Back again

Well, I'm back. Still too exhausted to write a whole lot, but in due time I shall give a reconstructed description of the weekend and New Year's Eve. Since I'm eager to put head to pillow, tonight I'll just detail a few thoughts I had on the way home - reasons why it was a great trip.

Getting to see Eric and Vic for a few days was a refreshing event. As I've meandered on this journey, I've grown more than I expected. It was so great to personally see the growth that I have made through a social situation with people that know me really well. Email, blogging, and instant messaging can only go so far. To actually sit down with people that you've been friends with for 10 years is powerful as well as powerfully fun. I'm obviously the introspective type and having fun with friends is no different from meditation for me. It takes me away from some of the troubles of the day and brings a sense of peace - not just because they're excellent mates, but also because by listening to them, by hearing their perspective on life (philosophy if you will) - well, it brings comfort. I have reflected a good bit on this and I can only conclude what was alluded to several times - this journey that I am on has been transformative in very positive ways. In short, I'm much happier than I've been in a long time and it's noticeable.

There was another, more surprising element of the trip. While I love travelling and seeing my friends, I was eager to go home. Yes, that's right - home. London has become a home of sorts to me and that realization stopped my heart. I did not expect to feel that way about the prison cell sized room I live in or the overpriced city that I inhabit. But one way or another, London has become home for a time and I've embraced it. I shouldn't be surprised. I've moved a dozen times in my life (military family), so I suppose I'm accustomed to finding a home wherever I land. And maybe that just speaks to an underlying philosophy that many never have or never choose to have. But for whatever reason, I have come to feel comfortable here in London and that is a happy thought.

The final, not so suprising, but still thought provoking realization is that I think in terms of pounds, not dollars. This is thought provoking because of the implication - I no longer feel like a foreigner in a foreign land. Instead, I've become part of the landscape, part of the culture. It makes sense; I get paid in pounds, I operate in pounds all the time, and the only dollars I have are for my NCAA pool in March (when I'll have to mail in the $5 entry fee).

In the end, it was a great, great trip. I got to see some of my friends in a foreign city while at the same time gathering perspective of where I am personally 5 months into this adventure. That being said, I probably won't return.

People go to Amsterdam for different reasons - some go for the sex, others for the drugs. But some go because Amsterdam is a fascinating social experiment that you can watch unfold before your very eyes (fringed with a dose of horror at times). Much like watching a car crash, you just can't tear your eyes away. I'd like to say I'll return sometime when its sunny and warm - in full bloom. But I probably won't. I've already seen what makes Amsterdam one of the truly unique cities of the world and I'm not likely to be eager to return, no matter how beautiful the flower garden is in the summer. In the end, I probably won't return because this trip was meaningful in ways that returning would never be. There are other cities in the world to see, other New Year's celebrations to have.