|
after the journey Last night my bed seemed so big compared to all of the other places that I slept while I was away. Not only was it large, warm and comfortable, but there wasn't anyone else in the room. Now that might seem like an odd thing to mention, but it was the first time in weeks that I didn't have to worry about anyone coming into the room late at night or waking anyone else up in the morning. I know that this sounds like a minor thing, but it really does make a difference to me. Actually I think that the few dorm room style hostels that we stayed in bothered my brother more than they did me. Early this morning, I discovered a small legacy from my trip. I was going to sort and then wash all of my dirty clothes from the trip when I realized that the duffel bag holding the backpack was locked and my brother had the key. When we were together this codependence wasn't that much of a problem, but now that we've gone our separate ways it bothered me. Close to three weeks of clothes was sitting right in front of me and I couldn't use any of them until I got that key. Thankfully it can probably wait until Monday when I go to show my family the photos that I took on the trip. When I am there I can get the key from them. When we were traveling there were times when it was a struggle between us only having one key to the room. Either this meant that we went everywhere together or one person stayed in the room. I guess that we could have agreed to meet back at the room at a certain time, but that still tied us together. I like being myself again. Having to depend one someone else always seems to wear on me. ... To start my day I took my eight rolls of film in to be developed and then made my way to the post office to get my mail that had been held for me while I was gone. The pile was about what I had expected to see. From the post office I swung by the library to pick up some books on the Habsburgs, all through Austria that was all that the brochures and guides would mention. It was then that I realized how little I really knew about Austria and what they had done in Europe. All that I knew was that their reign ended at the beginning of the twentieth century with the start of the first world war. To me they were forgotten history. Now that I have been there I want a better understanding of who they were and what they did in Europe. When I was in Europe I never really felt that out of place. Wherever I was at the time felt completely normal to me, not even when I was standing in a crowd and couldn't understand a word being said around me did I feel odd. Actually I rather liked not being distracted by people talking. I found it to be very freeing. ... Not only did I check out some books on the Habsburgs, but I also got some travel books on Australia and New Zealand. I don't see any reason why I can't start doing some research now.
|