Friends and I in Porto de Soller.
You ever notice how people, when on a beach vacation or simply traveling to a body of water, almost impulsively throw rocks into said body water? It’s like we have to throw the rocks, we have no choice. We need to throw the rocks to remind ourselves how incredibly small we are. To toss a one inch long rock into a sea thousands of miles long puts everything into perspective. The size of the rock in our hand, and the feel of it just before it leaves us forever into the abyss of blue water. Our size, the size of the water in comparison. It all happens subconsciously. We don’t literally think about why we are throwing the rock, we just do it. Maybe we throw it because we know that the tide will push it back towards the beach, and that one day, far in the future, it may be possible to pick up that same rock, on that same beach, and toss it 50 feet out into the same water we tossed it into all those years ago. Okay, it may seem a very small feat to throw a stone, a pebble even, into a vast body of water, but before you go thinking this entry is too depressing for you, consider this metaphor I have stolen from the novel, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” and then adapted to use in my own context.
Imagine that you and I are on a beach, say, in the Mediterranean, and I pick up a stone, one stone among the thousands that cover the rocky beaches of the Balearic Islands. Now, imagine me, looking strait into your eyes as I hand you the stone, and speaking these words: “Throw it as far or as near as you want, just throw it.” You look down at the stone in your hand, and you notice how light it is, how far you could throw it. You look up at the endless sea. You wind up and chuck the rock 100 ft, into the water, and you don’t even see where it hits the water because the sun is blinding you and you’re focusing on your follow through. And I look at you, and say, “Congratulations, you have changed the world”.
Maybe we jumped, maybe we didn't!
One stone, thrown from one hand, on one beach, on one island, in one sea changes the entire make-up of the world. Though it may not be a monumental change, it is still change. And besides, nine times out of ten, any monumental change that a person makes to this world is for the worse, not the better.
You know, in a way, I think that’s why we, humans, travel, at least I’ve come to realize that’s why I travel. To make a change in this world, no matter how small. To step off a plane in Paris and immediately hug the first person I see. To smile at everyone in Prague and sincerely hope that it brightens their day. These things may not settle any health care bills, or bring a country out of a recession. But hey, what reason do you have to not smile at the next person you see? Or hug them? Well, maybe not hug them, I don’t want to be responsible for any lawsuits and/or beating 
… Anyway, the point is not to save the world. I’m not saving the world, I’m just throwing rocks into the ocean.
So, as I sat on a cliff over-looking the Mediterranean Sea on the island of Mallorca, watching the sunset into the distant horizon, as the yellows meshed with the dark and light blues, and greens and whites, I thought about the world, and myself, and why exactly I wanted to come to Europe in the first place. Why in the hell did I spend so much time and effort and money in order to come to a country where I didn’t speak the language, and knew only one other person on the entire continent? It is because of this, I thought. It’s because of the sun. It’s because a picture may be worth a thousand words, but seeing the real thing is worth billions, nay, trillions. It’s because of the people, all the people, whether I like them or not. But most of all, it’s because I would throw a million rocks if given the chance, and frankly, with the wind at my back, and the sun on my face and great friends around, I see no reason why this whole semester could even remotely be called a mistake. Money is money, life is life, I’m throwing rocks at the sea until the day I die.
Sunset at Deia.
Sunset at S'Arenal.
Water at Sa Calabra.
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This is one of the worst written essays I have read this decade.
“You ever notice…?” is not a question. “Do you ever notice…?” is a question.
“…into said body water,” should read “into said body of water.” More importantly, don’t use legal language like “aforementioned” and “said” + noun when it’s just as easy to use “it” or “them”.
“It’s like we have to throw the rocks, we have no choice.” – This should be two sentences. How do I know? Because there are two complete ideas. Usually, if you have a complete idea, you should write what’s called a period and then start over with a new sentence. Also, generally avoid superfluous language such as “It’s like” when your point can be made–and made stronger–without it. “We have to throw the rocks,” sounds a bit stronger and less valley girlish, eh?
