Early to rise.... it's just wise...and I'll do anything for Game of Thrones-related things

Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik. *head shaking, and clasping forehead in hand*

You can't go on like this, Dubrovnik. 

It is currently "off-season" in Dubrovnik, the seat of much interesting history I didn't much bother with learning and the site of numerous Game of Thrones filming locations...my real motivation for visiting; me and MANY MANY others, I presume.

I stayed in a lovely little guest house just outside of the old city that afforded me some respite with its terrace covered by a kiwi vine-dressed arbour:

My Dubrovnik respite

Besides being one of the loveliest airport shuttle-bus rides I have ever experienced, traveling along the Adriatic coast:

View from the shuttle bus en route to the city from the airport

The old city of Dubrovnik becomes absolutely intolerable after 10 am or after 35 years old. The streets become jam-packed...I mean JAM PACKED by 10 am...with blue-haired cruise ship tourists and large Asian bus tour groups making the old city a paragon of tourism intolerability. But here's the key... just get up early, people! Many of you are probably aware of my ridiculous lifestyle of a 5am wake up. It keeps me from fading into a couch potato oblivion each day. I'm proud of it and I talk about it ALOT (sorry, my friends). What makes it wonderful when touristing is that most people and most tour groups are not interested in this kind of hour of the day and instead wait until at least 9am. Basically, I bank on the majority of the world's laziness to achieve my touristing goals. So on the first day I enjoyed an early morning walk to the old city from my airbnb, along the cliffs of the city:

Cliffs of Dubrovnik

Cliffs of Dubrovnik

A peaceful early morning walk along the city wall, the site of a number of King's Landing and some Volantis shots:

Walking atop the city's wall

Including the Minceta tower, the House of the Undying where the warlord's take Danaery's dragons in Qarth:

Minceta tower a.k.a the house of the undying

Minceta tower

I sat for a bit atop the wall with King's Landing in my view:

Then noticed it was indeed starting to get busier and so I hustled my way down to the streets of the old city to see some of the GoT filming locations done there, still fairly unlittered by people at this time of morning:

The Rector's palace, the site of the scene in Qarth where Danaery's finds out her dragons are missing

Ploce gate, the end of Cersei's walk of shame

Jesuit stairs, the location of the beginning of Cersei's walk of shame

Dominca street, in the old city

After a quick cappuccino so I could use a free bathroom in a bistro, I headed to the second big-deal GoT filming location here, Fort Lovrinjenac, the cliff-hanging fort onto which the Red Keep was CGI-ed:

Fort Lovrinjenac a.k.a the Red keep

And inside are sites of filming things like Joffrey's name day or when Cersei is requested by the High Sparrow to go to the Sept and the mountain rips that little sparrow's head off:

Inside Fort Lovrinjenac

Inside Fort Lovrinjenac

But also, lining the shores of the fort, is Pile Bay, where Sanza and Shae spent time discussing little fingers' plans to help Sanza escape and where Cersei watched Myrcella sail away to Dorne:

Pile bay

 And from the Fort, you can also catch a glimpse of the hotel where all the GoT people stayed and word on the street, or as I caught an earful from one of the many GoT tour groups, is that the actress who played Marjorie was THE WORST; she yelled at staff, extras, refused to leave the hotel and consort with the locals, etc.

The official hotel of GoT

Another pro to waking up early is finding the sunrises where, surprisingly, other tourists aren't at but then also turn out to be yet another GoT filming site--where Joffrey's wedding was filmed--like the sunrise viewed from Gradac park:

Sunrise from Gradac park

Gradac park, where Joffrey and Marjorie's wedding was held..I mean filmed

The next day I forsook all and headed out to Lokrum Otok, the forest conservation island that permeates the panaroma of views from the wall of the old city, seen in one of the photos up above. Here, I just did this all day:

And because I didn't read all the tourist info online, I totally missed a GoT filming site on this island buuuuuuut I didn't lose too much sleep over it.

