few options. 1) Try to meet up with one of my friends who had been there for the past 3 days and crash at his friend's place, or 2) try to meet up with some members of the couchsurfing community whom I had never even met and hope they would have something for us. What actually ended up happening is quite the story...Both of our plans were foiled due to the sheer amount of people that were at the festival. It made trying to meet up with someone, even if you knew what they looked like, like trying to find a needle in a haystack. As a result, we never ended up meeting with my friend, and weren't even optimistic about finding anyone from couchsurfing. We ended up at the park -a massive, lowered area running in an arc toward the north and east edge of the city center, and eventually to the magnificent opera house and beach- watching the nightly 1:00am fireworks. This night was extra special as it was the last night the major, professional, display of fireworks was going to happen, but as we soon learned -the show was only just beginning...
The awesome display lasted for fifteen minutes or so, and we lay under the comforts of a blanket against a tree -totally relaxed. Not more than a few minutes after the grand finale -and believe me, it was grand, a group of youths bombarded the section of park with hundreds of flying, spinning, sparking, dangerous sticks of fire. I've never been under fire, but this must have been the closest thing possible to that; my concentration was 100% focused on dodging the incoming sticks of fire, and it was one of the only times on the trip that I was actually fearful that something bad was going to happen. Luckily, we were able to pack our bags, and make it out unscathed...although, the issue of where we were going to stay was not resolved.
We decided to make way for the beach, with hopes to camp out for at least a night (we later learned that from where, geographically, the beach would have been at least an hour and a half walk -something that would not have been fun given our energy level at the time). On our way there, we saw a large group of people in the middle of the park speaking, what sounded like English. Upon further inspection, it was, and we approached the group and made friends. It turns out that some of them were American study abroad students, with a place in the city. After they heard of our plans to camp out on the beach, we were offered a couch to sleep on for the two nights we were going to be there. It was the one of the best feelings in the world, I don't even know if there are words to describe it.
So, not only had our shelter issues been solved, but we had met some really cool people who ended up going into town with us the last night to see the most famous part of Las Fallas -the burning of the monuments. The day was spent wandering the streets of Valencia, eventually making it to the beautifully designed opera house -probably one of the coolest pieces of modern architecture I've ever seen. It was not simply just the opera house, but the whole complex that surrounded it in an echo of the characteristic style of the opera house. From there, and at this point the sun was beginning to set, we walked to the shores of the Mediterranean (a much longer walk than we had anticipated, but much worth it). I can now say that I've dipped my toes in the Mediterranean.
We hurried back to the flat, and met up with our new friends before we were to head out that night. This, the climax of the trip, was arguably the most memorable because it was just so astonishing. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was not prepared for the entire experience. All the monuments were set to burn at midnight,
but in actuality -like any performance- it was drawn out as long as possible. We must have stood waiting for the main monument to burn for an hour or so...but it was so worth it. The sequence of the dog burning is the lesser of the two monuments we saw being torched. The other one, which was a staggering 75ft tall or so, was of three asian women in traditional asian clothing, dancing with a giant dangling chinese lantern. After an uncomfortable period of standing way too close to way too many people, it burst into flames in a fiery explosion of color. So, after being dazzled and warmed by the sight and radiation of a 75ft flame, we got some food and called it a night.
Getting out of Valencia proved much harder than anticipated -but I guess I should have seen that coming knowing how popular the festival was. We originally wanted to leave at 6:00am for Barcelona -giving us almost a full day in Barcelona before we would have to leave on an overnight train to Paris (arriving on the 21st of March). Because the trains were all booked up, we ended up leaving at 1pm and not arriving into Barcelona until 5pm or so, leaving us with only about 4 hours until our overnight train to Paris. Four hours in one of the most beautiful cities in Spain -clearly not enough, but we did what we could. We walked around, saw a taste of what Barcelona was like, but were left drooling for more (figuratively of course).
Barcelona (in pictures)
Well, I've had thoroughly enough with this post, hope you all enjoy! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this given the fact that I'm barely caught up to the present, and there is so much that is going to be going on in the next few weeks...
Well, be on the lookout, but if you don't find anything...just know that you've been warned.
Among the things I did was riding a 200 year old roller coaster, and seeing the oldest amusement park in the world (400 years old) - Bakken. It's located about a half an hour north of Copenhagen. My host parents took me there the day after I'd returned from my trip, while also celebrating the beginning of a 2 week vacation for both of them. Needless to say, it was amazing and the roller coaster -surprisingly exhilirating for being 200 years old.I seem to be over the sickness that dominated the latter part of my tra
vels outside of Denmark, maybe due to a solid appetite of meat, potatoes, rye bread, and liver postvej. Or maybe it's due to the lengthening days, and the emergence of spring. On Tuesday I enjoyed the sunlight at a beautiful park across from the Frederiksberg zoo and read a very thought-provoking and inspirational book - Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins. Later this week I finished it, it was one of those books that you simply could not put down. I literally carried it every time I went out at night so that I could read more on the bus to and from.Thursday was spent at the farm doing various farming activities that are so absurd sounding that I have neither the time nor the patience to describe them. After, I participated in another Ungdomhuset demonstration -but this time was different. It was a celebration instead of a demonstration, for the government has recently given a new house to the youth -or so I'm told (i don't know the exact story). It was a good excuse to walk around the streets of Copenhagen for a couple of ours, listen/dance to some really cool music, and eat some free food rolling buy on the signature Christiana bikes...vegan of course.
