I really don't want to leave Berlin. I have to leave for a while, because I have my Eurrail pass and I need to use it up and see other places over here, but I'm only considering it a short term absence. I have to find a way to stay here for a while. Even if it means working a shit job and trying to scrape by for a while, I'm coming back here.
Last night I went out drinking with an Italian guy from my hostel. He's 27, has lived in four different countries, speaks 4 languages, and just graduated from university. And that's perfectly normal here. He was shocked to learn that I'm 24 and have been done with school and working for the last 3 years. Where as at home everyone expects that you should be on some sort of career path at my age, over here you're *supposed* to be traveling. It isn't considered a frivolous waste of time that could be better spent, it's important and expected that you spend time in other places. The Australians are still traveling and working odd jobs to support themselves through their late 20s, and again, that's perfectly OK with everyone. No one thinks they're throwing their future careers down the drain. No one says to them "Well, if you go and try to get a job at 27 and don't have a solid work history, no one will hire you." No one tells them that it's time to settle down and get a real job and start being an adult.
I'm only 24. I have plenty of time left to be an adult. I have the entire rest of my life to be a grown up. If I spend a year or two over here, I'll have an experience that I will never be able to have at any other time in my life. I love this place. I can breathe here. There's energy everywhere, you can see it everywhere you look. People don't seem as dead and stuck as they do in LA. I feel like here there's a chance to actually do something creative and find people to share it with. I don't want to leave and spend the rest of my life wondering what would have happened if I stayed.
Last night I went out drinking with an Italian guy from my hostel. He's 27, has lived in four different countries, speaks 4 languages, and just graduated from university. And that's perfectly normal here. He was shocked to learn that I'm 24 and have been done with school and working for the last 3 years. Where as at home everyone expects that you should be on some sort of career path at my age, over here you're *supposed* to be traveling. It isn't considered a frivolous waste of time that could be better spent, it's important and expected that you spend time in other places. The Australians are still traveling and working odd jobs to support themselves through their late 20s, and again, that's perfectly OK with everyone. No one thinks they're throwing their future careers down the drain. No one says to them "Well, if you go and try to get a job at 27 and don't have a solid work history, no one will hire you." No one tells them that it's time to settle down and get a real job and start being an adult.
I'm only 24. I have plenty of time left to be an adult. I have the entire rest of my life to be a grown up. If I spend a year or two over here, I'll have an experience that I will never be able to have at any other time in my life. I love this place. I can breathe here. There's energy everywhere, you can see it everywhere you look. People don't seem as dead and stuck as they do in LA. I feel like here there's a chance to actually do something creative and find people to share it with. I don't want to leave and spend the rest of my life wondering what would have happened if I stayed.
posted by Kristal at 3:51 AM
1 Comments:
Hear hear, darlin! There is absolutely no reason to "grow up" so early - or ever, frankly. I'm almost 35 and still haven't. And I don't plan to. Man, as long as we can get away with having fun and interesting and weird lives, why in the heck would we voluntarily stop, go get a boring 9-to-5 job, turn off our brains and spend the next 30 years gradually dying? Stay in Berlin until you don't want to be there anymore! It's an awesome place. You'll find stuff to do to get by. Rock on, girl!
Becky
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