This island used to be a fave summer holiday spot of the Hapsburgs and one of the legacies of this time is that the island is now full of peacocks just kickin' it and livin' the sweet life that is a nature-conserve. Some places have dogs and cats that beg for food, some have monkeys, some have seagulls or pigeons, some have coati's... Lokrum island has peacocks, the pathos of such a noble bird reduced to such vulgarities:

This day ended, wonderfully, back in the old city watching the sunset at Buza Beach Bar where I realised that now, at my age, the people I most often meet traveling are usually middle-aged and retired ladies. Whatever. They're waaaaay more interesting than 25 year old Australians anyways who also probably find me super weird:

Buza beach bar, GET THERE EARLY for good seats!

A slightly tipsy post-sunset saunter took me to a seafood restaurant for oysters and a tuna steak, a welcome offer of a romantic wine-rendezvous after work from the waiter which I kindly and regretfully refused, and bill for basically a 100$ meal which came as a TOTAL surprise to me when I thought about it the next day.

The next morning, I was off on the bus in the direction of Zadar for a one night stopover. I visited Zadar earlier this year with my parents and, after a bit of a sadistic bus ride from Dubrovnik, arriving in Zadar was like a breath of fresh air. This is the zen version of Dubrovnik. But I've only been here in shoulder seasons so don't take my word for it. 

One thing I missed in Zadar last time I was here was watching the sunset over the sea organ and because I was staying directly in the 3000 year-old part of the city in which the sea organ lives, I took an early evening promenade along the sea wall, had a pint and watched the sunset:

Zadar sunset at the old city's sea organ

And after my 8 hours bus ride from Dubrovnik, I felt I deserved another expensive dinner of octopus carpaccio and lamb confit, likely also compensating for the fact that I'm just a solo lady looking for a nice table on a terrace overlooking the water in a tourist town...so I BEST be bringing it with a bill that would be equal too or more than bills of couples having dinner there. I have been refused a seat on a terrace for being one person before so I tend to feel the need to look fancy..this is but ONE economic disadvantage single people have. My life is soooo hard sometimes...waaaahhhh....but the octupus and lamb were delicious.

Awaking early in Zadar, before the sunrise, I took a run through the old city, before any other tourists are out messing up the joint. I ran along the sea wall, through the narrow 3000 year old streets, through the sites of Roman ruins and medieval cathedrals, to the deserted steps of the sea organ just as the sun began to rise. Magic.

Yesterday, I hopped on a ferry and arrived at what felt like the edge of the earth: Dugi Otok, an island about one and a half hours off the coast of Zadar. Finally, the real week of holiday-ing begins:

My final Croatian destination

Deads-ville, deadlines, dead people's footsteps, and death

Carrying over from my last post from way back when, my Budapest life the past few months has been as uneventful as ever. I have been spending my spare time mostly going to bed at 9:30 pm, waking early enough to meditate (sometimes), exercise (sometimes), tidy myself up (for no one), eat a good breakfast (so bored of oatmeal!), catch an episode of millionaire matchmaker (reminding me of all my past relationship mistakes) or Real Housewives of Dallas (reminding me of all the things I don't want to become) before beginning the joyous task of hunching over a laptop for 7-9 hours straight while signs of tendonitis rear their head, a reminder to just "STOOOOP WORKING"!!! This has typically been followed by more horrific reality TV shows, reflections of wasted life (my own and those people on those shows) while I squander my youth numbed out  in an evening reality-TV stupor. Lather rinse repeat. Super deads-ville. But I must say, besides questioning whether there is such a thing as too much alone-time, I have loved this intense process of solitary-ness and, to use a new trendy word from some book written by some guy who is probably some sort of 'life coach', "deep work". 

