The World's Biggest Shoes

23:43. November 30, 2011. My Apartment in Firenze.

These past few weekends I was lucky enough to go to Switzerland and England. These particular trips were different from the rest of the traveling I’ve done because instead of staying in a hostel I had the privilege of staying in two lovely homes. I happen to have a good friend who lives in Switzerland and she and her husband were kind enough not only to host Lacey and I for the weekend, but also to show us a very good time. In England we stayed with an old coworker of my mom’s who I haven’t seen since I was six, she also was a fantastic host to us. There are many things I could say about these experiences but I think it really boils down to just this: there are really wonderful people out there.

When you’ve spent weeks upon weeks sleeping on trains, constantly locking your luggage up, cooking for yourself, cleaning for yourself – basically doing the things that all responsible adults have to do for themselves – you forget how nice it is to have a place to go where someone will cook you dinner, a place where you can spread your things out and not have to worry that they will be taken from you, a place where you don’t have to think so much. To anyone on the outside looking in, a semester abroad sounds like a vacation, but to think so much is difficult sometimes. To consider every action grows tiring. I believe that doing this for myself has taught me many valuable lessons and I hope to take them back with me when I return home but I appreciate the time to relax a bit. These last weekends were not quite like a vacation but rather it felt more like going home. It’s hard to explain how much it meant to me. Even Lacey, who was meeting my friend for the first time, felt like she could breathe just a little easier. There’s a sort of incomprehensible comfort I’m trying to describe here that I guess is just summed up in the simple knowledge that someone is taking care of you.

Granted I never expected to go to Switzerland or England and be taken care of (I guess it’s always a good idea to assume you will take care of yourself). However, it was the most pleasant of surprises to, in a place so very far from the states, find myself at home (in a way). There is an interesting thing here – the relationship between kindness and gratitude. On the bus ride back to the train station Lacey turned to me and said, “I hope I can do that for someone someday.” It really struck me. I too hope that someday I can provide a home - whether it be to a friend or just some wayward traveler, I hope my home is a place of rest and kindness that inspires people to “pay it forward” in a sense.

When I comes to my friend’s house in Switzerland, I really thought I would get to her earlier in the semester. Yet, here I am with just two weeks left. I know I’ll be returning to the states soon and it makes everything seem so vibrant and precious. Every moment is one of the last in what I can already recognize as the experience of a lifetime. Were in a season of gratitude right now and I think I am more thankful for these past weekends now than I could have been at the beginning of the semester, if that makes any sense. I would have certainly appreciated the kindness two months ago, but after weeks of being constantly pushed beyond the bounds of my comfort zone, of examining my life and my every action, the kind actions of a friend and the welcome warmth of a home mean more than words can say.

I’d like to say I had the foresight to recognize the irony in the name of this blog but I guess it’s ironic that I didn’t. “It’s All Part of the Plan,” I imagine in some greater sense of God and the Universe it might be. However, the irony is that it’s all a big surprise to me. Every corner brings something new, and like I said before, there are some really wonderful people out there. I hope one day I can offer that type of hospitality and warmth to a friend (or in the case of England,) a couple of relative strangers. And I realize now, more than ever before, I have big shoes to fill.