Smile #12

Aero's new ad campaign played before I could hit "Skip the Ad" button to proceed to my YouTube video.  A question written in bold, capitalized letters flashed across the screen: Are you who you were a year ago?  

The answer is quite simply, no.  I've changed.  I've grown. 

Exactly a year ago, 8/21/2013, marks the beginning of an unforgettable experience.  

Visa, check!  Flight booked, check!  Clothes packed, check!  With my boarding pass in hand, I waved goodbye to America.  Struggling to find my balance between a backpack riding on my back and a duffel bag slung over my shoulder, I wobbled to my terminal.  Nervously sitting, frequently glancing over the slow ticking clock, wondering what it would be like in Austria, asking myself why didn't I do more research, how am I going to survive.  

After two flights, a stressful train incident, I was finally led to Sebastianstrasse in Dornbirn, Austria - a place I called home for the next six months. 
   

Stole from a friend...my camera cannot give Dornbirn its deserved glory  

BBQ by the river was a symbolic night.  A handshake and a quick conversation created friendships in a matter of a few minutes and promised last a lifetime. Just like kindergarten, I remember thinking.  The world being so large and one Erasmus brought us all together.  :) 

The occasionally classes (yes, I really mean occasionally in the sense that our classes was so infrequent) allowed for my ridiculous, "risky", and once-in-a-lifetime travels.  Yes, we took a few wrong turns.  Yes, we might have almost missed the next connection and did missed it.  Nonetheless all these trip blunders are what formed the best stories.  

Thinking back to Erasmus strike me with nostalgia. Ability to traveling freely thanks to easy access between countries.  Being away from home let me truly depend on myself.  Living with various nations under one roof.  Sharpened my navigation skills (life without reliable 4G supported Google Maps).  Accomplishing my goal to say yes to everything.  Daring to try any food at least once... for a picky eater, that was a hard rule to sustain.  Tested my ability to sleep literally everywhere..really anywhere that can support my head just so my eyes can get just get a few more moments of rest.  Being aware and alert of my surroundings.  And no matter how many places I visited, there are so many more places I had missed.  There is always a reason to go back.  

:))  Europe has my <3