in greece :)

In a tourist place with internet. I've got eight minutes left on my euro's worth of time, so this will be brief.
The rest of us are checking out ancient Fira, but I was/am exhausted and decided my morning would be better spent asleep on the beach. Which was awesome, by the way, but now I'm covered in sweat and plan to take a long shower at the end of this eight minutes.

Greek food is awesome. Everything is honey and yogurt and nuts and pastry things. Or it's tomatoes and feta and olive oil. I love all of those things! Curiously, I've been wholeheartedly converted to the camp of tomato-loving people. Curious because, until this trip, I've mostly hated tomatoes. They were weirdly juicy. But I've just had so many fantastic tomato-based experiences over here that I have to change my allegiance.
And that's serious business right there.

I'm reading Bonk right now, which is a book about sex, but from a scientific standpoint. I've read about artificially inseminating pigs and the methods used to study sex in the 1950s and sex inside MRI machies and more. Also reading Lolita.
I guess either of these books on their own would be pretty normal, but together there's a certain theme. According to the contents of my bag, I'm a pervert.

NetCredit is freaking out at me. I should go. But all is well from greece and I'll be home again on August 1.

Love always,
Clara

hi there!

I'm sitting in an internet cafe (read internet-basement-of-a-convenience-store). Figured I'd check in.

The past week or so has been awesome. Yesterday we spent 8 hours on trains but passed the time reading Pretty Little Liars out loud. That's a fantastic book, by the way.

Not much time!
Au revoir, Pomplemoose!

Love always,
Clara

packing

It's hard to commit to carrying three weeks worth of clothes on your back. At least on the Camino there was no expectation to look good. On my trip, I don't think that will be the case.

I think I might finally be finished though. Hooray for that. Packing inexplicably wears me out so now I'm trying to put together an awesome traveling playlist.

I was trying to download a bunch of new music, but that is for some reason incredibly difficult lately. I'm so indecisive about music and I've just go this feeling that all of the songs that I love are already on my iPod.

So that got frustrating and then I remembered that I still have that big folder of music that Thomas sent me, so I took another bunch of songs from there. I'm not sure whether they're summer songs because I haven't listened yet, but here's a sampling.

I'll Hold My Breath - Ellie Goulding

Lights - Ellie Goulding

Salt Skin - Ellie Goulding

Your Biggest Mistake - Ellie Goulding

Oh No! - Marina and the Diamonds

Awake My Soul - Mumford & Sons

Eat That Up, It's Good for You - Two Door Cinema Club

Hermit the Frog - Marina and the Diamonds

The Outsider - Marina and the Diamonds

Re: Stacks - Bon Iver

Stranger - Noah and the Whale

Team - Bon iver

Thistle & Weeds - Mumford & Sons

Undercover Martyn - Two Door Cinema Club

What You Know - Alessi's Ark

In other news, I'll be absent until August 1st. Maybe August 2nd. I might stop in and blog if we find an internet cafe or something. If I don't, it's because I'm too busy being a backpacker, or because I've been kidnapped and sold into sex slavery.

Love always,

Clara

i went and jumped off a bridge last night

I've been kept up late hearing Camino stories from Katie, Eleni, and Cath.

The Camino sounds hilarious, strenuous, stressful, inspring, and mostly exhausting. Which is why we didn't go clubbing tonight as planned, but instead watched "Taken" with my parents and ate chinese food and sat around my dining room table and chatted.

Mom legitimately told my dad to go out and buy "Taken" so that we could watch it before we left. As an educational experience or something. A two-hour-long-educational-experience-with-drugs-and-guns.

Me: Look at Mom, so pleased with herself. She's like "and that's why you should stay in switzerland for the next three weeks!"

Mom: And don't swim in the Aare!

Me: Because there are Albanians in the Aare! With heroin!

The Aare, by the way, is a river. And while I'm sure that sometimes there are Albanian immigrants swimming in the river (because it's quite the Swiss sumer activity), they have no interest in kidnapping any of us or selling us into sex slavery.

Today I did swim in the Aare. I jumped off a bridge into the river and it was probably the greatest half-second of my life. For the record, I did check to be sure the water was deep enough, and I knew I was a strong enough swimmer to take on the current. I'm a safe river-swimmer.

Danny and I were supposed to go at the same time, actually.

Me: Danny, have you never jumped before either?

Danny: No.

Me: We can have our first times together!

Danny: Um...

So he says, "On three..." and I'm freaking out and Chris is behind us. And Danny jumps. And we have to go down in a group because swimming in the river alone is another unsafe thing. So I'm like, "shit, I have to go, because otherwise I'm stuck without the group and/or Danny's by himself and neither of those are good.

So I jump.

Best half-second ever.

Love always,

Clara

P.S. Bonus points to those who got the Eddie From Ohio reference in here.

frogging, flogging, and blogging

Go Spain!

I have no idea how to properly cheer for a soccer game. I really have gotten into the whole soccer deal, but I'm not a pro yet. I can be heard shouting things like "KICK THAT BALL, SPANYARD!" and "NO, DON'T KICK, BITCHES!"

I think the problem is that people don't really do anything other than kick in soccer. Or I just don't know enough about soccer to distinguish the differences between kicks.

Thomas: America is awesome at everything. [rolls eyes]

Me: Thomas! You're my new favorite!

Thomas: What? Oh, clearly you didn't see my eye roll.

Me: Oh. Well, it's what I heard that counts.

Thomas: You would like me a lot better if you were blind.

This sent me into hysterics, of course. Thomas might still be my new favorite, regardless of the eye-roll.

It's up for debate. I'm still not sure who my old favorite was, so it may be hasty to choose a new favorite already.

I've been into this new thing where I threaten to flog people. It's really useful in a lot more situations than you would think. As I learned with Peter, if something is giving you trouble, hit it with a hammer.

Anyway, this new tendency has gotten me into a bit of trouble, because no one understands me when I speak. They think I'm saying I want to "frog" them. "Frogging" has somehow taken on a sexual connotation. How that happened is a mystery.

Me: Danny, I told you not to eat the chips! I will flog you!

Danny: No, don't frog me! I'm still sore from last time you frogged me!

You see how this can get out of hand very quickly.

Flogging people is one of the best ways I know to express myself though.

Sometimes, people just need to be flogged.

Thomas: Are you going to blog about blogging about me saying that you were going to blog me, about blogging?

How am I supposed to not blog that?

Love always,

Clara

yikesss

I like my job.

I do.

Really.

However, something about the government and the standards there just don't grok well with me.

It has come to my attention that my writing style is considered "irreverent".

It has also come to my attention recently that this particular style is going underappreciated in areas other than my blog.

To which I say, to hell with that.

Fuck reverence.

I mean, I suppose reverence as a general concept is worth holding onto in society, for certain circumstances (see: childbirth, pretty sunsets, the president if he's in the room).

But reverence for the sake of reverence because the lack of reverence would be considered inappropriate? That's circular!

I hope to never work in an office. Everything is catty and messy and I want to write a big expose on all of the scandals (OMG someone borrowed our copy of that travel book without asking) except knowing me, it would be irreverent, and that won't do.

No one can step on anyone's toes, but everyone's toes are stepped upon.

And now my toes feel sore.

And I have to watch myself.

And I hate that.

I'm clumsy. I walk into things, people, if it's there, I'll probably stumble upon it somehow. And I've taken this trait and incorporated it into my persona, my affect, my unescapable Clara-ness that would be very difficult to reverse at this point in the game.

I believe I've been known to say too much and maybe that's what I'm doing now.

All of this is just proving to me that I'm not cut out for a traditional career of any kind. Anyone know any non-traditional careers that I might enjoy that would definitely without a shadow of a doubt keep me out of office life forever?

That would be awesome, thanks.

Daphna
I spent like an he subwayibf caarilus places
ok that was ibxomprehendible

I just talked to Daphna on AIM. If it helps her case, she was typing from an iPod Touch.

Love always,

Clara

differences between me and spain

Oren: Are you still alive?

Me: Yes

Oren: That's good. It's a good day to be alive.

Thanks for that, Oren.

Another gem from tonight-

Me: My friends are walking through Spain.

Someone: In the mountains?

Me: No I think it's pretty flat.

