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| Rome, Italy |
I miss driving. Not on the highway on the way home from work. Not passing palm trees or lamborghinis or buildings or shopping malls. I miss the back roads and the green grass, the barren fields, the music blaring from my stereo. I miss the colors changing in my old town in Frederick; the way the leaves painted the sidewalks orange. I miss the hills in the road and reaching my arm out my window, swaying back and forth with the wind.
A short moment of tranquility.
I even miss the hill-less Florida streets and the warm air that enveloped me in my favorite hideaway in the mornings. Home is a strange thing, especially when all you want to do is leave it. Missing it is strange after you've been away. But I know that I'm going to miss it here when I'm gone. There is something about the familiar and the unfamiliar resonating inside of you all at once that creates a kind of nostalgia that you can't really shake. I am torn between wanting to be lost and wanting to be found.
But you can't find someone who is constantly running.
The past couple of weeks have been spent meandering around Barcelona because I haven't had any money to travel. Even in my relentless adventure-craving state, I love where I live and there's a lot I hadn't yet explored. Me and the other girls spent the entire day on the search for different bars and cafés for craft beer and attractive atmospheres. We ate cheap steak and potatoes and shared a bottle of wine in our favorite restaurant.
Sometimes my favorite part of traveling is simply this. Exploring the different areas of the city. Trying different food and beer and coffee. Striking up a conversation with the barista or waiter. Learning how people live here, or how they got here, or how much you actually share in common.
Sometimes it's just walking around by yourself, not necessarily towards a specific destination, but just for the sake of walking. And saying "yes" to everything because you don't really have anything else to lose.
Because you never really did.
In a way, it has taught me to live more simply. The Europeans don't let their entire lives revolve around their career or the conventional way of doing things. Sometimes we are so harsh with ourselves for not having enough accomplished or not being in a place we thought we'd be by now. Our friends, they must have it all figured out with their endless promotions and their newborn babies, but there really is no right way of doing things.
Last night, I remember saying to someone how I have no idea what I'm going to do or where I'm going to be a month, three months from now.
Their response: Yeah, isn't that kind of awesome though?
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| London Streets |