“The size of the rock in our hand, and the feel of it just before it leaves us forever into the abyss of blue water.” – This is quite possibly the worst sentence in the article. Why? Well, it’s not a sentence–it’s two long nouns. Example. Confusion from sentences. Difficulty to read.
There are many, many sentences like this in the article, including the next sentence, “Our size, the size of the water in comparison.”
Now, I’m assuming that this piece of “writing” is attempting to pass for an article, yes? It’s not a poem. You can’t flout English grammar because you are writing about something magical and mystical.
Well, that takes us halfway through the first paragraph. I’ll stop there and give a brief plea: Please, Bulletin editors. Do your job! If you don’t know how to edit, ask professors to help you read through articles before you print or upload. If the grammar violations in an editorial or letter to the editor will cause internal hemorrhaging or aneurysms (as this article might do), please take it upon yourselves to reject or modify the letter.
agreed…
Aerial,
I hope you agree that I am writing this comment in letter format. Now, I’m assuming that you do not know very much about blogs so I will start by explaining the difference between an essay and a blog. I’m sure you have heard of a diary since you may even have one urself (oops spelling error…wait that’s right no one cares this is a blog comment). Now take that image you have of a diary and imagine that on a website that everyone can read thanks to the world wide web (a.k.a. the internet). This is called a blog or web log. Now I will go over essays. Essays are typically thought of as analytic or interpretative literary instruments written to accomplish something like summarizing research or telling a neatly organized story. Hopefully this lesson has been helpful to you. I admit that I am not a writer and I do not often read the Bulletin but I did enjoy following this blog as I’m sure many others did besides you of course. It’s obvious to me that blog readers and writers really have no business criticizing or worrying about grammar and format since the point is to convey memories and personal thoughts. If you would like to write an interesting blog about your amazing experiences like this author did please send me the link and I will be sure to read it and show a little more respect than you did to this blogger. Now to Eric, thanks for all the great stories it really made me wish I could do something like that someday and I think more students should. The pictures were great too! nice work!
P.S. Aerial, “eh” isn’t a word…unless you’re Canadian…which would explain a lot
Dear Aerial,
By responding to your post I am getting you hard, right? Is that a question? If not I am pretty sure my second sentence was. You seem to be nothing more than a troll. If my suspicions are correct you spend almost every minute of your free time, which is likely quite a bit of free time anonymously posting inflammatory comments. I took the bait.
Of course I do not want to take credit away from you where credit is due. You posted five days into a new decade that this “essay” that is actually a blog, “is one of the worst written essays I have read this decade.” Because of your seeming expertise on grammar and editing, I take it you read quite often, but if you are referring to this piece being one of the worst things you read this decade, it is hardly a knock on Eric. I’m assuming you mostly read professionally written works so far this decade, so if Eric’s work is one of the worst, that likely means he has out written some professionals. So if you’re response was a backhanded compliment of Eric, than you are witty, my friend. I call you “my friend” under the pretense that you are witty, not a moron.
On the other hand you may merely be too simple minded to understand complicated concepts like time, and what a decade is. I know not your credentials to criticize Eric, but as a future bestselling author I feel qualified to point out a mistake you made. If you were trying to express the notion that this “essay” was one of the worst “essays” you have read in ten years than maybe you should have said, “This is one of the worst essays I have read in a decade.” Words are fun. And if you were truly trying to insult the author of this blog, you only had to include the word “in” in your sentence.
In typical troll fashion you have done an excellent job of filling your post with fallacies of reason. For this reason I would like to conclude my comment with an Ad Hominem attack. One day you will get your dick wet. Then you will understand.
As for you, Bulletin editors: Thank you for giving this gentleman an opportunity to write a blog. I found his work rather awakened. The only issue I really had with this blog was that while abroad he failed to realize that there is no such thing as culture, only national customs. Of course that is a conversation for this summer. In which city or state this conversation takes place I do not know, but I assure you it will.
