i am severely behind the times when it comes to traveling. unlike the slew of my relatively wealthy and privileged friends of yore, i myself was unable to travel or even study abroad during college. perhaps it is my own fault for never having a clue as to the direction my life was headed, or for my post-collegiate inability to take time off from the series of heinous businesses that have employed me. or perhaps i'm just a frugal bitch, hoarding my unimpressive amount of hard-earned savings in anticipation for 2012 when we will all turn into dust. nevertheless, i am by no means worldly.

the only notable trip i had ever taken was when i was eleven years old, and my family traveled from southern switzerland down to sicily over the course of a sweltering three week tour-bus haul. the extent of my memories of this experience can be counted on one hand. there was my notable infatuation with a fellow tour adolescent named topher; blonde hair, buck teeth, and a total pre-teen hunk. topher and i were enjoying a magical after-school-special romance until he confessed his love for the snotty girl with the polo shirts and pretty pony hair. and then there was our guide roberto, whose jheri curl mullet was righteous beyond belief. he wore a baby blue banana hammock swimsuit, and i swear the man perspired olive oil. or how about the time my father accidentally filmed his tighty whitey-clad reflection in a mirror while trying to capture the amazingness of our venice bathroom. or another time when my sister marisa, having been gravely disappointed with the no-photographing rule in the vatican, violently ripped a camera out of a chinese tourist's hands, reprimanded her, and spent the following week cussing racial slurs. all the most precious of moments, but ask me what the sisteen chapel smells like and welp i haven't a damn clue. i can sure as hell tell you, however, that on that specific day topher wore a navy t-shirt depicting wolves in front of an undulating american flag, no problem.

perhaps it is my lack of travel, my naivete, or my downright laziness that has resulted in my being entirely unprepared for language immersion. or perhaps it is a combination of all these factors. nevertheless, learning a language in adulthood is much more difficult than i had anticipated. the portuguese language is insanely, mind-bogglingly impossible. while my knowledge of spanish has helped significantly, i still find myself wanting to bang my head against the wall with the multiple word meanings, formalities, and countless rules of grammar. they seem to have no rhyme or reason. i've been practicing, however, by reading children's comic books. at the moment i'm delving into the shenanigans of donald duck and co., and maybe just maybe it's helping um bocadinho.

* * * * * *

i hate the european union's travel regulations for americans. i suppose i should be specifically targeting portugal here. if i were to overstay my 90 day tourist visa before returning to the homeland (which i had completely planned on until hearing some horror stories and researching the consequences further), i would likely be fined a large sum of money and perhaps even prohibited from re-entering the country for a long period of time. complete and utter balarky. since my man, at this point, has become as vital to me as a major organ, this is certainly not an option. and thus, despite the fact that we've just officially settled in lovely porto, in one week i'll be returning to the states to apply for a student visa. what a joy that will be; we've phoned the general consulate of portugal in new york city so frequently that the secretary has identified us and insisted that we stop calling and visit the office in person.

on the up side of things, upon my return to portugal i will begin classes at engenho e arte; school of contemporary jewelry, in their two-year professional program in metals. all of the classes are taught in portuguese; however, the lovely owners (one of whom speaks english) have graciously offered to work with me one to one! i will confess that i'm shaking in my boots just a little bit, but i am flat out jazzed to finally have some creative stimulation in my life. i have a lot of ideas and can't wait to jump on in. blessed be.