On the Turning Away

Before too long, my 11 day stint in Europe had come to an end. Many great friends were made, many great memories were recorded, plenty of culture was experienced, incredible food was consumed, and many of wonderful day hikes where had. The title of this post is inspired by British rock group Pink Floyd, with some of their song lyrics being a direct inspiration for all of my experiences in Europe. I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd and classic rock when I was in Europe (and my MP3 player actually had some German and Italian music on it as well). But to quote Pink Floyd's album “A Momentary Lapse of Reason”:

Just a world that we all must share

It's not enough just to stand and stare

Is it only a dream that there will be

No more turning away...

These lyrics speak to me louder than words, no Pink Floyd pun intended. They speak to me because I was a naive teenager living in a self-centered and Americanized world, being blind and ignorant to the rest of the world except from stories that I had heard and come to believe as fact. I now realize that the world was beautiful, not of this world worth seeing, one that we must share, and one that I want to see as much of it as possible. It was this trip to Europe that really piqued my interest as an individual with a severe case of Wanderlust. It was this single trip that influenced every single part of my life to change for the better. Is the reason why as a human being and a public speaker, I want to make people aware that there should be no turning away from the right side of love to share this beautiful world with one another.

And so, I hopped on my plane, delayed by half hour because baggage claim wasn't process right for our carry-on instruments, and after one anxiety trip of thinking I would be stuck in France forever, we board the plane home. Because of all of the clothing I had thrown out on the trip and left behind in Europe, even with souvenirs and dog, the suitcase was a good 15 kg lighter. And so, after flying into the night and coming back to a sign shining sun, it was good to be home. All 70 of us on the trip saw things that our parents had only ever dreamed of seeing. Only 13% of Americans end up using their passport, and we were in that percentile.

After surviving the trip up from Washington DC, and taking my first coach bus bathroom break, we were back in York. Our trip was over, but the memories of Europe lingered on. I couldn't look at sandwiches the same, or orange juice, or driving. Getting back to a 12-hour clock and using miles instead of kilometers was also incredibly hard. In spite of all this, I just knew one thing as I drove home... I would be back in Europe as soon as I possibly could.