Friday was spent eagerly awaiting classes to get done so I could start the weekend -my host family went out of town and my host brother, his girlfriend, Cooper (their cockerspaniel), Nemo, and I were left with the house. In the night time I went to a welcome back part for DIS at Luux to get a free drink, and kill some time before a film that I went to see at 11:00 pm. It was part of a night film festival that was going on the past week or two. The film I saw was called Still Orangutans directed by Ainda Orangotango - a Brazilian filmmaker. The movie was all in Portuguese with English subtitles. It was 81 minutes of one continuous take. The way the movie progressed was by following a seemingly random individual or individuals through a Brazilian city. As the character/s met new people the camera would shift focus on the new individual.
One last memorable thing that happened to me, before I get into the meat of this post - Spain, took place on Sunday night. DIS was nice enough to purchase tickets to a football match (FCK (Copenhagen) vs. Mid-Jylland (mid-Jutland) for everyone enrolled in a Danish language class. Although FCK lost (the team we were supposed to be supporting) lost, it was a great experience just to be in a football game in Europe -although I was expecting a little more rowdiness...oh well.
Nothing worthwhile happened in the last two days...(just kidding of course, I only need to move on to the second week of my travel break).
Spain
My first arrival to the country home to the Spaniards was coming in from a 5-hour layover in Paris between trains. I got on an overnight train from Paris to Irun -a town located near the border of France and Spain. From here passengers continuing to Madrid were led off of the train to a bus that took us a few kilometers away to a different station. From there I was able to secure my arrival in Madrid -however, some of my companions on the train were not so lucky...Coincidentally we ran into a few of them later on while strolling through the inclined, narrow streets of Madrid.
Madrid
The capital of Spain was greeted by yours truly at Chamartin Station, located about half an hour on the metro away from the city center. I was supposed to meet Jenn
a at the station, but due to a miscommunication -mainly on my part (lack of important arrival info)- it did not happen. To add to the madness of my nearing 24-hour travel day, both the tourist information office and the internet cafe in the station were closed because of some holiday. I decided to go to the city center and look for internet access there -the address of the hotel we were supposed to be staying at was stored in a message online. Eventually I found one, and made way for the hotel. On the way, Jenna and I seemed to have just run into each other out of the blue. It was an exciting moment, and the start to a series of events that will be discussed as best and concisely as possible in the following.
The next few days were spent relaxing, walking around the city, and talking about life. Our hotel resembled more of a simple room inside a house rather than the typical idea of a hotel that comes to my mind when hearing the word. Just look at that view! (our window looked into the central part of 4 buildings connected to each other -from a birds-eye view it would like like to squares sharing a center.) I ended up making a few euro while playing the ol' guitar on the side of the street. Madrid probably had the most street performers out of any country or city I visited -with the possible exception of Paris. Given the population, however, there may be a proportionally larger amount of musicians and performers than Paris.
Regardless, the stay in Madrid was a nice period of relaxation in some decent weather for once. We walked through this massive park and stopped frequently to just absurd as much sunlight as possible, or take a nap. We ate dinner one night at Plaza Mayor -a huge open plaza surrounded by tall, ornate buildings, at the bottom of which were a multitude of restaurants to choose from. After deciding -more of a task than one would think -we chowed down on some good ol' fashioned Spanish Paella (you can't go to Spain without getting a little Paella). I guess I should also mention that Madrid was bustling with activity the entire time I was there, and especially at night. My theory is that the siesta's that are so common in Spanish culture give the Spaniards the ability to stay up until dawn.
We left Madrid in the afternoon from one of the coolest train stations I was at throughout the entire trip (see picture on right). I noticed immediately, even before I saw the jungle in the center of the station, the feeling of dampness in the air. An intricate watering system sprayed mist periodically into the canopy of the jungle. The indoor ecosystem with its extensive greenery cooled tensions, but the humidity was uncomfortable. Little did we know, the train ride would take nearly 7 hours (Madrid to Valencia...stupid regional trains), and the atmosphere of Valencia would be nothing like either of us had ever seen...
some more pictures from Madrid...
Valencia - Las Fallas
We came into Valencia at sunset, and because the train took so long, we were late for our first of two rendez-vous', each with separate times and locations, with our hopes in finding a place to stay. The popularity of this festival can be described in numbers, i.e., the non-festival population is around a half million and during this week in march it grows to an estimated three million. The train station was bustling elbow-to-elbow with people going to and fro. Once again, just to our luck, the tourist information office was closed -so we were mapless. Luckily, as we were asking directions -or should I say attempting to communicate since both Jenna and I only speak enough Spanish to get by- a generous lady just gave us an extra map that she had...let the games begin...During this festival each city block builds elaborate 'monuments' that are fantastical, comical, and the highlight of the festival. To give you a taste, here are four of my favorite (see below) -among the hundreds scattered throughout the community of Valencia. Some of them are 100ft tall! We spent our first hours in Valencia in awe of the surroundings -streets jammed with people, 4 year olds lighting M-80's at every corner, and a constant barrage of muffled audio that consisted of a mixture of the voices, fireworks, and vendors.
