Fin.

It was a harrowing 24 hour trip home on three connecting flights. At the Chicago airport, I found myself sandwiched in the middle of a Polish tour group in the customs line. Then one of them had the bright idea of getting the ones behind me to cut in front of me. I decided I wasn't going to have any of it and bitched them out. Then stormed up to the customs officer as soon as he was free. All the while, mad-dogging the original guy who told the others to cut me. Oh, how I'll miss such fun times on the road.

So here I am, back in San Francisco. And at the end of it all, I want to give a simple message to my friends. The ones I met on this journey. The ones I've known since before leaving home. The ones I only got to have a single conversation with when we both sat down under the same historic monument for a short rest. I know most of you will never see this, but still, I want to say thank you. This tiny token of appreciation is for the companionship you gave me when I was alone. And for giving me a place to stay when I was homeless. And for teaching me about how to pray at Buddhist temples or teaching me about ethnic cuisine in Bosnia, Nepal, and the Basque. And for going out to dinner with me the week before I left on this giant trip and calming me down from my worries about being kidnapped, raped, and murdered in Europe. These are the moments that made this journey everything it is.

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Travel sketches (and one painting)

As I mentioned in prior blog entries, I joined a group tour in Provence organized by an art professor. Everyday, we went site-seeing in the morning and painting in the afternoon - though I spent several of those afternoons taking a long nap to recover from the gargantuan French lunches.

In the few non-sleeping hours I had, I managed to get one painting mostly done by the end of the course. I also got a few sketches done on-site at the places we visited. I'm sharing them here along with other travel sketches I've accumulated along the way. As per my usual caveat when I show my drawings, just remember that I'm only a student. This stuff is more personal than my comfort level would normally permit me to share and I do it now because it was such an integral part of the whole travel experience.

On a side note, I highly recommend any traveler interested in art to take the time to sketch on-site. Just find a nice place to sit, take a look around you, and get a few jots down on paper. It'll give you a visceral connection to your surrounding space in a way taking a photo never can.

My painting assignment: Monk under prayer flags. The original inspiration for this piece comes from this picture I took in Nepal .

Archéologique de Glanum, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France

Pont du Gard in France

Rousillon, France

Outside a cafe in Bilbao, Spain

Fig tree and stone wall. This was the view from my backyard in Lipa, Slovenia.

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Travel sketches (and one painting)

As I mentioned in prior blog entries, I joined a group tour in Provence organized by an art professor. Everyday, we went site-seeing in the morning and painting in the afternoon - though I spent several of those afternoons taking a long nap to recover from the gargantuan French lunches.

In the few non-sleeping hours I had, I managed to get one painting mostly done by the end of the course. I also got a few sketches done on-site at the places we visited. I'm sharing them here along with other travel sketches I've accumulated along the way. As per my usual caveat when I show my drawings, just remember that I'm only a student. This stuff is more personal than my comfort level would normally permit me to share and I do it now because it was such an integral part of the whole travel experience.

On a side note, I highly recommend any traveler interested in art to take the time to sketch on-site. Just find a nice place to sit, take a look around you, and get a few jots down on paper. It'll give you a visceral connection to your surrounding space in a way taking a photo never can.

My painting assignment: Monk under prayer flags. The original inspiration for this piece comes from this picture I took in Nepal .

Archéologique de Glanum, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France

Pont du Gard in France

Rousillon, France

Outside a cafe in Bilbao, Spain

Fig tree and stone wall. This was the view from my backyard in Lipa, Slovenia.

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Checking in from Spain

I have less than a week left before the end of my trip and I've started seriously winding down in anticipation. It's causing me to reach all new levels of lethargy and inertia. Is it possible for a person to mentally check out of their own vacation? Cause that's surely how I feel right now.

Here's a quick recap of what's happened since my last post on Slovenia. If I find the energy later, I'll post more details on some of these events.

May 29: Trained into Venice where I stayed in a rented apartment.

June 1: Flew to Marseille in France and spent the night in a town called Avignon.

June 2: Bused to Saint-Remy-de-Provence where I spent the next week-and-a-half in a luxury hotel and joined a group tour organized by my art professor. The days were split in half between site-seeing and painting.

