Through my sails..

I am cramming in as much Neil Young and other music as possible before I leave to Europe and I have to part ways with my little ipod for 3 whole months...... I can't wait to see Neil Young live in concert in Belgium!!!!
Just checking off things left and right off the "Dream" list...
I love my life.... and I really love this song.


"Through My Sails" - Neil Young (1975)

Still glaring
from the city lights
Into paradise I soared
Unable to come down
For reasons I'd ignored.

Total confusion,
Disillusion
New things I'm knowin'.

I'm standing on the shoreline
It's so fine out there
Leaving with the wind blowing
But love takes care.

Know me, know me
Show me, show me
New things I'm knowin'.

Wind blowing through my sails
It feels like I'm gone
Leaving with the wind blowing
Through my sails.

Before I Kick the Bucket...

I want to play and swim in phosphoresence in the ocean again during one of those beautiful, perfect nights (its like the stars are in the ocean).......I want to dance in a burlesque show....boo boo bee doop!...I want to sail around the world.....and swim with dolphins, sea horses, and whale sharks........and Great Whites (but in a cage)..... I want to climb and have a picnic on Machu Picchu........I want to live in South America for 1 year... I want to see the Belizean sun set on one side of an island and run to the other side to see the moonrise... I want to be hugged by a chimpanzee.....I want to body surf all day long in the Pacific Ocean... I want to kiss someone inside a Redwood Tree....and see starfish in tidepools... I want to have a vinyard and make my own wine... I want a daughter named Siena (like the city in Italy, the oil paint color "burnt siena" and after actress Sienna Miller)....I want to meet more cool people, I have met so many awesome, inspirational people on my travels (Shawn, Lisa, Marta, Dice).....I want to go to Cuba and see all the old cars and do some serious salsa dancing....I want to join the Peace Corps...I want to adopt a child...I want to be a traveling nurse...I want to work for the United Nations...I want to see the aurora borealis....Go to Carnival in Venice and wear one of those masks...and then go to Carnival in Brazil... I want to sit naked on a nude beach all day long in the French Riviera...I want to charm a snake...smoke a hookah in Instanbul....hop around the Greek Islands and see all ruins in Athens so I can put a picture to all the Greek Mythology I have read...I want to Gamble in Monaco...see the running of the bulls.......I want to backpack around Asia, South America, and New Zealand (checking Europe off the list this summer)......I HAVE to see the Flaming Lips and Neil Young in concert..... I want to make people smile....I want to leave the world a better place.......I want to always follow my heart, and have a passion for everything I do.....I want to become a skilled rock climber.....I want to go to Africa and see lions and giraffes....... I want to own a house in SLC-the Avenues- (because my family is here), Roatan (Honduras), and Montana .........I am not sure where I want to call home and live yet, but it will have a pond with ducks that I can feed bread to and forest in my backyard (and a rope swing over my pond) ...........I want to catch a really big trout with my fly rod and eat him.......I want to know what it feels like to be in a good relationship that isn't controlling and that is based on trust..and then....I want a huge garden with lilac bushes and every flower you can think of... and a vegetable garden....I want to marry that sweet man and be ridiculously in love and have some babies (when I am 30).............I want to travel with my hubby before we have babies.........I want to take turns reading books with my hubby before bedtime...I want to experience holding my baby and rocking in a rocking chair and breastfeeding him or her (you know... the whole bonding thing)...... I want to write a book..... take lots of pictures of everything and pretend to be a professional photographer for National Geographic....and then paint those pretty pictures...I want a fulfilling career.... I want a Master's degree and possibly a Doctorate maybe from an ivy league school (Columbia)........I want to become trilingual (Spanish, Italian, English)...... I want to be able to jam out on a guitar like I mean business.....I want to make lots of beautiful art........one morning, when I am laying in bed with my baby, my love, and my doggy on the foot of the bed I will think to myself - "this is what life is all about."........ I want to see the Earth from space........I want to write poems..... read every book I possibly can...... Run a marathon........ see shooting stars and make wishes (every summer)........ explore (inside and out)........ I want to have naked picnics....and have the best friends anyone could ask for (I already have this! love you guys)....... I want to be able to thank and give back to my grandma after everything she has done for me.......and to my Mother (i love her) ....... I want to succeed and see all the people I love do the same.

"All the people I love are here"

I thought butterflies were supposed to be fun...

