"How are you doing?" The English Waiter Asks

On the tenth of February I left Sevilla, Spain and my destination... London, England. The two things that I was most excited about 1) Going to an English speaking country. and 2) Seeing my sister ( after visiting her in such different circumstances I realized she truly is my best friend. and the one person who remotely understands where exactly I am coming from). Its pretty awesome to have a sister like that so i think you should all be at least a little jealous ;) You all should meet her one day if you haven't. She is the epitome of AMAZING!
While on the plane these two things were the aspects topping the charts of excitement. Upon arrival I realized there was so much more to be excited about and that I wasn't gonna sleep very much because of that excitement. I went through customs. The man questioned me a little bit. because i didn't know my sister's address... or her phone number... or any one's phone number for that matter. but i just kept smiling. like one of those huge smiles and i was laughing. Finally he said okay come on through. and at this point he was smiling. (I am telling you just smile. it works wonders. smile and giggle; smile and giggle.) Alright so I was free. Now i had to find the bus that would take me to my sister! I thought it wont matter I am in an English speaking country i will be able to understand. I will just ask my way through the airport. hahaha not so much. went to the first person who would know and he started telling me and suddenly my huge smile went to a huge look of confusion. Those English accents mind as well be Spanish. Finally I just started laughing and he realized that i couldn't understand. It was a process but I got to the bus and then to my sister and then all was right with the world.
I need to explain to all of you the dynamic that I have with my sister. Especially for those of you who have yet to meet her.  When you first meet the two of us together you may think that we are exactly the same. Most people do. But there are more differences than anyone can count. We both laugh the same. Both the normal and the screechy laugh. We both smile a lot. giggle a lot. and are very real with just about everyone we meet from day 1 till day 101. We both apologize incessantly and we both like a good hug. (I express it more than she does however ;) I am not going to get into the differences because you will only understand those differences once you know both of us extremely well. Although I am mooshy with just about everyone important to me I am not mooshy with her. Why? Because I know she will be there always. in my ups and downs. When I am laughing, or crying, or both at the same time. She will never leave me. She will love me always and I her. I don't feel any chance in loosing her for something I do or say. Therefore, we are ourselves with each other. and i am here for her as well. forever! Maybe all siblings have this sort of bond. Maybe not. All I know is whoever becomes my husband will have to understand that my sister is someone that I love with all my heart and if she is in trouble she comes first.
So now that i have rambled on and on about my sister onto England. I will not step you through the entire trip because that would be so much and you would get tired of me writing with absolutely no structure.  I will write about the highlights.
Traveling Alone: There is something invigorating about traveling in Europe alone. There are feelings of fright, confidence, excitement, exhaustion, exhilaration, it is an overall very anxiety producing experience. Lord knows that I have enough anxiety without traveling through Europe alone. Why you ask do I do it? Because in the end when you reach the destination and see the black taxi cabs that come from the movies, and the people driving on the other side of the street, the Big Ben, the double decker buses, the colorful houses, Cambden Market; and when you hear the English accents it is all suddenly worth the anxiety. It is worth the thoughts that I am going to die on the plane, or my luggage is going to get lost. Because when you see the bakeries with the English people gathered inside and living their lives it doesn't matter what you had to do to get there. All that matters is that you are there. In a different culture... living a different way of life.
Exploring Alone: Taylor had to work the entire first day I was in England. I was a little worried at first. Upon waking up I was ready for an adventure. So I borrowed a jacket from the family I was staying with "Wait you didn't bring a jacket? I mean everyone knows it rains here in London. Why wouldn't you bring a rain coat or umbrella. even if it was just a myth?" Asked about which tube to take to get to Knotting Hill (like in the freakin movie!)  and was off. I was told the best way to explore is to just get lost. so that is what I planned on doing. The most amazing part: doing exactly what i wanted to do and nothing more or less. Taking the pictures I wanted to take, seeing the places that I wanted to see, and eating when i wanted to eat.
English Accents: I have had an undying love and infatuation for English accents ever since I could remember. Therefore you can imagine the emotions I felt when I was in England and every single person had an English accent. I remember distinctly walking down by the Portabelo Market and listening and smiling as I walked just because of hearing people talk. There was one point when a gentleman was walking past and I stared at him with the biggest smile on my face. He looked at me with utter confusion. And after about 30 seconds of having our eyes locked and me continuing to smile he smiled to. Then we both went on our way. It was pretty hilarious. Who knows what he was thinking about me. or what kind of day he was having. It doesn't matter because at that moment I got him to smile. Makes me smile to think about it. There was another time during the day where I walked into a frozen yogurt shop to buy some deliciousness. Here I found so many little boys with their moms  buying frozen yogurt as an after school treat. These boys were probably the snottiest kids I had ever seen. And anyone who was with me would have agreed immediately. Instead of being utterly annoyed and wanting to make them stop I smiled and giggled to myself as I sat there listening to their shrill british accents. Their mothers were ignoring them and the employees at the yogurt shop were so irritated you could see it all over their faces. And I sat their in the middle of the tiny shop with a huge grin on my face. children on both sides of me. I must have looked absolutely nuts. But i did not give a rats ass. I was in a blissful state.
Bakeries:  What is everyone's dream job/life? I mean everyone has one whether its unrealistic or realistic. Every single person has something in their head that they would be doing in their dreams. I have had one... since I was pretty young and I am working on making that dream come true. It may sound simple, practical, or not practical but its to open my own bakery. This is what I want to do when I graduate from Cornell and Pastry Arts school. And after I get the money to do such a costly and risky thing. Why do I say all of this? In England you wouldn't think of the wonderful cuisine. In fact I have only heard the opposite: "the food is boring, and not flavorful." No one ever talked about the bakeries on every street. The small cafes that were everywhere each one with their own style and way of individualizing themselves. These made me cry. Literally. The cafes that lined the streets. Nothing huge. In fact very small. With the pastries, and the cakes so intricately decorated, the motif inside the cafes each one completely different, seeing the locals having their daily cup of coffee and reading the paper. The chefs dressed in their whites and their black crocs. This is what I want. Obviously my own with the recipes from my family and the decorations that I feel would be best. But seeing these bakeries made me realize that its doable. There are people out there who have done it. So I cried. Alone walking through the bakeries. It was epic. I am such a sap.
Sights I saw: The London Eye, Big Ben, Hyde Park, Camden Market, Portabelo Market, so many churches, gardens, swans, artwork, weird but such interesting people. Not too many but I had two days. My goal was to see the English way of life. This I accomplished (at least I think so).

