On being back in Europe-

On Thursday, the evening of September 4th I checked my bag and waited at the gate only to have my itinerary rearranged. I did not arrive Friday at 4pm Czech time, rather a day later after a five hour layover in DC and two connecting flights. I dreaded the connecting flight to Frankfurt when I saw 83 high school students sitting at the gate bantering; I later found they were going on a year exchange to Germany. It was on that cloudy seven and a half hour flight from DC to Frankfurt the self I wish I was at seventeen sat beside me.

Eunice spent hours working in her SAT math prep book; I kept thinking of how she surpassed my high school self even in that regard. We don't speak much during the night. Upon day break she initiates conversation over breakfast.

"So are you from Germany?"

I explain, "No, I'm from the states. I'm going to Prague to learn how to teach English."

Her eyes light up, her smile is full. "That is incredible!"

She tells me of her impressive travel history, how her parents are Spanish and she benefits from her dual citizenship. I think of the variety of beginnings in this life and how fortunate hers is. We exchanged contact information and bid farewell to each other. Who would have thought I'd make friends with one out of the 83? What a sneaky little thing life is...

Prague is beautiful. Being back in Europe after nearly two years feels like home. So much has taken place since the last time I was here, yet it seems not much has changed. As I walked the cobblestone streets alone, lost, but completely at peace, I realized what has changed is me. I've taken a total of twenty photos and I've been here three days. It seems I am no longer a tourist in the old continent, rather a familiar wanderer. One who is utterly in love with this world that is peopled with such a variety. I am caught in the euphoria of being exactly where I wanted to go nine months ago. In December I declined a move to DC--when I look upwards in this colorful city I am reminded of those feelings of anxiety and uncertainty, overwhelmed then by a hunger for the life I now live in a city I had never been nor did I know a soul here.

As soon as I stepped off my plane to Prague, my phone buzzed with messages from my European friends; one of my favorite came from my dear German friend, Pascal.

"Welcome to good old Europe! We are so happy to have you back! And we'll try to make your time as breathtaking as possible."

I'm so glad to be back, and even luckier to have many friends here that welcome me so warmly.

 Europe, I'm back for round two in the land that set my heart ablaze with wanderlust at the age of twenty. Here I am again, only I am twenty two years wiser, braver, more experienced. Twenty two years more me. 

I made it...I'm making it.