June 11: Trained to San Sebastian, Spain - yeah I know, Spain wasn't part of the original itinerary. Call it a detour.

June 16: Bused to Bilbao, Spain. Here are a couple pictures from this cute little town:

Giant flower puppy by Jeff Koons

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

What's up next for this week: Train to Barcelona for a couple days' stay. Fly to Prague for another few days' stay. Fly home. Weep for the end of my journey.

Read More

Checking in from Spain

I have less than a week left before the end of my trip and I've started seriously winding down in anticipation. It's causing me to reach all new levels of lethargy and inertia. Is it possible for a person to mentally check out of their own vacation? Cause that's surely how I feel right now.

Here's a quick recap of what's happened since my last post on Slovenia. If I find the energy later, I'll post more details on some of these events.

May 29: Trained into Venice where I stayed in a rented apartment.

June 1: Flew to Marseille in France and spent the night in a town called Avignon.

June 2: Bused to Saint-Remy-de-Provence where I spent the next week-and-a-half in a luxury hotel and joined a group tour organized by my art professor. The days were split in half between site-seeing and painting.

June 11: Trained to San Sebastian, Spain - yeah I know, Spain wasn't part of the original itinerary. Call it a detour.

June 16: Bused to Bilbao, Spain. Here are a couple pictures from this cute little town:

Giant flower puppy by Jeff Koons

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

What's up next for this week: Train to Barcelona for a couple days' stay. Fly to Prague for another few days' stay. Fly home. Weep for the end of my journey.

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How I fell in love with Slovenia in a week

First off, I have two recommendations for anyone planning to travel to Slovenia.

• When you want to move between cities, see if anyone is driving that route on prevoz.org. It's a car sharing website (similar to Sidecar in San Francisco). You'll end up paying much less and getting there way faster than if you take public transit. And it's the most liberating feeling in the world to be able to secure a ride to just about anywhere you want in a matter of minutes with a cool person you can chat with along the way.
• If you make your way to Ljubljana and are interested in a good night out, definitely see Metelkova. It's more than just a bar scene. I'd describe it as a microcosm of Communist utopia. But I'm just a naive American who is easily impressed by any amount of anti-corporate behavior. Make the judgement for yourself and have some good drinks and conversations while you're at it.

Slovenia turned out to be a different kind of place for me for many reasons. The people were exceptionally nice and the stops were beautiful. Everyone and everything was laid back in a way I could understand. It's an unexpected treat to be so enamored with a country and it gave me a much needed second wind for the rest of the trip.




My first stop in Slovenia was a small village called Lipa. I got here because I met a guy at a hostel in Istanbul who invited me to visit. For three days, I lived on a farm sharing a house with three guys and one visiting girlfriend, all of whom were around my age. They were originally from the city and moved out there a year ago to learn organic farming. Pretty cool stuff.

This visit was a first for me in so many ways. It was my first time living on a farm, picking wild asparagus in the woods, and even chopping onions for dinner. My housemates were amazed to learn I'd never chopped onions before.

By the end of the three days, I'm sure I thoroughly disappointed Guljo, the guy who invited me over. Not the free field hand he was looking for, he found himself with a useless city girl instead. But it was a lot of fun for me at least. I'm content anytime I get to take good pictures and the scenery in Lipa definitely exceeded expectations. It was a stunning little patch of rural Slovenia.

My next stop was Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia. Here, I spent two days in an apartment full of college girls. I got here through the invitation of a really sweet girl named Suvi, whom I met at a hostel in Sarajevo. She's studying abroad here from Finland, working on a masters degree in journalism.

Here's us at a Thai restaurant (her favorite cuisine).

Suvi showed me around the city and took me to the bar district Metelkova. Wow, this place was interesting.

A couple of the bars had live music and rather than charge cover, they let you pay whatever you felt like paying. One outdoor bar served pizza slices, for which they asked you to pay whatever was fair. And although people began crowding around the bar waiting for a slice, the bartender kept track of the order in which they showed up and handed the slices to each person when their turn came. Marx would be so proud right now.

Suvi and I agreed, Metelkova was something special. We stayed up late dancing and chatting with chill Slovenian locals. I don't know what time we got home, but I did notice the sky was turning light blue when I looked out the kitchen window. As an old lady, this was seriously going to mess up my sleep schedule.

