We are now in Berlin, having followed several interesting paths since my last post. On our final morning in Bern, Fabienne, Sabina, Stefi, Leoni, Casey, and I took a long walk through the city. The lightly frosted houses created a picturesque winter scene. I could imagine raising children there. We walked down towards the river and stopped at a small cafe with large blue sofas and elaborate drinks. The coffee arrived with a glass of water, a welcome touch. After discussing the peculiarities of Bern, we returned to Fabienne’s home, collected our bags and a few remaining bottles of wine, and made our way to the station.

Once again, we had internet access and many stories to tell. We left Stockholm on good terms, feeling great about the people we had met and the city in general. On our final night, I stayed up fairly late talking with Malin, which was quite uplifting. Casey and I woke up, packed, and started our next journey. We made our way to the central station and then took the bus for an hour and a half to the airport. We boarded the plane to Milan and, as you can imagine, I slept the entire way, so it felt like a quick flight. We arrived in Milan and both agreed that, well, we wouldn’t want to live there. Being stubborn, we walked for about 30 minutes to find the hotel.

The computer started beeping, and because it was in German I had no idea what it was saying. We got on the train and I slept again. Casey talked to a French man, I think he was French. The last stop before the Swiss border was a tiny town. The train stopped, and we both saw people board with bags of food from a local store. Since we like eating, we got off the train, assuming another one would come later in the afternoon. It was 12:00, and the next train did not come until 16:00. We wandered around town for a while looking for food, found a good grocery store, bought a lot of food and a lot of 1.35 euro wine, and left. We found the only park in the city, which was closed, but we snuck in. After that, we walked …

I just had some wine called glögg with Malin; you put almonds and raisins in it. The day was quite successful overall, but I’ll share just one story. This morning, Ben was supposed to catch a bus downtown at 9:00. I woke at 9:00 because of drilling in the room next to me, wandered into the living room, and saw Ben asleep on the sofa, shoes on and otherwise ready to go. His plan had been to stay up all night, although I said goodnight at 5:30, so “all night” wasn’t going to be that long. Somehow, he ended up on the couch and crashed. He had to be at the airport by noon, and reaching it required a 45-minute train ride downtown followed by an 85-minute bus ride. The timing was impossible; …

Howdy, all. Kelvin checking in. I’m writing this shortly after Casey on Ben’s computer, hence the legible keys. I’ll give a rundown of the day; while it will be similar to Casey’s, it will also be different. I woke up quite early, around noon. No, wait. Casey woke up quite early and then shook me awake because I was out cold. I had leftover peanuts for breakfast while sitting in the kitchen, drinking espresso and talking with Ahyan about life in Stockholm. Jeez, that stuff is strong.

My future posts most likely won’t be so long. I’ll try to tell only the best stories, but today was one long good story, so it might be the exception!

This entry may be brief because I am writing on a PowerBook with an unfamiliar keyboard at Ayhen’s apartment. Our flight was enjoyable, and there is plenty to record, but I also want to rejoin Ben and Ayhen’s conversation. We left Portland at 7:30 in the morning and flew to Cincinnati at 10:30. A woman named Carson was sitting behind Casey, and we exchanged smiles. After arriving in Cincinnati, we found some food and saw her again. We slept through part of the long onward flight and watched Elf. At one point Casey noticed that Carson was on the same plane. When we reached baggage claim several hours later, I finally introduced myself. She was also studying at SOU and planned to be around Frankfurt …

It is 11:00 p.m., and my flight leaves tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. I finished packing, though. Hurrah! I made copies of my passport, I am eating my last meal, and I am ready to go. I just have to call my parents in the morning to say one last goodbye and send a few emails. Give me a mission, simple or hard, and write in the guestbook! I don’t plan on being homesick (sorry, y’all), but every hello will make my day better. Talk to you from Europe.

Status: ✅ I started University as a CS major trying to get a business degree as well. The first two terms I was overloaded with classes (taking 19 and 22 credits, respectively). At one point I was in my C++ class and chatting to my mom, mentioning how I wasn’t really meeting that many people. She replied that most of the students in her communication class were female, and taking a few communication classes would make me a better communicator one day blah blah blah; I dropped the CS degree and picked up a minor in Communication.

The flight back was just fine. In St. Louis, I called my friend Sarah from New Zealand, and after arriving in Portland, I transferred this 50-page journal to my computer. Two days later, I started working, but more happily than ever before! If you have any questions or want any tips, please go ahead and ask. There are certainly things I wish I had known, and the next time I go back to Europe, I will not repeat some of the same mistakes. One thing I will admit: those two months changed my perspective on everything.