On exotic places

This weekend, our group explored Heidelberg, a cute German town that provided a castle ruin for us to (semi) explore. Besides this castle, we got to see a traditional Christmas market, which was also full of cuteness. I got to try some German sausage for an extremely cheap price.

Having gone to so many places though, Heidelberg was fun, but stands out as nothing extraordinarily special. I think it might be because I’ve traveled so much and done so many things—I’m quite traveled out. Heidelberg would have impressed me had I gone as soon as I arrived. Now though, I can enjoy it, but I can also file it under, “nothing special.”

 I always used to wonder why Europeans were less enthusiastic about traveling around their continent.  In a movie called, “In Bruges,” an Irish character talks about the cute medieval town Bruges, saying, “Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't. ”

Although I am definitely not as cynical or as rude as that character, I now understand  why many European choose not to explore their own continent—to them, it’s much less exotic than it is to us. I remember a some French girls once asking me why American don’t travel as much around our country—while one answer is that it’s kinda big, a better one is that it’s all a little boring to us. We’re used to it and crave something way more exotic. Who knows? Maybe when I go back, everything will seem much more exciting to me than it did before.