Direction.

It has officially been 1 week since we have been home, and today (being Friday) was the first day I actually got to stop and indulge in my guilty pleasure, reality television. To sum the week up; I ran errands, I cleaned, I made cupcakes and cookies for Jesse, I cooked, I spent time with my family, I spent time with the 3 best friends that count and one old friend who makes my day every time I see her, I cooked some more, I organised photos, I started work experience, I worked at Mullaloo (yay some money!) and I attempted to start getting my life back on track.

Life is very much in disarray at the moment, I'm not sure what direction I want to take and how I want this year to pan out. I don't want to go back to school, I am so sick of it. I don't want to work full time, mainly due to fear that I won't return to school. I don't want to work part time, because I am scared of focusing to much energy on something which isn't contributing to my future. I don't want to not work, mainly because I hate women who stay at home full time and allow their partner to pay for everything (especially when there isn't something like kids or what not involved).

I have started to consider the possibility of centerlink and maybe some casual bar work on the side. While centerlink is something I have prided myself on not having to use, I have finally realised that this is my fourth and final year at school, I have been out of home for 3 years and I work a hell of a lot harder than most the people my age to achieve what I have so maybe getting some help would be beneficial to me. The funny thing with centerlink, is they don't want to reward good, hard work. Obviously, being in a relationship means you don't deserve any money from centerlink. Obviously, working a few hours a week (because $400 a fortnight is not sufficient to live on) means you need to be punished. Both of these things mean I struggle coming to terms with accepting centerlink.

So it seems for now, I will continue going day by day and see where life leads me. I'm not good at not working, I'm not good at lacking a general purpose. I need some direction, so now I am going to spend how ever long I need to find what that direction is.

Home, Sweet Home.

So after 32 hours of travelling we are finally back home in Australia, and let me tell you...I am delighted to be home. Our plane ride wasn't too bad and the time did seem to fly by, but again I struggled to sleep, finding myself only sleeping about 4 hours in total. We got home at 3am this morning and since then I have only had another 2 hours sleep, so as you can imagine I am extremely jet lagged and exhausted but lacking the ability to sleep!

Luckily enough since I have been home I have been extremely productive. I have done 3 loads of washing, swept, put away all the luggage, rearranged to bathroom cabinet and closets, organised all the photo's I want framed to display on our freshly painted walls and even began organising the photos for our photo album and scrapbook. As well as all this, I did the food shopping and went to visit my mum and pick up my kity. What a day!

To finish off, I am going to leave you with my four favourite photos from our trip. These photos will shortly be displayed on the wall near our kitchen (one of many new photo displays in our house hehe). One is a little naughty and the other three sum up three fantastic aspects of our holiday!

Praise the Lord.

Today was our first proper day in Cologne and it was such a busy one! After waking up late we decided we would start taking our friends advice on what he thinks is worth seeing in Cologne. We started the day in Fruh, a German beer house for lunch and a 'couple' of beers. After an amazing lunch of bratwurst, metwurst and a liter of beer each it was suffice to say we were off to a good start. The pub is a charming little place, where the second you enter they ask you if you would like a beer...it was a place after my heart.

After lunch we headed to the Cologne train station to pick up Phylicia and continue on in our journey. A lack of communication meant we spent 20 minutes wandering around aimlessly looking for her, but eventually we found her (along with an American friend, but I'll get to that in a minute). The second spot of our day was the Dom, which is a massively beautiful cathedral right outside the train station. From here we got on the number 18 tram and headed out on a venture to find a cocktail bar recommended to us. Paprika was an amazingly cheap little bar with some fantastic cocktails and pizza.

The final part of our evening ended with us watching Gospel singers. So in typical Phylicia style, on the train to Cologne she managed to make friends with a guy from New York. It happened that he was here with his Gospel singing group and they had been touring Europe. Kindly enough he has offered her 2 tickets to come see the show. By this point in the evening, we had nothing else to do and didn't know what to expect from a Gospel singing group so we decided to go. For those of you who haven't seen a Harlem Gospel Singing group, let me tell you it is amazing. By half way through the 2 hour show Phylicia and Jesse were ready to commit to Christianity. There was a lot of dancing and singing, not to mention praising the lord.

