Keep Calm...
You know when there's that first day above 60° in the spring and you grasp onto it like your life depends on and never let go? And then you know when it finally actually starts to be slightly over 60° on a semi-regular basis and it feels like everything maybe will be ok with the world? Well today was the first day I really felt like spring was on it's way and I'm so glad to have spent it with good company in a beautiful city. All the Swiss locals here joke about how us Americans think of a 3-hour day trip somewhere in Switzerland as nothing, no big deal, while to the Swiss that's painfully far to go in a day. And even though it requires waking up before the sunrise and spending over 6 hours of the day on various forms of public transport, I really do think it's worth it. Because of the easy and efficient public transportation system, we have countless opportunities to explore this beautiful country in our free time.
This Saturday I went to Zürich for the day. While we had chosen a few places we wanted to check out like the Cathedral, fine arts museum, and botanical gardens, we ended up spending much of the day just walking around. When we saw a cute, historical-looking street, we would meander down it. If we saw an interesting looking store, we'd duck in. On the surface, this more relaxed, whimsical way of traveling does not leave you with a list of sites checked off some tour-book list, it can still make for a very rewarding day. We stumbled upon a famous chocolatier and tried some of their chocolate, found a beautiful home goods store (I will forever bee bewildered as to why home goods store please me so much), and tried to spend maximum time by the water, which happened to be filled with swans and small sail boats, making for a magical sight. For lunch, we had some traditional German currywurst and bratwurst, which was delicious. In the afternoon, we went up one of the bell towers Grössmunster, of one of the many beautiful churches in the city. I absolutely love vista points where I can see expansive views from a high perch, so I seize every opportunity I can to get to one. My passion for vista points is about as close I can get to feeling like I'm flying, a concept that has always filled me joy and empowered me. After our ascent, we set off on a mission to acquire ice cream to eat by the water, which seemed like the most perfect afternoon activity imaginable. After much indecision surrounding ice cream flavors, we finally completed our mission. We sat by the banks of where the Limmat River becomes Lake Zürich eating our ice cream, chatting, and soaking in the spring sunlight. While this doesn't necessarily sound like the wisest way to use our one day in Zürich, having that time to relax and enjoy more simple pleasures, forgetting about greater responsibilities was really wonderful.
I've recently been struggling with pressure surrounding making the most of my time here. It seems like some of my peers have grand, international, social plans every weekend, meeting up with other friends, exploring new cities around Europe every day. Sometimes I feel jealous of this and I yearn to hop around Europe so freely. But I must come to terms with a few realities. The first of which is the reality of myself. While I am not quite Monica-from-"Friends" uptight, I have always been one for diligent planning and never quite comfortable with big last-minute plans. While I would love to just hop on a plane and go, my inner self seems often to absorb these spontaneities and turn them into worries. This is something I've been working hard at overcoming this past semester but work of self-improvement is no quick feat. The second reality I must face is that it is in fact no shameful thing to stay in Switzerland most weekends! Although it is small, this country is gorgeous and has so much to offer - sights, chocolate, hikes, chocolate, museums, and, did I say chocolate?! I have a long list of places within Switzerland I would like to visit while I am here and with two international trips already planned (as well as the impending 30-paged paper I must write, forcing me to face the reality that studying abroad really does involve studying), I will hardly have enough time to explore Switzerland so thoroughly, let alone the rest of Europe. While I am always skeptical when I'm told "don't worry you'll have more opportunities to come back to Europe in the future," I must embrace this. After all I'm a firm believer in "If there's a will, there's a way" and there's no point in bumming myself out with a negative attitude filled with hopelessness. Harkening back to my last blog post, I must remember to be grateful for and at peace with domestic travel.
On the train ride home, my friends and I talked about that dreaded topic: our futures. While nothing ever really gets figured out in these conversations, my friend did dole out one sweet piece of advice: "Just because you love something doesn't mean you have to make a career out of it."
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