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Tales from the hostel
Jul. 11th, 2011 09:19 amYesterday morning everyone moved out of my room at the hostel; by evening, a new set of people had moved in, and we all went out to dinner.
Two Australian sisters, one just off an imploded romance with a Swiss backpacker. An American girl who had just studied abroad in Sevilla (which she loved) and at the Cordon Bleu Paris (which she despised; everyone either hates or loves Paris). And a lonely, well-travelled Ph.D student who I think thought the rest of us just too too cute, - tourists, and not real travelers.
That may be why she's lonely: that flickering condescension. But it flickered only occasionally. She was mostly effusively warm, I'm-so-glad-we-met-you-all-seem-awesome - the sort of thing people say freshman year in college, when they're desperately trying to patch a group of friends together - and possessed of a desire to share, alternating with the need to avoid sharing.
"Everyone travels to escape something," she commented, and then drew back and asked the older Australian sister, "What's your story?" (And thus we learned of the doomed romance with the Swiss backpacker.)
I think she's terribly unhappy.
Two Australian sisters, one just off an imploded romance with a Swiss backpacker. An American girl who had just studied abroad in Sevilla (which she loved) and at the Cordon Bleu Paris (which she despised; everyone either hates or loves Paris). And a lonely, well-travelled Ph.D student who I think thought the rest of us just too too cute, - tourists, and not real travelers.
That may be why she's lonely: that flickering condescension. But it flickered only occasionally. She was mostly effusively warm, I'm-so-glad-we-met-you-all-seem-awesome - the sort of thing people say freshman year in college, when they're desperately trying to patch a group of friends together - and possessed of a desire to share, alternating with the need to avoid sharing.
"Everyone travels to escape something," she commented, and then drew back and asked the older Australian sister, "What's your story?" (And thus we learned of the doomed romance with the Swiss backpacker.)
I think she's terribly unhappy.
