goodbyes

Oh my, a new post on Matt's blog! Shocking, I know.

As I sit down to write, I'm on a train leaving Scotland and heading to Newcastle. From Newcastle, I'm catching an overnight ferry to Amsterdam to meet up with my mate Lyndon from Ireland. We'll spend a couple nights in Amsterdam before Brian and I leave for a month long trip around mainland Europe. We have InterRail passes and will be traveling via train throughout the continent.

To say I have mixed emotions right now would be a complete and total understatement. I'm excited for what the next month or more may bring. It should be unbelievable. Yet I've just had to say goodbye to Nicole, my girlfriend of seven months -a goodbye that we both knew was going to come sooner or later. A difficult goodbye, to say the least. I'm so lucky to have met her and spent the time with her I did. Who knows what the future will bring? Being seperated will undoubtedly be difficult, but this I suppose is the story and definition of life. I spent nine months and 18 days living in Scotland. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. I'll miss Scotland. A brilliant country with so much history, pride, and beauty.

My summer flew by. I use the term summer quite liberally as there wasn't much for a 'summer' in Edinburgh. You could probably count on one hand the number of sunny days we saw. Towards the end of June I went away on holiday with Nicole to Prague. I quickly fell in love with Prague - a beautiful city with much to offer by way of arts, culture, and architecture (and really good lager!). Prague feels very much like an Eastern European city that isn't yet ready for the massive influx of tourists its seen in the past couple years. When I arrived back to Edinburgh, I found work in a small, city centre, real ale pub. It was a welcome change to the high street, brewery owned pub where I spent my first six months working. One of the smallest pubs in Edinburgh, we served quality cask ales and had a solid group of regulars.

I chuckled as I was reading my last post as I ended with the talk of not knowning what I'm doing with my life. I still don't, I suppose. I do know that without soon finding a source of income, my days of traveling Europe will soon come to an end. And, without any work visas lined up, finding a source of income may prove to be difficult. But, for now, I have what I imagine will be an unbelivable month ahead of me. cheers, mk