After coming home from Paris last week, I couldn't imagine having a trip as fun as that one was. Well, this past weekend in Austria, I have to say, was equally amazing as Paris, although in a completely different way. I honestly don't know if I have laughed so much as I did on this past trip, where I traveled with 4 other girls: Natalie, Madison, Chelsey, and Perri. Almost every step of the way, our plans unraveled and things went wrong, but amazingly enough, the alternative to the plans that we had made and the "wrong" thing that happened either turned out to be even better or it at least gave us a good laugh.
The trip started out with my almost missing it altogether. We were supposed to meet at the train station at 6:15, and I woke up 6:20 to a text message from Natalie saying she'd be a couple minutes late. Our train left in 55 minutes, and I have never gotten ready as fast as I did that morning. Obviously, I made it in time, thanks to the amazing public transportation here in Prague that got me to the train station in record time. After we got to Salzburg, all of us but Madison went on the Sound of Music tour; that movie is absolutely a childhood favorite of mine, and I have also dreamed of going to Austria since I was a young girl in the 5th grade, and I did a report on the country of Austria. I was not let down in the least, as the stunning Austrian Alps whizzed past us while we were on the train and tour van, with small villages and brilliant blue lakes dotting the countryside. Our tour guide, Peter, was a lot of fun, and he was the one that suggested we girls eat at a local beer hall in Salzburg for dinner.
After the tour and freshening up at our hotel, we all decided to hop on the bus and search for this beer hall. It took some searching, and we were just about to give up when we found it. I am so happy we didn't stop searching, because this stop was definitely a highlight of the weekend! We filled up our beer steins, loaded up on rich (read: artery-clogging) Austrian food, and sat down at one of the long tables in the hall. We were stared down by almost everyone in the room, and we quickly realized that we had not been directed to any type of tourist destination, because we were clearly one of maybe a few groups of foreigners in this packed hall. After a little apprehension, we all relaxed a little and chatted it up with our new friends at our table. This was our weekend of making new friends, to be sure! We walked to the bus stop afterward singing the "Do re mi" song from Sound of Music at the tops of our lungs, which, although embarrassing in retrospect, was so much fun at the time! : p
We all wanted to ski at Flauchau on Saturday and Sunday, but after getting to the train station on Saturday morning, we found out that not only was Flauchau 3 hours away, it was also extremely expensive. So we literally picked the next train headed in the direction of the Alps (Salzburg has mountains around it, but nothing suitable for skiing!) and hopped on it. When we arrived in the village 2 hours later, we were pleasantly surprised to realize that we had arrived at a mountain that was a bit more out-of-the-way and less touristy, which offered lower prices but equally amazing skiing. Our next new friends were the two guys working at the ski shop, who not only gave us free beer at the end of the first day, but they gave us discounts on our ski gear and great advice on places in town to eat. On that first gondola ride up the mountain, I almost had to pinch myself to believe that I was really about to ski in the Alps. I had never really dreamed of doing this, like I had dreamed of going to Colorado growing up, because I had sort of assumed that it was such an impossible thing to happen. However, it was just as incredible as you could imagine it to be. I would just stop skiing at times and pull off to the side to look around me and soak in the fact that I was skiing in Austria!
I had more experience than the other girls on the trip with skiing, so I headed off on my own most of the time, which was perfectly fine with me. We would meet up for lunch, and at the end of the day, but the rest of the time, I was free to ski as fast as I wanted ;-) I couldn't believe how good the majority of the other skiers there were, because after skiing for as long as I have been, I am generally used to being one of the better skiers on the mountain, but here, I was surrounded by people going as fast as I was and carving beautifully down the mountain. Unfortunately, my tendency to go off on my own is what led to my first disaster of the trip. My first of two, to be exact. After doing some tree skiing right underneath a ski lift, I noticed that off in the distance a little ways, there was more tree skiing with fewer tracks and more powder. Excitedly, I headed off in that direction, knowing that I still had ready access to the lift if I was over there, and that I would be fine if I stayed where the other tracks already were. I wanted to be adventurous, but not stupid, especially since I was alone. However, I unknowingly started down the run too far to the left, and although I followed someone else's tracks, I realized later that they had made a mistake in going where they were and had gotten lost. So in following their tracks, I did the same thing. After only going about 30 feet down the mountain, I realized I was in trouble. The snow was impossibly deep and way too fluffy to ski in safely. I also had quickly lost sight of the lift. As I skied towards a stand of trees, I suddenly started to rapidly sink into the snow, and suddenly I was waist deep in the snow and unable to move. I could feel panic rising inside of me, and although I tried to stop it, the fear that I would go in over my head in the snow and I would suffocate overwhelmed me. I started to wriggle like crazy, which only made things worse. However, I managed to get my skis off and pull myself out of the hole, and after a long time, pulled my skis out of the hole. After getting back up, I proceeded to sink again, and went through this experience 3 more times. Each time, my panic grew deeper, and I began to scream for help. In my foggy mind, I realized somewhere that I had a phone, but I knew that I had no way of really describing where I was, and I worried that I would sink again and if my head went below the surface, I might not have a lot of time. That realization all of a sudden made my brain re-engage, and I remembered all of those articles I've read over the years about what to do if you panic. I began to talk to myself in the calmest voice possible, attempting to pull myself out of the numbing panic I was feeling. Each struggle to pull out of the holes I sunk into sapped my strength even more, and so I began to feel weak, and I was drenched in a cold sweat. However, as I began to talk to myself, I could feel my brain clearing, and I slowly managed to slip my skis back on and skim as lightly as I could without breaking the surface of the snow until I found a small path with footsteps (of the person whose tracks I had earlier followed). From there, I took my skis off and walked for about 20 minutes hoping that it was the right direction. I eventually found where a run joined in, and I shakily put my skis back on. I took two long, slow runs down the other side of the mountain after that, because I did not want that experience to be the last one I had on the mountain. That experience terrified me, but in no way scared me off from skiing or even tree skiing. It did remind me, however, that the majestic beauty of a mountain also holds incredible danger if you don't respect its rules, and while I truly wanted to be safe by staying in sight of the lift and following all of the tracks, I ended up making a huge mistake that could have cost me so much more than just an hour of my day.
