Tourist Info Desk

Welcome to Fernweh, a blog concerning the (mis)adventures of one Fulbrighter during a year spent in Europe teaching English.
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If you're wondering what the book reviews are about, I direct your attention to the reading list/classic lit challenge here.
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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Warum ist die Banane krumm?

Some questions simply don't have answers...

I woke up this morning with a headache, and my fingers on my right hand ached where I had accidentally slammed them in trunk under my bed the night before. I'd woken up what felt like once an hour throughout the night, and when I tried to put my contacts in, I found out that my bottle of contact solution had gotten shampoo in it and ruined them. I finally staggered out of the hostel to head for the bus a little disgruntled.

And yet, as soon as I got on the big red double-decker and found a seat in the front of the top deck, I couldn't stop smiling like an idiot. Who cares about aching head and fingers and slight sleep deprivation when you're in England? In this case, I had no trouble following the DCR (in song form here), despite that I woke up feeling awful. On a beautiful day in England, it was impossible to stay irritated.

I write to you now from the coach to Bath. The sky is a lovely azure with puffy white clouds and the English countryside rolls by in varying shades of verdant greens. Since we're on a freeway (er...that's not what they're called here, but I've forgotten the proper word), I have a lot of interesting cars to see; in fact, there's a Aston Martin DB9 right in front of us. I've been keeping my eyes peeled for an R8 (my favorite), but no luck so far.

I've been surprised again by how happy I am here. Yes, I know, it's only day 2, and I have lots of time yet to be frustrated, stressed, and homesick, but I really do love this country. Why? Much like with Top Gear, I can't really describe or even identify what it is about this place that fascinates me. Honestly, I'd rather it didn't so much; I'd like to have the same gut-level emotional reaction of excitement about, say, Germany, for instance. But no--it's Britain. I hesitate to even speculate about the possible reasons, since as I run through them in my head, I know that none of them are quite right, or the whole story. But I feel like I could live here very happily, and I feel that way very, very seldom. Maybe it's just idealistic puppy love. We'll see.

I feel I should apologize for the rather uninteresting post, since there's not much yet to tell, but I like to document my thoughts and feelings as I experience them, as much for me as for you. I'm sorry for any boredom you may have suffered. :)

Everything that I've heard about Bath is that it's brilliant, beautiful, and fun, so I shall certainly tell you what I think when I get there. You may even get some pictures if you're lucky!

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