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Last year one day while running to crew practice i was somewhat attacked by a german shepherd. On the plus side it got me out of going to practice on the minus side it drew blood on my ass and I had to go show a really hot trainer my bare naked ass with teeth marks puncturing through the skin. (epitome of embarrassing) Anyhow why you ask am I telling you all about this incident? WELL it turns out that I have been scarred for life. A couple of days ago I was chased down while running by a vicious  jack russel tarrier. I had my head phones in my ears so couldnt hear anything around me. Suddenly I turn around and there is a little dog running at my heels. I started yelling "GO AWAY, GO AWAY!" mind you i had my head phones in so it was probably twice as loud as it needed to be. He wouldnt leave (probably because he was a spanish speaking dog). So I started doing zig zags in the street and tried running faster. Still at my heels. It was a fast little bastard. Finally I got tired so I just stopped at this point I was three feet from my house. What does the dog do? He comes up and starts licking my freaking leg. I start laughing histerically and then hear running footsteps. His owner comes running up and says, "perdon, perdon." and I say "lo siento, lo siento." why was I apologizing? because it is the only spanish words i could come up with on the spot. And guess what, the guy was hot. He was very very handsome. Figures. That would happen to me. Anyways he left with his dog. And I took the last few steps to my house. Went upstairs and cracked up some more. I explained it to my housemate who cracked up too. It was hilarity all around. I for sure thought the dog was going to eat me though. I mean little dogs can be vicious sometimes. :)

Getting Into the Swing of Things

I have now been here for 2 weeks. It has been an adventurous few weeks and has been so amazing. Finally I am getting used to everyday life and its becoming apparent that it will in fact be easier to think about life back at home than I first thought. For some reason I thought I would never look back to the past. I would only look into the future. Its hard to do that on a constant basis. So as I sit here and miss people back home and miss the experiences that I had with them I must start thinking of more activities to take up my time.
1. Traveling
2. Join a Basketball Team
3. Row (maybe, i am not very good and I dont really like it all that much but it is something)
4. Community Service
These are a few examples of what I may try to do in order to fill up these voids in me and find people that I can make new relationships with that will let me feel a connection to something here. (again no falling in love with people, but relationships are a necessity) This weekend I am going to London perfect thing to think about when I feel like I miss the people back home. If  I was back home I would not be able to go to freakin LONDON! It will all be fine. I will make it okay. I wont let myself stop experiencing SPAIN and i will continue to take advantage of the opportunities that fall into my lap! :)

Goals for the Neurotic Traveler

I believe it is apparent that I am not the easiest going person in the world. I mean maybe I have fulled some of you with my smiling face and irritating laugh but let the truth come out: I am uptight. I would go as far as to say that I am neurotic. I have come to terms with it. I make fun of it with my family at this point and have accepted that it is part of who I am. Lets face it though, how much fun can an uptight person really have in Sevilla, Spain? I mean lets be real. With this in mind I am making the following list of things to do for myself. Warning some of the "goals" may be somewhat forward for lack of a better word. They also may seem pretty easy, but if they are on the list they take a good amount of effort for me.
1. Sleep when I am tired (but never sleep away the day)
2. Take the time to finish a book
3. Watch as many Telenovelas as possible
4. Take a few days off of school to travel the world
5. Eat as much wonderful food as I want without worrying about getting fat
6. Take a night off from being the soberish one taking care of the not so sober ones (or worrying about them when I am not taking care of them)
7. Run only when I WANT to and not when I feel like I HAVE to
8. Take too many pictures...
9. Kiss a Spanish man without feeling guilty at all. 
10. Be the one out of control for a night (sober or not)
11. See flamenco (this has already been accomplished)
12. See a bull fight
13. Take myself all over the world (or however far my money will take me)
14. Don't be afraid to spend on souvenirs for myself (this is a once in a lifetime thing)
15. Don't be afraid of being alone and doing what I want to do
16. See the sights of Sevilla (obviously) and surrounding cities
17. Feel guilty for having too much fun
18.Cry, scream, yell, curse, laugh... feel 
19. Don't worry about what other people think
20. Dance away so many nights I cant remember one from the other
21. Love only those who love me back
22. Be beautiful, fun, and fabulous!