That being said, I still had a blast in Austria. I know you might think I'm crazy for saying that, but I ended up okay in the end, and I just thanked God a million times over for watching out for me. I know that I have so many people praying for my safety on this trip, and that was made even more obvious in both this case and in my next story. This one was also a "near-miss". Since we took the 4 AM train on Monday back to Prague (it was either that one, or we left the mountain at noon on Sunday to take the train back to Prague, leaving us with 2.5 hours of skiing on Sunday, which none of us liked). We stayed in the waiting area at the train station until 4 AM, getting absolutely no sleep, so when we got on the train, we were all anxious to sleep. However, I felt a little uneasy sleeping while all of our stuff was there, and although we were in a separate compartment with a closed door, if we were sleeping deeply enough, we would never hear someone come in. WELL. I decided to stay awake, but I was lying down on the bench seat with my purse right next to my face. Unfortunately, pure exhaustion caused me to slip into a doze. All of a sudden, I had the sensation that someone was standing over me, and I snapped my eyes open. All I see is the back of a very big guy headed out the door of our compartment with something purple under his arm. My purse. I leap out of my seat and race after him. I see him slip into a compartment next to ours and slide the door shut. Keep in mind, at this point, I had a major adrenaline rush, and I knew that nothing was going to keep me from getting that purse back. I yanked their compartment door open and (Mom, you'll have to forgive me for this, but this was not a time in my life to be nice) and screamed at the man to give me my purse back, sprinkling plenty of obscenities in there. By that time, he had passed my purse off to his buddy, and so I reached forward and ripped my purse out of the second man's hands. I think that I took both of them so by surprise that they didn't resist me as I yanked my purse back. I immediately raced out of their compartment and into the hallway, rifling through my purse to be sure that everything was there. It was. The conductor heard me screaming and came running, and although he assured me that he would get the police, as soon as he left to go the phone, the two bumbling thieves jumped out the door of the train and onto the snowy ground. From there, they tripped around and walked off into the fields. C'mon, this is Europe. Did you really think the police would help me much anyways? I am so glad I just got my purse back myself, otherwise I could have said goodbye to my passport, debit card, credit cards, ID, and camera. I normally keep those things in a wallet around my neck while out of Prague, but I hadn't planned on sleeping and had started putting things back in my purse. The other complication was that while I really wanted to stay in the hallway of the train and scream at those guys and (remember: adrenaline rush) punch them in the face, I also knew that none of us in our group were in a position to make the conductor notice us too much. That's because we unknowingly gave our ticket to Natalie when she left on Sunday (she didn't ski on Sunday). I though that since we had 5 sheets of paper, each one was a ticket, and so I gave her one. However, since we bought all the tickets together, only the top sheet of paper-the one I gave her-had our destination written on it. The others were basically worthless without that top sheet. So when the conductor came, she told us to get off the train or pay again (at least $50 for each of us). Luckily, I am nutty about being organized, and I had saved the receipt for those tickets. Although that said nothing about our destination on it, I think that the fact that I had a receipt was enough for her to let us stay. I think she also felt sorry for us. However, the next conductor didn't know that she had let us just stay on, so when he came wanting to talk to me about my purse, I said I was fine and didn't want to talk, in case he found out about our ticket situation.
I know that these two stories may make it sound as though my trip was horrible, but it really wasn't. I had two near-misses, but I pulled through them and feel stronger because of it. I also feel more aware of my safety, which is always a good thing to be reminded of! Anyways, it was a weekend of laughing and goofing off and making new friends, and whether it was Chelsey knocking wine bottles down at the grocery store as she swung her backpack on, or eating cheese strudel and apple strudel, or hearing from the man at the hotel counter that we couldn't pop popcorn in the microwave there because "that stuff veel grow and spread all over the microwave!! It could break my microwave!! Eet grows!", or getting free champagne our last night there, or just being together and bonding, it was the trip of a lifetime. I skied in the Alps baby!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Oh Paris, how I loved thee...
Home again, home again. That's honestly how I feel being back in Prague, which is actually a surprisingly wonderful feeling. As I mentioned in my last posts, I had started to grow tired of Prague in many ways because the new and exciting feeling had faded. However, leaving the city made me realize that I wasn't really growing tired of it, I was just starting to feel like it was home as I grew comfortable here. Of course I miss home back in Milwaukee, but I love it here as well. It's the people that I truly miss in Milwaukee, although I do miss the city itself too. I can't wait to be back home to go to a Brewers game, or stop at Buffalo Wild Wings, or go running along Lake Michigan...things like that! It was actually a little disorienting to be in Paris, because I was not only away from my real home, but I was also away from my temporary home, and Paris was a completely new experience altogether.
A new experience, as well as a fabulous one. Although many people have told me that the city "isn't all it's cracked up to be", "it's all hype"...I didn't feel that way at all. Paris has a lovely, romantic, and elusive spirit about it, and one that I eagerly tried to capture. I felt as though, at times, I was able to grab onto that spirit, and it was exciting. I am a lover of all things historical, and walking down the streets of Paris filled my mind with thoughts of who might have once walked here and what happened here. Prague is an incredibly old city, but unfortunately, it's never found anywhere in a Western history book, so when I came here, I didn't arrive with childhood dreams of what I wanted to see and do. Not so with Paris! (It's the same with Italy, I think, I am so excited to be going to cities like Venice and Rome!).
I traveled to Paris with a fellow AAU study abroad student, Madison, and luckily, we both had similar agendas for what we wanted to see. I got into everything except for the Eiffel Tower for free; the Louvre was free on Friday night to students, the Palace of Versailles was free because I was considered an EU student (thanks to that visa that caused me innumerable headaches in getting! I'm glad it was good for something.), and on the first Sunday of every month, the museums are free, so we went to see Centre Pompidou and Musee d'Orsay for free. Everything about the trip went incredibly smoothly from start to finish; I couldn't have asked for anything more. The sun was out most of the weekend, and although the wind could be bitterly cold, it was generally just sunny and chilly most of the time. I had never stayed in a hostel before this trip, and it turned out to be a great first experience. Our only trouble was with how cold our room got, but I slept with 3 blankets and did just fine =) Our hostel was almost all students, and we all would gather in the lounge and chat, exchanging travel tips, discounts, and restaurant ideas. Madison and I spent Saturday with two friends that I met at breakfast that morning; although I am quite extroverted, I have a hard time making initial contact with people, but that morning, I told myself that although Madison was sleeping still and I was alone coming to breakfast, I wouldn't eat alone. I sat down with a bunch of people, introduced myself, and started asking where everyone was from. I was proud of myself, because as I said, it's actually really difficult for me to initiate conversation with people I don't know. I'm working on that....and I'm glad that I did so, because I made new friends that we were then able to travel with.
