Tuesday, June 7, 2011

I think I'll go home and mull this over

So a couple years back, before Ryan and I started dating, I went to Poland. I had just broken up with my ex boyfriend and it felt like a fresh start. I was going to do architectural studies of synagogues with a class I was taking. I would have probably never chose Poland as a destination in my personal list of places to travel but I loved it and would recommend it to anyone. The people were amazing, the food was delicious and the sites we visited were lovely (a lot of sad history but very important nonetheless). I have lots of memories of drinking too much vodka, laughing too hard, sleeping on beds made of straw, staying over at a place which was decorated with large posters of cats, hearing 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' alot, eating lots of tomato and onion salads. We traveled all over the country, mostly by bus. I can still picture of our gigantic bus making its way up narrow and windy dirt roads (that all seemed to slope upwards) and then all of us applauding at our bus driver's skill, since we made it there alive. On these long bus rides, that's where the music comes into play. I remember I had brought my hot pink cd case that fit about 25 cds and my cd player (oh lord, I'm dating myself here). My cd player was bright yellow and my headphones were big (and not trendy big, big like 'I-borrowed-these-from-my-dad' big). I don't recall all the music I brought with me but I know I brought Smoking Popes, Mirah and The Shins. Oh The Shins. They could have been called 'Welcome-to-Indie-Rock-Lisa-This-is-All-You'll-Be-Listening-To-For-Quite-Sometime'. The beginning of Caring is Creepy will always remind me of sitting on a bus, watching out the window. I can almost feel the bumpy roads when the intro starts. And that my friends, is the place where I got to ride a giant rooster (they sold rooster shaped bread at a bakery nearby, I know there was a meaning behind it but I'm not sure of it now).

6 comments:

  1. I'm so excited you did something so badass!! You know that my head is thinking up several perverse captions for that photo, and reasons for the rooster-shaped bread, right?

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  2. I wish I had awesome stories like this, but alas, I've never been anywhere interesting and European.

    I do, by god, love The Shins though!

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  3. I think that for the rest of your life, every time you're thinking about doing something kind of wacky/badass/adventurous, you should turn to whoever you're with and say with a sly grin: "Should I ride the Giant Rooster?"

    Of course that person should always say yes.

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  4. that is amazing, lisa! really amazing. you are awesome. the shins remind me of OH SO MUCH in my past. so much.

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  5. I love the mental image I have of you in Poland, rocking out to a portable CD player. We're old...

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  6. jo- me? badass? thanks!

    heather- of course you do, music soulmate! :)

    bret- clearly I need to work that phrase into my vocabulary more often

    lizzie- yay! thank you!

    kelly- ha ha yes, yes we are :)

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