You really can't capture the vividness and grandiose of these things, but I did my best.
So there we were, in Valencia without anywhere to stay, but with a few options. 1) Try to meet up with one of my friends who had been there for the past 3 days and crash at his friend's place, or 2) try to meet up with some members of the couchsurfing community whom I had never even met and hope they would have something for us. What actually ended up happening is quite the story...Both of our plans were foiled due to the sheer amount of people that were at the festival. It made trying to meet up with someone, even if you knew what they looked like, like trying to find a needle in a haystack. As a result, we never ended up meeting with my friend, and weren't even optimistic about finding anyone from couchsurfing. We ended up at the park -a massive, lowered area running in an arc toward the north and east edge of the city center, and eventually to the magnificent opera house and beach- watching the nightly 1:00am fireworks. This night was extra special as it was the last night the major, professional, display of fireworks was going to happen, but as we soon learned -the show was only just beginning...
The awesome display lasted for fifteen minutes or so, and we lay under the comforts of a blanket against a tree -totally relaxed. Not more than a few minutes after the grand finale -and believe me, it was grand, a group of youths bombarded the section of park with hundreds of flying, spinning, sparking, dangerous sticks of fire. I've never been under fire, but this must have been the closest thing possible to that; my concentration was 100% focused on dodging the incoming sticks of fire, and it was one of the only times on the trip that I was actually fearful that something bad was going to happen. Luckily, we were able to pack our bags, and make it out unscathed...although, the issue of where we were going to stay was not resolved.
We decided to make way for the beach, with hopes to camp out for at least a night (we later learned that from where, geographically, the beach would have been at least an hour and a half walk -something that would not have been fun given our energy level at the time). On our way there, we saw a large group of people in the middle of the park speaking, what sounded like English. Upon further inspection, it was, and we approached the group and made friends. It turns out that some of them were American study abroad students, with a place in the city. After they heard of our plans to camp out on the beach, we were offered a couch to sleep on for the two nights we were going to be there. It was the one of the best feelings in the world, I don't even know if there are words to describe it.
So, not only had our shelter issues been solved, but we had met some really cool people who ended up going into town with us the last night to see the most famous part of Las Fallas -the burning of the monuments. The day was spent wandering the streets of Valencia, eventually making it to the beautifully designed opera house -probably one of the coolest pieces of modern architecture I've ever seen. It was not simply just the opera house, but the whole complex that surrounded it in an echo of the characteristic style of the opera house. From there, and at this point the sun was beginning to set, we walked to the shores of the Mediterranean (a much longer walk than we had anticipated, but much worth it). I can now say that I've dipped my toes in the Mediterranean.
We hurried back to the flat, and met up with our new friends before we were to head out that night. This, the climax of the trip, was arguably the most memorable because it was just so astonishing. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was not prepared for the entire experience. All the monuments were set to burn at midnight,
but in actuality -like any performance- it was drawn out as long as possible. We must have stood waiting for the main monument to burn for an hour or so...but it was so worth it. The sequence of the dog burning is the lesser of the two monuments we saw being torched. The other one, which was a staggering 75ft tall or so, was of three asian women in traditional asian clothing, dancing with a giant dangling chinese lantern. After an uncomfortable period of standing way too close to way too many people, it burst into flames in a fiery explosion of color. So, after being dazzled and warmed by the sight and radiation of a 75ft flame, we got some food and called it a night.Getting out of Valencia proved much harder than anticipated -but I guess I should have seen that coming knowing how popular the festival was. We originally wanted to leave at 6:00am for Barcelona -giving us almost a full day in Barcelona before we would have to leave on an overnight train to Paris (arriving on the 21st of March). Because the trains were all booked up, we ended up leaving at 1pm and not arriving into Barcelona until 5pm or so, leaving us with only about 4 hours until our overnight train to Paris. Four hours in one of the most beautiful cities in Spain -clearly not enough, but we did what we could. We walked around, saw a taste of what Barcelona was like, but were left drooling for more (figuratively of course).
Barcelona (in pictures)
Well, I've had thoroughly enough with this post, hope you all enjoy! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this given the fact that I'm barely caught up to the present, and there is so much that is going to be going on in the next few weeks...
Well, be on the lookout, but if you don't find anything...just know that you've been warned.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
European extravaganza part one: The Netherlands
I've finally made it home after a loooong three weeks. I've realized that time really is objective; these past three weeks have been packed with so many sights, sounds, and people that it feels like it was enough to fill a lifetime...Well maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit, but you get the idea.
Things didn't quite go exactly as planned -I ended up spending way too much time in Paris, and not nearly enough time in Barcelona, not to mention not even making it to Florence or Rome. I knew things were going to go wrong, but not like this, but when you're traveling in this fashion you just have to deal with everything that life throws at you in the best way that you can. Consequently, I never want to go back to Paris again -not only because the french are just kind of assholes in general, but also because after Jenna left, everything that could go wrong did...but more on that later. I want now to go back to Barcelona for more than the few hours we had between trains, and seeing that I didn't even get to see Rome, I have to go back -but I think I wouldn't have had enough time there anyways, so maybe it was a good thing.