Traveling to Versailles was our day trip on Saturday, and it was a great trip. The Palace of Versailles is stunningly gorgeous, and I can't believe that somebody built that to live in. I was blown away by the architecture and landscape, the colors and fabrics, the vibrancy and grandeur. I also loved thinking about the history of the Palace, and of what it must have been like that night that the French peasants broke through the gates of Versailles and dragged King Louis XVI back to Paris. I have always loved history, but I have a professor back at UW-Milwaukee that has especially piqued my interest in European history, and after having a course with him about the French Revolution last year, I really wanted to see Paris. It was so fun to imagine the history of both Versailles and Paris; I think that I could spend a couple years of my life living in Europe reading old history books in cute street cafes and be perfectly content.
Madison and I conquered the public transportation in Paris on the first day. Our first time on the metro, we felt overwhelmed, but after studying the metro map for a little while, we figured out the system. Then it made perfect sense. However, we had our fair share of squeezing underneath the turnstiles at the metro stations. For some reason, many of the tickets we bought would not work on the machines, even if we literally had just purchased them a few feet away from the turnstile. At first, we felt embarrassed squeezing through, but by the last day, we had become experts at it. Our tickets worked less than half the time, and besides, I will confess, the last day we were there, we were out of tickets and-not wanting to spend any more money-just slipped through the turnstiles every time we got there. Ah well... =)
The food in Paris was oh-so-good. We ate out a couple times, but we also went to the grocery store for some of our meals. I will admit, it's slightly easier to grocery shop when all the food names are in French as opposed to Czech, since French is so much more like English than Czech is. Anyways, while I knew that crepes were of course a classic French food, I had no idea that that would mean that it would be sold literally on every street corner. It was everywhere. And the Nutella craze was full-blown. There were containers of it being sold in the grocery store that were up to a liter in size. Number of calories = who cares? The stuff's delicious! And besides, I always had bananas with my Nutella, so it was a bit healthier ;-) I bought some brie there, and we munched on baguettes. I always found it funny when I'd see people walking on the street with their long baguettes poking out of the bag, tearing off pieces of bread as they went and munching it. Silly Parisians, that's why you keep your food safely in the bag all the way, so that you don't eat everything just on the walk home. I know I'd have everything polished off if my bread was sticking out like that in plain view, tempting me.
Speaking of the Parisians, either Madison and I got lucky, or the stereotype isn't right, but the people we met in Paris were incredibly nice. We had people stop on the street when they saw us with a map and ask us where we were trying to go. It was nice to realize that so many people spoke English, because while almost everybody under 30 speaks some English here in Prague, it gets difficult to find someone over 30 that speaks it. In summary, Paris was an absolute blast, it was a dream trip, and I am so glad that we did it. To be able to spend a 4-day weekend in Paris makes me feel incredibly lucky; a 90 minute plane ride and we were there! I know I'll be back someday, Paris. You were wonderful to me, and you were a gracious hostess. Expensive at times, yes, but so worth it!
A new experience, as well as a fabulous one. Although many people have told me that the city "isn't all it's cracked up to be", "it's all hype"...I didn't feel that way at all. Paris has a lovely, romantic, and elusive spirit about it, and one that I eagerly tried to capture. I felt as though, at times, I was able to grab onto that spirit, and it was exciting. I am a lover of all things historical, and walking down the streets of Paris filled my mind with thoughts of who might have once walked here and what happened here. Prague is an incredibly old city, but unfortunately, it's never found anywhere in a Western history book, so when I came here, I didn't arrive with childhood dreams of what I wanted to see and do. Not so with Paris! (It's the same with Italy, I think, I am so excited to be going to cities like Venice and Rome!).
I traveled to Paris with a fellow AAU study abroad student, Madison, and luckily, we both had similar agendas for what we wanted to see. I got into everything except for the Eiffel Tower for free; the Louvre was free on Friday night to students, the Palace of Versailles was free because I was considered an EU student (thanks to that visa that caused me innumerable headaches in getting! I'm glad it was good for something.), and on the first Sunday of every month, the museums are free, so we went to see Centre Pompidou and Musee d'Orsay for free. Everything about the trip went incredibly smoothly from start to finish; I couldn't have asked for anything more. The sun was out most of the weekend, and although the wind could be bitterly cold, it was generally just sunny and chilly most of the time. I had never stayed in a hostel before this trip, and it turned out to be a great first experience. Our only trouble was with how cold our room got, but I slept with 3 blankets and did just fine =) Our hostel was almost all students, and we all would gather in the lounge and chat, exchanging travel tips, discounts, and restaurant ideas. Madison and I spent Saturday with two friends that I met at breakfast that morning; although I am quite extroverted, I have a hard time making initial contact with people, but that morning, I told myself that although Madison was sleeping still and I was alone coming to breakfast, I wouldn't eat alone. I sat down with a bunch of people, introduced myself, and started asking where everyone was from. I was proud of myself, because as I said, it's actually really difficult for me to initiate conversation with people I don't know. I'm working on that....and I'm glad that I did so, because I made new friends that we were then able to travel with.
Traveling to Versailles was our day trip on Saturday, and it was a great trip. The Palace of Versailles is stunningly gorgeous, and I can't believe that somebody built that to live in. I was blown away by the architecture and landscape, the colors and fabrics, the vibrancy and grandeur. I also loved thinking about the history of the Palace, and of what it must have been like that night that the French peasants broke through the gates of Versailles and dragged King Louis XVI back to Paris. I have always loved history, but I have a professor back at UW-Milwaukee that has especially piqued my interest in European history, and after having a course with him about the French Revolution last year, I really wanted to see Paris. It was so fun to imagine the history of both Versailles and Paris; I think that I could spend a couple years of my life living in Europe reading old history books in cute street cafes and be perfectly content.
