First day of unemployment

Was, officially, yesterday.

However, I still spent over 6 hours at the office doing the handover and finishing some stuff. Thought today would be the same but in the end I managed to escape, so to speak, a lot earlier and had the first half day of unemployment since October.

And let me tell you, did I enjoy myself or what!

As soon as I left the Swamp (no pun intended, that honestly is the name of the street our office building's at...) I was supposed to go home but somehow my feet took me in the opposite direction and 5 minutes later I arrived in Traffic, a huge bookstore in the city center. Once there, I found "Gorączka" by Tomek Michniewicz, spotted myself a chair and a table and begun my lecture. I must have switched my position like 20 times - the chairs might be comfy if you're going through some magazine for 30 minutes but not when you're so into a book you don't even realise you've been there for hours. More than four hours, actually.

It was a totally blissful afternoon. The bookstore was playing some kick ass music (had to pause reading for a while there when they put Etta James on), the book made me both laugh and cry and I had no office chores to haunt me.

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The last magic week has brought in a lot of unsuspected things. Later, the magic weeks have somehow seemed to be fed up with me 'cause they weren't showing up for a long time. However, I wasn't complaining, as a new category emerged - the magic weekends. Started somewhere in the middle of December to continue all the way to February. Be it Brussels, Wroclaw, Cracow, Dortmund, Warsaw, Florence... Seems like that's as far as they go, though. Don't get me wrong, the last couple of ones weren't bad either (I had time for myself again, and a lot of it) but the magic's not there anymore. Kinda sad.

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At the same time, quite a lot's been going on this past week. 

First off, I put myself through some major emotional rollercoasters and reached some (hopefully) far-streched conlusions that caused quite a lot of confusion, hurt and doubt.

Second off, I finally finished my American visa application, uploaded the world's ugliest application photo, today almost finished the process by setting up a meeting with the Consul for next Tue. All that's left is paying the application submission fee, which is also the most painful part - it's 140$. Oh, and the phone call you have to make in order to schedule that meeting is also around 1.5$/min. No comments to you, U S of A.

I've been carrying around the payment slip in my purse since Monday but something inside has been keeping me from paying it. As soon as I made peace with a couple of things and decided to take certain steps no matter what changes might come around in the coming months, I found out I'm getting some extra cash that I didn't expect and that will cover all the visa related expenses. Not too shabby.

Third off, I got a call from UEFA and I might be one of the funny looking people you see dancing on the stadium grounds for the Championships inauguration.

Forth off, I was supposed to go to a concert tomorrow night which won't happen in the end. Got stuck with two pretty expensive tickets but managed to solve the issue. Adding that to some cash I unexpectedly got yesteday, I immediately thought of a 4day last minute trip but well, that one's not happening either. It would have been a bit of craziness, true - I'd be back in Warsaw on Tue afternoon, in the evening I'd go to a big event and then Wed I'm most probably already leaving for the trip, but I was still willing to go through with it. Maybe some other time.

Fifth off, can't wait to wear the little black dress and the orange heels again. Gentleman Gala - beware!

Sixth off, I don't think I ever mentioned the trip's itinerary? There it is:

Warsaw (hitchhike) Cracow (plane) Budapest (plane) Thessaloniki (hitchhike) Sofia (plane) Dortmund (plane) Łódź (hitchhike) Warsaw

And no, I don't have rich parents, I don't play the lottery. I economise and litteraly every day learn how to get cheap tickets. All the transportation from the above is around 50 EUR.

Also, meeting a certain person last week has changed a lot, at least in the Budapest leg of the trip. Instead of a couch or a mattress for 10 days in Budapest, I'll have 4 nights of hotels in Budapest, 4 nights of hotels by the Balaton lake and 2 nights of a couch or mattress in Budapest (and I'll still end up paying the total of 0$ for accommodation). Life's sometimes cool like that, wouldn't you agree?

Oh, and I got myself a travel partner. A really cool one. Like really really.

Seventh off, I most unexpectedly ended up at a salsa party this week. How I needed it! Didn't dance all that much but the few songs I did gave me so much energy and yes, somehow hope, that it was definitely worth sitting by that table alone.

Eight off, the promising meeting I had on Wed still seems as promising, or even more, now that it's over. I love it how life confirms your choices by throwing new exciting opportunities at your feet.

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Now that I've written it all down - the magic week was back!

I was just too busy being paranoid and too emotional to realise how cool the things happening around were! 

Ha! Makes my Friday evening so much better.