Home is Wherever I'm With You
It's been quite the hiatus since my last entry, though I don't feel I've slowed down a bit. After my sojourn in Amsterdam I spent my last few days in Strasbourg and eventually had to say goodbye to the château and all of my amazing flatmates. This lead to the denouement of the voyage, wrapping up the semester with a tour through Beaune, Dijon, Reims and finally Paris, which I will address in another entry.
It was a bitter-sweet week; leaving home is always tough, and I had come to see that space as my own. I've learned however, over the past few years, that home is not necessarily a place, but those who nurture that implied sense of comfort and belonging. Perhaps this notion has developed from my nomadic lifestyle (nearly twenty moves under my belt somehow) while still at any point having many welcoming family houses to which I could return. I feel most at home when sustaining personal connections, regardless of location, which maybe is why travel continues to be so vastly appealing to me: every location another home I just haven't travelled to yet.
I expect many travel because we are searching outside of ourselves for the bits that are missing. We find them in deep, labyrinthine forests, along winding rivers and on haunted castle grounds. Many important pieces, however, are found within others: in their damp, open fields, crooked city streets or on sandy beaches with feet in the ocean's wake.
To share our experiences with others is to travel through time and space; it allows for greater global perspective and further opportunities for self-reflection, rediscovering previously-found treasures within ourselves in the process. With these interactions we continue to cultivate a sacred space within us, a place we can go when life is in its ebb to remind us of its pervasive beauty (mine is full of sunshine).
Returning home to Newfoundland has given me an opportunity to reconnect with family and friends, but I will forever be grateful for those who shaped my experiences while abroad and contributed to my being. It could never have been the same without them, and I look forward to some day adventuring with them again.
Taken on the cellar tour at Badischer Winzerkeller, Breisach, Germany
It was a bitter-sweet week; leaving home is always tough, and I had come to see that space as my own. I've learned however, over the past few years, that home is not necessarily a place, but those who nurture that implied sense of comfort and belonging. Perhaps this notion has developed from my nomadic lifestyle (nearly twenty moves under my belt somehow) while still at any point having many welcoming family houses to which I could return. I feel most at home when sustaining personal connections, regardless of location, which maybe is why travel continues to be so vastly appealing to me: every location another home I just haven't travelled to yet.
Taken on our student-guided walking tour of Beaune, France
I expect many travel because we are searching outside of ourselves for the bits that are missing. We find them in deep, labyrinthine forests, along winding rivers and on haunted castle grounds. Many important pieces, however, are found within others: in their damp, open fields, crooked city streets or on sandy beaches with feet in the ocean's wake.
To share our experiences with others is to travel through time and space; it allows for greater global perspective and further opportunities for self-reflection, rediscovering previously-found treasures within ourselves in the process. With these interactions we continue to cultivate a sacred space within us, a place we can go when life is in its ebb to remind us of its pervasive beauty (mine is full of sunshine).
The Canadian contingent of château flatmates; photo courtesy of our awesome program coordinator!
Returning home to Newfoundland has given me an opportunity to reconnect with family and friends, but I will forever be grateful for those who shaped my experiences while abroad and contributed to my being. It could never have been the same without them, and I look forward to some day adventuring with them again.
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