Dear Sessa, backpacking is bloody hard….

Dear Sessa,

Backpacking is bloody hard! I got to to Brussels and was greeted by a shaddy dude outside the bus station who I got a bad vibe from. He said, ¨Is it okay if I talk to you?¨ He sketeched me out so I decided not to walk in the dark to my hostel. I opted for a cab ride. A rip off later I was at the Van Gogh Youth Hostel in Brussels, Belgium. Don´t ever stay here. This is how my night went there.

1:30 am Arrive

1:35 am Get key and Go accross street to open hostel door, key doesn´t work. Go back accross street for new key

1:40 am open door walk up 5 flights of stairs (with the 4th grader sized back pack on my back) and get to room where 8 other people are sleeping. I turn on the light to have them all wake up. I turn the light off.

1:45 unpack in the dark. No bathroom in room so I have to go down the hall.

1:50 Forgot toothbrush go back

2:00 Go to get on top bunk of bunk bed and realize that there is no ladder and someone on the bottom bunk. So I have to climb on the latter on the bunkbed accross from me then jump from the opposite ladder on to my bed. The latter isn´t fully attached so it slams against the bed startling the person sleeping in it. (you know how i like to make a bangin´first impression.)

2:05 sleep

2:07 Forgot I left wallet in my bag. Hop down get wallet. Monkey climb leap back on bed and put wallet under pillow.

2;08 sleep

2:09 Cold. Get down shut window. Monkey climb back on bed.

2:10 Chick accross from me starts coughing up a lung. Coughing. Hacking. Coughing. Hacking. I pray to God for a shield of antibacterial armor to come over me

2:15 I really have to use the bathroom. Hop down. Search for room key. Go across hall. Show off Victorias secrets. Monkey Climb back on bed

2:30 Still cold. Hop down,  get another blanket. Monkey swing back up bed.

2:45  Thirsty. Tell  myself, ¨Look here princess this could be freakin´Egypt in July. You´re not getting off this bed!)

3:00 Thirsty

3:30 Coughing

4:00 am Thirsty

6:00 Praying

6:30 Think. I should have drank instead of slept.

So I´m up at 7:00 am get dressed and book it on out of there. I go to get the free breakfast and see that the free breakfast includes rice crispies and toast and you know I don´t do rice crispies since the rice crispy incident. So now I´m pissy and don´t really want to talk to anyone so I try to go see the city and find some Belgium waffles and beer. Note, dont go explore a city without a city map with every single street on it. I had the map out of my travel book and its soooooooooooooooooooooooooo not the same thing. I saw some really big dome thing in the distance and think that looks important. Lets cruise. My ¨cruise¨turned into a 3 mile stretch by foot. By the time I got there I was dead. It ended up being a very beautiful cathedral with a Da Vince exhibit going on inside so I decided might as well.

 As I waited I questioned myself. Am I cut out for this? I dont´know if I can handle being lost for 4 months straight. This isn´t what I expected. Why do I always give up. I don´t get it. Can I handle anything. I decided to give those emotions to God for the moment and go see the exhibit. Which was really cool. Da Vinci was such a Renaissance man. Talented on all spectrums of art, math and sciences. The thing that stuck out the most was how they emphasized that it was Da Vincis passion ¨to teach others what he knew.¨ All the sudden the pain in my legs, the crick in my neck and the tears that were forming in my eyes were calmed. I have a passion for telling people the lessons I´ve learned (example uh this blog.) The fact that I could relate a passion such an abstract passion with a man who passed me so long ago gave me peace.

The thing I have been looking for the most in the past few years has been people to realte to. As much as we all say ¨be yourself¨when you don´t have people who really ¨get you¨its tough. I think the thing I might find on this trip is that my thoughts and ideas as original as they are might be part of bigger whole. Knowing that makes me feel not so alone.

So after the realization, some delicious Turkish food of falaffel and salad on the way home, (by the way their is a full blown Turkish enclave in Brussels. Warning to all Armo´s. Sorry I had to eat their food, but I was starving and it was honestly delicious) got directions from a nice Belgium boy to use the metro and not walk 3 more miles. I packed up at the hostel and decided I´m out of here. Took a major detour and decided to head on out to Spain. Unfortunately by the time I got to the airport I realized that this is Belgium where things (including flights out of the country) close at 10 pm not LAX where things go round the clock. So I ended up having a slumber party in the airport in Brussels. It was chill I went to the bathroom and just pretended that this filthy tile box was a gorgeous marble palace. When I went to get a water bottle at the vending machines I needed change so I went up to Fernando and friend from Portugal and made a friend. He was very interested in California and said his favorite band was the Killers and he wants to drive accross the 50 states on route 66. He gave me his number and if I plan on going to Portugal I can stay with him and his family. Sweeet! So after chit chattin I went to sleep around 4 am in the posh sleeping bag the Roussets loaned me. I laughed looking at the 300 thread count sheet lined sleeper with the embroidered gold rope. This sleeping bag is probably one they use for their boat. I doubt it ever thought it would end up on the floor of an airport only 20 feet away from a vending machine, bathroom and woman in head dress who who is always staring at me every time I wake up in Charloi, Belgium.

Love,

Irvina