EuroGrams: Posts from Backpacking in Europe: June 2010

We made it home last Thursday much to the relief of our parents and friends who worried that we would either be "taken" by crazy foreign men or decide to find jobs or husbands abroad and never return. We were a little relieved ourselves that we actually made it home on time with no volcanic interruptions.

Caitlin is off working at a camp for the summer (she'll have to tell you how that one is going), and I'm, well, looking for a job or in other words, soul-searching. I feel like every time I enter this process, I have loads of questions to ask myself. What am I good at? What do I see myself doing? Where do I see myself living? What makes me happy? If these questions were on an exam, I would probably fail. I have no idea or at least not a specific enough one to point me to a specific job. So, I apply to anything and everything I can find and hope for the best.

Well, we all know how that ended up last time...photography studio, screaming children, long retail hours, quitting, and then going to Europe. On the plus side I can now tell a child's age down to the month and make him or her laugh (granted I have a stuffed puppy dog or a ball). I also met some great people, and learned a bit about sales and photography. I knew it wasn't a long term career from the beginning, and this fact along with the screaming children and long hours prompted me to take this trip to Europe.

Moral: Take the best from a bad situation and run with it...to Europe/(insert your dream destination here).

At the beginning of this blog I admitted that I wasn't really expecting to gain anything substantial on this Europe trip: "Unlike my experience in China, I have no illusions that I will emerge from this trip a more job-worthy person or that my life will have changed in any significant way, but I do know that I will be fulfilling a lifelong dream…and since when do dreams count for nothing?" Well, this trip did fulfill a lifelong dream, but I think I underestimated my probable growth a little in this sentence. However trivial it may seem to those who haven't experienced it, traveling abroad is one of the best ways to grow as a person. You are forced to constantly step out of your comfort zone, and in the process you not only learn about other cultures, you learn about yourself. You quickly learn more about your strengths and weaknesses and how to navigate between the two so that you can survive. Traveling is part history class, part language class, part communications class, and part survival class. There is research, listening, observation, navigation, and experimentation involved. Traveling is the ultimate class and you emerge with more knowledge, more confidence, and more memories. This is my fourth time abroad, and I hope it will not be my last.

All that said and my chances for finding a job still haven't really improved, but if there is anything my travels have taught me, it's that worrying won't get you to your next destination...and never throw all your jeans in one German dryer...and never go to Charles de Gaulle airport if avoidable...and never make a mistake on your Eurail pass...and never buy souvenirs in Italy...and never, ever plan on going to one Irish pub for a quick pint...won't happen.

Ok, that's enough traveler's wisdom for one entry. Now, let me apologize for our tardiness in picture sharing. We're working on it! Between camp and job searching, it will take time to go through thousands of pictures, but you will see them. In the meantime, here are a few to wet your appetite. Consider this the salad.