But a funny thing happened on the way: I fell in love with Europe and decided to stick around for a while. I’ve been in Barcelona now for almost 14 months, still loving it. I don’t really see any reason to leave any time soon, though (much like when I left Seattle) I’m open to possibility.

It has been an interesting time. The work I’ve been expecting hasn’t come through (long story, that), though I now have several interesting opportunities on the horizon. In the meantime, I’ve visited friends around Europe, made amazing connections, learned some Spanish, gotten involved with the local burner & nooner (attendees of Nowhere) community, and generally had a wonderful time.

Looking forward to seeing what’s next!

This is a wonderful place, and I feel really lucky to have landed in the midst of an excellent community – thanks to Nowhere, Italian Burning Weekend and the extended Burning Man community in general. Each day seems to present me with the chance to meet another new handful of people.

I’m going to be returning to the United States for about a month, and it’s a little weird: I’m thrilled to see my tribe in Seattle and visit family in North Carolina, but Barcelona already feels so much like home that I know I’ll miss it while I’m away.

This is not a bad problem to have, I realize. I’m a lucky man. Some of that is what I have created by deciding to tear myself away from the comfort of Seattle and ride off into the relative unknown, but much of it is serendipity. Landing in the right camp at Nowhere (thanks to Margherita for responding to my shout-out for a camp to join), a couple of visits prior to the most recent return, friends here helping me with connections for places to stay … yes. Lucky. Blessed, perhaps, though that’s a word I use with reservations.

And now that i’m looking to settle here, it feels that all of Europe is my oyster, laden with pearls to sample. Of course, I’ll be working soon so my freedom to pop off to another spot for as long as I want will be curtailed, but with the prevalence of cheap airlines, everything is within a quick reach. I foresee trips to Italy, Vienna, Stockholm and Berlin in the coming months, and I’m sure more things will crop up to lure me out into new adventures. I’d love to go back to London for a little more exploration, and maybe return to Paris now that I know a bunch of people there.

Of course, there’s so much going on here that it’s going to be hard to schedule those times away without feeling like I’m missing something great close to home. For example, Primavera Sound and Sonar are two big music festivals coming up in the next couple of months. Festivals aren’t usually my thing, but there are definitely some acts at both I’d really enjoy seeing. Portishead will be here soon. And there are so very many beautiful twisty mountain roads to go explore on my motorcycle.

Again, there are certainly worse problems to have. I hope I’m not coming off as too smug – that’s certainly not my intention! I simply feel a little amazed and overwhelmed between friends, events, potential trips, and more. It’s a welcome change from the solo time I had in Morocco, where (other than a couple of brief stops) I had a challenging time making connections with people. It was a very introverted period for me. Not a bad thing, mind you – I appreciated having the opportunity to reflect on my adventures and journeys and connections made since leaving Seattle almost eleven months ago, and to look forward to creating and discovering new possibilities in my new home.

I wish that the timing of this trip back to the US would be a little different. In my ideal world, I’d have time to find a place here and start to settle just a tiny bit before returning to the States. But circumstances demand my return now – things in storage need to be dealt with on a much more compressed timeframe than previously anticipated. Ah well, so be it. I’ll go back for a while, then come here and find a kick-ass place to live, dive into work and Spanish lessons and friends and springtime and joy! (Of course, there will be plenty of joy to be had back in the US.)

Sometimes I see my life to this point as a series of books: _The East Coast Years_ and _Pacific Northwest_ are mostly written. The new book, as yet unnamed, probably starts on 18/4/2011. Maybe this trip back to Seattle is the epilogue for the second volume.

I can’t wait to see how volume three shapes up! No matter what happens, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be good.

One of the highlights of the week was our visit to the comune and village of Labro, in northeastern Lazio near Umbria. We went there to visit friends who run the Art Monastery Project, a “non-profit arts organization dedicated to cultivating personal awakening and cultural transformation through art, community, and contemplation”. The Art Monastery is just across a small valley from the stunningly picturesque village of Labro.

View of Labro from across the valley. (Photograph by Sascha Romeo, http://sascharomeo.blogspot.com/)

Jane and I spent an afternoon wandering through the village, and enjoyed an excellent lunch at ArcoLuna, one of two delicious restaurants in this village of 370 people. The next evening, we returned with friends from the Art Monastery for dinner at Boccondivino, the other restaurant – which is directly across from the first! Outstanding food in both places, great wine, superb service.

Labro is well worth an excursion if you’re in the region – a good escape from the hustle and bustle of Rome, great people to meet, fairytale-pretty streets to wander, and excellent food. Do it.

(And if you make it to the Art Monastery, tell them Stuart says hello!)

Looking over the rooftops of Labro to Lago di Piediluco.

Lovely pedestrian streets.

Lovely pedestrian streets, redux.

Grassy stairs.

Comune di Labro (with the town's symbol, the cinghiale or wild boar).