The couple days I have taken off from work in the last couple months, however, have been spent on my newest fixation: the Kéktúra. This is the "blue tour" (translation) which is a hiking trail that goes around the circumference of Hungary. It's long and I don't have the time to spend five months or whatever it would take (and I don't want to walk and camp...not my scene) to do it all in one go so I have been exploring the parts of the trail closer to Budapest, through the Pilis "mountains", in the direction of the town of Visegrad. The Pilis mountains are kind of (I think) what the "Buda hills" are a part of; these are the hills on the Buda side of the city that boast the city's castle. Apparently they are the hills in which the old Hungarian kings would have their hunting parties.

The first little bit I embarked upon one rainy Satruday morning was a 10 km stretch from Budapest to a village called Pilisborosjenő. 

Szep völgy, my starting point from Budapest... follow the blue markers!

First stop was Harmashatar-mountain, which generously provides a view of Budapest and the serpentine Danube languishing between Pest and Buda:

View of Budapest from Harmashatar hill.

Onwards another kilometer or so, a grassy flat peak opens up, called Viragos Nyereg (flowery ridge):

A little bit further through some sweet sweet greenery, so very different and sooo life-giving compared with the inside of my apartment, containing reminders that there are other humans and other valuable creatures in the world I should probably look at sometimes:

Outside of Pilisborosjenő, and signs of other human life

After a few hours on the trail, I landed in my destination for the day, the village of Pilisborosjenő:

By the time I arrived I had basically decided I would buy myself a piece of Hungarian land when finished my PhD, with dreams of eventually erecting a yurt and a food forest through which my chickens and goats will run. Maybe sheep. They're cute. And probably bunnies. Good for stew.

I sniffed out the village pub and set myself up with a pint and a view:

 

Here, I met a local man,born and raised in the village. An IT guy, with impeccable English and who lived across the street from the pub, known in the village as "Hosszu" (long/tall), a creative nickname bestowed upon him because, yes, he is a tall man. We spent hours talking about Hungary, politics, history etc, having drinks, displacing the good fresh air in my lungs from the hike with cigarette smoke. It reminded me that I still have the capability to meet people IRL.

Jacked up to continue on with the next 15km-ish leg of the journey, from Pilisborosjenő to Dobogókő, I planned this for my next day off, and this time I had convinced a friend to join (not the horse, the person in the second photo):

Leaving Pilisborosjenő towards the village of Csobánka

My very hearty Polish friend, Urszula, with me in a corn field on the Kektura.

Teve-Szikla, en route to Csobánka

Four kilometers or so later, catching a quick glimpse of Csobánka, nestled in the Pilis hills, a village seemingly safe from the outside world, referred to as the "Pearl of the Pilis" hills:

The village of Csobánka

En route to the next village of Pillisszentkereszt, we stopped at some wooded sacred space to eat lunch and see a man in the woods about a horse. This space, referred to as "szentkút", might translate as something like saint's well/well of saints....

Pilisszentkereszt szentkút

Keep following the blue trail towards Pilisszenkereszt!

Passing briefly through the village of Pilisszentkereszt, we finally we arrived after what seemed like 6 kilometers of non-stop uphill, to Dobogókő, said to be the seat of one of the Earth's heart chakras:

The view from Dobogókő

Whatever it is, it's nice. And you can get gulyás and beer at the top, also good for my heart chakra.

With my spirits invigorated by these beautiful days out around green things and taking in fresh air, I was able to meet my first big deadline on September 20th, a submission of the first draft of my dissertation to my supervisors. This begins the beginning of the end of my PhD program, with the next five months basically an endless samsara-esque cycle of feedback, edits, and more feedback all leading up to a March defense (hopefully) followed by more feedback and more edits. How fun!

