Thursday, November 6, 2014

I'm Feeling 22

It's been some time...

I've seen the world (a total of 10% according to Trip Advisor) and yet I've only begun to etch at the surface of the world, stomping down on such an insignificant amount of land in the scheme of things.


I traversed to Paris, alone, full of joy and the utmost lustiness of the vivacious hunger which one may find difficult to understand but for those most stricken with the wanderlust fever. That was how I spent my 21st birthday. Waking up to four men in my hostel that morning was quite the experience...


I was in four countries in roughly 15 hours...Leaving London behind in the morning to see the White Cliffs of Dover before taking the ferry to Calais, France...through Belgium...onto Amsterdam in the Netherlands, taking in sights, giggling and suddenly being transported back to those shy middle school days when friends and I walked among the Red Light District. It was as though the antiquated taboo of females and sex was on my mind; I felt shy for once in a great while.



I saw Bath, Oxford, Edinburgh, the Highlands, Edam, Volendam, Greenwich, Versailles, Wimbledon, and trudged all around London, taking in the sights, falling so miserably in love with the city...until that day arrived. I had to return and devastation took hold. Lovely picked me up and I cried at the sight of him...my former sweetheart picked me up and it was like I had never left, yet I was not who I was.


15lbs heavier from the food (nachos and haggis, mate), delicious beers and ciders, chocolate, and the sorrow of leaving the place which felt like home. One day...I shall return...

Days before returning to university, I was in a wreck which totaled my car and scarred me with a reminder of how sudden death may come. True, my initial thoughts were: Mum is going to kill me. The next thing to cross my mind was: I am going to die.


10 months later (and almost 20lbs lighter than when I left the country)....Lovely and I are no longer together, but remain friends. I've now been to Canada to see Niagara Falls; Winterthur, Gettysburg, Harper's Ferry; several battlefields, a tour through the New England states (16 total states visited and on my way to seeing all 48 continental by the time I'm 30); and met so many wonderful people.


My hair has gone from red to fading red to blonde to purple. I'm ready for the next adventure in life. Less than 5 weeks before graduation.


Hobey Ho, let's go.

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