Madison and I conquered the public transportation in Paris on the first day. Our first time on the metro, we felt overwhelmed, but after studying the metro map for a little while, we figured out the system. Then it made perfect sense. However, we had our fair share of squeezing underneath the turnstiles at the metro stations. For some reason, many of the tickets we bought would not work on the machines, even if we literally had just purchased them a few feet away from the turnstile. At first, we felt embarrassed squeezing through, but by the last day, we had become experts at it. Our tickets worked less than half the time, and besides, I will confess, the last day we were there, we were out of tickets and-not wanting to spend any more money-just slipped through the turnstiles every time we got there. Ah well... =)
The food in Paris was oh-so-good. We ate out a couple times, but we also went to the grocery store for some of our meals. I will admit, it's slightly easier to grocery shop when all the food names are in French as opposed to Czech, since French is so much more like English than Czech is. Anyways, while I knew that crepes were of course a classic French food, I had no idea that that would mean that it would be sold literally on every street corner. It was everywhere. And the Nutella craze was full-blown. There were containers of it being sold in the grocery store that were up to a liter in size. Number of calories = who cares? The stuff's delicious! And besides, I always had bananas with my Nutella, so it was a bit healthier ;-) I bought some brie there, and we munched on baguettes. I always found it funny when I'd see people walking on the street with their long baguettes poking out of the bag, tearing off pieces of bread as they went and munching it. Silly Parisians, that's why you keep your food safely in the bag all the way, so that you don't eat everything just on the walk home. I know I'd have everything polished off if my bread was sticking out like that in plain view, tempting me.
Speaking of the Parisians, either Madison and I got lucky, or the stereotype isn't right, but the people we met in Paris were incredibly nice. We had people stop on the street when they saw us with a map and ask us where we were trying to go. It was nice to realize that so many people spoke English, because while almost everybody under 30 speaks some English here in Prague, it gets difficult to find someone over 30 that speaks it. In summary, Paris was an absolute blast, it was a dream trip, and I am so glad that we did it. To be able to spend a 4-day weekend in Paris makes me feel incredibly lucky; a 90 minute plane ride and we were there! I know I'll be back someday, Paris. You were wonderful to me, and you were a gracious hostess. Expensive at times, yes, but so worth it!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Forward, MARCH!
*I know I promised my controversial topic for this post, but I'm feeling way too chill right now for that. I apologize, I know that my eager audience may never forgive me, but heck, relax people, I'll get to it ;-) Enjoy the read:
Yep, it's March now, and (for me, at least), the first day of this month is already almost over. I think the weather read my last blog post, because it's been beautiful outside ever since I wrote that last post. I won't complain at all, I'm loving it! But I'm ready to start a new month here in Prague, and, in fact, I was eagerly looking forward to a fresh start. I had started to really feel pretty down by the end of the month, which was largely due to feeling sick, but also to feeling restless. February was something of a blur, in many respects, although there are many individual moments and emotions that I can distinctly remember from that month, and I doubt that I will soon forget them. I am so glad that I started this blog, because I will treasure the opportunity to look back over my posts and remember everything all over again.
I remember my first jet-lagged days here being so tough, and my sleep schedule was completely screwed up for the entire first two weeks. Now, I am obviously fully accustomed to my new schedule; my weekdays are packed full with school and internship activities, and now that March has started, my weekends will be all about traveling. I'm headed to Paris for four days this weekend, and I can't wait! But I love that I can navigate the grocery store now (although now I shop at Billa, there's no Tesco close by my new apartment), hop on the trams and metro with no problem, and make my way around. I remember how strange it felt my first day here, walking through Wenceslas Square, dragging my two suitcases over the cobblestone streets. When I had read in my travel book that Prague had cobblestone streets and sidewalks, I did not realize that the author meant that ALL the streets and sidewalks are cobblestone. Yikes. Needles to say, I've tried wearing heels around here once, and I don't think I'll be trying again anytime soon. It's a wobbly mess to navigate cobblestones with heels on. Anyways, the shuttle bus driver that dropped me off that first day made it seem as though where he dropped me off was only a few minutes from my apartment. Yeah right, buddy. You try dragging all that luggage around a new city for blocks and blocks with only a faint idea of where you were going. Thank God for the two sweet girls who gave me directions and helped me with my bags! Sometimes I think it's a miracle that I survived those first several days here. No, it was definitely a miracle. So many things fell perfectly into place time after time, and things continue to flow so smoothly. I can't believe that I'll be home in 3 short months.
I got all moved into my new apartment with no problem, and I like it here. I haven't shared a room with somebody like I am now since I was 13 years old, when I was sharing a room with my younger brother Joe. It's definitely an adjustment, because I have gotten so used to my own schedule, but my roommate, Anna, is very sweet, and she's excited to have somebody to practice her English with. It's been interesting so far with us trying to communicate, because her English is fair, and I have to remember to slow down when I'm speaking so that I can be understood :-)
I still am not back into "school" mode, so to speak. Back home, I study and do homework constantly, but here, my classes are largely focused on the midterm and final exam, with a paper or presentation maybe scattered into the semester somewhere. I had a presentation tonight, which went well. I think it's safe to say it went well, because my professor walked over to me at the end of class while everyone was still packing up and told me, "Hey, you got an A. Good job." Pretty relaxed, but I'll take it! It just feels unnatural to be doing my readings and such, because I feel as though I should be on break, since I'm not at UWM. Anyways, I've been attending every class, and participating, so when those exams arrive, I'm sure that I will study hard and be fine. It's just a completely different feel for me.
I miss you all back home and love you very much! I'll be seeing you before you know it =)
Yep, it's March now, and (for me, at least), the first day of this month is already almost over. I think the weather read my last blog post, because it's been beautiful outside ever since I wrote that last post. I won't complain at all, I'm loving it! But I'm ready to start a new month here in Prague, and, in fact, I was eagerly looking forward to a fresh start. I had started to really feel pretty down by the end of the month, which was largely due to feeling sick, but also to feeling restless. February was something of a blur, in many respects, although there are many individual moments and emotions that I can distinctly remember from that month, and I doubt that I will soon forget them. I am so glad that I started this blog, because I will treasure the opportunity to look back over my posts and remember everything all over again.
I remember my first jet-lagged days here being so tough, and my sleep schedule was completely screwed up for the entire first two weeks. Now, I am obviously fully accustomed to my new schedule; my weekdays are packed full with school and internship activities, and now that March has started, my weekends will be all about traveling. I'm headed to Paris for four days this weekend, and I can't wait! But I love that I can navigate the grocery store now (although now I shop at Billa, there's no Tesco close by my new apartment), hop on the trams and metro with no problem, and make my way around. I remember how strange it felt my first day here, walking through Wenceslas Square, dragging my two suitcases over the cobblestone streets. When I had read in my travel book that Prague had cobblestone streets and sidewalks, I did not realize that the author meant that ALL the streets and sidewalks are cobblestone. Yikes. Needles to say, I've tried wearing heels around here once, and I don't think I'll be trying again anytime soon. It's a wobbly mess to navigate cobblestones with heels on. Anyways, the shuttle bus driver that dropped me off that first day made it seem as though where he dropped me off was only a few minutes from my apartment. Yeah right, buddy. You try dragging all that luggage around a new city for blocks and blocks with only a faint idea of where you were going. Thank God for the two sweet girls who gave me directions and helped me with my bags! Sometimes I think it's a miracle that I survived those first several days here. No, it was definitely a miracle. So many things fell perfectly into place time after time, and things continue to flow so smoothly. I can't believe that I'll be home in 3 short months.
