Well I am finally back home, and of course it's great to be back, although it's as little weird. I've spent approximately one year and seven months being away and dreaming about being home, with my family, in a familiar place where people actually speak English as their native language. Now I'm back and it's kind of shocking, after everything else. There was that year of study times, naps, saying the rosary, eating rice, taking bucket baths. Then I got used to moving around, studying yoga, learning to meditate, looking at temples, going on camel safaris. Then I had to adjust to life traveling in Europe...cafes, brasseries, Turkish baths, grand cathedrals, hostel dorm rooms. And now that I am home, I have to adjust to being home. Carpeted floors all over the place, endless free internet ... read more

Okay usually I don't write more than one entry in a day (okay I'll be honest I usually don't write more than like...once a week) but Turkey is absolutely awesome and inspirational and exotic and I have to write about my turkish bath experience today, before I forget. Okay so I have heard of Turkish baths before and I've actually been to a Turkish bath before, in Hungary, but it turns out that the Hungarian Turkish bath was not a REAL Turkish bath because...in Hungary there was actually a pool of water for bathing in. And also it was not segregated male/female. Well that's not the case in Turkey. Me and Colin went to one of the oldest Turkish baths in Istanbul today, and it was quite different. There were two bathing rooms--one for men and ... read more

Hey! Time to update the ol' blog...yeehaw. Well first of all I am in a pretty good mood because me and Colin are in Greece, where the weather is quite a bit warmer than it was in Paris or Italy or any of those other cold, losery places. And second of all I'm feeling more "sane" and "balanced" because I've sort of cut back on the caffeine since we got off of Italian soil. Since I last updated...well, we spent a few more days in Florence, which was pretty fun although kind of exhausting. Florence is a city of beautiful art, and as I explained to Colin, I do not think I really have the ability to appreciate beautiful art. I think a BIG part of this handicap comes from the fact that I am blind ... read more

Okay so we are STILL in spain, although this was NOT the original plan. I have discovered that things can go wrong, even when you are not in India. This is simply not fair. And what´s worse: if you make a mistake in India, it costs you about four dollars. If you make a mistake in Europe, it costs you about 200 dollars. Blah, that´s lame. So let´s just do a senselessly quick summary of what happened, because I don´t feel like explaining things in a way that makes sense. Basically... Couchsurfing in Portugal... With guy who lies to his girlfriend about playing soccer three times a week... Colin borrowing shoes for soccer game... Big black guy punts the soccer ball... Colin intercepts the ball with his left eye... Optometrist in Madrid... Eye problems, come back ... read more

Alright, I was hesitant to write about our activities for the last week, because we're in Delhi and life sucks. But I guess that if I'm gonna keep a travel blog, I have to write about the uninspiring times just as much as the inspiring times. So. Here we go. So first of all, the rest of our time in Rishikesh was awesome. People kept rotating in and out of our ashram, and it got quieter as the younger people left. Then we got a new arrival--a guy from Holland, who would curse loudly during yoga and who was practically more American than either me or Colin. He liked to pretend he was a gangster and make fun of American culture, and he knew pretty much every cliche or pop phrase in existence. He'd say things ... read more