Prepped and Ready to Go

“Always concentrate on how far you’ve come, rather than how far you have left to go.” ~Buddhist Proverb

March 22, 2013

I have no idea why, but I woke up this morning with a migraine. I rarely get migraines. I get tension headaches sometimes and my allergies occasionally cause pressure in my sinuses, but this was different. Lights felt too bright, sounds felt too loud. The motion of trying to walk made me dizzy. But the worst the pulsing pain through my skull.

The only other time my head had felt like this was when I had a concussion, about a year ago this time. I remember that lying flat in a dark quiet room was about the only comfortable thing I could do at that time. My Dad joked with me when it happened, “Now you know how all your hung over friends feel.”

If that’s true, why would anyone choose to feel this way?

I tried eating some yogurt and sipping some water but it didn’t make much different. It didn’t make anything feel worse, but it just didn’t take the edge off. I knew sleep wasn’t the problem—I’d gotten a solid nine hours the last two nights. I decided to try a warm shower to see if that would release some of the tension. After standing under the warm water for about 30 minutes, it seemed to go away. But as soon as I got out and left the dim bathroom, the light brought the pressure blasting back into my skull.

I gave in. While I’ve been trying to conserve the medication I brought for a real emergency, I decided this was worth it. I took some Advil.

I started pulling out some clothes and other items I wanted to take to Berlin. I was meeting Ivana at school at 4pm and Lubos was going to pick us up to drive to Germany. We were only going for one night because Ivana had some mid-terms next week and most of the attractions in Germany are closed on Sundays in observance of the Sabbath.

The Advil had dulled the pressure in my skull, but it hadn’t quite relaxed my brain all the way. I decided to go get something more substantial to eat.

“I’m going across the street to get Italian food,” I told Aaron. “Do you want to come?”

He thought for a minute. “Sure! Let me just finish this paper.”

About five minutes later, we both slid on our shoes and walked across the street. We took a table by the window and the curly haired waiter (the one who speaks pretty broken English) brought us menus. Aaron ordered a coke and I ordered a black tea—hoping some caffeine would help my headache. It really did make a difference.

The tea (which in English would be “Gold Tea”) was a Lipton brand, however the shape of the bag was different from the states. It looked like a pyriamid, with the string extending from the top point. I guess the shape doesn’t make a difference because  the water flowed through it easily, letting the tea quickly brew into a rich golden brown color. The flavor was awesome. It was bold, but not too bitter. Call it placebo or whatever, but two cups later, my head felt great!

The waiter must have mistaken me for someone else, because when he came to take our order, he asked if I wanted, “the risotto as usual.” I’ve had the risotto there, but only once. I declined and ordered a salmon dish.

The song “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons came on the radio.

I chuckled a little. “Have you ever worked retail?” I asked Aaron.

“No,” he said. “Why?”

“At the SCUBA shop I work in, we play the radio most of the time. It cycles through the same 10 or 15 songs all day. Towards the time I was leaving, this song was playing all the time,” I said. I smiled, thinking about my “work family.”

Aaron and I continued talking about summer jobs and summer hobbies. I shared with him that I like climbing 14ers and he shared with me that he had a summer job working the climbing wall at the school gym. Rocking climbing is a little bit faster than my speed—I like the scenic views more than the challenging climb—but we both enjoyed the outdoors.

“It must be nice living in a state that has so much outdoorsy stuff,” Aaron said. “I wish New York had stuff to do like that.”

“I love it,” I said. “I really don’t have any plans to live anywhere else.”

“Yeah, I don’ know,” he said. “I like the big city, but I also like some place that has grass and views and stuff. I don’t know where I want to live when I’m older,” he said.

“I like big cities, and I’ve enjoyed living in one for the past few weeks. I know that I want to travel all over,” I said. “But I think my state really is my home. I don’t see myself permanently leaving it anytime soon.”

His food came first—a margarita pizza. The Europeans I’ve eaten with don’t seem to wait for everyone to be served. In a group of Americans, we seem to usually hold off on that first bite until everyone has their food.

“Go ahead and eat while it’s warm,” I said.

“Thanks,” he said.

My salmon came out shortly after. It was served with a cream sauce over a bowl of stiff fettuccini noodles. It tasted great!

“What was the hardest part about leaving home for you?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe my ex-girlfriend.” He took a bite. “You?”

“Definitely saying goodbye to my family and friends,” I said. I relayed the story of my parents and I making multiple trips to the airport on the day I left.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Since my family came to visit the first week I got here, I didn’t really think about saying goodbye to that many people. And it was such a long break between Christmas and the time we left. I got bored.”

“I know,” I said. “I never really got bored. I actually enjoyed it. I picked more hours at the SCUBA shop, and spent a lot of time with my family and friends. I joked that if I was out of school for another week, I may never go back.”

“How often do you see your family and friends back home?” he asked.

I chuckled again. “This past semester? Daily.”

“Really?”

“Maybe not every day, but just about,” I said. “With the job I had with the Boy Scouts, I was commuting back and forth a lot. Then with my Dad’s accident, I wanted to be home all the time. My freshmen year, was a bit different, but this is definitely the longest I’ve been away from home.”

We finished eating and paid the bill. Walking back to the dorm, I noted that it was almost 3:00. I had to leave in half an hour to meet Ivana in time. My plan had been to go to the grocery store after lunch to get some travel sized shampoo, but that wasn’t going to happen.

Back in the dorm, I threw my stuff into my backpack. I took a change of clothes, my travel pillow, my fleece sleeping bag (which I’ve slept in every night…so glad I brought it!), my camera, my Vigil triangle—for Boy Scout photos, my full sized bottle of shampoo, some eye drops, a few granola bars, my jacket, my passport, and my iPod. I also brought one of the leather backed journals my Mom had given me before I left. I’d been using one as sort of a day timer to keep track of homework, expenses, and groceries, but the other I’d left untouched. For the next 24 hours, I’d use it to “blog” the old fashioned way…then I could type the stories when I got back.

Zipping up my jacket, putting on my hat and scarf, and strapping into my backpack with my camera around my neck…I felt like a tourist!

I said goodbye to Aaron, Bjorn, and Ante and walked out of the dorm. Catching the 9, I rode it to school to wait for my friends and for the adventure to begin!