In the past 11 days I have been in four cities in three different countries, each with its own language and culture.  So much has happened in this time, but I have so little to say about it.  Several times on the trip I sat down with the intention of writing something to post here, and for some reason I just couldn’t.  I’ve been thinking a lot about that reason, because I have had this problem in Madrid as well.  Here is my working theory.

Traveling in Europe (and a large part of being in Madrid) was and is all about experiencing–observing, examining, paying attention, and sometimes participating.  I think the reason that I can’t seem to write about the experiences I’m having is because they aren’t the kind that have a direct and immediate effect.  When I write here I want something more than just a report of what happened, though sometimes I wonder whether I should be doing more of that.

What good does a report do, though, other than perhaps aid in memory?  I guess maybe that is a worthwhile purpose–something on which to look back later in life–, but I think Future Paul won’t really care much about going back and reading “today we went to get breakfast at this place and I ate X, which was good, and drank Y, which was a little thin for my Taste.” 

So then, what do I write?