Where to begin?

In the midst of the phenomenon that was Summer 2010, I seem to have forgotten all about this blog that I had started for the purpose of my trip. I really didn't have a spare moment to sit in my apartment in St. Petersburg to write entries about everything I saw, so instead I shall rely on some serious backtracking, looking at previous facebook and twitter statuses, piecing together pictures and memory (though shaky at times, mostly due to alcohol consumption). So my first question is, where to begin?
It's hard to figure out a specific timeline. I mean, sure, I went from Helsinki to St. P's, then to Moscow, train to Riga, bus to Tallinn, ferry to Helsinki and the long and frustratingly melancholy flight back home to Canada.
Am I happy to be home?
No.
Do I want to be home?
Not particularly.
Is it good that I'm home?
Probably, as I can't make a lot of money abroad to finance my next trip.
Yes, I wish I was still in Eastern Europe. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a bad case of the wanderlusts. I'm always searching www.bravenewtraveler.com or www.swapblog.ca for new ideas and a momentary travel fix without having to leave the Arts Faculty Lounge couches, waiting for my Greek History class to start. I'm planning and planning and planning my next trip, whilst knowing that when I actually start that next trip, those plans will fly out the window, leaving me with countless open doors, and a decision of which one to take.
That was essentially what Summer 2010 was for me.
I was presented with hundreds of amazing opportunities, chances and open doors throughout my days in Europe. I spent the most wonderful summer abroad, and I'm so pleased to say that there was no "worst part" of my trip (except for having to come home) and that I have no regrets whatsoever about my time in Europe. Sure, I wish I ended up doing the AK-47 shooting tour in my hostel in Riga, but if I had, I wouldn't have met 9 English boys who essentially made my trip to Riga the most fun, ridiculous and spontaneous two days of my life, whom I partied with until the early hours just prior to sunrise. I can always do the tour when I return to Eastern Europe, I'm not too worried about that. Yeah, I wish I had done a shot of absinthe that night at the Russian disco, but if I had then I wouldn't... well, I probably wouldn't remember that night. And it just gives me something to look forward to when I travel back to Europe!
I only have fond memories of Eastern Europe. Sure there were a few moments that were on the low end of the spectrum, such as when my bank card and visa stopped working and the girl at the Russian bank didn't understand what I was trying to tell her, or when I had to ride the train to Moscow while stuffed to the gills with phlegm and one of the worst colds of my life (it was my own fault, I should have listened to my grandmother when she said, "Wear a jacket [when you drink champagne in the streets of St. Petersburg and gallavant down to the river in a bout of drunken debauchery at two in the morning,] you'll catch a cold!") but even in those experiences I learned something, and it all ended up well.
I remember flying home to Winnipeg from Minneapolis in a thunderstorm. The young girl across the aisle from me was staring intently into that little paper bag that the airlines provide for you with the bright blue writing, announcing, "Hope you fly with us again soon!" as the cabin was rocked with turbulence and the steward (who looked strikingly akin to my first year Ancient Roman Culture prof) gripped the overhead bins with a bored look on his face that said, "I didn't learn three languages to get stuck on the taxi from MSP to YWG." During that flight, I kept looking out the window and thinking one of two things: 1.) It looks like we're flying underwater...that's really cool...like in that movie that cost a lot of money in the 1980's with either Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson? But they weren't flying..was it about Atlantis? Wow, I've never actually seen the movie Atlantis...Was it Disney or Dreamworks? OH GOD, this family beside me is annoying, I don't give a shit about your trip to Disneyland. or 2.) Did this past month actually happen?
The only thing that was telling me that it did was the Russian Cosmopolitan magazine sitting on my lap, the Lenin t-shirt that I was wearing, my grumbling stomach, and the mysterious bruises all over my body (I was a bit of a klutz...and even more of one when I was drunk)... Which really, all could have been bought online (maybe not the bruises).
So as I pondered if it had all been a really weird day dream and oh-my-god-I-got-this-bruise-THAT-night and wow-I-REALLY-want-Tims-and-poutine and hey-it-still-looks-like-we're-flying-underwater, I came to the the conclusion:
That was one hell of a ride.


More to follow.