I Have to Keep Pinching Myself

For months I have been anticipating this trip to Germany.  For the past three years I have been working hard to get into medical school while working full time jobs so I have not had much room for fun, rest, and relaxation.  Sometimes I have to “pinch” myself because I cannot believe that I am actually finally in Germany.  At the moment, being able to relax, have fun, and not have much to stress about feels foreign to me.

Traveling to other countries and experiencing their cultures is something that brings me much joy in life.  In case you are wondering, I have traveled to Spain and China for study abroad trips and I have worked abroad in China for one year.  It is fun to see and experience the different cultures but more importantly it is fun to experience your “self.”  I have found when you travel to other countries and live in unfamiliar territories/cultures you learn a lot about yourself.  Not being able to speak the language properly or not having an understanding of the flow of life in that country forces you to have to rely on yourself more than you ever have in your life.  It is during these struggles that you learn a lot about yourself and then these experiences haunt you and force you to come to grips with how you handled them.  These reflections are growing moments. 

So far on this trip I have experienced the opposite, I am not so much reflecting on what I am experiencing in Germany but on the hardships and difficulties that I have experienced in the past three years.  Finally being able to slow down by being on vacation, drink beers with friends and family, take long walks down by the river or explore a medieval castle by myself has given me this opportunity.  Being in Germany has allowed me to reflect on a chapter of my life that I just ended and look forward to the new one that awaits me when I return home.

I have been having a blast in Germany and I know I still have more fun that awaits me, so when I have these “foreign” feelings of having fun, creeping up on me I will just have to “pinch” myself to prove that, yes I am finally here in Germany.