Homesick

    I would like to formally recant my Negative Nancy Prague post a couple of posts back. And since I am the sole author, editor, and, on some days, reader of Conversations, I have the editorial authority to do so. Bestowed by me.

I LOVED Prague. It far exceeded my expectations, and I can't wait to show and tell you guys about it in my next post. Coming...eventually.

I wasn't too cheery in that previous post because, to be completely honest...
I was homesick.


There are definitely a lot of merits to traveling alone. I loved making last minute decisions about what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go (I'm kind of a planner's worst nightmare). I like doing things the way I want, on my own schedule. I don't have to see what someone else wants to see, and I don't have to worry about someone else's situation.

But at the end of the day, when you're sitting alone in a strange hotel in a super foreign land (I assume Germany still counts as foreign, but it feels more like home to me than any other European country), and when the television plays shows in a language you don't understand at all...

you begin to feel homesick.

Not in the way that I miss my own bed...I would sleep on a hardwood floor if that floor was somewhere cool (done it). Not in the way that I miss sweet tea (I do) or English or driving my car or petting my li'l rat-a-tat-tats [and I do miss them, believe it or not].

But in a way where you miss being around those who understand you. Not merely your language, but...just you. As a person. You sit alone in your hotel and think about how nice it would be to have someone who gets your jokes, or knows how to handle you when you're frustrated. Which you are, in a foreign country with a strange currency and not a lot of languages you understand.

Someone to talk to or laugh with or be mad at in a familiar sort of way. You know? Someone who takes the scary out of the whole foreign country situation.

I only get this way once in a blue moon - once at college, occasionally when I've been away for months at a time, in Colorado or Europe or wherever. I have perpetual wanderlust - I generally can't wait to go off and explore new things, even if it's alone. But sometimes, all you want is family or a good friend.

Fortunately, my trip was amazing and so so beautiful and got much better.

But just so you know.

Even those with perpetual wanderlust get a little homesick from time to time.

-bRob