I got all moved into my new apartment with no problem, and I like it here. I haven't shared a room with somebody like I am now since I was 13 years old, when I was sharing a room with my younger brother Joe. It's definitely an adjustment, because I have gotten so used to my own schedule, but my roommate, Anna, is very sweet, and she's excited to have somebody to practice her English with. It's been interesting so far with us trying to communicate, because her English is fair, and I have to remember to slow down when I'm speaking so that I can be understood :-)
I still am not back into "school" mode, so to speak. Back home, I study and do homework constantly, but here, my classes are largely focused on the midterm and final exam, with a paper or presentation maybe scattered into the semester somewhere. I had a presentation tonight, which went well. I think it's safe to say it went well, because my professor walked over to me at the end of class while everyone was still packing up and told me, "Hey, you got an A. Good job." Pretty relaxed, but I'll take it! It just feels unnatural to be doing my readings and such, because I feel as though I should be on break, since I'm not at UWM. Anyways, I've been attending every class, and participating, so when those exams arrive, I'm sure that I will study hard and be fine. It's just a completely different feel for me.
I miss you all back home and love you very much! I'll be seeing you before you know it =)
Friday, February 26, 2010
I Think I Should've Studied in the Bahamas...
Clearly, I made an unwise and poorly researched decision when I chose to study in Prague. I could have picked anywhere in the world, and I picked a city with a climate like Wisconsin's?? In all honesty, I am getting really tired of the gray skies and damp weather, because it's really starting to get to me. Actually, it's been getting to me all week. At least I feel better knowing that I am not alone in feeling like this, because when I talk to my friends here, we all feel kind of "blah" and would do anything for some sunshine around here. So, to make ourselves feel better, we look at pictures of sunny, beautiful places and dream of going there.
Not only that, but I'm also really starting to get the urge to get out Prague. I went to Kutna Hora last weekend, and it was nice, but it wasn't quite enough. I know that it sounds silly to be tired of a city after three weeks, but it's just the truth. See, it's not like I'm moving here permanently, but I'm also not here for a weekend trip, so there's this awkward in-between feeling, that leaves me wondering where exactly I fit. Prague is definitely my home base, but at the same time, my urge to travel is growing. And I definitely plan on acting on that urge. In the next 8 weekends, I plan on being out of Prague for 6 of them, which makes me very excited! But I just feel surprised that I'm already so eager to travel more. It doesn't help that everyone I know here is traveling constantly; I've officially jumped on the bandwagon and started planning as many weekend trips as possible. I'm pretty excited =) I will also be broke when I get home, but do I sound too unhappy about that right now? I'm not. I can always make more money, but can I always do this?
I'm still loving my internship here, and if I didn't have such a great internship to distract me from my chaotic school, I don't know what I'd do. What I'm trying to say is this: my school is quite possibly the most disorganized university I have ever heard of. I still don't have a student ID card (What? You sent us a picture for your ID? Oh....well, can you get another one?), no password for the wi-fi (I'm sorry, you have to be a registered student here to get access to the w-fi. Oh, you ARE a student here? That's funny, you're not in our system...), and just general chaos. And yes, I was asked if I'm actually a student here. They "lost" my name for a couple hours there, I'm told. No worries, I was "found" again. This coming from "the oldest English-speaking private university in Prague." I'm sorry, but seeing as how Charles University here in Prague was founded in the 1300s, making claims that you're the "oldest" university of anything when you were founded in 1993 seems a bit silly to me. Maybe in the States that would fly, but here in Europe, if you're less than 300 years old, you're not old.
Well, it feels good to get that rant out of the way. Spending one semester at this school studying abroad will be fine, but I'm just glad that that is all I will have to deal with. It's not that my classes are not interesting, because they really are. But I am an organized person, and the chaos makes me frustrated! I think even those who aren't organized would be driven mad by this.
One quick side note: I have had my first real bits of homesickness this week. I think that being sick earlier this week brought it on, because, let's face it, who wants to be alone when they're sick? I wanted someone to take care of me! Then after I got better, I was still feeling that way, just generally missing my friends and family (and Brian!) back home. I think it's also wrapped up in my feeling of wanting to get out of Prague, because it's almost as if I feel like I've had my experience in Prague, so isn't it time to go home? I think it's cool though, to have the experience of moving somewhere far away, rather than just taking a vacation for a couple weeks. It's an entirely different perspective. The homesickness isn't very serious, largely because I know 3 more months here really isn't that long!
Anyways, I think that I will let all of you off easy for now and wrap this post up =) As a warning, I have a somewhat controversial topic in mind for my next post; it's a topic I've seen floating around on Facebook, and I wanted to put my opinion on it. So tune in soon for that (and no, of course I won't tell you what it is, you have to come back later to find out!).
Not only that, but I'm also really starting to get the urge to get out Prague. I went to Kutna Hora last weekend, and it was nice, but it wasn't quite enough. I know that it sounds silly to be tired of a city after three weeks, but it's just the truth. See, it's not like I'm moving here permanently, but I'm also not here for a weekend trip, so there's this awkward in-between feeling, that leaves me wondering where exactly I fit. Prague is definitely my home base, but at the same time, my urge to travel is growing. And I definitely plan on acting on that urge. In the next 8 weekends, I plan on being out of Prague for 6 of them, which makes me very excited! But I just feel surprised that I'm already so eager to travel more. It doesn't help that everyone I know here is traveling constantly; I've officially jumped on the bandwagon and started planning as many weekend trips as possible. I'm pretty excited =) I will also be broke when I get home, but do I sound too unhappy about that right now? I'm not. I can always make more money, but can I always do this?
I'm still loving my internship here, and if I didn't have such a great internship to distract me from my chaotic school, I don't know what I'd do. What I'm trying to say is this: my school is quite possibly the most disorganized university I have ever heard of. I still don't have a student ID card (What? You sent us a picture for your ID? Oh....well, can you get another one?), no password for the wi-fi (I'm sorry, you have to be a registered student here to get access to the w-fi. Oh, you ARE a student here? That's funny, you're not in our system...), and just general chaos. And yes, I was asked if I'm actually a student here. They "lost" my name for a couple hours there, I'm told. No worries, I was "found" again. This coming from "the oldest English-speaking private university in Prague." I'm sorry, but seeing as how Charles University here in Prague was founded in the 1300s, making claims that you're the "oldest" university of anything when you were founded in 1993 seems a bit silly to me. Maybe in the States that would fly, but here in Europe, if you're less than 300 years old, you're not old.
