Aching with obsession, potential trips across Asia and a new roommate

8/6 - Meike finished her Couchsurfing here. She stayed here for two nights. I showed her a bit of the neighborhood and cooked her dinner Sunday night. She was tired, as she explored the area by herself, seeing Dancing Ledge, Sandbanks, Corfe Castle, Old Harry Rocks and Swanage. She was even able to take a dip in the man-made pool that was blasted out of Dancing Ledge in the 1930s. I was a bit jealous of that. But I helped her get some interviews for her school project, and she was very respectful and clean and relaxed.

We have a new roommate. His name is Hunter, and he's a PHD student from Delaware. It'll be strange having another American in the flat! 

I finished putting together the motorcycle video today. It's incredibly cool, and now I can't stop watching it. I'm obsessed! But this is exactly the kind of thing I'm after: amazing memories. That link goes to my Facebook page, as the video gets muted on YouTube because of copyright issues.

9/6 - I can't stop watching that video. That video and the trip as a whole is something of which I'm proud, and it's something not a lot of people can say they've done. Some of my friends came up to me today to say they liked the video, and that's a cool feeling. I now have extra motivation to get this schoolwork done: when I finish, I'll ride a motorcycle to the Scottish highlands. That journey, in my estimation, is 1,500 miles there and back, and because of that I'm glad I went to Wales instead. Just everything about that trip was perfect, even the weather. Looking back, I can now say I've ridden through and battled bad weather, and come away with only good memories and a body intact.

I keep getting requests from people to stay with me through Couchsurfing. I'm turning all of them away now because I need to get this work done (yes, I'm writing this, but I need a break from essays) in good time.

10/6 - Tim and I got some beers yesterday after I had been working all day. One of them, a Duvel Triple Hop 2015 edition, was amazing. And the other was a taste of home: a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Had it not been for the dark beer Sion gave me in Wales that absolutely rocked my world, the Duvel would have been the best one I've had since coming to this country. And I'm not even annoyed I paid £6.75 for a bottle of beer. You absolutely pay for quality. 

Since yesterday was Tuesday, it was the day of the week for the Quay to fill up with motorcycles. We constantly heard them rumbling past the bar while Tim and I sat outside and discussed my trip and what riding a bike is like. It's coming off like I'm really passionate about having a motorcycle, and Tim said I should get one. I've learned lessons from the last one I owned, like taking great care of it. I'll get one, but not until after the summer. I'll have to resist that ache to ride every single bike on the Quay and just focus on school. Then I can let loose.

I've been talking about a motorcycle trip to Scotland. However, Danny told me about the Trans-Siberian Railway today. That's 6,000 miles on a train from Russia to Mongolia and eventually to Beijing, China. If I can ride on a motorway in a storm on a motorcycle, I can definitely survive a week-long train ride through unknown lands and languages. Danny sent me a blog from someone who's done it before. That really sounds like the ultimate adventure. What would be better?...Riding a bike the whole way instead of a train, but hey, that's just me.

11/6 - I've been making progress with these essays. Hopefully, I'll go to London and Spain with nothing to do except the dissertation. I talked to Felix again today. It's kind of a shock to realize there's only about two weeks until I go to Spain. It's very exciting.

But before that, Jess and I will drive to Brunel University on the western outskirts of London. It's there we will host the students for a week. I'm looking forward to it. Maybe afterward I'll get the itch to go to Japan. But really, coming here has really made the world smaller. I've met people from literally everywhere, and I want to visit them in their own countries. Right, it looks like I'll live a live of traveling, not collecting things. And that I am totally OK with.