Seeing that I've taken over 600 pictures, and a few videos, there is no possible way that I'm going to be able to fit everything in one post, so I've decided to split it up into each country I was in, proceeding in chronological order: The Netherlands, Spain, France, and Italy.
Part I: The Netherlands
Gronnigen
So we began the journey on a ~7 hour bus and ferry ride from Copenhagen to Gronnigen, NL (located in the northern part of the Netherlands). We stayed here for the next two days in the Martini hotel -named after the famous, and well-known to the inhabitants of Gronnigen, Martini Tower. It was a cozy hotel, and much to my luck, I was in the coolest room out of anybody from our group in that it had more space than just barely enough for the beds, like most of the people (suckers) got. Just to our luck, the following morning after we arrived, there was a leak in a water main somewhere in the northern Netherlands so we didn't have water...what a great way to start out the trip!
I don't exactly remember the order of events that took place, given that it was three weeks ago, so I'm just going to put down events that happened in whatever order they come to my mind. The first, and probably my most favorite part of the visit to Gronnigen, was the bike tour that we were taken on. The tour leaders were two Dutch guys who would have probably made a great comedic duo. It seems to me that the Dutch people are generally just more goofy than the any of the other sorts of people I met on my trip (French, Spanish, Italian,
etc.) Of course this could be a complete over-generalization but I'm willing to say it. The bike tour took us through the entire city of Gronnigen -and it didn't really take that long given the face that Gronnigen is not that big of a city. Another unique Dutch thing was the prevalence of bikes, both in Gronnigen and in Amsterdam. The picture on the left (the bike parking outside of central station in Gronnigen) brilliantly illustrates this observation -probably the most bikes I've ever seen at once -with the possible exception of the critical mass rides that I frequent back in mpls.
The bike tour ended where it began -at the Martini Tower. What followed was the scaling of the nearly 200ft tall tower by way of a narrow, dark, stone, and spiraled-staircase. We were supposed to count all the steps, but I lost track along the way and just focused on making it to the top -which was more physically exhausting than I thought it would be. Once we were there, however, all of the work was worth it for a beautiful view of the quaint litt
le town of Gronnigen (see panoramic below). On the way down, we stopped at the bell-floor, upon which we were able to actually ring one of the bells. There was a long rope dangling from whatever contraption is used to ring bells, and an open space next a brick wall around the rope. If you got the bell ringing hard and loud enough, you could hold on to the rope at just the right moment, and it would propel you up to 15 ft in the air! I'm proud to unofficially claim myself as the champion of air out of all of my classmates.
view from the Martini Tower
We left Gronnigen for Amsterdam as planned on the morning of March 12th, so I'll leave the Gronnigen topic for one last, suitable photo of this small town in the north of the land of the Dutch.
Amsterdam
By far the most memorable experience in Amsterdam came at the finale of the academic study tour -Cirque du Soleil. This performance of Varekai was located in a giant tent (see picture) about half an hour away from the city by train -the 'Arena' stop to be precise. The stop is called this because of the giant Olympic-style arena of sorts that was located near the train stop. If you've never seen a Cirque du Soleil show, I highly suggest that sometime in the future to check one out. There's no way that words can do justice to the lights, sounds, acrobatics, dance, and circus-esque theatrics that was Varekai -and if you have seen any Cirque du Soleil performance, you will understand why I can't describe the beauty and majesty in words.
The other most famous person to reside in Amsterdam was Anne Frank. A trip to Amsterdam is not complete without at least a stop by her place of residence (located on the outskirts of the Jordan neighborhood). I didn't have a chance to go into the actual house because I think it costed money, and there was a long line -but I did see her statue and the doors to where she lived. It was at least some form of consolation. Following this brief viewing of the historic site we were led on a walking tour of the Jordan neighborhood. If i remember correctly it was a traditional working class neighborhood now turned into student housing area. The streets of this section of the city, along with most of the rest, are so narrow that you can barely fit one car down the street, which is why most people living in Amsterdam get around by bike (not to mention the fact that owning a car and paying for parking costs a fortune).
Another one of the 'must-see' sites of Amsterdam is the flower market. The below sea-level altitude of the Netherlands, and the overall climate make it one of the most premiere places to grow flowers. The flower market is exactly what it sounds like, a street of flower vendors offering tulips, daffodils, cacti, and many more flowers that I can't recall (if you can't tell I'm not much of a botanist). I'd really like to come back here in the summer to really see the bounty that this spring still has yet to offer.
Of course I can't really go without mentioning the absolute decadence that really made Amsterdam feel like a different world. The red light district is a pedestrian filled section of town marked off by small red stoplight-looking posts. It is filled with the infamous coffee-shops of Amsterdam, girls in bikinis displayed in windows, and countless strangers whispering the names of different street drugs in your ear as you walk by. Certainly it is something worth seeing, but definitely not somewhere I would want to be hanging out for an extended period of time -especially at night when the darkness seems to bring out the madness in everyone...