So tomorrow is our final full day in Cologne and then we are finally heading home. We have a list of things to do including a little tapas bar, it should be amazing!

The Final Destination.

So we have reached our final destination of our holiday, Colonge. I have never been a huge fan of Germany and had pretty low expectations and memories from when we came here when I was a kid, but so far it has exceeded anything I could have imaged. Firstly, the shopping is amazing. It's cheap and fashionable and all my type of clothing so obviously today both Jesse and I went a little crazy in the stores. Tomorrow we are meeting up with Phylicia and starting to explore this beautiful city. Luckily, we have a little travel guide given to us by a friend who spent the last 12 months living in Colonge, so we have a bunch of cheap shopping areas, tapas and 'hardy' Germany food and cheap cocktail bars to visit!

To be honest, I haven't been sleeping well lately. I am struggling to make my mind stop racing for long enough to fall asleep (the product being late night blogs such as this). Not really sure why, I think I am just kinda ready to get back to 'reality' and deal with everything back home. I miss my kity & Archer a whole lot too!

The above photo isn't a recent one. It's from our afternoon in Narbonne but is one of my favourites so I thought I would share it. No photos from Germany yet, but tomorrow is another day! As for our hotel here, it sucks. It is quite terrible, so much so there isn't any heavy curtins meaning people can see straight in to our room and we cant keep the light out! As well as that, it has a little bit of a strange smell. But considering we have stayed in like 8 hotels and this has been the only bad one, we did pretty well! Kinda sucks the crappy hotel is the hotel we need to some how fit Phylicia in to as well. Anyways, now to attempt to get some sleep!

Venice Canals.

The internet in Venice has been shocking, so I haven't been able to upload any (except one random one) photos to facebook yet. For some unknown reason, it has let me upload these couple of photos on to here, so I thought I would share them. Venice is a very quiet city and as I said before, it is so confusing. Best part of it, is the photographic opportunities which seem to arise every where. We are so lucky to have our hotel on the main Venice Canal, which means we have a view of the water from our window. Below are a couple of our photos from our wandering the streets the day we got here.

As for the whole sickness thing, we are pretty much better. I am a lot better than Jesse but he is getting there too. We have enough energy to do stuff for most the day and have found ourselves spending the nights eating pizza in our hotel room and watching movies. Tomorrow is our last full day in Venice, we are going to take the two main ferry's of the city around the city center and maybe stop off at the casino if we can figure out how. After that we head back to the freezing cold and off the Germany for a few days to meet up with Phylicia and then it's home sweet home.

A Month is a Very Long Time.

So after four nights in Rome, yesterday morning we got on a train and headed over to Venice. Rome was lovely, but because we were so sick we struggled to get a lot done. We did the main things we wanted which was the Vatican and the Colosseum, so we can't really complain. Last night was our first night in Venice and so far we have already been ripped off by a water taxi, gotten extremely lost and done a bit of shopping. Luckily are colds are on their way out so it's getting easier to go and do stuff.

Venice is a beautiful city, it's unlike any thing I have ever seen before but it is also highly frustrating. The canals are beautiful but make travelling around extremely difficult as all the roads are small and windy and it's so easy to get lost so we have no idea how we are going to do our sight seeing. While on the topic of sight seeing, we are also not too sure on what to exactly see here, but I am sure we will figure it out.

It's been such an amazing trip, we have been so lucky to get to come and see everything and minus the few hick ups (ie. colds and losing all our luggage) it's been almost perfect. I am ready to go home though. For me, a month is an extremely long time to be away from everyone and everything (of course being sick didn't help). I don't know how I would ever go about our next holiday (we are wanting to drive American for about 3-4 months), or even moving away. I am fine being away from home, but I hate being sick away from home. When I am sick I like to lay on my new couch covered in a MILLION cushions, with a large cup of tea and watching day time TV haha.

When in Rome.

