Comments on: The second time around http://schweblog.com/2007/02/11/the-second-time-around/ the weblog of Jesse Schwebach Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:15:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Heather http://schweblog.com/2007/02/11/the-second-time-around/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Heather Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:22:29 +0000 http://schweblog.com/?p=113#comment-10 I've been giggling under my breath for the duration of this post. It's great isn't it? I was in a Billa ( an Austrian coroporate "supermarket") this morning, thinking about all this shit. In Prague I was pretty successful in trying to only go places that were not so Americanized and Coroporate. I went to the movie theater- and there was no way to pretend I was in the states- but all the differences were in the details- and could have been easily overlooked if hadn't wanted to look for them. I was talking to this Slovenian man over dinner about why I came to Europe... how I had been waiting forever to get here and now I was here- it wasn't going the way I had imagined so much- it was different than in my head. He reiterated: "You had this romantic idea of Europe... like it was some magical place..." I could only smile. And while I have been cleaning my ass up out of the gutter of disillusionment on that one all week- I couldn't exactly concede that all the magic was gone- it was just not as coruscant... like- I was slightly disapointed that when I stepped off the plane that the ceiling didn't rain down in scintillations where upon refocusing my gaze I was suddenly in a luscious garden, reposed on a velvet chase lounge surrounded by Italian men bringing glasses of Monvedre to my mouth while kissing my neck. Yeah- it was just a whole bunch of people with some place to go- and I was acutally there and all the images in my head of what it was going to be like sort of started fading right then and there. But like I said- all the magic isn't dead. Lost on the tiny cobblestone streets of Hradcany in the rain- it was- it was sort of magical- tainted somehow- maybe, because there was no point to the magic... "so I'm on the winding little street- and the setting has so much potential... and now what?" and you get that moment of just being there for three seconds or something and you move along and then you see the Golden Arch and the arrow (40km) and you think "fuck it" and consider planning a trip to Butan- 'cause it's like the last place on the Earth that you can't get a fucking happy meal. I'm rambling in your blog. Sorry. Maybe next time you should go further into Eastern Europe. It's cheap and covered in graffiti and I'm hearing great things. I'll be saving all of my salary to take excursions there all year- the Adriatic coast in Croatia, Belarus, Bratislava, Ljubhjana, whereever- you are more than welcome to join me. H Oh and the bit about Wal-mart spunk was classic- fucking fantastic, really. I’ve been giggling under my breath for the duration of this post. It’s great isn’t it?
I was in a Billa ( an Austrian coroporate “supermarket”) this morning, thinking about all this shit.

In Prague I was pretty successful in trying to only go places that were not so Americanized and Coroporate. I went to the movie theater- and there was no way to pretend I was in the states- but all the differences were in the details- and could have been easily overlooked if hadn’t wanted to look for them.
I was talking to this Slovenian man over dinner about why I came to Europe… how I had been waiting forever to get here and now I was here- it wasn’t going the way I had imagined so much- it was different than in my head. He reiterated: “You had this romantic idea of Europe… like it was some magical place…” I could only smile. And while I have been cleaning my ass up out of the gutter of disillusionment on that one all week- I couldn’t exactly concede that all the magic was gone- it was just not as coruscant… like- I was slightly disapointed that when I stepped off the plane that the ceiling didn’t rain down in scintillations where upon refocusing my gaze I was suddenly in a luscious garden, reposed on a velvet chase lounge surrounded by Italian men bringing glasses of Monvedre to my mouth while kissing my neck.
Yeah- it was just a whole bunch of people with some place to go- and I was acutally there and all the images in my head of what it was going to be like sort of started fading right then and there.

