What's Next?

It's been a while since I've written something for whereisdarrennow and wanted to get back into the swing of things so here's a little bit of an update...

If you're friends with me on facebook, you've seen how I didn't get to go to Japan after all. I was bummed to say the least as I really was looking forward to experiencing an extended amount of time in such a great place as well as with the friends I have there but it just didn't work out. Hopefully I'll get back there in the future. I'll continue working on learning Japanese in hopes that I will have that chance.

As you may have also seen, I was in Philadelphia for three weeks with my family. I got to spend a lot of quality time hanging out and talking with my dad, which was fun and valuable. I visited with some great old friends and made some amazing new ones. I spent time with my brother and sister and their families. I went to the zoo. I got coffee at Wawa. I tried some new (to me) restaurants. I put over 800 miles on the rental car. I ate water ice and pretzels. Most of all, I got some valuable "me time" reflecting and making new plans.

Where is Darren now? Pues...I'm writing this entry from my new home in Barcelona, España. The timing worked out well that some newish friends that I met had a room open up in their apartment so I jumped at the chance and took it. David and Diana (see below) are great people; they're super clean, fantastic cooks, and they seem to actually like me...so I'll be here for the foreseeable future and will be using it as a base to travel around Europe for a bit. Life's still pretty good, in other words.


So, what about the blog? I started whereisdarrennow as a way to share my travel experiences and what I'm learning while doing it. During a discussion about what to do with my blog, one of my super-so-smart-PhD.-candidate roomies suggested that the name lent itself well to not only physically where I am but also where I am as a person. With that in mind, I'll continue to write about the places I go and the experiences I have but am planning to post some "historical" stories about places I went in the past as well as some stories about "where" I am now. Don't worry though...I don't plan on this becoming some sort of online, self-reflection diary! :-)

I hope you enjoy reading the new-and-improved version of whereisdarrennow. I know that I'll continue to enjoying living it as well as writing about it. Who would have known that I'd actually enjoy writing???