ArcoLuna, where we enjoyed a most excellent lunch.

A mouthful of wine (a mouthful of heaven).

A few photographs from the day:

One of many beautiful doorways in the Medina.

Reflecting pool in the center of the Medersa.

Student's quarters. On display are a desk for study, a small stove and everything needed to make tea and tagine.

Many surfaces throughout the medersa are covered with ornate calligraphy depicting scenes from the Qur'an.

Those of my beloved readers who have been following my plans since the beginning know that my itinerary has changed several times along the way. My very first draft itinerary was to spend last summer in Scandinavia, fall in Western Europe, and this winter riding around the Mediterranean before heading off to cross Asia in the spring.

Then I had a minor – okay, maybe moderate – health scare, forcing me to delay my departure by six weeks. Then the Arab Spring uprisings began, putting most of the Mahgreb (Islamic North Africa) except Morocco off-limits for all practical purposes – I like adventure, not needless risk. Then I decided to spend my birthday at the Nowhere Festival (Europe’s teeny-tiny Burning Man-style event in northern Spain in the middle of July), which meant jettisoning my plans for Scandinavia.

Then, curiouser and curiouser things happened:

First off, while at Nowhere I met a great band of like-minded freaks – much like my tribe in Seattle, but scattered far and wide, a European Burner Diaspora. Then I had to go and fall in love with Europe as a whole, and southern (Mediterranean) Europe in particular. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I was – at least on some small level – looking for a new place to live.

And then, most curious of all … while sitting in the sun talking with friends one lovely afternoon at Italian Burning Weekend, I asked my friend Andrea if he could give me a job in his software company. After the merest pause, he said “yeah”. Over the intervening months, a slow conversation has continued between us, resulting in the latest new plan:

Come March, I’ll be moving to Barcelona to live and work. Exactly what I’ll be doing there is still not entirely clear – but something in the software world. Maybe slinging code again, maybe a client account manager, maybe something else.

This means that my plans to cross Asia are, at least for now, off the table. Asia isn’t going anywhere, and I’m pretty sure my love of motorcycle travel isn’t either, so perhaps this will happen at some later date. I hope so.

It also means that I’m not planning to return to Seattle as my home. Maybe some day, for life is long and I have a most excellent tribe of chosen family and friends there. Sometimes it pains me to face this reality – Seattle was my home for 15 years, longer than anywhere else, and I miss my people there every day. I have people there I love so much I turn into a big mushy mess if I think about them for too long. I miss my comfortable knowledge of the place, my routines, my favorite coffee shops and bars and restaurants.

This new reality isn’t carved in stone yet – there are still a few hoops to jump through – but it does represent my current course. Things could change – with me, that wouldn’t be such a tremendous surprise, I suspect. Logistical challenges to living abroad for an extended period may present themselves. I may decide that in truth I can’t bear being away from the place and people which have been my heart’s home for so many years. Events yet to transpire may force me to return to the States. However, that is all conjecture and tomorrows.

To my friends and loved ones in Seattle and New York and San Francisco and throughout the U.S.: once I’m settled, please come visit. Barcelona is lovely! Europe is grand! Nowhere is waiting for your smiling dusty love! And most importantly, I miss you and would love to play in Europe with you.

All of you: whether you’ve been completely supportive of me from the start, wrestled with conflicting emotions or laughed and thought “He’s crazy in the coconut! (That boy needs therapy)” – thank you. I mean that most sincerely: I couldn’t have made it this far without you. It’s been a wild ride, and it ain’t over until I’m gone. I don’t plan on that happening any time soon (touch wood), so stick around and enjoy the ride.

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(Clicking on any of the images will link you to a full-sized version.)

All images were taken with my phone (as Chase Jarvis says, the best camera is the one that’s with you), and edited (just like my DSLR images) in Lightroom.

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For the last few weeks, I’ve been intending to head south for a bit, traveling through Mauritania to visit Senegal and perhaps Mali. I even spent several days in Rabat and paid about $50 for a dual-entry transit visa for Mauritania.

For a number of reasons, I’ve decided to forgo this plan for now. Key among these reasons is that my brain has started feeling a bit itchy. I’ve had – and enjoyed! – lots of leisure time recently, but taking on a small personal programming project has made me realize that I’ve become too intellectually idle.

Brain wants more to do than read and drift? Okay, brain, time for a new plan.

As I’ve probably mentioned here before, I’ve felt linguistically illiterate since arriving in Europe, as I’ve met so many people who speak three, four, five languages (or more). In order to address this, I’m returning to Marrakech tomorrow, and intend to spend a month or so studying French. It’s a beautiful language, incredibly useful around the world, and something I’ve wanted to learn for a while. I took a week of lessons in Nice last fall, and have picked up a bit more during my six weeks in Morocco (it is the second language here).

I’m happy to have a plan in place beyond just going to the next place and seeing the next thing. Let’s see how long before the brain rebels again.

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