We are now actually in Berlin - the rhymingness of which does not grow old, staying in a hostel with a very Australian name for no reason except that Australians stay there. As such, we are surrounded, like a person who's being ambushed. (Yes, this is the best analogy we could come up with.)
So far no Australians have spoken to us except for a few in the street; we like to think this is because our proper accents intimidate them, although this is currently unproved. Yet the holiday ("travelling") was kicked off with a bang of a quote overheard by Big Ears C that went along these lines: in reference to a heavily worn t-shirt with frayed edges, an Australian girl was moaning about how trampy she looked; to which her friend replied (insert Aussie accent here:) "shut up, what are you talking about? I mean, I live for that stuff." Yes, she lives for an old t-shirt.
However, Europeans are not faring much better style-wise. Although, upon arriving in Berlin, you may think that the vast majority of Berliners have no fashion sense, the travel guide (yes Lonely Planet, you) will inform you that this is intentional and they have spent hours preparing their chic looks. This is a falsehood and could be termed propaganda (yes, we did go on a Third Reich tour today so we know all about propaganda).
C's favourites include black leather silver diamonteed trainers, and a man in Hawaiian shirt tucked into above the knee shorts, with socks and sandals - clichéd, perhaps, but amazing. Also, he was fat.
We will leave you with this lovely mental picture and promise not to mention fashion or lack of for a while. Auf Weidersehen pet (given our surroundings, this phrase has never been more relevant).
Wednesday 30 July 2008
Monday 28 July 2008
The Big Pen has arrived.
As the title quite apty puts it, the Big Pen has arrived. In other words, we leave tomorrow - which will in fact be today in precisely twenty five minutes. After a year of talking about it, and a good two months in the library (literally) dreaming about it it's finally here.
Turns out that when people learn that you are going "travelling" - albeit for thirty days, they feel compelled to ignore what I believe to be instinctive response: "have a good time" and go, instead ,with the somewhat more daunting: "stay safe". Indeed, our favourite scaremonger repeatedly told me she had often seen: "girls like you... drunk and off their face on whoknowswhat... asking for it". For someone to make such a judgemental warning, one would hope they knew me well; they had actually only met me that same day.
My Mum went for the less catchy, and much more worrying advise: "remember girls, before you take a risk, think it through."
C, on the other hand, was advised by our friend Rachel (yes, you Rachel) to do something along the lines off : "slag it up". Although C is far from convinced ("I'm very sceptical on the issue") that this is a good way to spend a month in Europe, and she is even less convinced that the calibre of Australian man will be quite what she has been promised.
We have decided that due to the lack of sensible or helpful advice, we will ignore it all, and get back to the problem of deciding whether I should take the £3.50 children’s pillow with a red car on it that she bought in Asda or the exciting sounding 'Gelert Comfort Micro Fleece Pillow SBG149'...
Turns out that when people learn that you are going "travelling" - albeit for thirty days, they feel compelled to ignore what I believe to be instinctive response: "have a good time" and go, instead ,with the somewhat more daunting: "stay safe". Indeed, our favourite scaremonger repeatedly told me she had often seen: "girls like you... drunk and off their face on whoknowswhat... asking for it". For someone to make such a judgemental warning, one would hope they knew me well; they had actually only met me that same day.
My Mum went for the less catchy, and much more worrying advise: "remember girls, before you take a risk, think it through."
C, on the other hand, was advised by our friend Rachel (yes, you Rachel) to do something along the lines off : "slag it up". Although C is far from convinced ("I'm very sceptical on the issue") that this is a good way to spend a month in Europe, and she is even less convinced that the calibre of Australian man will be quite what she has been promised.
We have decided that due to the lack of sensible or helpful advice, we will ignore it all, and get back to the problem of deciding whether I should take the £3.50 children’s pillow with a red car on it that she bought in Asda or the exciting sounding 'Gelert Comfort Micro Fleece Pillow SBG149'...
Thursday 24 July 2008
In preparation for "The Big Pen".
We appreciate that playing the Max Gogarty card is cheap, but it was too tempting to resist. We'll leave Max alone now, except for pointing out that we too live in North London (Hackney), occasionally wear skinny jeans and spend our money on "food and booze". Unfortunately, we do not write part time for Skins or have Dads in high places. See http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/travelog/2008/02/skins_blog.html, we implore you. (I picked the “we implore you” phrase up from the often very poorly written Lonely Planet guide to Eastern Europe).
Back to business: this blog will document our month spent interrailing around Europe. We begin in Berlin (catchy), end in Milan and the rest, as they say, is roughly planned out on a spreadsheet... Kat (me) will do the majority of the writing, although Charlotte (C) will inevitably jump in with literary (or at the very least, blogging) genius.
The next (and first proper) post will be on Monday, the day before we head off into the very-well-known. The penultimate day - or as I likes to call it, "The Big Pen". We predict it will be regarding the undeniably interesting topics of packing and excitement.... We know, we can't wait for it either.
Back to business: this blog will document our month spent interrailing around Europe. We begin in Berlin (catchy), end in Milan and the rest, as they say, is roughly planned out on a spreadsheet... Kat (me) will do the majority of the writing, although Charlotte (C) will inevitably jump in with literary (or at the very least, blogging) genius.
The next (and first proper) post will be on Monday, the day before we head off into the very-well-known. The penultimate day - or as I likes to call it, "The Big Pen". We predict it will be regarding the undeniably interesting topics of packing and excitement.... We know, we can't wait for it either.
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