I am getting major nervousness/butterflies... I have never been to a foreign country alone...
This is gonna be insane... but Lora told me that she had a friend that went backpacking through Europe alone and now he is living in Germany cause he met a girl and fell in love... now he is going to a University over there.. not that I want that to happen... but ...... if I fall in love with Italy I could teach English at a University there because you have to have a Bachelors degree... and I just got that!! so... we shall see we shall see....
I hope everything works out and that I am safe. I am sure it will lovely."... like a Nazi hoedown..."
hahahah!

ROCK WERCHTER

THURSDAY 3 JULY
Main Stage: Air Traffic | Counting Crows | Mika | Lenny Kravitz | R.E.M. | The Chemical Brothers
Pyramid Marquee: Modern Skirts | Vampire Weekend | The National | Shameboy | Soulwax | 2manydjs

FRIDAY 4 JULY
Main Stage: The Black Box Revelation | Monza | Slayer | Babyshambles | Jay-Z | The Verve | Neil Young | Moby
Pyramid Marquee: Cool Kids | Patrick Watson | Ben Folds | My Morning Jacket | Duffy | Zita Swoon | Hot Chip | Digitalism

SATURDAY 5 JULY
Main Stage: The Whigs | Gossip | The Hives | Editors | Kings of Leon | Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals | Sigur Rós | Radiohead
Pyramid Marquee: Galactic | MGMT | Band of Horses | Donavon Frankenreiter | Kate Nash | KT Tunstall | Gnarls Barkley | Róisín Murphy

SUNDAY 6 JULY
Main Stage: John Butler Trio | Panic At The Disco | Nightwish | The Kooks | The Raconteurs | Kaiser Chiefs | Beck | dEUS
Pyramid Marquee: Devotchka | Tim Vanhamel | Hercules and Love Affair | Adele | Mark Ronson | Grinderman | Justice | Underworld

Happy to Be ALonE!!!

I never thought I would say this.. but I am really happy I am going to Europe alone. I won't have to listen to anyone complain, or fight about where we want to go and for how long. I can do whatever I want and be whoever I want. I can meet anyone I please... without anyone getting jealous... and I can be alone with my thoughts.
I know being a girl and traveling alone can be a little dangerous, but I think overall Europe is the safest place to do something like this. Probably safer than America... I will definitely be careful. No excessive drinking, a vow of celibacy, and no walking alone after dark... etc. etc.
This is going to be a life altering experience... I have a feeling I will never be the same again.

An Itty Bitty Itinerary....

May 25-June 26th - Siena, Italy (Language Program)
June 26- travel to Cinque Terre, check in
27- Cinque Terre
28- Cinque Terre- lover's walk
29- Cinque Terre- beach
30- Cinque Terre
July 1- Cinque Terre
2- check out, travel to Milan, fly to Brussels, train to Leuven, check in
3- wake early, pitch tent, camping Leuven, Belgium
ROCK WERCHTER Music Festival begins!!! Beer Tent here I come!
4- Leuven, Belgium ROCK WERCHTER (Neil Young!!! Hot Chip)
5- Leuven, Belgium ROCK WERCHTER (King of Leon, Justice)
6- Leuven, Belgium ROCK WERCHTER (Sigur Ros, Kaiser Chiefs)
7- travel to Amsterdam, check in Vondelpaark, free concert in park
8- Amsterdam-wake and bakey! go to Van Gough Museum
9- Amsterdam- tulip fields, bike riding, Ann Frank's House, Absinthe
10- Amsterdam, check out, hang out and hop on night train at midnight
11- arrive in Bern at 8 am, train to Interlaken, check in
12- Interlaken, Switzerland - go hiking, Junfrau, eat fondu
13- Interlaken, Switzerland - ride bike around Lake
14- Interlaken, Switzerland - canyoning or bungee jumping
15- check out, take train through ALPS, meet up with Kent (8 days to play)
16- Verona, Venice, Padua, Bologna, Aosta (Italian Alps)
17- ? party
18- ? eat the most amazing food in the world!!!!!!!!!!
19- Italian Fiesta for ME!!!! party with Kent's Italians....
20- ? soccer game
21- ? party
22- ? see the "real" Venice
23- check into Milan hostel and explore city, sit at a cafe
24- flight leaves to Santorini, check in... arrive at 3 pm- explore
25- Santorini - explore and find sexy Greek men
26- Santorini watch the sunset from Oia...
27- Santorini - watch the sunset, party
28- Santorini - beaches galore
29- check out, ferry to Athens, check in, kick it with fellow backpackers
30- explore Athens... sleep on the roof under the Acropolis
31- Check out, train to Patras, ferry to Zakynthos- check in
Aug 1- Zakynthos, go to shipwreck beach
2- Zakynthos- The Blue Caves
3- ferry to Kefalonia, check into a nice ass hotel in Agia Elfimia
4- Kefalonia- rent a scooter!!!! beep beep! find beaches
5- Kefalonia, day trip to Ithaca
6- Kefalonia, Underground Lake, Messini Cave
7- Kefalonia, Myrtos Beach
8- Kefalonia, hiking and exploring villages
9- Kefalonia, Assos and Fiskardo
10- Kefalonia, explore beaches
11- Kefalonia, kick it with locals
12- Kefalonia, sit on beach allll day, find a private beach
13- Kefalonia, snorkeling
14- Kefalonia- awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.......
15- Kefalonia, catch a late ferry to Bari, Italy, sleep on ferry
16- arrive in Bari, Italy, train to Pompeii, explore...train to Rome, check in
17- Rome- explore, St. Peter's Basilica, Museums
18- Rome, day trip to Tivoli
19- Rome - check out Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, etc.
20- check out Rome............. FLY HOME!!!!!! 10 am
21- arrive home.....

