What did you do today?

What did I do today?
Today I rented a bike and rode along a beautiful river.

What did I do today?
Today I bought my train ticket to Paris.

What did I do today?
Today I tried new foods and conquered the metro system.

What did I do today?
I people watched while sitting at a French cafe.

What did I do today?
I saw new places, and found new reasons to love my life.

What did you do today?

-D

Quick update

I loved Porto. The buildings and the people, as well as the cute waiter who boosted my ego by slipping me his phone number... But alas time moves on and so did I.
After a 14 hour train ride I arrived in Bordeaux, only slightly tired and bedraggled. I wandered into the first cafe I saw looking for wifi, which I did not find. I did however have my first French meal. I ordered a gruyere, which turned out to be a baguette with cheese and butter on it. It was interesting. I then wandered down the road with no real destination in mind. Eventually I came upon a square that had a lovely monument in the middle, and of course a McDonald's on the corner. McDonald's are the travelers savior. Cheap food and free wifi to help you get your bearings. After sitting there for a while I proceeded to wander around Bordeaux a bit. I came upon a fountain which I then was lucky enough to see a homeless girl bathe in. Then while sitting at a cafe ( I did a lot of sitting, I know, but I was carrying a heavy backpack and it was HOT!) I had a very strange gentleman offer to buy me a coffee, which I promptly turned down.
Later that evening after showering and getting refreshed a bit, I went to an outdoor concert with some newfound friends and had some drinks. Had quite a few laughs over my attempts at french. Apparently there are many ways to pronounce "cu" and I get it wrong every time, much to their amusement.
The next day I went to the beach, and was blessedly lazy. The water was cold and the sun was hot and it was a wonderful day. After the beach my new friend decided I needed to eat sea food. We went to a nearby seafood restaurant and he ordered me mussels. Which were interesting. When he saw that I was struggling with eating them he said that you are not supposed to look and analyze them, just to eat them. My argument was you are not supposed to eat something that looks like that.
I survived the mussels and made it to dessert. Dessert was amazing. If you are ever in France, make sure you know these two words," ile flottant". It doesn't matter if you don't know any others, that is all you need to know. This delicious dessert is made of egg whites beaten until stiff then gently browned. They are served floating in a bowl of sweet cream. I know it sounds a little strange, I was skeptical too when they described it to me. But it was delicious. I devoured the whole thing. Yumm.
That is the abbreviated version of the past few days for me.

Ciao ciao,
-D

My Crazy Beautiful Life

Now I know Kesha is by no means a thought provoking lyricist. Yet somewhere in between peeking through holes in the wall and brushing her teeth with bottles of jack, she actually has a song that helped me change my life.

Wow, that is dramatic, and maybe I am giving her a little too much credit. The song in question is titled "Crazy Beautiful Life" and is about just that. It is a song about how she loves her life, no matter what people say about it. I listened to that song, singing along, then realized that I did not. I didn't love my life, crazy, beautiful or otherwise. I thought about this for a while, and realized that I really did not like my life, I wasn't happy. I was living somewhere I didn't want to live, working a job I didn't love anymore, and pining after dreams I waited to magically fulfill themselves. This really bummed me out, so I did what any sane person would do; I quit my job, left my house, and ran off to be a tree planter. I failed miserably. I spent a few weeks after that fairly depressed. I had taken a chance and tried to change my life, but yet again I was left with a life that was not beautiful, maybe a little crazy though. I went through some really low points after that, thinking I had been completely stupid to try and change my life. Yet, I decided to keep bumbling along and eventually things have started to turn around.

Through a series of wacky and somewhat unfortunate events, I am now all alone on a train in Portugal and I can honestly say that I love my life right now. That is something that I really hoped to be able to say one day.

I am heading to a city that I had never before considered visiting, surrounded by people who don't speak my language, and I love it. I am still unsure where I am going in life. Well, currently my destination is Porto but I meant in the grander scheme of things. I still don't know "what I want to be when I grow up", I don't even know where my next destination on this trip will be. Yet I am completely okay with that.

Last night while talking to a gentleman in my hostel, our conversation veered in this direction. I told him this general back story, then we talked about how I don't know where I will go next, and how I was trying to decide. After discussing this for a bit he just looked at me with a wistful look and told me he genuinely envied my life. I was shocked. I have never been someone who others envied. I was always envying others. I thought about this for a moment, and that is actually when I realized my life had turned crazy and beautiful without me even realizing it. I let that sink in, then with a big grin I told him that I envied my life too.

So many missteps and mistakes have led me here but no matter how much those hurt I wouldn't change any of them, because the end result is everything I always hoped it would be. Now I know that bad things will continue to happen. My life is not magically charmed now because I dared to look beyond the borders I had set up around my life. I'm still going to miss my trains, feel lonely and get lost in strange cities. But it is ok, because hard times only make the good times brighter. Going out and fighting for your dreams make them that much more worth it.

So if I can impart any wisdom to you it would be this. Do what it takes to fall in love with your crazy, beautiful life. Take chances. Fail. Succeed. Just do it. You may not end up where you expect to, but maybe you will end up somewhere wonderful all the same. Go and find your crazy beautiful life. I found mine.

-D