Well, it feels good to get that rant out of the way. Spending one semester at this school studying abroad will be fine, but I'm just glad that that is all I will have to deal with. It's not that my classes are not interesting, because they really are. But I am an organized person, and the chaos makes me frustrated! I think even those who aren't organized would be driven mad by this.
One quick side note: I have had my first real bits of homesickness this week. I think that being sick earlier this week brought it on, because, let's face it, who wants to be alone when they're sick? I wanted someone to take care of me! Then after I got better, I was still feeling that way, just generally missing my friends and family (and Brian!) back home. I think it's also wrapped up in my feeling of wanting to get out of Prague, because it's almost as if I feel like I've had my experience in Prague, so isn't it time to go home? I think it's cool though, to have the experience of moving somewhere far away, rather than just taking a vacation for a couple weeks. It's an entirely different perspective. The homesickness isn't very serious, largely because I know 3 more months here really isn't that long!
Anyways, I think that I will let all of you off easy for now and wrap this post up =) As a warning, I have a somewhat controversial topic in mind for my next post; it's a topic I've seen floating around on Facebook, and I wanted to put my opinion on it. So tune in soon for that (and no, of course I won't tell you what it is, you have to come back later to find out!).
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A Little Bit of Everything
It's definitely been an eventful past few days! On Saturday, I traveled with 3 other friends, Chelsea, Madison, and Silva, to Kutna Hora, which is a town about an hour train ride outside of Prague. It felt nice to get out of the city even for the day, and this was my first experience taking the train here. It was a highly successful endeavor getting to and from Kutna Hora (although we kept worrying we'd get on the wrong train!), and we all loved the fact that the trains had the individual "compartments" for about 6-8 people each, with a sliding door on each compartment. I know I sound like a little kid, but it reminded me exactly of the trains that you see in old movies. I love Europe :-)
The first thing that we went to see was the Sedlec Ossuary, which-and I'm not making this up at all-was fully decorated on the inside with human bones. It's the kind of thing you have to see if you go to the Czech Republic, and we were not disappointed by what we saw. Creeped out, yes. But it was also incredibly fascinating. Back story: during the Great Plague in Europe of the 1300s, thousands upon thousands of people were dying, and the monks ran out of graves and began just piling the bones into piles inside the church. Then, one of the monks began to make decorations inside the church out of the bones: wall hangings, pyramids, a gigantic chandelier...everything you can imagine. And their goal in this was not to be morbid, but rather to exemplify the mortality of humanity. It still came off as disconcerting, but it was also a very cool sight. This church has been featured in many horror films and novels, as you might imagine...
We also saw St. Barbara's Cathedral, and although we couldn't go inside unfortunately, the exterior of the church was incredible. The stones on the church glowed in the sunset, making it even more incredible. The train station in Kutna Hora looked like something out of an old movie too, although in much less of a dreamy way and more of a dark-and-lonely-train station kind of way. We girls stuck close together, needless to say. It was altogether a very interesting and fun trip, and we were proud to have explored a different part of the Czech Republic.
Sunday night, food poisoning hit. Luckily, it only lasted 24 hours, but those 24 hours weren't very fun. The unfortunate part was that normally I would have tried to take it easy all day since I don't have class til 6:30 PM on Mondays, but I had a presentation that night and I had to finish working on it and present it (I don't take sick days...sorry, I've got this wild never-ever-quit attitude...I've missed a total of zero classes in the past 2 semesters of college, maybe 5 or 6 total in 5 semesters. I'm a nerd...). Well, I worked all day, finished the presentation, got all dressed up to give my presentation, rode to class, aaaaand: class canceled. At least the work is done for next week now...
I started my second week at my internship, and it wasn't just a first-week fluke: I love love love my internship. Rather than feeling like they have to scramble to find boring filing jobs for me to do in the office, my supervisors are filling me in on their major projects (heck, it's an NGO, they're thrilled to have free help from someone who's equally thrilled to have an opportunity like this!). I needed an international internship to graduate with my Global Studies degree, in case anyone was wondering why I am doing this, and while it initially felt like a chore having to get an internship, this has majorly enhanced my study abroad experience. The funny thing is, when I'd listen in class to what some of the things NGOs do, it'd seem boring to me at times, and I worried about whether or not this was really something I'd want to do. But when I get to do these things and see real results, rather than just discuss possible results in a class, it's exciting. I'm also looking forward to going to some of the human rights, NGO, and refugee aid seminars coming up in March and April, because they'll give me an opportunity to travel around the Czech Republic with my colleagues.
It's starting to get warmer here! Although my Wisconsin mindset tells me to remain skeptical until May that spring is here, my Czech roommates tell me that things start to warm up in February here. So I can be hopeful...right? Oh, and as much as I praise the public transportation here, I can't help but realize how many bizarre smells are inherent with public transportation. I bring this up because today was one of those days where both on the metro AND the tram to the Burma Center, I thought I might be sick from the gross smells all around me. It's funny how every different country (and city, I suppose) has different smells compared with home. I can't say I miss the smell of cows from back home either, though...
The first thing that we went to see was the Sedlec Ossuary, which-and I'm not making this up at all-was fully decorated on the inside with human bones. It's the kind of thing you have to see if you go to the Czech Republic, and we were not disappointed by what we saw. Creeped out, yes. But it was also incredibly fascinating. Back story: during the Great Plague in Europe of the 1300s, thousands upon thousands of people were dying, and the monks ran out of graves and began just piling the bones into piles inside the church. Then, one of the monks began to make decorations inside the church out of the bones: wall hangings, pyramids, a gigantic chandelier...everything you can imagine. And their goal in this was not to be morbid, but rather to exemplify the mortality of humanity. It still came off as disconcerting, but it was also a very cool sight. This church has been featured in many horror films and novels, as you might imagine...
We also saw St. Barbara's Cathedral, and although we couldn't go inside unfortunately, the exterior of the church was incredible. The stones on the church glowed in the sunset, making it even more incredible. The train station in Kutna Hora looked like something out of an old movie too, although in much less of a dreamy way and more of a dark-and-lonely-train station kind of way. We girls stuck close together, needless to say. It was altogether a very interesting and fun trip, and we were proud to have explored a different part of the Czech Republic.