The following day after Cirque du Soleil my school group left, and I had planned on meeting up with a couple of friends who, coincidentally, were in Amsterdam at the time. They had a hotel not too far away from where I was, so with a little sneakery I was able to spend an extra night for free only to wake up the next morning and hop a train destined for Madrid.
I could go on and on telling you more about the Netherlands, but it seems that this post has become sufficiently long enough for my liking -besides I have three more countries to talk about in the upcoming posts. For now I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from Amsterdam that, for me, describe the whole trip pretty accurately. Be on the lookout for upcoming posts in the next few weeks -although I'm not exactly sure when I'll find the time to do them with school starting up in full gear tomorrow.
Things didn't quite go exactly as planned -I ended up spending way too much time in Paris, and not nearly enough time in Barcelona, not to mention not even making it to Florence or Rome. I knew things were going to go wrong, but not like this, but when you're traveling in this fashion you just have to deal with everything that life throws at you in the best way that you can. Consequently, I never want to go back to Paris again -not only because the french are just kind of assholes in general, but also because after Jenna left, everything that could go wrong did...but more on that later. I want now to go back to Barcelona for more than the few hours we had between trains, and seeing that I didn't even get to see Rome, I have to go back -but I think I wouldn't have had enough time there anyways, so maybe it was a good thing.
Seeing that I've taken over 600 pictures, and a few videos, there is no possible way that I'm going to be able to fit everything in one post, so I've decided to split it up into each country I was in, proceeding in chronological order: The Netherlands, Spain, France, and Italy.
Part I: The Netherlands
Gronnigen
So we began the journey on a ~7 hour bus and ferry ride from Copenhagen to Gronnigen, NL (located in the northern part of the Netherlands). We stayed here for the next two days in the Martini hotel -named after the famous, and well-known to the inhabitants of Gronnigen, Martini Tower. It was a cozy hotel, and much to my luck, I was in the coolest room out of anybody from our group in that it had more space than just barely enough for the beds, like most of the people (suckers) got. Just to our luck, the following morning after we arrived, there was a leak in a water main somewhere in the northern Netherlands so we didn't have water...what a great way to start out the trip!
I don't exactly remember the order of events that took place, given that it was three weeks ago, so I'm just going to put down events that happened in whatever order they come to my mind. The first, and probably my most favorite part of the visit to Gronnigen, was the bike tour that we were taken on. The tour leaders were two Dutch guys who would have probably made a great comedic duo. It seems to me that the Dutch people are generally just more goofy than the any of the other sorts of people I met on my trip (French, Spanish, Italian,
etc.) Of course this could be a complete over-generalization but I'm willing to say it. The bike tour took us through the entire city of Gronnigen -and it didn't really take that long given the face that Gronnigen is not that big of a city. Another unique Dutch thing was the prevalence of bikes, both in Gronnigen and in Amsterdam. The picture on the left (the bike parking outside of central station in Gronnigen) brilliantly illustrates this observation -probably the most bikes I've ever seen at once -with the possible exception of the critical mass rides that I frequent back in mpls.
The bike tour ended where it began -at the Martini Tower. What followed was the scaling of the nearly 200ft tall tower by way of a narrow, dark, stone, and spiraled-staircase. We were supposed to count all the steps, but I lost track along the way and just focused on making it to the top -which was more physically exhausting than I thought it would be. Once we were there, however, all of the work was worth it for a beautiful view of the quaint litt
le town of Gronnigen (see panoramic below). On the way down, we stopped at the bell-floor, upon which we were able to actually ring one of the bells. There was a long rope dangling from whatever contraption is used to ring bells, and an open space next a brick wall around the rope. If you got the bell ringing hard and loud enough, you could hold on to the rope at just the right moment, and it would propel you up to 15 ft in the air! I'm proud to unofficially claim myself as the champion of air out of all of my classmates.
view from the Martini Tower
Some other highlights from Gronnigen included a really cool Indonesian restaurant that our study tour leader took us to -I'm not 100% sure, but there must be s
ome kind of connection between the Indonesian islands and the Netherlands because there was just way too many Indonesian restaurants and shops for there not to be. Also, I went to a modern art museum that had such an impressive, and distinct style of architecture that I had to go in and see what it had to offer. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that the outside seemed to crack it up to be -although maybe half of the museum was just being inside this wacky building. Don't get me wrong, there were some really cool art pieces, just nothing that really surprised or attracted me. The picture on the right really doesn't do it justice, but it's the only one I managed to take -the museum was situated on the banks of one of the many canals that run through Gronnigen. The textured blue and white tiles/paintings on the outside of the building seemed to act as mirror reflecting the water upon which the museum was seated.
ome kind of connection between the Indonesian islands and the Netherlands because there was just way too many Indonesian restaurants and shops for there not to be. Also, I went to a modern art museum that had such an impressive, and distinct style of architecture that I had to go in and see what it had to offer. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that the outside seemed to crack it up to be -although maybe half of the museum was just being inside this wacky building. Don't get me wrong, there were some really cool art pieces, just nothing that really surprised or attracted me. The picture on the right really doesn't do it justice, but it's the only one I managed to take -the museum was situated on the banks of one of the many canals that run through Gronnigen. The textured blue and white tiles/paintings on the outside of the building seemed to act as mirror reflecting the water upon which the museum was seated.