But like I said- all the magic isn’t dead. Lost on the tiny cobblestone streets of Hradcany in the rain- it was- it was sort of magical- tainted somehow- maybe, because there was no point to the magic… “so I’m on the winding little street- and the setting has so much potential… and now what?” and you get that moment of just being there for three seconds or something and you move along and then you see the Golden Arch and the arrow (40km) and you think “fuck it” and consider planning a trip to Butan- ’cause it’s like the last place on the Earth that you can’t get a fucking happy meal.
I’m rambling in your blog. Sorry. Maybe next time you should go further into Eastern Europe. It’s cheap and covered in graffiti and I’m hearing great things. I’ll be saving all of my salary to take excursions there all year- the Adriatic coast in Croatia, Belarus, Bratislava, Ljubhjana, whereever- you are more than welcome to join me.
H
Oh and the bit about Wal-mart spunk was classic- fucking fantastic, really.

]]> By: MyNameIsMatt http://schweblog.com/2007/02/11/the-second-time-around/comment-page-1/#comment-9 MyNameIsMatt Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:36:37 +0000 http://schweblog.com/?p=113#comment-9 Capitalism is easy, culture is hard. Finding those great spots in a foreign country is just like finding great places at home, you need to search a bit, you have to go off the beaten path. The first time is usually easy because even the "Walmarts" of European will feel different. Still, I sympathize. It's a saddening when you realize just what you have, but hopefully that'll give you more drive to find those few, but precious places. Great writing by the way. Capitalism is easy, culture is hard. Finding those great spots in a foreign country is just like finding great places at home, you need to search a bit, you have to go off the beaten path. The first time is usually easy because even the “Walmarts” of European will feel different. Still, I sympathize. It’s a saddening when you realize just what you have, but hopefully that’ll give you more drive to find those few, but precious places.

Great writing by the way.

]]> By: bieblog http://schweblog.com/2007/02/11/the-second-time-around/comment-page-1/#comment-8 bieblog Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:13:59 +0000 http://schweblog.com/?p=113#comment-8 Maybe you should try someplace less ...um... European. Capitalism will follow you everywhere you go in some shape or form but if you want a more alienating travel experience that will shake you out of your comfort zone, try West Africa, India, or some parts of Latin America. Yes, unfortunately Walmart is taking over China and Mexico and Carrefour is long established in Brazil. But if you get out of the main cities, you can leave those monstrosities behind. And I agree with Christopher's assessment of the quote above. Nicely put. Maybe you should try someplace less …um… European. Capitalism will follow you everywhere you go in some shape or form but if you want a more alienating travel experience that will shake you out of your comfort zone, try West Africa, India, or some parts of Latin America. Yes, unfortunately Walmart is taking over China and Mexico and Carrefour is long established in Brazil. But if you get out of the main cities, you can leave those monstrosities behind.

And I agree with Christopher’s assessment of the quote above. Nicely put.

]]> By: Christopher http://schweblog.com/2007/02/11/the-second-time-around/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Christopher Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:30:07 +0000 http://schweblog.com/?p=113#comment-7 "It was as if WalMart, engorged and excited from the never-ending orgy of consumption in America, had ejaculated across the Atlantic ocean, droplets of its seed splattering over my idealized plains of Europe." Great quote. It is unfortunate that capitalism has made us all into consumeristic driven dehydrated man in the desert humans scrambling around trying to find meaning in that which is fashionable by the uber-capitalists who dictate through the advertising medium. On the one hand, it appears that Europe is starting to play catch-up; on the other hand, we should weep for the loss of our innocence. Capitalistic greed is slowly becoming like Original Sin. There will be no going back to any system before it because the poor want to believe that they can achieve this dream too, and so they don't want to vote to penalize the rich that they so desperately want to become. This is our future and is sad. “It was as if WalMart, engorged and excited from the never-ending orgy of consumption in America, had ejaculated across the Atlantic ocean, droplets of its seed splattering over my idealized plains of Europe.”

Great quote. It is unfortunate that capitalism has made us all into consumeristic driven dehydrated man in the desert humans scrambling around trying to find meaning in that which is fashionable by the uber-capitalists who dictate through the advertising medium.

On the one hand, it appears that Europe is starting to play catch-up; on the other hand, we should weep for the loss of our innocence.

Capitalistic greed is slowly becoming like Original Sin. There will be no going back to any system before it because the poor want to believe that they can achieve this dream too, and so they don’t want to vote to penalize the rich that they so desperately want to become. This is our future and is sad.

]]>