This equals.... about 2 months in Italy and 1 month in Greece.....I will be gone for 3 months!!!!!!!!! Dont miss me too much! Woooooooh! Caio bella!

Let the countdown begin...

It's hard to believe that I only have 1 month left before I leave on my European adventure... I am starting to get really nervous. Turns out I will be spending the majority of the time alone, which is freeing and exhilarating... and exactly the way I want it... but being a female solo traveler is a bit intimidating. I am really happy I am not going with Joel and his sister too even though I would have had felt safer in larger #'s. I just think it would have a huge waste.
So here I go, off alone, into the great wide open... the first month in Siena, Italy learning Italian and living with a Italian host family. I will be volunteering with local organizations and hopefully really getting to learn and be a part of the Italian culture.
Right after Siena, I have a week to kill. I think I will go to Cinque Terra before I head up to Belgium for the Rock Werchter concert, where I will see my all time favorite musician.. Neil Young...and I can check one more thing of my "To do before I die" list. Hopefully my friend Jesse will fly out for the concert... and then after all those festive shenanigans we can run off to Amsterdam and frolic in the tulip fields, coffee shops, drink some absinthe after dinner, and go to the Van Gough Museum!!! Oh the things we will do in Amsterdam... that will stay in Amsterdam.
Then off I will go alone to Nice, France... then take a ferry to Corsica!!! I cannot wait to experience Corsica. I plan on doing much hiking, biking, sunbathing, exploring, climbing, sailing.. anything my little heart desires. Its pretty cool that their flag is a guys head.. because they chopped off some kings head and won their independence. I think that's how the story goes.
After a few weeks in Corsica... I will take a ferry to Italy... see Pompeii... eat some of the best pizza in the world in Napoli (a secret place in my favorite book that I will never reveal)... then take a ferry from Bari, Italy to Kefalonia, Greece, Ionian Islands... 38 degrees latitude which happens to be my lucky number!!! crazy... but anyway... I will do a little island hopping to Ithaca and Zakynthos to see Smuggler's Beach. I am taking a tent and plan on doing a lot of camping in Greece. The campgrounds are pretty dang nice... I could handle waking up on the beach...
there are caves to explore and snorkeling at these islands, as well as hiking, tons of historical building and ruins, local art, and sexy Greek boys... I don't think I will go to Corfu though because its just a big party island. I can't wait to hike up on some amazing cliff, write in my journal, read a book, meditate, and take in the sunset.
Then, sadly, I will depart the Ionian's after a few weeks.. head to Italy to catch anything I missed like Bologna. I must find me a short term boyfriend in Rome... I hear the men there are ridiculously beautiful... then I will head up to The Alps (Italian and Swiss). I really want to go to Bern, Switzerland because from what my Grandma Joan tells me I have descendants from there. Apparently my ancestors on my Dad's side were Sicilians who moved to Ireland and then to America later... and my mom's side is Swiss and English. So I am Swiss Italian Irish... sounds like nice combo : )
I am so happy for my trip... it is going to be quite the journey.. spiritually and physically. I can't wait to find out more about myself and the world...