(the boats pictured here are peoples' houses!)
Amsterdam
Well, I'm not really sure how to even begin to describe the experiences I had in Amsterdam. This city was like nothing I've ever seen before -but come to think of it, neither was any of the cities I visited...I definitely started to get a feel for the Dutch design in
Amsterdam, not only in terms of architecture and buildings, but also the way the city was designed, and the way you maneuvered through it. It was like constantly being in an urban obstacle course. At every moment you needed to be on the lookout for the hoards of bicycles, fast-moving and dangerous above-ground trams, and the steady flow of cars and buses. Also, the way to navigate this city was completely unique from any of the other cities I visited. The city is constructed with the central station at the north, surrounded by a series of circular canals -so instead of using street names to navigate, it was much more convenient to think in terms of how many canals you have to walk past, or walk-along in order to get in the general area of wherever it was that you were trying to find.
Amsterdam, not only in terms of architecture and buildings, but also the way the city was designed, and the way you maneuvered through it. It was like constantly being in an urban obstacle course. At every moment you needed to be on the lookout for the hoards of bicycles, fast-moving and dangerous above-ground trams, and the steady flow of cars and buses. Also, the way to navigate this city was completely unique from any of the other cities I visited. The city is constructed with the central station at the north, surrounded by a series of circular canals -so instead of using street names to navigate, it was much more convenient to think in terms of how many canals you have to walk past, or walk-along in order to get in the general area of wherever it was that you were trying to find.
By far the most memorable experience in Amsterdam came at the finale of the academic study tour -Cirque du Soleil. This performance of Varekai was located in a giant tent (see picture) about half an hour away from the city by train -the 'Arena' stop to be precise. The stop is called this because of the giant Olympic-style arena of sorts that was located near the train stop. If you've never seen a Cirque du Soleil show, I highly suggest that sometime in the future to check one out. There's no way that words can do justice to the lights, sounds, acrobatics, dance, and circus-esque theatrics that was Varekai -and if you have seen any Cirque du Soleil performance, you will understand why I can't describe the beauty and majesty in words.Among the many famous people in history who called Amsterdam home was the well-known earless painter Van Gogh. During our stay we had the opportunity to check out the local Van Gogh museum which claimed to have the most extensive collection of works in the world -and I don't doubt it since it was his hometown. I didn't spend too much time here because we were a little crunched for time -I can't even remember what for a
nymore, but it was the case nonetheless. I read about his entire life and briefly looked at the paintings that reflected each time period of his life -he was truly a revolutionary and gifted artist whose boundaries were unknown to me before this point. His paintings of trees and flowers were really what struck me as his most beautiful -so intricate and colorful, and all in a sort of impressionistic style that can only be described as Van Gogh. Sometime later that night I snapped a picture of a couple trees somewhere in Amsterdam with a specific setting on my camera resulting in the,
what I believe to be, very Van Gogh-esque style photograph you see on the right...
nymore, but it was the case nonetheless. I read about his entire life and briefly looked at the paintings that reflected each time period of his life -he was truly a revolutionary and gifted artist whose boundaries were unknown to me before this point. His paintings of trees and flowers were really what struck me as his most beautiful -so intricate and colorful, and all in a sort of impressionistic style that can only be described as Van Gogh. Sometime later that night I snapped a picture of a couple trees somewhere in Amsterdam with a specific setting on my camera resulting in the,what I believe to be, very Van Gogh-esque style photograph you see on the right...
The other most famous person to reside in Amsterdam was Anne Frank. A trip to Amsterdam is not complete without at least a stop by her place of residence (located on the outskirts of the Jordan neighborhood). I didn't have a chance to go into the actual house because I think it costed money, and there was a long line -but I did see her statue and the doors to where she lived. It was at least some form of consolation. Following this brief viewing of the historic site we were led on a walking tour of the Jordan neighborhood. If i remember correctly it was a traditional working class neighborhood now turned into student housing area. The streets of this section of the city, along with most of the rest, are so narrow that you can barely fit one car down the street, which is why most people living in Amsterdam get around by bike (not to mention the fact that owning a car and paying for parking costs a fortune).
Another one of the 'must-see' sites of Amsterdam is the flower market. The below sea-level altitude of the Netherlands, and the overall climate make it one of the most premiere places to grow flowers. The flower market is exactly what it sounds like, a street of flower vendors offering tulips, daffodils, cacti, and many more flowers that I can't recall (if you can't tell I'm not much of a botanist). I'd really like to come back here in the summer to really see the bounty that this spring still has yet to offer.
Of course I can't really go without mentioning the absolute decadence that really made Amsterdam feel like a different world. The red light district is a pedestrian filled section of town marked off by small red stoplight-looking posts. It is filled with the infamous coffee-shops of Amsterdam, girls in bikinis displayed in windows, and countless strangers whispering the names of different street drugs in your ear as you walk by. Certainly it is something worth seeing, but definitely not somewhere I would want to be hanging out for an extended period of time -especially at night when the darkness seems to bring out the madness in everyone...
