Europe Revisited

Last winter I started another blog called European Memoirs. So far, I have spent a total of 19 months in Europe between living there and a couple trips. So I thought it would be best to document those times before more of it slips from memory. The blog laid largely untouched for the last 8 months so I thought of something that would help me finish at least part of it by next summer.

My first stay abroad was when I went to study there from Sept 1991 to May 1992. Of my time spent over there, those nine months were the most memorable. Probably because it was the first time. Seeing as it was almost exactly 15 years ago, I thought it would be great to blog the stay in real time over the next nine months. I had written journals during that time, but they were fairly dry and didn't elaborate on many observations. They tended to be "did this" - "saw that". In addition, I still can't find the journals from two of the big trips. Must have lost them during the moves over the years. It's something I'm still kicking myself over. So, much of what I write will be from what is left in my memory.

Posting to the other blog will take time away from this blog. I will post links, but there will be fewer posts here . Just over the past week, I have kept coming up with topics I'd like to cover. So there is a possibility that it may become a nine-month vacation from this blog. But I will try not to let that happen. Also, I hope it will be of interest to you, but for the most part that blog is written as a personal record for myself. Kind of like rewriting a trip journal though it will inevitably be blog-like. Heck, thats what a blog is. An online journal.

Since coming up with this idea a week or two ago, my mind has been filled with memories and recalled observations. Then there are all the slides from the trip that I have been sorting through. And the other night I read sideways through my old journal. It has been amazing how my memories are swirling through my head. It is also surprising how my memory of the cadence of time is different. Whereas I thought it was weeks before I ventured into the big city, it turns out it was only days. Or how I thought I took weekend trips only once a month and then only in the second half of the stay. Turns out there were trips every other weekend with many in the fall. Looking back now, it really surprises me how much was packed into those nine short months. Not to mention how much time it will take to blog it. But I will enjoy every minute of it, so that's what matters. What better way to spend your winter free time.

So there it is. Another blog. Four posts are already written. I am in the process of embellishing those posts a bit. There should be a flurry of posts in early October when we went on our first trip.