It is hard to sum up the three fullest weeks of one’s life, much less distill them to one moment. I can think of several moments during the trip that survive in my memory as islands in time, however fleeting they were in real life. Beyond these, my memories (how strange, that the trip can already be called and is a memory… !) are made up of a thousand little moments, isolated, as well as interconnected, snapshots, sound bites, thoughts, sensations. The moment, however, that I think best expresses the profound impact of my experience is not one of the memories, but the moment when when I was left alone with them. The moment when, this morning, I realized I was no longer in Greece.
Now, technically, I have not been in Greece for at least a day, but it wasn’t really until about 11:30 this morning that I realized I had really left. In contrast to some, I got a marvelous 13 hours of sleep in my comfy and familiar bed, in of itself no different from how I left it. I, on the other hand, am not the same. At breakfast I lived out the “coming home” moment I had been looking forward to. I sat for a good hour and a half drinking my coffee, eating my scrambled egg and catching up on the three weeks of comics set aside for me. After this, keeping my resolution to spend the day (or at least the morning) in my PJs (and waiting for my clothes to finish in the dryer), I decided that the only thing befitting my unnaturally (for the morning…) sunny disposition was a one-person dance party. Break out the Pandora… So it was that, stylishly attired in pink fleece pants and a t-shirt, with windex in one hand and a cloth in the other, I did Lady Gaga proud while cleaning the kitchen at the same time (feel free to be impressed… Jacob (my brother) wasn’t, but that’s because he was busy “thinking” aka sleeping, despite the notes of “Bad Romance” blasting from my computer by his head). As a side note, slidy socks and a wood floor make for epic dance moves… just something to keep in mind next time you get the Lady Gaga itch.
So, picture me dancing and laughing while Jacob gave me my own famous “judgy” look (once he was done “thinking”) while he unloaded the dishwasher. Once I started, it was as though I couldn’t stop, until, pausing, I discovered I was shaking. It was then that I thought of Zorba… and I knew why.
After that moment, I did not know what to do with myself. Luckily, traveling leaves plenty of tasks for the just-returned, and so I set about unpacking. Yet even as I unpacked, I kept the music playing. Not to dance, but to keep from being left alone with the soundtrack in my head. Playing were snatches of conversation (“People!”), the sound of the waves, and… most dangerous… my own thoughts. Even Brittany (“oops, I did it again…”) seemed easier to stomach. I was home, which was wonderful, but I was also gone, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be.
What an incredible, full, and changing trip we had! It was filled with self-reflection, in and outside of class… but I have a feeling that the real reflection has only just begun, and that it will entail some work. I don’t know if I’m ready… but Greece itself was full of surprises I was unprepared for… and how fabulous that turned out be!
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