For now, I have just arrived in Croatia, on my 35th birthday, as a little treat for my efforts. The plan is to take some time to reflect for the next couple weeks. Reflect on what the next year has in store, reflect on some good old fashioned pieces of fictitious literature, reflect on the connection we humans of today have with those of the past as I traipse through Dubrovnik's old city streets which make this very tangible, reflect on how our lifespans are but a speck of human history, and infinitesimally small in the history of the universe. I like being reminded of this because it's easy to sometimes be pulled into the thought pattern of taking life too seriously. Neil DeGrasse Tyson reminds me that the universe is collapsing or expanding or something terrifying like that, BBC documentaries remind me that in 300 million years Earth will have become just like Venus, a firey hell of a place, AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE SOLAR FLARES! SHEESH! Therefore not getting the job I applied for or having a manuscript rejected is, uuummmm, shall we say, not things worth ruining my day.

And when I arrive back in Budapest, I will embrace the beginning of the hellish cycle of feedback, editing, feedback, editing, feedback, editing etc. and intersperse this with a couple more legs of the blue tour and a thermos of hot wine to keep me fresh and human. 

Scholar-tary confinement

 "Robert Burton...noted that 'enforced solitariness' was an endemic feature of the lives of students as well as monks and anchorites; and an Italian courtesy writer whose work was enormously influential in late Tudor and Stuart England agreed that for the ascent to heavenly intellectual benefits 'the desartes, al by places and solitarie, are the right ladders. And contrariwise, companies are nought els but hookes and tonges, which withdrawing us by force out of the course of our good thoughts, set us in the way of distruction.' " (Burton [1628] 1927, 215; Guazzo [1581] 1925, 1:24; cf. Braithwait 1630, 234)" (p.199 in Shapin, 1990)

After the departure of my parents from Budapest back in early May I set myself deeply into the task at hand: having a first draft supervisor-ready version of my dissertation by mid-September. I quickly realised all I still had to do to meet this deadline after, to be fair, kind of taking it pretty easy since I moved here A YEAR AGO (WTF??). This realisation would mean that I would not be taking any long excursions or going on any adventures for the summer. Furthermore, I began to make great attempts to ensure I was working everyday, seven days a week, to get myself caught up to my self-imposed timeline. So that's basically what has been going on up until just a few weeks ago when I felt I could finally take days off...but barely. I emerged from under the oppressive weight of my own procrastination, but barely. Currently, while I am just barely caught up to my timeline, it means that any day where my scheduled tasks do not get completed means I am behind again. The race is definitely on, my friends.

I've had to be incredibly selfish with my time, not keeping in touch with people, not seeing friends because of EXACTLY what the above quote from the 1500s says about how friends and company are naught but temptors, leading me away from my 'heavenly intellectual' endeavours onto the path of destruction...and in my case destuction equals the accidental mid-week sloshfest whereby I end up sauntering home from the bar at 7am through the deserted and eerily beautiful shabby luxurious steets of downtown Budapest:

The early morning post-bar stroll home along Vaci Utca

And then OF COURSE, hypothetically (of course I can imagine that is what might happen if I hang out with friends for a beverage), I am only in shape the rest of that day to binge watch "I am Jazz" or binge re-watch episodes of "Glee" thereby wasting an ENTIRE day not working and letting my life pass me by in a Netflix-induced hazy pseudo-coma. And like, come on, YOLO... no like seriously.... YOLO!!!! I'm just hanging out, dying.

May and June went fairly well as I kept a good highly-scheduled healthy and balanced regime, having a very disciplined pint or two with old friends stopping through Budapest:

Permaculture friends, Serena and Rob, that I met in India in 2013

Skye and her partner, Drew, stopping through on their way home to 'Murica. Skye and I lived together in Bangladesh while I was doing my master's

Taking a few flamenco guitar lessons, something I was inspired to do since visiting Spain last fall:

Me and my teacher, Alejandro, having a backyard Buda n beers lesson

Doing the most bourgeois thing I've ever done...a paint and wine night with some expat friends:

Being able to take a Sunday partly off for a beautiful backyard brunch at my landlady and landlord's stunning home: 

My landlady and landlord's stunning backyard in Budapest

Doing some sweet sweet Hungarian bureaucracy that of course ended in an epic fail but at least I gave her a go:

Applying for things

Having some weekly work-seshes with my friend in one of my fave 19th century cafe that is but twenty years younger than the country of Canada:

My sweet friend Louise, writing a classics dissertation..or at least making a list of things she needs to do to start writing

And I managed to squeeze in some evening Hungarian classes. Hmmm... looking at these pics it seems it hasn't actually been all bad, I guess.

