Get ready, get set….
I’ve never been a fan of people saying they need to go “find themselves”. I’ve been especially suspicious of people who need to go away (stereotypically to Europe) to do this very thing. So what am I doing, at this particular crossroads in my life? I’m going to Europe. Not to find myself, but to get lost and have fun along the way. I hope it carries over when I return.
I turned thirty this year, and had promised myself six years ago that when I hit this mile marker I would leave the cubicle behind and go for a grand adventure. So here I go!
The very loose plan involves visiting family friends in Paris, drinking birthday pints in London with Sam the wanderer, meandering through the South of France (hopefully with my cousin!), spending Easter in Rome with Daniel, exploring the island of Corsica, possibly jaunting over to Athens for Byzantine Easter, and finally spending a week at an eco-village (read modern-day hippie commune) learning to sculpt furniture and outdoor ovens with mud and eating organic food and doing yoga. I have a suspicion I’m a closet hippie, and I just need to test the theory out.
I know that after this, life won’t be the same. I never sowed my wild oats. This is my one Giant Oat that I’ll go deposit somewhere. Feel free to check in here along my journey to see how it’s coming along.
Instead of a “must see” list of cities, statues or museums, I’m creating a different sort of list. If I can manage these thirty little things, I’ll consider it a worthwhile trip. Wish me luck and fun and adventure!
1. Take the path less trod
2. Build something with mud
3. Trust my gut
4. Drink in a London pub
5. Write a poem
6. Wander Montmartre
7. Eat more fondue (cheese AND chocolate) than is good for me
8. Spend days on a quiet beach in the sun doing nothing at all
9. Sketch
10. Write a short story
11. Write in my journal
12. Set a course (ideological, geographical, spiritual, employment-related) to follow when I return home
13. Do something that scares me
14. See a volcano
15. Ride a gondola
16. Surf a couch
17. Follow the wind
18. Experience an eco-village
19. Celebrate Easter in a new way
20. Learn to cook something tasty
21. Connect with new friends and old
22. Remember and discover what I have to offer the world
23. Photograph beautiful things
24. Meet beautiful people
25. Laugh abundantly
26. Be moved to tears
27. In the quietness of solitude, hear my voice
28. Avoid being mugged and/or harmed
29. Learn that there’s no such thing as being lost
30. Know that I am exactly where I ought to be: a place of infinite possibility
Tags: Travel
blueskies
You are right: some of these things do sound like they are coming from a hippie. I will try to help out with #19.
GO VALYA!!! This is great! L xo