Here comes the sun and I say...

I’m beginning this blog a little sooner than originally expected. I’m not sure if I’ll tell you all about it right away so you may be reading this tomorrow or maybe in a few months from now, Im not sure. This may be a bit philosophical for a first blog post but we will see….  

I’d assume that most people reading this are aware that I am working in the US Consulate in Germany right now and then in January will be moving to Morocco to begin my work as a Peace Corps volunteer. If you didnt, then now you know. Ive been here for a few weeks now, and it is absolutely wonderful to be back in Germany. I recently reread my Bonn Voyage blog again (obviously the most recent post came first). Its a great feeling to know that Im back here, that was my goal and I achieved it. 

Ive already met a lot of people here in Hamburg. Both through events with the consulate and just personal social gatherings (hahah thats a funny way to write it christen) and everyone seems to ask the same question “Why are you here?” It seems like such a non-question for me, seeing that I had absolutely zero hesitation in coming here. It just seems so weird to even ask. So I took some personal reflection time to ask myself the question: why am I here?

I think this is the first time in my life really that there is a major fork in the road. Me and my friends we are now college graduates with some silly paper we paid thousands of dollars for and put in endless hours in the library to attain and now we have it, its done, we are free in so many ways. We can do whatever we want. Some of my friends are taking the next educational step and getting their masters, others jobs, but most are staying in central Ohio. Out of all of my college friends, Conor (as seen in the “Built Fjord Tough” entry in my Bonn Voyage blog) and I are the only ones who decided that travel was going to play a serious role in our post-graduation lives (the bug is spreading to Alison Paxson though in case you read this I know you're next). This may sound very arrogant, but on the side of being truthful to you, my reader, I’ll admit we have had so many conversations in real life, via text, and skype and all that just saying to each other (seriously but obviously with a joking undertone) that we have "it" figured out. "It" being happiness, "it" being societal pressures, "it" being life. I know we are just some stupid 20-somethings- but I just cant help but believe it. I just feel so accomplished being in another country. Everything I do is something to be proud of. Everything I see is something that gives me the biggest, warmest feeling inside me. Every friend I make is a fusion of culture and language. The concept of “wanderlust” is something that i very much relate to.

The best analogy I can give is; remember in elementary school, or maybe a little older, when you would go on a class field trip, and it was so incredibly exciting. You got to feel like a grown up because you were able to leave school and see the way the world works during the days you were normally shut away. You had more independence because the teacher wanted you to have fun—that’s the point. And when you got back to school you just felt like everyone is jealous of you that you got to go on a field trip all day while they were stuck at school. That’s how I feel here but on a different scale entirely. I just feel like everyone is going about life on a particular track, and I, for whatever reason, was given the opportunity to leave and go on a field trip for the next 3 years.

So why do I love Germany so much? My friend Eoin always laughs because every aspect about Germany seems to be perfect. Its literally laughable the perfection. Want examples? There is a word in german called "feierabend" which translates to celebration evening. Everyday when I leave from work or leave the supermarket or leave wherever, people wish me (and vise versa) a happy feiertag because you are truly meant to celebrate every evening. There is a myriad of other examples, but one im particular to yours truly has to do, obviously, with politics. If you know me you know that i fall very far left of the center, which is very much embraced by german politics. The SPD is the second most popular political party in germany and they are the Social-Democrats if you dont know, that I align politically almost perfectly. There are just so many examples but you get the gist and this blog is already ranting.

This furlough has been playing with my nerves a little bit, speaking of politics that i DO NOT align with, i cannot access my peace corps documents due to the website being closed, and Im just hoping that everything is taken care of ASAP so that **knock on wood*** nothing bad happens to me in January, like being told i cannot go. absolute worst case scenario.

Okay so a couple of final things. The blog title may change, but you all may be asking yourself what it means? Well I read a book called "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer which I highly recommend. It is the story of a real person named Christopher McCandles who wanted to give up society. Here is the quote: "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

Anyways Im not saying Im going to move to rural Alaska and live off the land, im just going to learn arabic and move to rural Morocco to make it in a completely different society than my own... big difference!! Anyway Im sorry this was so long winded but lets summarize now: Im extremely happy and so excited for the next 3 years, I love Germany, I am extremely proud of myself and so eager to see what comes next.
Ill leave you all with this quote by Mark Twain which I saw with dad in line at Trader Joes on a graduation card: 

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.