Before I left home, Will gave me Bill Bryson's book, "Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe." It would've been perfect to read on the plane on the way over here, but I was able to sleep instead, which was probably for the best.
I've been reading it in some of my spare time since I've been here, and I think this guy is a little crazy (hilarious, but a little crazy). I would much rather be having these experiences with someone else than choosing to traipse around foreign countries all alone.
He does describe perfectly, though, what I've been feeling since I got here because I don't know the language (except he finds it exciting while I just find it kind of uncomfortable. But I'm getting over it).
"I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses."
Yep. That does basically sum up my existence right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment