Only Capitalists Get Photographers!
Despite a really rocky first week and a half, I am finally all settled in and thriving. As wonderful as Oxford is, and there are many wonderful things about it, the best part about being here is planning, well, leaving here. Barring some major unforeseen obstacle, I'm going to go down to the bank tomorrow, finish harassing them and hopefully leave with access to my money. At that point, I am going to go on a blazing spending spree, booking three international trips between now and January. I am so excited, I can hardly sleep.
First stop, come on, I bet no one who knows me is surprised- Athens. Flying out Thursday night as soon as my lecture is over, getting in at midnight, stumbling to the hostel, and then spending all Friday, Saturday, and Monday morning/afternoon in Athens, with a side trip to Delphi on Sunday. I had hoped to climb Mt. Olympus on this trip, but unfortunately it only has a two and a half month easy climb window that I've just missed (ended start of October). Oh, I could make the climb under the current conditions, don't mistake me- but this is already such a short trip, and I only intend to bring a carry-on, and I just have this strange sort of feeling that the airline officials might get a wee bit miffed if I tried to carry on a set of crampons (shoe cleats with spikes) and an ice axe. So I am regretfully putting that climb aside for now, confident that I'll be back to Greece many times over my life and able to climb then. Anyway, provided the bank and airlines cooperate tomorrow, this will be Nov. 4-8.
Rome is next on the list -another huge surprise- but only just barely beats out number three for the spot. This trip is much more tentatively scheduled, because the airfare is ridiculously cheap all November, and I feel like I have time. Odds are I may go the 18-22 (again, same Thurs overnight, back on Monday deal- I love my class schedule). On the other hand, I may re-think that and wait until January, because my next trip is much less flexible in terms of when I can go- I more or less have to be there the first week of Dec, when tickets are still available.
Trip number three: Vienna. I have no powerful interest in the city itself, although I'm told it's quite lovely. I want to go to see the Spanish Riding School at Vienna, the most incredible equestrian academy in the world (and nobody argues it!) I also have a silly idea about hunting down an English-speaking dance instructor and taking a single lesson while I'm there: I do suffer from a strong amount of romanticism, and it seems really cool to think that I could take a lesson and learn how to waltz in Vienna, the home of the dance. But we'll see about that one; I have no talent for dancing and I'm fairly gutless, so I may not follow through.
After that, I only have a list of where I want to go, and the when will depend on airfares and my schedule- I don't know if my lecture times change or last all year. I will definitely go to Granada Spain (the Alhambra and good hiking) and Gibraltar (close to Granada and on the beach) and Scotland of course, hopefully Edinburgh and Glen Coe. The two 'definitely want to go but may not realistically be able to' destinations are St. Petersburg and Istanbul/Troy. St P's will be very, very expensive because of all of the travel documents required, and flights are pretty ghastly too. Istanbul is a major draw as well, and it is easy to get to Troy from there, but I'm going to have one really big problem: it's pretty inadvisable for a woman to travel alone through Turkey. If I planned on staying in Istanbul I would probably be just fine, but the site for Troy is fairly remote, and there's no way I'm making it to Turkey and NOT going to see the excavations at Troy. So I'll only be able to go if I can drag some guy from here along with me. That might not be as unlikely as it seems, though; I already have a friend who is doing Byzantine studies, so I might be able to convince him to go on those grounds (a large part of my own interest is all of the old Byzantine architecture and relics). If not him, I can branch out and see if any of the other Medievalists/Ancient history guys are interested.
Anyway, that's the plan for now. I'm still scoping airfares and looking around to see if I've forgotten anyplace I ought to go. Germany would be wonderful, but odds are good I'll go there at some other point in my life (Mom grew up there and really wants to go back for a visit sometime). Venice I definitely want to see, but it seems a little depressing to go on my own, so that one is also going on the 'someday' burners. The grand result is, I am going to be insanely broke by the end of the year, and most likely starving as well, but it's going to be worth it. I came here to push myself and to see the world: this is it. Two weeks from now, I should be in Athens. I should probably start looking up some Greek phrases I might need. Number one, how to say: Wait, this bus is going WHERE?!
First stop, come on, I bet no one who knows me is surprised- Athens. Flying out Thursday night as soon as my lecture is over, getting in at midnight, stumbling to the hostel, and then spending all Friday, Saturday, and Monday morning/afternoon in Athens, with a side trip to Delphi on Sunday. I had hoped to climb Mt. Olympus on this trip, but unfortunately it only has a two and a half month easy climb window that I've just missed (ended start of October). Oh, I could make the climb under the current conditions, don't mistake me- but this is already such a short trip, and I only intend to bring a carry-on, and I just have this strange sort of feeling that the airline officials might get a wee bit miffed if I tried to carry on a set of crampons (shoe cleats with spikes) and an ice axe. So I am regretfully putting that climb aside for now, confident that I'll be back to Greece many times over my life and able to climb then. Anyway, provided the bank and airlines cooperate tomorrow, this will be Nov. 4-8.
Rome is next on the list -another huge surprise- but only just barely beats out number three for the spot. This trip is much more tentatively scheduled, because the airfare is ridiculously cheap all November, and I feel like I have time. Odds are I may go the 18-22 (again, same Thurs overnight, back on Monday deal- I love my class schedule). On the other hand, I may re-think that and wait until January, because my next trip is much less flexible in terms of when I can go- I more or less have to be there the first week of Dec, when tickets are still available.
Trip number three: Vienna. I have no powerful interest in the city itself, although I'm told it's quite lovely. I want to go to see the Spanish Riding School at Vienna, the most incredible equestrian academy in the world (and nobody argues it!) I also have a silly idea about hunting down an English-speaking dance instructor and taking a single lesson while I'm there: I do suffer from a strong amount of romanticism, and it seems really cool to think that I could take a lesson and learn how to waltz in Vienna, the home of the dance. But we'll see about that one; I have no talent for dancing and I'm fairly gutless, so I may not follow through.
After that, I only have a list of where I want to go, and the when will depend on airfares and my schedule- I don't know if my lecture times change or last all year. I will definitely go to Granada Spain (the Alhambra and good hiking) and Gibraltar (close to Granada and on the beach) and Scotland of course, hopefully Edinburgh and Glen Coe. The two 'definitely want to go but may not realistically be able to' destinations are St. Petersburg and Istanbul/Troy. St P's will be very, very expensive because of all of the travel documents required, and flights are pretty ghastly too. Istanbul is a major draw as well, and it is easy to get to Troy from there, but I'm going to have one really big problem: it's pretty inadvisable for a woman to travel alone through Turkey. If I planned on staying in Istanbul I would probably be just fine, but the site for Troy is fairly remote, and there's no way I'm making it to Turkey and NOT going to see the excavations at Troy. So I'll only be able to go if I can drag some guy from here along with me. That might not be as unlikely as it seems, though; I already have a friend who is doing Byzantine studies, so I might be able to convince him to go on those grounds (a large part of my own interest is all of the old Byzantine architecture and relics). If not him, I can branch out and see if any of the other Medievalists/Ancient history guys are interested.
Anyway, that's the plan for now. I'm still scoping airfares and looking around to see if I've forgotten anyplace I ought to go. Germany would be wonderful, but odds are good I'll go there at some other point in my life (Mom grew up there and really wants to go back for a visit sometime). Venice I definitely want to see, but it seems a little depressing to go on my own, so that one is also going on the 'someday' burners. The grand result is, I am going to be insanely broke by the end of the year, and most likely starving as well, but it's going to be worth it. I came here to push myself and to see the world: this is it. Two weeks from now, I should be in Athens. I should probably start looking up some Greek phrases I might need. Number one, how to say: Wait, this bus is going WHERE?!