I know I’ve said it, oh, a million times, but studying abroad is probably the freaking coolest thing you can do under the age of 22ish. SERIOUSLY.
It’s not really something you understand while you’re at it, either. When you get there, it’s scary and different and then okay and then just plain normal, and it’s life and you love it. You do cool stuff, but you’re always doing cool stuff, you know? It begins to be perfectly normal to hop on a train, drop your stuff in a hostel, and casually walk around the Colosseum, past the Trevi Fountain, and over to St. Peter’s before going to bed in ROME. or PARIS. I mean, come on. I was in Milan, Paris, London, and Vienna in the space of a little more than a week, and I thought it was pretty cool at the time. In retrospect? OH MY LORD, WHY WASN’T I FREAKING OUT FOR THE WHOLE TRIP?
I’m headed in two different directions here:
1. Parents and children: if at all possible, please please please study abroad. I mean it with my whole heart. If you are moderately laid back and can afford it (and it is sometimes surprisingly affordable) GET ON A PLANE AND GO WHEN YOU ARE IN COLLEGE. It is so worth it. [disclaimer- emphasis on the laid back. different strokes for different folks, y'all. You've got to be able to go with the flow in a different culture or there will be no end to the shock (end excessive cliche use here).]
(also, I learned how to do that thing up there with the brackets and parentheses by listening to a podcast earlier today. Cool, eh?*)
2. I am continually and constantly amazed at human beings’ ability to adapt. I mean, we live in every environment ever, and it seriously takes about a week to get into a new routine, however different it was from anything we’d done before. It’s a really cool deal, this human experience, but I’ve learned that though adaptability is awesome (and, incidentally, one of my strengths according to this book we read in one of my classes a couple of years ago), being filled with wonder is just as important. Stopping to notice, for instance, how the snow glistens when it’s lying fresh on the ground, or taking a moment to stare at the stars in their splendor above is an unmeasurably rich part of being a person with thoughts and feelings and intelligence. We adapt, but is getting used to beauty and forgetting to notice it necessarily good? Should I have grown accustomed to walking by the birthplace of one of the greatest musical minds EVER or ordering lunch from a food stand beneath a 1,000 year old fortress? I think it’s simply human nature to adapt; we can’t help it. If we walked around all the time staring at the stars, we’d probably end up tripping and falling on our faces (not that I know anything about that…)
It’s all about balance. We must to adapt to survive, but the details need not be lost: and really, I think I did a decent job while I was in Austria. I think it’s impossible to get used to the Alps, after all. They’re awfully big.
Anyway, this whole post was born from my voyage back in time: one of today’s year-old posts was about seeing Munich, and I was rather matter-of-fact about it. I’ll send you back there via this post, and we’ll also hop on a train, climb a mountain, and visit a fairytale castle after a snowstorm as well as have dinner with my uncle who happened to also be in Munich at the very same time for a work conference (uhhh.. I KNOW. SO CRAZY).
January 19th, 2011: a deal with the devil.
January 20th, 2011: mad kings and uncles.
We might return to your regularly scheduled programming (read: the life I’m living right now) next time, but you never know! I’m writing for me, remember? 
*nerdy is the new cool.