The following day after Cirque du Soleil my school group left, and I had planned on meeting up with a couple of friends who, coincidentally, were in Amsterdam at the time. They had a hotel not too far away from where I was, so with a little sneakery I was able to spend an extra night for free only to wake up the next morning and hop a train destined for Madrid.
I could go on and on telling you more about the Netherlands, but it seems that this post has become sufficiently long enough for my liking -besides I have three more countries to talk about in the upcoming posts. For now I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from Amsterdam that, for me, describe the whole trip pretty accurately. Be on the lookout for upcoming posts in the next few weeks -although I'm not exactly sure when I'll find the time to do them with school starting up in full gear tomorrow.
the essence of Amsterdam
I had been Amsterdamned indeed.
PS: I don't know why the text gets smaller sometimes, but it's really starting to bug me -maybe i'm just too much of a perfectionist. Oh well, enjoy anyways!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Too much to think about
If there was any picture to convey the combination of academic intensity of the past week with the fact that I'm going to be traveling across Europe for the next three weeks, it is the stencil on the left (can be found near the entrance of Vestergade 7-A).1 presentation + 3 papers + midterm + 8.5 hour day at a farm with little kids followed by political rally = FUN!?
Well, as I predicted earlier, it really will make these next 3 weeks feel much more like a vacation than if I had been sitting on my ass the entire time. It feels like so much has happened in the last few days that I don't really know where to start -I can't imagine how I will be able to describe the next 3 weeks...
But I'll give it a shot...
On Monday our group gave our presen
tation on the Christianian kindergarten, and I'm happy to say that we thoroughly dominated. A couple of the group members decided to create a diorama of the adventure room using the pictures and schematics I had created. The diorama was based on the style of dioramas that I had seen in the kindergarten. They were interesting because you would look through a porthole cut into the side of a closed shoebox and see a miniature world with whatever you decided to put in it. We also incorporated clips of the audio very nicely -it was a presentation I felt proud of when I got out of class...On Tuesday I had a music swap with one of my friends and I've subsequently gained a massive amount of new, un-listened to by me, music. A good portion of the day has been spent transferring most of it onto my iPod -which hopefully will accompany me for the entirety of my trip.
The midweek was spent writing a paper on...wait for it..."The social and political consequences of the industrial revolution." I hope someone who's reading this understands the urge I had to write the entire story of "The puppy who lost his way." -the story Billy Madison (Adam Sandler) answers with when asked about the industrial revolution. Anyways, I ended up writing a pretty kickass paper that had some good flow to it, and I'm pretty sure I sounded like I was smart -the other three-quarters of writing a good paper.
Thursday, March 6th, was one of those days...I'm not really sure what I mean when I say that, but hopefully you'll have a better understanding after you read the following:
Woke up at the crack of 6AM and arrived at the kindergarten at 730. We took off for the farm, despite the rainy, bleak, and downright dismal conditions of the morning -WOW, DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING DENMARK! This trip was very unique, and for a couple of reasons. For one, the group of kids we took this time were younger than the usual group, and had never ventured into the actual farm part of the town; rather, they would stay at the kindergarten facility a few miles away. Luckily, as we left the city and were on our way to the farm, the clouds parted and a the sun embraced the green fields of the danish countryside.
One of the more interesting things that happened throughout the day was a good ol' fashion sheep shearin'. I immediately noticed the leashed-up sheep upon our entrance into the farm and my intuition was correct -later that day the kids gathered round while two of the workers gave an angry sheep a haircut. This was a first-time experience for me, and just another added first time experience to all the kids who came that day. The things these kids must learn here...constantly absorbing the sights, sounds, and smells of their playground away from home.
What did we do with all that wool? Well, we folded it up into a ball, covered the ball with warm soapy water, and softly condensed it of course. Afterward, the wool-balls were to be soaked in ice cold water for some period of time, followed by a drying period. When they were dry, the balls were supposed to have shrunken into bouncing balls of wool. I've never done this before, or even heard of it being done, so it was quite the disappointment to know that I wouldn't be able to see the finished product.My mind was elsewhere as we played and explored the farm with the kids. I couldn't choose what to think about -how exhausted I already was, my upcoming 830AM midterm the following day, or the prospects of the next 3 weeks. Eventually we returned to the city around 4PM and it was back to the grind...or so I thought.
On my way home I decided to make an attempt at starting the mental transition toward my health care in Scandinavia midterm. I got in contact with a friend in the class and we met up in Gammel Torv (Old Square) to discuss the next day. I really didn't
have studying on my agenda because I was too exhausted and needed some form of a break, so it was a good thing when I learned that Gammel Torv is the gathering point of the weekly rally of supporters for Ungdomhuset. The scene was like something out of a movie -everyone had some kind of black, torn, punk-looking garment on. Hair came in all colors of the rainbow, and a truck carrying two DJ's with equipment and four giant speakers blasted aggressive hip-hop, punk, and electronica. After a little while of hanging out in the square the truck started to move, and so did the crowd. We casually walked down the streets of Copenhagen -specifically from Gammel Torv to the National Museum, and then to Tivoli. Every so often, the music would stop and various speakers would fill the air with heart-felt monologues that I have no idea were about, but seemed to motivate the crowd. It was amazing to see how the city reacted to this kind of a protest...The police blocked traffic for us, there were people in yellow vests looking after the crowd, and although mildly disruptive, we were contained. I broke away from the crowd at Tivoli where I waited not more than 3 minutes for the bus to take me home. On the bus I listened to Leftover Crack and energetically reflected on the quick sequence of events that had just occurred.
