it's offish

I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. I bought the tickets a few weeks ago; I fly out June 9th. I'll be hitting up Chi-town, Boston, Reykjavik, Paris, and finally landing in Nice on June 10th.
So far, I've booked one night in Nice, and might do a couple more. The company wanted to put me up in Baiardo until they place me, but now they've changed their mind and want to send me to Milan instead. . . I think I'm going to just get a few more nights in Nice because I've heard horror stories about the Milan flat.
More later obvs.

the forecast for summer '10

It occurs to me that I haven't updated anyone on my summer plans. Well, here's the scoop so far:

I've been accepted back by my teaching program in Italy. I'm thinking I'll do that all summer, spend the 2 week break in Madrid looking for work, then move there after the end of the season. I don't plan to come back until at least Christmas.

As we speak, I'm looking through flights. I had considered visiting people on my way over, but that just feels like such a hassle right now. I'd rather go over a few days early and spend the extra time on the beach in Nice. Accordingly, here are a few of my possible flight plans:
Fly to ATL to TOR to KEF (yep that's Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland) to LHR (London Heathrow) to NCE
Fly to ORD to TOR to KEF to LHR to NCE
Fly to ATL to JFK/BOS to SHN to DUB to MAD to BGY (one of the Milan airports)
Fly to ATL to BOS to DUB to LHR to NCE
Fly to ORD to DUB to NCE

You may think that that last one would be the obvious winner, but it almost seems a little too simple for me. I kind of want to see how many flights I can take and how many different countries I can hit up. I've never been to Canada or Iceland.

any way the wind blows. . .

Well the wind is blowing

where am I going?*

Six months until. . . what? Six months until I'm gone? Or will I still be here? I've been saying for ages that I'm going to flee the country first chance I get, but the closer I get to graduation, the less sure I am about that.

Here are my options:

1. Return to Italy, teach another summer. This would be brilliant, and I'm considering it very seriously, but I would still have to figure out something to do after September.
2. Go back to Madrid, bartend for a bit and try and get a job teaching English.
3. Start looking for something in Nice.
4. Stay here and get a real job and a real place.

In all likelihood, I'll end up teaching all summer and then settle somewhere for the winter. I'm pretty certain I won't stay here- there's just so much I want to get away from. People I could do without ever seeing again for as long as I live. I need to get back to where I feel unstifled, to where I feel perfect and free and completely brilliant. But I'm not sure where exactly that is yet.

The only thing that I know for certain is that I don't want anything to be certain. I can't handle plans; I can't handle being tied down to something. Only six more months.


*The White Stripes