Day 365

One year ago Erica and I boarded a plane to Europe with no idea what we were doing and no idea what we would be doing in a year. And here I am, unable to comprehend the passage of time or even the fact that I'm the same person I was back then. In one year I left the comfort of life at home (now I realize how comfortable that life was) and jumped headfirst into a completely different world. Looking back I can't remember A) Why I came here in the first place or B) How I imagined I would ever survive. It seems more courageous in hindsight... no, not courageous, stupid, silly, crazy. But, somehow, it all worked out. I wrote a Personal Statement (I've written about 600) for law school admission the other day discussing this story Meyrowitz once told us about someone taking a music lesson and the music teacher always giving the student really difficult homework (so difficult the student could never complete the homework) and finally the student confronted the teacher and the teacher had the student try to play the first piece of music he couldn't play... and the student could play it brilliantly. My point was, maybe this trip to Greece was difficult enough to put everything else in perspective.

And by difficult, I just mean that everything is a teeny bit more difficult. Enough more difficult to make a difference. For example, my Greek. For every success I have 5 failures. For example. I just left to go to the grocery store. On my way out (feeling confident since I'd just managed a whole day out without using English when I should have been using Greek) this old lady in the hallway says to me "Poo ine ado?" (where is here?) "ti?" (what?) "poo ine ado?" I SWEAR that is what she said.  I had to tell her I don't speak Greek which took my confidence way down a few pegs. But then I go to the grocery store and have an actual conversation (okay not a very complex one) with the checkout girl. See what I mean? I'm everywhere at once. ANYTHING could present a problem. But at the same time, anything could be a huge success. I absolutely cannot explain the feeling I get when I manage something in Greek. Baby steps. Give me 5 years and maybe I'll speak a little Greek. 

I'm a little wired right now because Jessica and I just had freddos with too much sugar. I'm beginning to live for coffee dates. And we sat there for two hours sipping on one coffee each, which is getting closer to the four hour norm around here. And a little girl told me I looked like Kalomoira. Alex agrees if I "didn't look so much like a fish." I love my boyfriend. 

Okay more coffee, like I need it.