So our time in Rome has began, and let me tell you this is not a city which disappoints. Food, culture, history, shopping...Rome seems to pretty much have it all. There is so many beautiful things to see and do here and we just don't even know where to start. I will start this blog by mentioning we are sick. I am on the mend (fingers crossed) but poor Jessekins is struggling. We have tried not to let it stop us, mainly we had a super early night last night and intend to do the same after we have dinner (if we get enough energy to head back out on the streets). Finally we found an English speaking pharmacist who gave us some cold and flu tablets so that helps. We spent the day wandering the streets, seeing the Colosseum and all the surrounding architecture. We also got to spend the later part of the afternoon in a museum about the Roman history which was pretty awesome, followed by lunch of pizza and ravioli. Luckily as well, the weather is amazing I would say some what around 20 degrees and sunshine, so much so we have no need for coats.

First thing I don't like about Rome is the cost. This isn't a cheap city. Wine costs double the price that it did in Spain, and ever single attraction costs to get in too. Everyone is out to get your money, which is a little disheartening but all in all the money spent is usually worth while. Tomorrow we are heading to Vatican City and venture along the way. I am hoping to try get a little shopping done, because though it is expensive here luckily most things are on sale. I can see why people so easily fall in love with this city.

Also, I have been thinking a little about how I am going to fill my days when I get home. I have come up with some what of a list to keep me busy while I am unemployed and until I become so poor I need to find myself a new job. I start work experience the Monday after I return home, so that's at least something for 1 day a week which will keep me in a little bit of routine. It is with RVA (Retirement Village Association) and if you remember, it's the place I applied for my dream job, basically got the job with the AMAZING boss lady and then the CEO decided to restructure the organisation and get rid of the position. Katheryn (boss lady) said she fought for me, even trying to get me a part time position and then offered me the work experience position to (in her words) 'prove to the CEO how amazing I am and what I could do for the company'. It's not glamorous, but I can tell she is going to give me the connections I need to get started and also help me learn as much as possible. I am considering possibly a second work experience. Earlier in the year I emailed Diabetes WA and they were happy to take me on, so I may re email them and do that 1 day a week over the holidays too, so I am kept busy and learning at the same time.

Other than the work experience I plan on reading all the books which are now waiting for me at home. Sorting out the house by hanging up the photographs and art work I have for the lounge room and getting the new furniture I want to make it how I picture it in my mind. Create a Europe scrap book and photo album (yes I am that lame). I plan to learning a bit of French cooking (a little bit from the book Lunch in Paris and a little because of Paris itself). Finally, Archer is going to consume a bit more of my time (daily walks, hopefully) AND I have talked Jesse in to a new kitten. So I will be very busy along with spending as much time with my family and friends as I can before this terrible semester begins!

Beginning of the End.

So tomorrow morning (early tomorrow, so I really should be sleeping and not writing this blog) we are heading to Rome. The Italy portion of our trip is basically the beginning of the end, because after our week or so there we head to Germany for a few days to meet up with Phylicia and then we head home. I'm a little sad to leave Spain, I really enjoyed it here. Luckily enough the last two days we have spent basically in museums. It's amazing how much history one city can have and I have loved learning about it. The food situation has picked up a little. We have pretty much been living in Italian restaurants sharing pizzas and drinking endless bottles of Lambrusco. Funnily enough it has been really difficult to find tapas and other Spanish food in Valencia, but we got a lot of amazing food in Barcelona so I can't complain. This morning we spent in yet another museum and then the afternoon eating pizza and then drinking multiple pints (of cider for me) in the cute little Irish pub down the road.

I think Jesse and I are getting sick too which may put a slight downer on Italy. We both have coughs and such. Haha it makes sense, we spent almost 2 weeks in the freezing cold temperatures of Paris and Bordeaux and we are completely fine. We spent 4 days in the amazing 20 degrees weather of Valencia and BAM sick. Oh also (to stop everyone asking on facebook), our luggage has been recovered. Well half of it anyways (mostly my stuff hehe sorry Jesse). Only down side, it was sent home. So yeah we will be stuck the rest of the trip with out it. So far I am running out of room for the new stuff we bought so thats been fun. Shopping here is amazing. Poor Jesse and his skinny legs though, we refuses to buy a pair of jeans which aren't skinny and it's extremely difficult to find jeans the skinny he is talking about, so he has been stuck in the same pair of jeans. Obviously, most people would say 'why not buy a pair of jeans that aren't ridiculously skinny?', but no his mind is made up and no one else gets a say. Pretty sure when we get home he is never going to want to see that pair of black jeans again.

