So What Does It All Mean??

The spring semester is in full swing; late night cram sessions preparing that last little bit for an exam, arriving on campus at 8am and not leaving until 9pm that night, etc. I feel like as of now, I am fully saturated back into my usual environment and normal routine. As humans, traditionally we like this; we like having a plan of action, a normal routine that gets us through the day. And I feel like I am the same way. But for three weeks over the winter break, routine was thrown out the window. Each day was a new adventure and there was no telling where our feet would take us, and what our eyes would see. And that was fun. It was more than fun, it was a thrill; I feel like a month and a half of my live was packed into those three weeks and it was a blast.

I still find myself using the occasional danke, bitte, and entshuldegung, just out of pure habit. And those little words are nice, because they trigger alot of these memories again and remind of how fun it was.

Since I have been back, I find myself more thoughtful on how foreigners interact back here in the States; now that I know what it feels like to be that person that can't speak the language that everyone around you is speaking, or know all of the traditions in an area and the things that people just don't do some place (like jay-walking in Germany). I try and help these people out more, and overall am more willing to work with them through the language barrier to either help them out or just talk with them. Language barriers are not a reason to interact with anyone, they are an easy reason for you to give up and walk away.

Another thing that I do more frequently is staying more up to date with world news. I really was very secular in how I felt news mattered to me, but the world as a whole functions just like that, as a whole. And because everyone is co-dependent on one another, what happens here over 15 hours away from you, can have a huge impact on your life and how you go about living it.

Everyone is linked together, all 6 billion of us, and must function together to keep everyone else from going down in flames, so to speak.

P.S. I'm also interested in going back to Europe and not afraid to try new places, that initially can seem overwhelming.