Winchester, Southbourne, two air guitars and the end of a European trip

28/5 - And that's the end of my first go-around hosting someone through Couchsurfing, and it's a little bittersweet.

Just like my first two Couchsurfing encounters, I don't have any complaints. Joel was an awesome guest, and he got along with everybody. Stella and I took him out to one of the local bars last night, and it felt like he's been a part of the group for a long time. In short, he fit in.

Like my hosts, I cooked him dinner and refused payment. And like my other hosts, I tried my best to make him feel welcome, which I think I did well. I also went to the bus station with Joel to help him figure out which busses he needs to take in order to get to his next destination: Salisbury. I told him with confidence he wouldn't need to hitchhike. After all, it's what I would want a host to do for me if I was traveling across the continent. I'm paying it forward and making a contribution to my good-karma meter.

It was really cool hosting Joel. I learned some new words and got more comfortable speaking Spanish. I also learned some different pronunciation that comes with Argentinian Spanish compared to the Spanish I know. For example, a "yuh" sound I would make is the same as a "sh" sound in Argentinian words. I'm glad he made that clear to me; I had an easier time understanding him after that.

So from here, Joel will go to Salisbury where he will Couchsurf with another person for a few nights. There he will meet up with his friend from Argentina and go to Bath, and later farther north into the far reaches of Scotland. He's on a truly epic adventure. I'm glad I was the first person to host him in this country and on this trip. I hope I made a good impression. If nothing else, I think I made a new friend, and hopefully I'll have somewhere in Argentina where I can visit in the future. That's the cool thing about traveling like this or hosting travelers: it really expands your networks across country lines. The world is getting smaller for me.

(Update: Joel left a very positive review of me on the Couchsurfing website. Gracias, mi amigo!)

30/5 - Another couple of people reached out to me via the Couchsurfing website. One guy is from Texas. But I turned him down because I'll be in Wales during the time he wants to come. Another girl is from Germany, and that might be a possibility because she's coming to town next weekend.

Anyway, we all went to Winchester yesterday and braved the periodic rain. We had more cream teas while waiting out the rain and got distracted multiple times (a specialty of ours) on Winchester High Street. We saw Winchester Cathedral too. Though they wanted an entry fee - Please, Duomo di Milano or St. Paul's doesn't charge you to get in, so why should this cathedral, which is smaller, charge? - it was a good break from the rain. But I'll give credit to Winchester Cathedral for generally being more open for exploration. And in the far reaches of the building, it got quieter, and your footsteps on the stone, which held epitaphs of those who existed hundreds of years ago, echoed loudly. There was also a point when a gentle voice over the loudspeaker urged everyone to become silent during the Lord's Prayer. The voices slowly faded and the Prayer echoed inside the church. It was quite a peaceful moment.

Winchester is a beautiful city, which still has ruins dating back to Roman times. We were able to see the old Roman city walls, the ruins of Wolvesey Castle, which was built by a Bishop, and the Round Table. So it's an ancient place. Plus, the river running through the center is awesome. Some houses on the banks have their own bridges that lead to the public path.

The family really enjoyed this city, but all four of them are exhausted. They've been constantly moving for two weeks now. I don't think they're used to the time change yet, and they're still thrown off by the fact the sun rises at 4:30 a.m. and sets at about 9:30 p.m.

31/5 - The two weeks for my family is up. They're on their way back to the states today. Wish them luck on their 12 hours of flight time!

We had a great last day yesterday. We visited the Wheels Festival in Southbourne and had a few drinks in a pub. My cousin and I spent a few hours on the beach catching up, and my mother and I finished off the night by getting trashed during the dying stages of the festival. At one point both of us were dancing to live music in the middle of the street and playing air guitar with a blond-haired kid whose skateboard played the part of a guitar.

We had a few drinks in a micro pub which had only opened its doors that night and had three choices of beer to offset various painting supplies in the corner and a hastily built bar in the center of the room where several plastic cups lay sad-looking and abandoned. A knitted lampshade from the cafe across the street was the source of the warm, but dim light in the room. And from there, both of us stumbled home, and my family's first trip to Europe concluded.

So today will be a day for me to rest and relax. I need to get some work done on these essays, but it will have to be quick because I'm leaving again tomorrow for another trip. It's the thing I've been looking forward to since March...

I'm riding to Wales on a motorcycle.* Finally.

Buckle up and enjoy the blogs! And as a send-off, here's something incredibly awesome.

*Transformers theme music.