Again, no photos...I thought Australia internet was bad, but it is nothing on Spain. Fingers crossed for a decent connection in Rome. After 4 attempts of uploading I finally got some on facebook though!

Welcome to Valencia.

So today is our 3rd day in Valencia and so far it's pretty good. I think we are starting to get a little exhausted now. We find ourselves doing less in the day (particularly the afternoons) and even less at night. Valencia is quite unique. It is filled with a lot of history, museums and architecture which looks like something out of a fairy tale. We spent yesterday (our first day on the streets) doing a lap of the town by following this park that wraps around our part of the city. The best thing about it here is museums are usually free, or extremely cheap to enter. So we spent the best part of the afternoon looking through a museum which was about the evolution of humans and what not. It was really good, but all in Spanish which was little bit of a let down.

One thing which is disappointing me with Valencia is the food. Barcelona set the bar high for food in Spain, and Valencia has nothing on Barcelona. We have only had 3 meals so far and none of them were spectacular, or even worth mentioning which is disappointing. But I guess one city can't have it all. Anyways, today we are going bike riding through the park because it is a nice sunny day and you can hire bikes off the side of the road here! Hopefully after that we will hit the markets, because from what I have seen Valencia has some beautiful markets.

Our internet connection is this hotel is extremely bad. So I can't upload any photos yet, but I will try again later.

The Food, The Romance, The History

So today we were lucky enough to get a whole day of sunshine and blue skies in Barcelona. We decided that we would spend the day seeing some of the 'sights' which Barcelona have to offer. After having a quick look over the map, I decided I wanted to go to a museum which showed the history of Barcelona throughout the time of the Roman Empire and included a tour throughout the under ground archeological sight which was old Barcelona. For some reason, it was free to go in today, which was amazing considering we are quickly running out of money and was really worth the walk. I love history, especially Roman (or Egyptian) history, so for me it was amazing. After the museum we spent a few hours in a cafe at the Barcelona port for a very long and late lunch. I had my first (and last) ever Martini as well as my favourite Sangria. I am loving Barcelona. I am loving waking up looking at a map and choosing what to do for that day. Tomorrow is our last day and I am excited to see what Valencia and then Italy have to offer us. I think I am most excited for Italy. The food, the romance, the history...it's what I am about.

Tomorrow we are going to the Zoo! I am pretty excited, I love the Zoo and I haven't been to the one in Perth since like year 8 mainly because Jesse wouldn't go with me (I think because he doesn't want to ruin his love for the Zoo as a kid). The one here seems to have a lot of different animals and more exotic animals than Perth, so that would be good. We are bringing a picnic lunch and hopefully the walk there wont be too long! We also plan on ending the evening at 'The Pita House', which is kinda a fast food looking place which obviously serves pita that we have been saying we wanted to go too since we got here. Then it's an early morning train to Valencia. The trip is going pretty fast. I am easily already exhausted, but loving ever second. I wish Perth had the history which Barcelona has to offer!

New Year Night in Barcelona.

Well hello there and welcome to 2011. Firstly, I am beginning 2011 in a hotel room in Barcelona listening to Kanye & Cudi tunes with my mister. This is a new years eve I would consider some what close to perfection! Today was our second day in Barcelona and a little more successful than the last, we spent the day exploring and the evening dining. I have never ever eaten so much food, I still slightly feel sick! Barcelona is truly impressive, I highly suggest putting it on your to visit list.

The more I think about it, the more amazing it is. I have brought in the new year in Barcelona with the man I love. It's crazy and amazing I am here. This place is beautiful and so energetic and exciting. 2011 is going to be filled with so much unknown for me. I'm jobless, I am in debt (from this holiday) and I am returning to full time uni. When I stop and think about it, I get nervous....but I am trusting that I will be fine. 2010 was a year completely full of surprises. I never expected it to end how it did, especially. I never thought I would learn what it did. I remember when we found out about Jason, I said to Roz (the friend I was with at the time) 'this doesn't happen to me', and it's true. People I know don't die, and that's something I have never had to learn until the end of this year.

All in all, I am thankful and excited. I have so much to look forward too, to be excited for and to learn from heading my way. We are half way through this trip and it's going to give me so much more. We still have a few days in Barcelona, then we head to Valencia and then on to Italy. I can't wait.