Sunday night, food poisoning hit. Luckily, it only lasted 24 hours, but those 24 hours weren't very fun. The unfortunate part was that normally I would have tried to take it easy all day since I don't have class til 6:30 PM on Mondays, but I had a presentation that night and I had to finish working on it and present it (I don't take sick days...sorry, I've got this wild never-ever-quit attitude...I've missed a total of zero classes in the past 2 semesters of college, maybe 5 or 6 total in 5 semesters. I'm a nerd...). Well, I worked all day, finished the presentation, got all dressed up to give my presentation, rode to class, aaaaand: class canceled. At least the work is done for next week now...
I started my second week at my internship, and it wasn't just a first-week fluke: I love love love my internship. Rather than feeling like they have to scramble to find boring filing jobs for me to do in the office, my supervisors are filling me in on their major projects (heck, it's an NGO, they're thrilled to have free help from someone who's equally thrilled to have an opportunity like this!). I needed an international internship to graduate with my Global Studies degree, in case anyone was wondering why I am doing this, and while it initially felt like a chore having to get an internship, this has majorly enhanced my study abroad experience. The funny thing is, when I'd listen in class to what some of the things NGOs do, it'd seem boring to me at times, and I worried about whether or not this was really something I'd want to do. But when I get to do these things and see real results, rather than just discuss possible results in a class, it's exciting. I'm also looking forward to going to some of the human rights, NGO, and refugee aid seminars coming up in March and April, because they'll give me an opportunity to travel around the Czech Republic with my colleagues.
It's starting to get warmer here! Although my Wisconsin mindset tells me to remain skeptical until May that spring is here, my Czech roommates tell me that things start to warm up in February here. So I can be hopeful...right? Oh, and as much as I praise the public transportation here, I can't help but realize how many bizarre smells are inherent with public transportation. I bring this up because today was one of those days where both on the metro AND the tram to the Burma Center, I thought I might be sick from the gross smells all around me. It's funny how every different country (and city, I suppose) has different smells compared with home. I can't say I miss the smell of cows from back home either, though...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Worry, worry, worry
Before I go into the meaning behind my blog title, I just wanted to say thank you again to all of you reading my blog! It means so much to me, and trust me, I really look forward to posting! =) There's just something calming about being able to write down your feelings, at least for me, because I've always loved to write. I'm not a creative, story-telling type of writer, but I enjoy the feeling of taking everything that's swirling around in my head and heart and putting it down neatly into words. The struggle to find words that describe feelings and thoughts is something I enjoy.
My trip thus far has just continued to get more amazing. I don't simply mean that in the sense of going places and seeing new things, because while that has been super fun, there's so much more. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to book my plane ticket to Italy: 10 days of backpacking through the country is my idea of a truly spectacular spring break. I continue to plan new trips, and I am so thrilled that my mom might be coming to visit at the end of April (shhh, don't tell my dad, he hasn't heard about this yet haha). And hey, I would be so happy if anybody else wanted to come here too, because you can stay at my apartment, and we'll have a blast traveling! But really, so much of my excitement comes from just the fact that I'm here and learning so much about who I am.
If you were watching any of my Facebook statuses last semester, you probably got a good idea of how unbelievably stressed out I was. I was so unhappy and frustrated with so many things, and it was one of the hardest periods of time I've gone through. Between planning for Prague, dealing with heartbreaking personal issues, and just suffering from serious burn-out, I was a wreck, to say the very least. There were definitely times where I thought I wouldn't make it here to Prague, and I had several Plan B's if this trip didn't happen (and none of those plans had good results). I had no idea at the outset how difficult it would be to plan a study abroad trip all on your own, and I was also searching simultaneously for my internship abroad. However, now that I'm here, I can tell you that I didn't go through all of that struggle for nothing.
I feel as though the value that I place on this trip is so much higher because of what I went through to get here. Talking with other study abroad students who came to Prague on their own as I did has been so cathartic, in many ways, because I realize that I was not alone with my frustrations. Ultimately, what I've learned though, is something that people like Brian have been trying to tell me for years: it will all work out in the end. That doesn't mean I've been cured of my worrying tendencies, because I had one of my "freak-out sessions" just tonight over something that *surprise surprise* ended up working out just fine. What happened tonight is what inspired me to write about this topic for this post, because in writing this down, I want to imprint in my mind this lesson that I've learned over the past months about how useless worrying is. Clearly, I still have a long way to go in dealing with this, but I've made major strides.
Oh, and when I say I worry, you might be thinking "Hey, I worry a lot too, it's not too big of a deal", but let me tell you, up until coming here to Prague, I was a WORRIER. The kind that stays up all night thinking, or tossing and turning, having nightmares and cold sweats, waking up sobbing because I'm so tense and frustrated, constantly feeling like I had to prove to myself and to others that I'm not a failure and yet telling myself repeatedly that I was a failure. I had to repeat good things to myself in my head, even small accomplishments, to show myself that I was still capable. It didn't matter how successful I really was, because, in truth, I did a lot last year and things in my life actually turned out very well. But I couldn't see any of the reality. Yeah, it was bad, and for almost all of 2009, that's what I had become. 2010 won't be the same, because not only will I not allow that to happen, but I know better. I made it to Prague, I have the perfect internship, amazing apartment and roommates, good classes, and an amazing circle of friends and family. This doesn't mean that I'm naive enough to think that everything in life will just magically work out now. It won't. Everything comes by hard work, and sometimes, even with that hard work, it doesn't happen. But if it doesn't, it's because there is something so much better in store for you instead. Not everything I'm doing right now was my Plan A initially. However, I couldn't be happier with how things have turned out.
Goodnight, everyone =)
My trip thus far has just continued to get more amazing. I don't simply mean that in the sense of going places and seeing new things, because while that has been super fun, there's so much more. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to book my plane ticket to Italy: 10 days of backpacking through the country is my idea of a truly spectacular spring break. I continue to plan new trips, and I am so thrilled that my mom might be coming to visit at the end of April (shhh, don't tell my dad, he hasn't heard about this yet haha). And hey, I would be so happy if anybody else wanted to come here too, because you can stay at my apartment, and we'll have a blast traveling! But really, so much of my excitement comes from just the fact that I'm here and learning so much about who I am.
