I still can't understand why every woman out there in the world doesn't love it as much as I do, but to those of you that don't, I guess I can see where you're coming from. As for me, I'm reading the book for a 4th time. Yes, that's FOUR. It just SPEAKS to me. No, I have not been married and divorced like Elizabeth Gilbert. Nor, incidentally, have I actually been to Italy, India or Indonesia. Go figure.
I have, however, been through soul-torturing relationships (relationshits) and somehow managed to heal. I've read this book after every single breakup of mine over the past few years (please, let's not do the math there...we all know my romantic history is a complete and utter hot mess) and it always helps. It's like when you hear a song for the first time and are captivated by how well another human being has articulated the EXACT way you feel. This book does that for me. I'm more than a little apprehensive about the upcoming film version, but I'm sure I'll see it anyway.
On a less dramatic level, the book affects me DEEPLY in that every time I read it, I want to GET UP AND GO SOMEWHERE.
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote that in Italy, she spent the first few weeks of her time there completely lost. I loved reading this, because I can, naturally, relate...
Rewind to August 2008. I've been in Copenhagen for 3 hours, and have never set foot on European soil before. Cursed with an unfortunate inability to sleep on planes, I was wide awake throughout the red-eye flight and EXHAUSTED upon arrival, but the minute I stepped off the plane I was alert and ALIVE. Granted, it was just Copenhagen, a city I had never really claimed to want to visit...I think if I had started my European travels in Rome or something my head might have exploded. But still, it was EUROPE.
After a brief hotel stop my aunts, my mom, and I went to dinner in Nyhavn. After the meal, they were content to sit at the table, and I went for a little stroll. The sun was setting. I walked by cafes, and boats, and children, and gorgeous men who smiled at me. I walked on cobblestones and docks. I stood on a bridge and took this picture:
I had NO idea where I was or where I was going, but in that half an hour stroll, I felt more peace, independence, sheer happiness than I had in years. There is something so inexplicably awesome about standing in a place you have truly never come close to standing before. Everything, everyONE is new.
It's like a drug, and I'm not gonna lie...feeling a little deprived.
So, dear readers, I need some suggestions. Come December, I will have almost a year off of school. I'm feeling like this would be the time to feed my travel addiction before I buckle down for nursing school. Tell me your favorite place in the world you have or HAVEN'T been. I am desperately seeking the next place(s) in which to get hopelessly lost.
