Backpackers Anonymous

Work hard/ Explore harder

[backpacker-anonymous]

Maine 2018

[backpacker-anonymous]

[backpacker-anonymous]

[backpacker-anonymous]

[backpacker-anonymous]

[backpacker-anonymous]

Great Cities J-term IAU College 2017-2018

[backpacker-anonymous]

[backpacker-anonymous]

[backpacker-anonymous]

Portland, OR

I got the keys to my new apartment 6 days ago, after crossing the country in an ‘06 Subaru Outback. Tonight, the candle flame is wild in the breeze against the back drop of a corner Café with string lights on the trees and up beat, far off jazz music. I’ve got this sweet notion of familiarity.

[backpacker-anonymous]

A rad couple of months.

[backpacker-anonymous]

So it's Thursday in West Chester...

My mother would scold me for reading in this dark restaurant, but we're all on our way to blindness anyway, right? The walls are painted with sea creatures, I'm reading Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", and I'm filled to the top with Green Thai curry. I suppose I'm using this account to post because dining alone reminds me of the times I learned how to do so properly... For example, truffle sauce with tortellini in Rome after I dropped Lauren off at her summer program. Small adventures in West Chester will keep me sane for now!

[backpacker-anonymous]

So this is summer, huh?

From post-adventure adventure to boredom to working to trying to breathe.

Regardless, I’m one lucky gal.

[backpacker-anonymous]

‘Murica

SO. It’s 4th of July weekend and it seems that the world is sitting in traffic on Route 9 towards the Jersey Shore. Although typically a weekend full of stress-free BBQ and red, white, and blueberry desserts, I feel a bit strange as this is my first weekend of many where I will be in Pennsylvania. This is the start of the daily grind. I spent the last ten days on a most-eventful visit to Columbia, South Carolina to see my joke-making, sun-bathing, vacation-planning relatives. There  was line dancing and fried chicken eating and talking; oh boy there was talking. They really are wonderful people, my southern family.

It’s my 24th day back in the states. Gramma is visiting. My blondie friend turned 21 yesterday. We’re having a picnic on Sunday. I’m really starting to miss Aix. Now that my thoughts are out there, I shall try and embrace this star spangled weekend with my insane and wonderful family. Here we go ‘Murica, let’s bring it back to home base. 

[backpacker-anonymous]

Italia!!

[backpacker-anonymous]

I’m baaaaccckkk.

So it’s been a while. How’s it going? I finished my semester on the 16th of May... technically I wrote my final literature paper on the 9 hour bus ride to Milan on the 17th, but that’s beside the point. Saying goodbye to everyone was probably one of the biggest struggles, because the IAU group was such a weird mixture of people who had only location to bring us together.

Anyway, a few nights on the town and some teary-eyed goodbyes (so many details, so little time to write) I headed off to Milan, Italy to meet my friend Lauren who starts her study abroad in Rome. We spent a few days in Milan, a day in Rome, and then I finished up Rome and headed off to Florence by myself. Other than the lack of company, Florence was my favorite city! I always love a city that I can navigate without a map in front of my face 24/7. I feel like I enjoy myself much more in a place if I feel comfortable getting a little lost and making my way back around. At the hostel in Florence I met a group of students from Arkansas who were there with two awesome art professors, and i gotta say those kids were a fun time. Mix together some loud country accents, some great experiences to talk about, and a little too much Grappa and you’ve got yourself a party. 

I stopped back through Milan on my last night in order to catch my 9 hour 40 euro bus home at 8 AM on Monday the 25th, and spent the night talking to a 23 year old named Michael Boone. I just wanted some free hostel dinner and Netflix but the kid intended on having a full length conversation. The third-generation Floridian (apparently that’s quite rare) told me all about the wonderful world of computer science until I coud finally say, hey man, I have to be up in 4 hours so I’m going to bed. Interesting kid, not bad, just interesting.

The bus ride was rough (hours of avoiding triggering car sickness), and I am so glad to back in Aix! I’ve been shopping in the markets, visiting some wonderful cafés, and attempting to be content with not having any work to do. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts, but it’s still odd to not have an endless to-do list. As soon as I got off the bus on Monday, I sat for a few minutes, got a shower and raced off to see the movie Mad Max (which my friend Jess had been talking to me about for the past few days). He didn’t sell it to me at first but I was so impressed after seeing it and would highly recommend it, even if a post-apocolyptic indie Australian remake of a Mel Gibson film doesn’t make you all excited in the present moment. Next day was market going and café sitting and talking to my favorite crêpe man, André. Next day I honestly and wholeheartedly enjoyed running around with Toni to do some fresh food shopping and kids-play-practice driving. This region is so wonderful. Yesterday I went to get a drink with my host mom and we spent hours chatting and walking around shops decided whether la nouvelle collection was pleasing or not. Great lady, very spunky. Later than evening I came back to Toni’s for another great dinner and then went out with her, her husband Mike, and our friend Bill (also Jess’s dad) to have some wine and listen to some jazz! It was nice! It does remind me though, that even if I am an ‘old soul’ the difference between regularly raised chicken and bio-chicken will never interest me :) The weekend will be fun as per usual, and I am looking forward to a semi-professional rugby match on Sunday!

Until next time,

good ole me

[backpacker-anonymous]

[backpacker-anonymous]

Sláinte, Cheers, ‘chin chin’

Holy Guinness. Holy fried food. Holy I just want a vegetable. 

I started my travels at 3:30 AM Friday the 24th of April, blinked, and now it’s May. I have simultaneous desires to eat abundant amounts American style pancakes and contradictorily go to the gym for hours. Traveling alone made it incredibly easy and heartwarming to meet new people! One day I was practicing my french with two girls named Lorie and Naia from Pays-Basque and the next I was sharing far too many laughs with a New Yorker (Sarah) and an Aussie (Brittney) while climbing Arthur’s Seat. I must say, I am quite happy to be sipping red wine again instead of Guinness on Guinness on Guinness. As soon as I arrived in the city, I had a typical Scottish breakfast (Haggis and all; Dad would love it, considering his love for scrapple) and had wonderfully sized black coffee... NO MORE BABY ESPRESSO. I toured the city by foot, did some homework in cafés and pubs, doodled, went to some SOLID museums, and made some friends I didn’t expect to encounter. 

On Wednesday morning I was off to London to see my beautiful blonde friend Sydney (aka chynney, Synney, mean poops, the blonde bitty, etc.) and her boat adventuring roomie, Cate (nicknames to come). They’d just gotten finished spending four months on a boat traveling around the world, and it was just the bee’s knees to see how much Syd got out of the trip! I’m sure I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg; we are not quite capable of catching up in just one day. It was nice to just hang out and take whatever street your body tells you leads in the right direction. Cate and I had a mini jam session in the hostel lounge, and are now starting a full blown career of impromptu concert series. IF ONLY. We stayed in a perfect part of London near the British Museum so things were a bit more laid back than the Big Ben/ Westminster Abbey corner of the city. P.S. We missed the birth of Royalty by a day... Anyway, I sent Sydney off to the Heathrow Airport around 5:30 AM on Friday, and subsequently got on the FIRST EVER direct Eurostar train from London to the South of France. There were goodie-bags involved. Seriously, the 7 hour ride is a bit odd to completely explain, but the totes full of stereotypical Lavender soap, well-formatted tourist information, and a perfectly random wooden cooking spoon made it all just a bit more interesting. 

Now I must call my mother, conquer finals, contemplate my future as a world ruler, and eat lunch. 

Until next time,

Kelly Jean