If you were watching any of my Facebook statuses last semester, you probably got a good idea of how unbelievably stressed out I was. I was so unhappy and frustrated with so many things, and it was one of the hardest periods of time I've gone through. Between planning for Prague, dealing with heartbreaking personal issues, and just suffering from serious burn-out, I was a wreck, to say the very least. There were definitely times where I thought I wouldn't make it here to Prague, and I had several Plan B's if this trip didn't happen (and none of those plans had good results). I had no idea at the outset how difficult it would be to plan a study abroad trip all on your own, and I was also searching simultaneously for my internship abroad. However, now that I'm here, I can tell you that I didn't go through all of that struggle for nothing.
I feel as though the value that I place on this trip is so much higher because of what I went through to get here. Talking with other study abroad students who came to Prague on their own as I did has been so cathartic, in many ways, because I realize that I was not alone with my frustrations. Ultimately, what I've learned though, is something that people like Brian have been trying to tell me for years: it will all work out in the end. That doesn't mean I've been cured of my worrying tendencies, because I had one of my "freak-out sessions" just tonight over something that *surprise surprise* ended up working out just fine. What happened tonight is what inspired me to write about this topic for this post, because in writing this down, I want to imprint in my mind this lesson that I've learned over the past months about how useless worrying is. Clearly, I still have a long way to go in dealing with this, but I've made major strides.
Oh, and when I say I worry, you might be thinking "Hey, I worry a lot too, it's not too big of a deal", but let me tell you, up until coming here to Prague, I was a WORRIER. The kind that stays up all night thinking, or tossing and turning, having nightmares and cold sweats, waking up sobbing because I'm so tense and frustrated, constantly feeling like I had to prove to myself and to others that I'm not a failure and yet telling myself repeatedly that I was a failure. I had to repeat good things to myself in my head, even small accomplishments, to show myself that I was still capable. It didn't matter how successful I really was, because, in truth, I did a lot last year and things in my life actually turned out very well. But I couldn't see any of the reality. Yeah, it was bad, and for almost all of 2009, that's what I had become. 2010 won't be the same, because not only will I not allow that to happen, but I know better. I made it to Prague, I have the perfect internship, amazing apartment and roommates, good classes, and an amazing circle of friends and family. This doesn't mean that I'm naive enough to think that everything in life will just magically work out now. It won't. Everything comes by hard work, and sometimes, even with that hard work, it doesn't happen. But if it doesn't, it's because there is something so much better in store for you instead. Not everything I'm doing right now was my Plan A initially. However, I couldn't be happier with how things have turned out.
Goodnight, everyone =)
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Going the Distance
I decided that I really wanted to open up this blog post to hear other people's opinions/stories/advice on the topic of long-distance relationships. If you can't comment directly on the blog, feel free to comment on Facebook! Now that I've gone past the two week mark of being apart from Brian, things have clearly switched from "Beth is just away for a couple weeks" to the reality of being away for 4 months. Now, I know that for some couples, 4 months apart is common, or not that long. But for Brian and I, the longest we've ever been apart previous to this trip was 2 weeks, and so I think that that's why this week has suddenly been so hard on us. We realize that this is a long haul, and while Skype is incredible, it can also be very frustrating to be able to see the person's face and hear their voice, yet not be able to touch them or hug them or kiss them.
It's harder for me to sympathize with Brian's emotions, because I feel that he still has his family and friends and normal life surrounding him, while I have faced an entirely new life all on my own. However, I have to remember that he's bored with doing the same old things while I experience so much and travel. It's led to frustration, but I've decided that this trip is a great opportunity for us to learn to communicate exactly what we're feeling, because if not, there are 4500 miles that separate us and that could easily lead to us distancing ourselves from each other. So here's to improving communication! (what every guy loves to hear, right?).
I think that there are unique challenges in being long distance, because while it's incredibly difficult for me to suddenly be long distance after living in the same city as my boyfriend for 2.5 years, I also can see the difficulty in being together in the same city if the relationship began long distance. Whereas I am used to sharing so much of my life with Brian, or at least having the convenience of calling and texting 24/7, when you get used to being long distance, it probably feels very different when you do move to the same city and begin sharing all of your life with your significant other.
In some ways, it feels freeing to know that I can do all of the same things with or without Brian. I am still outgoing and adventurous and motivated. However, if it ended there, it would seem that there's no reason for us to be together. But the thing is, although I can still do all of these things, I simply enjoy every minute of life more when I share it with him. And right now, I think it's good for us to grow as individuals while we're apart, but ultimately, every moment is more beautiful, exciting, and fulfilling when he's there with me. And truly, I don't know if I could have done many of the things that I have without him, where he has supported, encouraged, and held me through some of the most painful times in my life. And that is what this is all about for me. My life is made complete (cliche, but true!) with him in it, and while I know that I am still Beth whether I'm single or not, I know that I am a better person with Brian in my life and because of Brian.
What experiences have you had in long distance relationships? What were some of the hardest times about it? And what were the most rewarding?
It's harder for me to sympathize with Brian's emotions, because I feel that he still has his family and friends and normal life surrounding him, while I have faced an entirely new life all on my own. However, I have to remember that he's bored with doing the same old things while I experience so much and travel. It's led to frustration, but I've decided that this trip is a great opportunity for us to learn to communicate exactly what we're feeling, because if not, there are 4500 miles that separate us and that could easily lead to us distancing ourselves from each other. So here's to improving communication! (what every guy loves to hear, right?).
I think that there are unique challenges in being long distance, because while it's incredibly difficult for me to suddenly be long distance after living in the same city as my boyfriend for 2.5 years, I also can see the difficulty in being together in the same city if the relationship began long distance. Whereas I am used to sharing so much of my life with Brian, or at least having the convenience of calling and texting 24/7, when you get used to being long distance, it probably feels very different when you do move to the same city and begin sharing all of your life with your significant other.
In some ways, it feels freeing to know that I can do all of the same things with or without Brian. I am still outgoing and adventurous and motivated. However, if it ended there, it would seem that there's no reason for us to be together. But the thing is, although I can still do all of these things, I simply enjoy every minute of life more when I share it with him. And right now, I think it's good for us to grow as individuals while we're apart, but ultimately, every moment is more beautiful, exciting, and fulfilling when he's there with me. And truly, I don't know if I could have done many of the things that I have without him, where he has supported, encouraged, and held me through some of the most painful times in my life. And that is what this is all about for me. My life is made complete (cliche, but true!) with him in it, and while I know that I am still Beth whether I'm single or not, I know that I am a better person with Brian in my life and because of Brian.
What experiences have you had in long distance relationships? What were some of the hardest times about it? And what were the most rewarding?
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