But once July hit, things started to get a little kooky probably spurred on by a few things like interrupted schedules, a rejection of my manucsript from the first journal I sent it to, feeling unsure of just what the hell that third research paper I have to write is going to be about, the clock ticking on my deadlines, etc. I started feeling like I could just be anywhere in the world and it wouldn't matter... I could be back in northern Alberta somewhere living in my parents basement writing and crying and writing through the crying (to be fair, I haven't been crying over this work..yet... but that master's thesis...sigh). The world becomes small. You forget you haven't spoken to another human in days. Thoughts of YOLO kick in, and you wonder why you're doing this to yourself because the old death is coming for us all. I had this phrase repeating in my head that made me laugh: youth and beauty are wasted on phd students. It began to feel like somehow I was going to end up having my entire life pass me by between July and September and I'd emerge from my dark Budapest apartment in old age with my breasts getting caught in my panty hose and still single.

But this is the power of a mindfulness practice: as kooky as my thoughts became, I was able to make statements to myself like:

• Adrienne, this is terminal, this has an end in the very near future 
• It's scientifically impossible for you to become an old cat-food- eating-saggy-bag lady with a beard in the next two months
• Hey you knew what you were getting into with this phd thing, you knew this part of the process would come
• So what is the worst thing that could happen if you don't meet your deadline? You move back in with mom and dad and take another semester to finish and that would be not a terrible situation! 

In the past, I would have just existed in a state of FOMO-induced suffering and probably have regular stress-hive breakouts.

But things have definitely refocused now, I'm back on track, motivated, and everyday finding new ways to continue to force myself to sit down and focus and work and GIT 'ER DONE! Oh and I've been watching numerous shows about incredible women who, in the distant and not so distant past, have had to fight and struggle to be able educate themselves or make their intellectual voices heard through the cacophony of angry arrogant men and I think... shit man... and you really just thought that re-watching all of "Sex and the City" was a good use of your time??? You know, perspective goes a long way.


It's nice that in the past few weeks I've been able to really start to take some time each week to see friends:

Hanging out at Romai Strand with Eszter and Samuel (my former neighbors and the children of my landlady), a peaceful beachy casual part of Budapest away from the crowds

 Finding my own corner quiet corner of the Danube, easily accessible via the metro system:

So this is called Kabin. It is a Danube beach bar. It is a marvellous quick getaway without getting away. The boxy things are beach chairs for customers.

My friend Julie face-timing with her mother in Canada while relaxing at our own little corner of the Danube

And we stayed as long as the sun:

And stopped on the way home for some filthy Hungarian street food we love to hate:

Oh sweet sweet langos. Oprah would most certainly not approve either the food item itself or the late late hour we chose to shove langos in our mouths.

And I have taken some time for a couple nice day-long train trips to see some other Hungarian sites:

Vast vast sunflower fields which I had no idea was a thing here

Kisfaludy strand in Balatonaracs: the Hungarian seaside

Not a great shot but this is Lake Balaton from the train. It is the largest lake in Central Europe.

So now, back into my scholar-tary confinement for two more months after which time I have a special few weeks of beach holidays planned which will provide me with more fodder for this blog that I AM CERTAIN you've all missed soooooo much!




Shapin, S. 1990. "The mind is its own place": Science and solitude in Seventeenth-Centuy England. Science in Context, 4, 1 pp 191-218.