From Island To Island

It has been too long since I last wrote.  I am not focused enough within this blog, and felt a lack of motivation to pen something.  It wasn’t from a lack of experience, because a lot has happened since that trip to London.  The most noteable experience was another trip off this island. 

I made it to London again, Wednesday before our spring break (11 March).  I had a whole week to work with so I checked out places I didn’t make the last trip.  Other Criteria shops were high on the list, as well as the Darwin exhibit at the Natural History Museum.  Aside from becoming disoriented (lost) a couple times I didn’t much feel like an outsider anymore for I was running into some new friends on the streets.

On Saturday, 14th, Dave and I took a trip to Windsor Castle.  I love seeing castles like this, perhaps it’s because I want one… Walking through through all the rooms and seeing the collection of arms and treasures from the East held my attention.

We made our way to Oxford where the architecture was brilliant.  The grandiose buildings made up for the small area in which the town fit in to.  Oxford felt very unfamiliar because there was little that reminded me of anywhere else.  The streets were different, and the carvings had a different appeal to them.

Sunday was a roast and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.  That is a day practically guaranteeing a good time.  The roast is spectacular, then the drag show is phenomenal.  The energy in the RVT is great, everyone just laughs for and hour or two then it turns into a club, working off of that positive energy.

Wednesday, oh Wednesday the 18th.  I learned how to never forget your passport again.  Somehow in my excitement of the trip to Malta I forgot to move my passport from my heavy jacket to my bag, which ended in the most embarrassing move of my time abroad.  A 7am flight on Thursday resolved most of the humiliation.  I joined a flight with two other friends that were joining us in Malta.  I got to break the ice with them which helped me tremendously and eased my mind.

Flying in over the Alps, then over Malta was breathtaking.  For hours I just absorbed all that was around me.  I loved the architecture, the way one city flowed into countryside and back into another city.  I wanted to retain all that Antoine was telling us about the islands.  We caught a festival in Mdina and we got to experience the excitement of the area and the people who live there.

We traveled all over the island, numerous times, and went to Gozo for a day.  As jostling as the roads were, I really enjoyed the rides, the company within, and the wonderful conversations had.  We covered a lot of ground, saw the Ġgantija temples (c. 3600 – 2500 BC), 1000+ yrs older than Stone hedge, walked along the Ramla il Hamra, red sand beach, explored churches like St. John’s Co-Cathedral, and watch the sun set from Dwejra Bay which provided great scenery with the Azure Window, Fungus Rock, and the Inland Sea.

I want to give special thanks to Dave and Antoine, for inviting me on this trip and being such wonderful hosts.  Thank you for taking us all around the islands, sharing the history, and opening up your homes to us.  I am very fortunate to know you, for both of you are truly amazing men.  I can’t describe how excited I am to spend another weekend with you before I fly back to the states.  Thank you for all that you’ve given me while broadening my perspective on the world around me.

2100: Comfort

I want to bust open from knowing what life is capable of providing.  It is not material, but an idea.  An idea so expansive the only place to start is by letting it all in.  I don’t want to be a person who lives predictably.  I want to grow.  I want to test limits and I want to break them.

I want a life of comfort. Comfort in how I live, not in what I do.

2040: Memories

Is it enough to be optimistic and know you will see them again?  How does one capture the moments?  Is it with the camera, or with the heart.  I put my effort into making the moments last internally; I never know if it is the intelligent choice but one I want to make. I never want to forget the hours spent in the club, the pints between friends or the walks on the river.  Perhaps going back again will not allow me to relive these memories, but remind me that I had them once and they were great. Perhaps that is good enough.

1900: Unconditional

An unconditional life is to live unrestricted.  To have no expectations allows expansion.  To control it is to become free.  Don’t hesitate to take an opportunity, and never forget one taken.  Allow it to roam freely within you.  Record it on paper, on film, in memory, but just remember.  Days will pass and thoughts may alter, things could have been done differently, but they didn’t.

I remember being open; there were no fears, no expectations, nothing but an empty canvas and an ambition to let it take a form of its own.

I now know what I felt but could not articulate.  It is the freedom and comfort of the unknown.  I listened as the words flow through me freely, taking for not what they were but how they felt.

The cost of letting go is growth.  On the couch, in the train, at the terminal, I can feel myself escaping me as new parts come to rebuild me.  I don’t fear what has left because I feel what has become.

It was not the vodka Redbull that granted me the freedom on the dance floor,  it was the realization that I chose the conditions to live by, and The Moment was one of them.