Thoughts

I've been back for a little over a month now, and there's not a day that go by without me thinking about the times I spent in Europe. Every single bit of it. I've said this so many times, but it really has been the best time of my 21 years of existence. From jumping up and down on top of the Acropolis, in the narrow alleys in Venice, and before the tourist-filled Eiffel Tower (yea, we jumped a lot), to our butt-aching 14 hour bus ride from Paris to Barcelona. I look back at it all and how this 2 months of traveling have changed me, I can't quite put my finger on how I've changed but I have, I feel different.

Traveling is both a humbling and empowering experience. Humbling, when you realise how big the world out there is. The people you meet, people who have lived a completely different life from yours. It puts things into perspective. Empowering, because you did it. Say three or four months ago, I wouldn't have thought that I could do what I've done. Sure I know I was gonna go for summer exchange in Germany, and I was gonna lug my heavy backpack around Europe. So many times we rush to book our transportation and lodging, so many times we couldn't find our hotel/ hostel, and one time we were stranded in Venice Mestre because apparently buses don't run on Sundays there and we were rushing for our train to Florence. But at the end of the day, everything will turn out fine. From city to city, I feel more empowered because I can do this.

I read this article on thoughtcatalog when I was in Germany, it was titled the hardest part of traveling no one talked about. I didn't give much thought to it (so punny), but for some reason, I thought of it after I'm back in Singapore and read it again. This time, I fully understood it. The hardest part of traveling is what happens after you're back. Sure, I was so happy to be back with my family, to unpack all my clothes and not worry about fitting them all back into my backpack again (which I'll tell you was what Ama and I struggled every night before we check out). But looking back, I miss every single moment of it. And looking back is all I've been doing. The hardest part is knowing that it's over. But I'm so thankful that I got to experience it.