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| Old Town |
This past spring and summer brought reminders that goodbyes abroad aren't always goodbyes forever. In my travels I have been lucky to reconnect with people in places we never expected to see one another, whether that meant a friend from Korea in Canada, a friend from the US in Prague, or a friend from Ithaca in London, for example.
Last fall the Korea reunions began with VL, when she came to Prague for a whirlwind two days of sightseeing and catching up. Then, back in April, MR and C came to Prague, and we saw a symbolic witch burning ceremony, grabbed beers at The Pub (a chain where each table has it's own keg and spigots for you to pour your own Pilsner Urquell), and had a long walk around the city to see some of the sights. It was great catching up with them and hearing about their travels post-Korea, and their thoughts about returning home to the USA and CA.
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| Bridges on the Vlatava |
Then, in August, my inspirational friend AM came to visit, after a year of traveling all over the world. I kid you not. She spent years in Korea and when she finished her long residence there she decided to take a full year to see the world before going back to the UK. She is an independent, ballsy, incredible woman. It was wonderful to hear about her experiences, and I hope she writes a book about it, because she set an amazing example for young girls and women everywhere - and really for anyone - by following through with her dream of seeing the world, and going it alone through the ups and downs, seeing the best and worst of people and visiting some of the best and least known places on the planet.
Later in the summer I got to meet up with another traveler, RP, who had just finished a month's worth of travel on the Trans-Siberian railroad, in order to get from Korea to her new destination: Spain. We had a great time catching up, swapping stories, and gossiping about Swedish Jesus-look-alikes at a table near us (more on that in a later blog post).
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| Locks near the Lennon Wall |
Another Korea friend who I've been lucky enough to re-meet on several occasions is DR. She was living in Florence, and then I got to see her again in Vienna and Prague, and most recently in Budapest (again, more on that trip in an upcoming blog).
When I first came to Prague I only knew one person in the city, my friend MO, who I mentioned in the last update. We'd stayed in touch since meeting at Georgetown as part of The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) in the summer of 2008. Last November I caught up with another TFAS Alum, MP, when I visited Oxford, and most recently I got to visit a third alum, MS, in Bratislava (...another upcoming blog).
Moreover, I've been lucky enough to see friends from Ithaca College while here in Europe, whose visits I've recounted before - TL and JA in London, AB in Paris, and DK in Prague.
And those are only the reunions in Europe! Of course the summer between Korea and Prague was FILLED with reunions - in NYC, Toronto, Chicago, Washington D.C, and, of course, back home in WI.
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| The John Lennon Wall |
The point is, goodbyes are terrible, but sometimes, if you're lucky, your paths cross again. Moreover, in some cases you meet people you never expected to see again, or, sadly, don't see people again who you did expect to meet. Some acquaintances become friends, while some friends fade into acquaintances. Happily, the former has proven to be more common than the latter in my experience, because these reunions gave us a chance to re-meet one another, to learn more about each other, and to discover a renewed friendship - or, really, create a brand-new one. Thank you to all of the friends who have traveled near or far to see me wherever I've been in the world. A special shout-out belongs to GP, who I think made the longest trip to see me - from CO, USA to Korea.