Chris: Unlike Clara.

... later...

Oren: You're flat honest.

Me: I'M NOT FLAT.

These are the facts. I'm not flat, but Spain is, in some parts.

Me: Everyone at this school is weird as shit.

Oren: Including you.

Me: Yeah, I include myself in that.

Oren is trying to make the case that this school turns people crazy. I disagree. I was pretty insane before I got here.

Me: I will flog you.

Love always,

Clara

things found while clearing off my bed

• A computer chip
• Five (5) programs for Potomac Graduation
• A photocopy of my insurance card
• My diploma
• Four (4) science-related magazines
• A dinner knife

To which I say... what the fuck?

My bedroom is a disaster zone right now.

Hopefully I can somewhat get my shit together before the beginning of epic-euro-trip-2010, which is going to be fantastic, by the way, if you were wondering.

Non-sequitur: I am always hungry.

Love always,

Clara

chili dog

chili dog, originally uploaded by csb324.

This post might as well be called, "I am exhausted and simply cannot blog tonight and will probably pass out as soon as I click 'POST,' if I even make it that far."

In lieu of my witty commentary on things, I present to you, a picture of my dog.

He is also very witty.

Love always,
Clara

go fish

We played Go Fish tonight.

I have not played such a rigorous game of Go Fish since I was in third grade.

Five guys, two decks of cards, only seven 9s, and one Clara.

Honestly the only insight into this evening that I feel qualified to give is a series of quotes-without-much-context. Any further analysis would be overreaching and would probably mar the purity of the event.

(That's my way of saying, "I'm a lazy blogger tonight, because I'm tired, and these quotes are pretty funny.")

Simone: Gimme your bitch, your queen.

Peter: It's dry now, just all sticky and stuff.

(I believe he had spilled Pepsi on his hand, but who can say for sure?)

Simone: Clara, do you have any bitches?

Me: So many. However, none of the kind you want. Fish.

Kyle: There's my king, there's my dude.

Kyle: All Simone has is bitches.

Simone did end up with a lot of bitches, and by that I mean queens, and by that I mean wow, Go Fish is a really fantastic game.

Love always,

Clara

exhausted

Oh. My. God.

I'm beginning to think that 4th of July is my new favorite holiday.

Today was ridiculous in twelve different ways.

1. I spent three hours theoretically "at work" doing almost nothing, due to some sort of miscommunication between Boss and I.
2. Peter demanded that I donate my presence to the cause of his happiness,* so I had lunch with him.
3. Pictures from the past few nights went up on facebook, which is always entertaining, especially in regards to nights like the last few.
4. I mingled like a boss at the Independence Day event, making witty charming comments about the weather, as if I had been born to have these sorts of pointless conversations.
5. There were bunnies in my front yard.
6. I introduced some co-workers to some very pretty girls, because I am a good person.
7. Someone who called himself a "Rock-Jazz Pianist" was in my living room, and was the source of the most phenomenal sounds I have ever heard from a piano.
8. At the dinner following this event, karma proved herself to me.
9. I drank something called a "libertini"
10. Every question anyone ever had about the internet or social media or documentary film or soccer or Brown University was answered at my table.
11. I managed to get through a vaguely messy dinner without marring the whiteness of my graduation dress.
12. There was a dance party in my living room.

*People should use that sentence construction more often. As if my presence were a gift, and his happiness, a charity.

And now I'm wiped out. Actually, I was wiped out two hours ago, but Blythe made me keep dancing. She also steals people's sneezes. That deviant.

Love always,

Clara

holding my tongue

I'm chilling with Peter and Chris, the embassy brothers productive.

Peter: That was great. Me and Thomas found that.
Me: Thomas and I. No one speaks engilsh here.
Chris: Well people make that mistake in America too.
Me: At my old school, we were all sort of pretentious and we'd correct each other's grammatical errors. I've been holding my tongue all year. I can't do it anymore.
Chris: So... up until this point... you've been quiet?

Fair enough. I'd been holding my tongue about grammatical errors. My tongue had been pretty unrestrained regarding almost anything else.

Well that last sentence sounded strangely suggestive-slash-creepy.

Love always,
Clara