I'm about to venture forth to visit a new region of a country in which I've spent quite a bit of time, as well as a country which I've heard spoken maybe 5 times in my life: Croatia. And when I say venture forth, I mean board a tour bus at 5am tomorrow morning.
I hope that this will be fun and will allow me to forget about some woes that unfortunately sometimes trail behind you during trips abroad. You shall soon read about this mini adventure right here on my blog.
Lately I've just been trying to keep up with classes and get over things I'm kind of scared of doing. These things include my fencing class. Not the class itself (it's quite fun), but the people in it. It's intimidating to me surrounded by people who may judge you based on your nationality or maybe can't speak your native language. But in a class like that, interaction is nearly impossible. I haven't left scared, but glad. I honestly thought about not going anymore. It's held at a very late hour and getting home isn't fun, especially as a typically over-cautious American. Basically, I had to make friends with the night. I had to make peace with the darkness and trust that there aren't people hiding who want to hurt me. Walking through unfamiliar parts of town in a new country isn't fun, especially when it's past 10pm. But I've learned that it's ok. Salzburg is a very safe city--I just had to allow myself to feel safe within it.
Sometimes, when I speak German with native-German speakers, I say one sentence in German and they praise me for how good my German is. This has happened multiple times, and I think that part of their reaction is due to surprise--an American speaks German!
If anyone is ever looking to shed a few pounds, move to Europe. Honestly, talk about weight watchers. Not that Europeans are on diets, it's just that, because of what is different over here, I've probably already lost a little less than 10 lbs. This isn't going to continue (as in, I'm not going to lose 10 lbs every month that I'm here, that'd be gross), but I'll be curious to see what the scale will read upon my return. Usually I only stand on scales so that the nurse can record it along with my check-up, but I knew to catch a quick glance before I boarded my plane (haha, which might make it sound as if I stood on the luggage scale at the airport, which is NOT how I weighed myself).
Well I have homework that needs some attention. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and be sure to stay tuned for my accounts of Italy and Croatia!
Ciao!
Hillary
1 comment:
I hope you had a great trip!
Post a Comment