Welcome to Germany

I wrote a massive post yesterday waiting for the bus to Munich but Tumblr lost it. Awesome.

I’m less motivated today so here is the short summary. I’ve been in Germany for about a week now and it has been great - but the total opposite of solo backpacking.

I have been staying with a guy I met in Thailand (Simon) and meeting his family and friends. We’ve been to Frankfurt, Nürnberg, and Würzburg (where he lives). The pictures above are from those places and a wedding we went to together for his cousin.

Other musings…

Language barriers are hard while traveling but manageable because you generally don’t need a complete command of the language to ask for food/water/lodging/bathrooms. What I never expected or thought about previously was how hard it is to date someone whose first language isn’t English and all that comes with it. It’s hard not being able to have deep conversations with parents/siblings/friends.

I find it incredibly sad and frustrating that by only speaking English I can only talk to a few billion people on the planet rather than all of them. We really limit ourselves by not speaking other languages.

I have written about this in another post, but I’m not even listening to my own self and what I learned while I was in Asia. I left Simon and traveled to Munich solo yesterday and am having a really hard time adjusting back to solo travel.

Most of all - I’m not being kind to myself. I am beating myself up about feeling lonely, scared, cold, lazy.

It’s okay to feel lonely - I’m in a city where I don’t know anyone and I don’t speak the language.

It’s okay to feel scared - I sold everything I own, live out of a backpack, and don’t know what country I will be in next week. That’s scary.

It’s okay to be cold - it’s fucking cold out.

It’s okay to be lazy - my body is stressed, I’m eating weird foods, I’m nostalgic for home, I miss the security of Würzburg. I’m allowed to get up at noon if I want, it’s probably better for my body anyways.

I have some fun things planned this week - walking tour, visiting Dachau, German museum, Englisch Garten - and when I am not doing those things I need to be kind to myself and allow myself to feel whatever I am feeling, without beating myself up about it. I always consider myself stronger than the average bloke, but I need to remember that it is absolutely okay to be the weakest person in the world.