Back to the Beginning Again

Well, there you have it. I am sitting in the Frankfurt Airport, about to fly HOME. I came, lived in Ukraine for 5 months, and then traveled Europe with half of my amazing family for the next month. I have learned so much. I have seen so much. My body is exhausted and my mind is running a million miles a minute trying to digest . . . everything. When I left Kyiv, I was just numb. Then I flew to Frankfurt and spent the most incredible week in the world touring around the Heidelberg area with a person I will never, ever forget. I had the time of my life! I learned more in that week than I think I did my last 3 months in Ukraine. And then I saw my parents. My brother. We toured Europe roadrunner style-- as fast as humanely possible. We got a little taste of the places we visited, enjoyed and soaked it in as best we could before speeding off to the next one-- and I wouldn't have it any other way. We tasted London, Paris, Heidelberg, Salzburg, Zurich, Luzern, Rome, Mercury, and more. We went to museums and explored ruins. We dipped our toes into the Mediterranean, hiked (sort of) in the Black Forest. We stayed in fabulous hotels, remote hostels, old wineries, and a hole in the wall right smack in the middle of the red-light district in Switzerland (ha ha, that one was definitely an accident). I am still in shock that I even came here, and experienced all of these places.
What is it that makes us love to travel so much? Is it walking so long your ankles get swollen? Hauling luggage around and getting lost until your entire body aches? Being stuck in taxis, cars, busses, metros, trains, and planes, until your head is screaming? Running on 2 hours of sleep? Driving in Italy and feeling like you are going to get hit by all the INSANE drivers? (Seriously, don't ever drive in Italy.) Waiting in lines in the blinding sun, train stations, dealing with tourists and scammers, getting completely fried despite applying special SPF 50 for special people like me who get burned in 3 seconds, paying 5 Euro for a bottle of water, paying to use the bathroom? Really, why do we travel?
I think the answer, to me, is people. It's being able to broaden your perspective, see a completely different way of life. To meet people who live and think and believe completely different things than you ever imagined. People who are so giving and loving despite barely knowing your name. The humbling experience it is to walk into an ancient Roman ruin and realize that real people were standing, breathing, living in that very space centuries before you even began. To walk into a church and know that this was the space where people found refuge from their fears and found hope there during the dark ages. To discover what they cared about and what they lived for. To see the huge, magestic Alps and understand exactly why people lived and loved that place for all their years. To climb to the top of a fortress tower and peer out and see the exact view that they saw. The art they created. The things they loved. And to learn from them. This is why I travel. And I feel I have only scratched the surface.
Sure, I don't always love people, I think it's sickening that the Romans decided to crucify 6,000 of Spartacus' followers and hang them on crosses spanning 100 miles, or glory and laugh at the shedding of so much blood at the Colosseum. Tourists are completely obnoxious and it's always great when the French cut in line and the Italians honk at you for nothing and officials treat you like an idiot for being an American and people push and shove and judge you for wearing baby blue sneakers. But when it comes right down to it, I love them. I am fascinated with this world and I love how many diverse cultures there are all throughout it. I can't believe how privileged my life has been, and is. I wouldn't have appreciated as much had I not seen and experienced a different way of life (even if so slightly).  I have realized exactly what I love about America and also the things that I wish to change. I am going to miss these people and places. But now it is time to go back home, right back where I started, as if this was all just a big crazy dream.

And there you go. Thanks to everyone who has been following on this so called blog since I left.

I can't wait to come home.

:)