Dearest Aerial,
If you wish to read something written in “essay” style, I would advise reading something besides a blog. If you would like to know more about what blogs are please visit the following link: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog.
You’ll quickly notice that blogs are by nature a place for reflection. This entry is clearly meant to be read as if it were being spoken. You ever notice that sentences, when spoken, often omit the parts that are not essential to understand the point? Or sometimes the sentences might include extra words because it changes the meaning of the sentence. “Its like we have to throw rocks” means something different than “We have to throw rocks”. The first sentence implies a feeling as if something unknown is compelling us to throw the rocks, while the second sentence implies that we literally must throw rocks. Assuming you are critiquing this document as an article (”Now, I’m assuming that this piece of “writing” is attempting to pass for an article, yes?”), you ought to be writing as a critic would. A professional critic would, I don’t know, follow his/her own advise. Am I correct in assuming this? Since you are not here to answer, I’ll assume that to avoid cognitive dissonance you would indeed like to remain consistent and follow your own advice. This means doing things like starting a sentence with an unnecessary “now” or “well” because they only add a feeling of conversation or speech to your response not any real meaning. So if you are going to pretend to be an article critic, you may wish to practice a) on things that are articles and/or essays and b) in a professional critical manner.
@Aerial: You’re a funny guy, aren’t you? I may not be the best person to argue about English grammar, as I am not a native speaker. Though, I have to admit I have never met an English/American/Scottish/Irish etc. mate speaking correct English the way we’re taught from books, teachers, centuries of language development and English certificate exams. I may not also be objective, as I am myself a blog writer and I know Eric personally. I can proudly say I’ve been a tiny little part of his ’study abroad’ experience.
Still, what bothers me is that here we have another member of an obsessive-compulsive society, concerned more about the form than the content. I have to agree with all the former replies to your amusing act of criticism. And I do think, that a blog is from the very start not supposed to be an essay. Sharing an experience is also nothing to be represented in a strict, formal way with all the howevers and moreovers of an anal retentive human mind. You may have all of your pencils always sharp and lying on the desk in pairs of the same colour only. But it doesn’t mean we all have to be bothered with this. With all I know about literature, language and all the books and poems I have ever read in my life, Eric’s writing was in fact one of the most stunning and moving amateur piece of art I’ve ever seen.
Above all, why don’t you stop making things happen and let it happen once at a time? How about living instead of watching other people live? What would you say if I told you to let your burning neurons rest for a while, stop thinking for a second and try to just be a human being, with beliefs, desires, emotions, IMAGINATION and all of those things you know only from a dictionary. And then try to write an essay about it. Difficult, huh? Impossible even.. And that’s exactly what studying abroad is about. I cannot help but laughing when I see those little creatures, calling themselves humans with souls, when in fact drowning in the sea of ’should’ and ‘must’ with the taste of panic when something is not going according to a strict plan. Switch off the computer, my friend, close the books, smile instead of frowning.. Run in any direction until you lose your breath and ’sound your barbaric YAWP!’ as the wise man said. And have some sex, for God’s sake, you definately need it.
Oh, and by the way, was it too poetic for you?
too funny anna, too funny
An even wiser man once said. “Make love when you can. It’s good for you.” Iowa City 1966 – Kurt Vonnegut
I’m sorry that I offended everyone. This was the first entry I had read in this blog and I incorrectly read it as an article. I reread the post and I see your points about it being in a spoken-word style.
I disagree with you on some of the basic conventions of writing, even when writing a blog (which I have for more than 6 years). Sometimes grammatical errors result in people not being able to understand what you are trying to say. Sometimes they result in sentences that can have two completely different meanings.
I see your points about this post not being a blog. That said, some of you have serious insecurity problems and other psychological issues that you need to work out. I wish you the best of luck with those.
*not being an article/essay.