Berlin, Athens, and One Last Night
By the time I reached Berlin I was weary of travel. Just four days after Paris, my friend Abby Thompson (fantastic travel blogger too btw) met up with me in Germany after her own adventure in Israel. We made the short walk around eclectic Mannheim and spent an afternoon in the quaint, historical city of Heidelberg. We climbed up to the castle and filled our bellies with a regional favorite, pumpkin soup. After showing her my study-abroad home, we hopped on the overnight bus to Berlin. This Abby girl is one of those people who happens to know someone everywhere she goes. Luckily for us, we were staying with a couple family friends of hers who had a beautiful apartment by Tiergarten.
Compared to Bavaria, Berlin is cold! We were freezing our fingertips off walking the Berlin wall. I would have liked very much to stay inside except for the fact that the city is so incredibly beautiful and inspiring! If I remember correctly my thoughts centered around three things:
Where are we going to eat tonight?
I can’t believe I’m standing at the [insert impactful piece of history here]
I can’t feel my hands.
The utter exhaustion, gratefulness, and wonder I felt in that weekend is best shown rather than told. The rest I will say about Berlin is that I have a wildly awesome friend who helps me tick-off sites on my bucket list.
Just four days after Berlin, I was on an airplane to Athens. Athens is the trip that was destined to happen but nearly didn’t. Athens in the trip where I wanted to cry from frustration, laughter, and love. Athens is the second city, just behind Dublin, that I vowed I will return to someday. Do you know what the most amazing thing about travel is? It’s that no matter how little sleep you are working on, the moment you see your next country out the airplane window, fresh energy is breathed into your soul. The site of this ancient city was spectacular. Mountains hug a coastline of bright mediterranean blue. Tucked inside each valley are washed out ruins, cobblestone streets, miles of orange trees, and overwhelming culture.
Every dish I tasted was the best thing I have ever eaten. Greek yogurt in Greece is not your grocery store Chobani. It is a cloud plucked from Mount Olympus and generously mixed on your plate with the necker of the gods, greek honey. Lamb tastes magical when it is served to you at 2:00am inside an authentic Greek music venue where the people shout “oompa!” and dance the night through. No fish, will ever taste as good as fish from the sea-side restaurant where you dipped your toes in the Mediterranean for the first time at midnight.
I thought I knew “old” living by Plymouth Rock New England. I thought I found “old” when I toured a medieval castle in Germany. I was wrong. Greece is pagan old. Pagan old is a whole other level of ancient where I can no longer trace my religion, roots, or customs. Standing ontop of the Acropolis, surrounded by cats, (yes you read that correctly. Cats in Athens own the streets and protect the ruins.) you can see the tops of the mountains down to the sea. It’s easy to imagine how everyone could feel the presence of gods watching over them. My friends stood in one spot and stared at the ocean for a full half hour while I lapped the Parthenon a few times. I guess it’s different versions of appreciation. If you ever find yourself in the lucky situation where you and your group of friends get the last seats on a roundtrip flight to Greece for 40 Euros, say your proper thanks to the gods and go.
One Last Night
I was rarely homesick throughout my time on study abroad. I had too much to learn, too much love, and too much to explore to want to go back. However, after I returned from Athens I knew it was time to leave. Sometimes you just know when something is over. My final trip was completed. Finals week lay before me, and I hadn’t seen my friends in Chicago for nine months. It was a rare time where the ending had a neat little bow on it and you simply couldn’t be mad it was over….but not before one last night on Jungbusch Strasse.
With the help of my talented piano/producer/songwriter friend Sav, I got to play my first original EDM set on stage. As the last act, and with one hour until midnight, one hour until my birthday, I showered the crowd in confetti and danced like I had won a grammy. (shortly followed by an hour of vacuuming the stage) As tradition demands, I walked myself down to Nummer 6 and partied until they closed down the bar. About 4:00am I walked home with new and old German friends and said my goodbyes. About 7:00am I left Mannheim to get on a plane to Chicago. I didn’t feel much that day. Mostly because I had little sleep and could only think about the long travel ahead of me. Partly because I couldn’t digest that it was real. It all felt like just another plane ride to somewhere. I knew the Frankfurt airport like the back of my hand by the time I was taking my one-way trip home. When I reached O’Hare, Abby was waiting to take me to the Cheesecake Factory for a proper birthday dinner and welcome home. (Did you know after reaching a certain point of tired you just become awake again? Don’t quote me on that.) Monday morning came and somehow, I actually went to class.
I can’t over emphasis how grateful I am to have had this study abroad experience. I found a group of friends who like me for me and my music. I broke away from my previous artist-type to follow a music dream I had for years. I danced, ate, and drank to the fullest of my 21 year old capacity. Lastly, I visited places I never imagined I would see in my lifetime. (This will sound like an advertisement but please allow me this cheesey moment) Thanks to study abroad I feel ready for what comes after college. The experiences I had there put my adventurous soul at peace. Truthfully, I feel both calmer and braver after traveling. (How difficult can school be if the teachers all speak English?) I am more serene with the knowledge that if I want to go somewhere in life, I have every capability to go.
