I've discovered Facebook

And My God... what an addiction!

I was travelling in Paris for a few days in 2006 to see in the New Year for 2007 (I have previously put some pictures up in my January post titled - 'Seeing in 2007, Parisian Style'). Anyway, I was staying at a nice little hostel only a stone's throw from the Louvre museum and in my dorm were two lovely American College girls from Ohio. I am a somewhat experienced backpacker who was travelling on my own and they hadn't done much travelling, but they had the company of each other. So, they took me under their wing and I spent some time with them in the few days I was in Paris.

We played the tourist, ate at a nice restaurant, checked out the Notre Dame and instead of joining me for the (non-existent) Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower... they watched it on T.V. in a Parisian bar. They were two of the friendliest girls I've met in my travels.

I got their email addresses and contact details and we parted ways. Before I left them though, they mentioned Facebook and said I had to join it. I didn't know what it was really, though it wasn't the first time I'd heard the name.

That was all the way back in January. This week, I finally decided to join because I had a few emails from friends around the world saying that they use the site and it's a great way to keep up with what everyone's doing.

I've been able to put a map on my page and can pin point all the teeny tiny towns around the world I've been to. At present, the count is 210 cities in 19 countries. I'm not sure that's accurate, because it includes places off the beaten track like a 1000 population town in country Australia or a place I stopped at overnight while driving across the USA. It would've been more, but I decided not to list EVERY place the greyhound bus stopped in my travels!

Besides listing where you've been and where you'd like to go, you can put music on there and make note of your favourite sports teams. Naturally, being the fan of American sports that I am, I've already discovered how to list my favourite Major League Baseball and National Hockey League teams as well as making mention of my favourite players.

I can also add photos and view my friends photos and I can see where in the world they are and where in the world they're going. It's a wonderful network and it certainly has grown on my in the very short space that I've come to use it.

I'm sure we all don't 'talk' as much as we used to. Certainly not the way my parents were brought up in the world, but the internet is a wonderful way to stay in touch with the happenings of your family and friends spread out across the globe. That said, I still don't trust enough in the internet so I'm still deciding whether to put my surname on Facebook. For the moment, my first name is listed as my surname and I've put something else as my first name. Maybe that'll change, but I don't have a common surname. Perhaps when I become more carefree and a little more trusting in the world wide web then I may update it.

For the moment, it's a great way to keep up with everyone and I seem to be on there everyday!