I got home 5 minutes after my host mother left, and my host father was at work -so I was alone. I heated up some leftovers and sat down to eat. I thought to myself, "what better time to get a little tv watchin' in than when you're all alone eating food?" I flipped on the tv, and without having to change the channel, the very beginning of an episode of The Simpsons started. It reminded me of eating dinner at home, back when there was a solid hour of Simpsons from 5-6. This episode was about how Bart destroys Lisa's steroid-enhanced giant tomato -if you are/were a Simpsons fan and haven't watched many episodes recently, I would highly suggest rewatching them -freakin' hilarious.
The night was followed by some 'hard-to-concentrate' and 'sleep-deprived' studying that, in retrospect, probably didn't really even do me much good. I took my test at 830 the following morning, turned in the industrial revolution paper along with another paper for my Danish class, and came home to write another paper for one of my psychology classes. IT WAS FINALLY OVER!!!
I went out last night, as did probably every other student who had finished, and had a great time. My most memorable moment last night was when I had just gotten into town, grabbed a couple beers at your local 7-11 (literally on every street corner in the city), and the clock in city square struck midnight. I cracked the beer, turned to a guy standing next to me and said the only word I could think of that adequately summed up how great it felt -skål.
Turning now into the future...
Here's the plan:
Tomorrow - Board bus to Groningen, Netherlands. Spend the two days in Groningen before heading out to Amsterdam. This part of the trip will be spent with a group of psychology students from DIS -the same people who went on the western Denmark study tour. I should mention at least something about the content of this part, because there is one thing that sets it apart from other study tours with DIS. Not only are we going to the Van Gogh museum, but later that night we'll be seeing none other than a performance by Cirque du Soleil. This particular performance is called Varekai -a visual feast set in the depths of a fantastical, mysterious forest.
I'll be spending a few nights in Amsterdam with the DIS group, but then they're leaving to go back to Copenhagen. I'll be staying in Amsterdam with three of my friends, all of whom study at the University of Minnesota, and all of whom are currently studying in different places across Europe. It's amazing that we'll all be in the same, extraordinary place for a brief moment in time.
March 15th - Leave via train for Amsterdam to Paris. Two hours layover while I attempt to get from one train station to another. Leave overnight for Madrid to meet up with my girlfriend, Jenna. It's been so long since I've seen anyone that knows me beyond the relational level of a DIS student, and I'm really looking forward to it.
March 16th - Arrive in Madrid sometime in the morning.
March 17th - Madrid.
March 18th - Leave Madrid for Valencia, Spain. The festival of Las Fallas completely changes the coastal town of Valencia during a week in March. We're going to be here for the very last part of it -and consequently the most exciting part. This is supposed to be one of the craziest festivals in Spain, and since Spain as a country is known for having wild, elaborate festivals what can I even expect?
March 19th - Hopefully have found a place to stay -just banking on the couchsurfing community at this point.
March 20th - Take morning train from Valencia to Barcelona. Spend day in Barcelona seeing the sights, and possibly trying to rendez-vous with a friend. Take overnight train from Barcelona to Paris.
March 21st - Arrive in Paris and check into hotel - Central La Defense.
March 22nd - Paris (itinerary not decided yet)
March 23rd - Paris (last night Jenna will be with me) - itinerary not yet decided.
March 24th - Paris - Rendez-vous with Vicki from DIS and stay with her friend somewhere else in Paris.
March 25th - Leave Paris for overnight journey to Florence, Italy. Rendez-vous with a friend studying in Florence.
March 26th - Florence.
March 27th - Leave Florence for Rome, spend day sightseeing.
March 28th - Fly out of Rome back to Copenhagen.
Here's what I got...
Well I guess this is it, time to say goodbye for a little while. I have no idea what to expect on this journey, and I'm sure there will be a bump in the road at some point -but sometimes not-knowing what lies ahead of you can be more exhilirating than knowing.
I don't know how limited my access to a computer will be so I'm definitely not going to be posting nearly as much as I had been -plus, who wants to spend time talking about what's happened when there's so much more to do! Maybe I'll get a chance to chec
k in once or twice...
And for anyone still wondering if Charlotte the spider is still chillin' above my head every night, here's a little update...
Spring is right around the corner and I hope for everyone reading this that your March is a reflection of the natural rebirth and rejuvination that it is.
I don't know how limited my access to a computer will be so I'm definitely not going to be posting nearly as much as I had been -plus, who wants to spend time talking about what's happened when there's so much more to do! Maybe I'll get a chance to chec
k in once or twice...And for anyone still wondering if Charlotte the spider is still chillin' above my head every night, here's a little update...
Spring is right around the corner and I hope for everyone reading this that your March is a reflection of the natural rebirth and rejuvination that it is.
Farewell everyone!
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