Photos from around Ljubljana:

My final stop in Slovenia was the coastal city of Piran. No friend's place to crash at here, I settled into the first hostel I found in town. This place is super cute but also very tiny. I got most of my site-seeing done in one day. I spent the next few days hand-washing and air-drying all my clothes as I was long overdue for a complete cleansing of my whole wardrobe.

The weather in Slovenia was freezing cold the whole time I was there and I learned most of Europe is expected to stay this way for the rest of summer. Some say this is a result of global climate change. Sucks that I'll be seeing more shitty weather until the end of my trip. But hey, in the grand scheme of things, I don't really mind. After all, I'm in Europe right now without a care in the world. I feel truly blessed. :-)

Read More

How I fell in love with Slovenia in a week

First off, I have two recommendations for anyone planning to travel to Slovenia.

• When you want to move between cities, see if anyone is driving that route on prevoz.org. It's a car sharing website (similar to Sidecar in San Francisco). You'll end up paying much less and getting there way faster than if you take public transit. And it's the most liberating feeling in the world to be able to secure a ride to just about anywhere you want in a matter of minutes with a cool person you can chat with along the way.
• If you make your way to Ljubljana and are interested in a good night out, definitely see Metelkova. It's more than just a bar scene. I'd describe it as a microcosm of Communist utopia. But I'm just a naive American who is easily impressed by any amount of anti-corporate behavior. Make the judgement for yourself and have some good drinks and conversations while you're at it.

Slovenia turned out to be a different kind of place for me for many reasons. The people were exceptionally nice and the stops were beautiful. Everyone and everything was laid back in a way I could understand. It's an unexpected treat to be so enamored with a country and it gave me a much needed second wind for the rest of the trip.




My first stop in Slovenia was a small village called Lipa. I got here because I met a guy at a hostel in Istanbul who invited me to visit. For three days, I lived on a farm sharing a house with three guys and one visiting girlfriend, all of whom were around my age. They were originally from the city and moved out there a year ago to learn organic farming. Pretty cool stuff.

This visit was a first for me in so many ways. It was my first time living on a farm, picking wild asparagus in the woods, and even chopping onions for dinner. My housemates were amazed to learn I'd never chopped onions before.

By the end of the three days, I'm sure I thoroughly disappointed Guljo, the guy who invited me over. Not the free field hand he was looking for, he found himself with a useless city girl instead. But it was a lot of fun for me at least. I'm content anytime I get to take good pictures and the scenery in Lipa definitely exceeded expectations. It was a stunning little patch of rural Slovenia.

My next stop was Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia. Here, I spent two days in an apartment full of college girls. I got here through the invitation of a really sweet girl named Suvi, whom I met at a hostel in Sarajevo. She's studying abroad here from Finland, working on a masters degree in journalism.

Here's us at a Thai restaurant (her favorite cuisine).

Suvi showed me around the city and took me to the bar district Metelkova. Wow, this place was interesting.

A couple of the bars had live music and rather than charge cover, they let you pay whatever you felt like paying. One outdoor bar served pizza slices, for which they asked you to pay whatever was fair. And although people began crowding around the bar waiting for a slice, the bartender kept track of the order in which they showed up and handed the slices to each person when their turn came. Marx would be so proud right now.

Suvi and I agreed, Metelkova was something special. We stayed up late dancing and chatting with chill Slovenian locals. I don't know what time we got home, but I did notice the sky was turning light blue when I looked out the kitchen window. As an old lady, this was seriously going to mess up my sleep schedule.

Photos from around Ljubljana:

My final stop in Slovenia was the coastal city of Piran. No friend's place to crash at here, I settled into the first hostel I found in town. This place is super cute but also very tiny. I got most of my site-seeing done in one day. I spent the next few days hand-washing and air-drying all my clothes as I was long overdue for a complete cleansing of my whole wardrobe.

The weather in Slovenia was freezing cold the whole time I was there and I learned most of Europe is expected to stay this way for the rest of summer. Some say this is a result of global climate change. Sucks that I'll be seeing more shitty weather until the end of my trip. But hey, in the grand scheme of things, I don't really mind. After all, I'm in Europe right now without a care in the world. I feel truly blessed. :-)

Read More