There are so many beautiful places in the world

Oh man.

This is my first real weekend in Pau after three weeks of traveling around Europe. I went by train, plane and automobile to Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brussels and Rome; though my trips were incredible, I am burned out. When my plane arrived in Pau at 1:00 a.m. Monday morning, I was cold, tired, sick and broke.

It's going to take forever for me to recount everything that's happened, but I'll try to go into more detail over the next couple of entries. For now, here's what the travel itinerary looked like:

Saturday, October 30--Monday, November 1: Barcelona
Thursday, November 4--Saturday, November 6: Amsterdam
Saturday, November 6--Monday a.m., November 8: Brussels
Wednesday, November 10--Sunday, November 14: Rome

This means I only had 1 or 2 days in Pau to rest between trips. I barely went to class, and as soon as I came home from one place I would repack my suitcase for another.

My camera took some pretty subpar pictures, so for most of the journey I just tried to enjoy myself and remember everything. I got some of the photos in the Picasa album from my friend's camera.

I don't think I'll ever travel with more than 3 people again; we were in groups of 6 and 7 for Barcelona and Amsterdam, and it was way too hard to keep everyone together. There's always someone who wants to get up early and go to the museum while someone else wants to stay out late and see the city.

I realized in Rome that I need to spend the next few years traveling. There are so many beautiful places in the world, and I will never see them all. The best I can do is dedicate myself to seeing as much as possible, especially while I'm young enough to take advantage of hostels and youth discounts. It would be ideal to have a job that allows--or maybe even requires?--me to travel, but if that doesn't work out, I'd be content to put up with short-term work to save up and go. It's what makes me happy. How can I tell you what it's like to see the other side of the world? How can I describe what it's like to talk to someone who doesn't speak your language? How can I put into words the complexity of a Gaudi mosaic, the streets glowing red in Amsterdam, the taste of gelato with whipped cream?

I can't. You have to experience it for yourself.