Let me tell you a story.
This summer, I went across the ocean for the first time. Getting there wasn’t easy–I spent countless hours working at Speedway, (a gas station chain in the US) to obtain the money, as well as working at a part time internship that didn’t pay the best. As I was contemplating how often I dreamt about going to Scotland and Ireland, two very literature based and influential places — I was thinking about how I was going to make it all work.
Some background here — my family, essentially, is in the crap hole money wise. I’m not saying this for pity, or for sympathy, or anything–it is just our reality. Having four siblings and a single parent that makes a mediocre pay, when the two eldest kids are in college, means that there is no money in the bank. I’ve always accepted this with a grain of salt, of course–every time a family went on vacation, I was working to go buy clothes. It is just how I live — if I want something, I sure as hell work for it.
So, you cannot imagine how excited I was to receive an acceptance letter from an acclaimed and rather small, Private University that was three hours away from my home city of Warren, Ohio. More so, how after my freshman year, I obtained an internship in our state’s capital, which meant that I had to live alone for the first time. You guessed it– buying my own groceries, gas, clothes, and whatever else I needed. Not that I’m complaining, because I love being independent, but working at a gas station for 30 hours a week along with fifteen hours a week at a low pay internship was a struggle to begin with.
But, travel still called to me. So, when my friend who was studying abroad said that I could come visit her and stay with her, I researched it in every possible way to make it happen.
Eventually, my friend found an extremely cheap flight overseas at WOW air, an Icelandic airline. I was above excited — I picked up more hours at work, opening at my internship and closing at one a.m. at my other job just to make ends meet. But, I did it.
Once I stepped into the Cleveland airport, I realized how lucky I have been to have this opportunity. I did it — I worked, and in about two months, I made enough money to fly to Edinburgh, Scotland, also with splitting an Airbnb and flight to Dublin, Ireland with my friend.
Here’s me, this girl who loves Harry Potter, writing, literature, castles, and European culture, finally in a place surrounded by all these things. I was absolutely blown away from double decker buses, thrifting in Scotland, independent coffee shops (and how many closed so early), fish and chips, men in kilts playing the bagpipes in Old Town, and essentially going to the birthplace of Harry Potter, the Elephant House. This was only in Scotland where I explored a castle for the first time, being shocked to hear a cannon get fired, where I observed street performers at the Fringe Festival, buying a beautiful antique watch bracelet with a scottish thistle on it. I went to countless free museums, observing archaic art from the romantic period to biblical paintings that have survived for almost a thousand years. I witnessed the Greyfriars Kirkyard, where Tom Riddle stands in his grave– and, I imagined the writers at the writers museum, ink and pen in hand, wondering about the future of the world.
In Dublin, I went to their Writers Museum, where I witnessed the first ever copies of Dracula, Gulliver’s Travels, and an iconic typewriter that an angry man threw out a window. Going up the stairs of the old writers building, I saw an amazing room etched in gold. On each door were wooden panels painted with gold, representing the four seasons.
Afterwards, we got on a bus to Howth, Ireland, to witness an iconic lighthouse, boats, castles, and piers of Ireland. While there, we passed an outdoor farmers market and bought Gelato (although that’s Italian). We wrapped up the day by getting food from Crabby Joe’s, where I had the best crab cake burger of my life, eating them by the shoreside, with yogis right next door. We got on the train back to the airbnb, and couldn’t have been happier.
Leaving Ireland, we headed back to Edinburgh, where on my last day, I hiked up Arthur’s Seat. Standing at the top, I snapped a polaroid, saved a flower pulled from the grass pressed between my journal, and wrote. I wrote this small, little poem:
Barriers.
There’s a barrier, vast
hearts meeting halfway
beating over a distance,
my tidal wave slamming
on the shore of you.
My love has found a coral reef
deeper halfway across the ocean —
it’s here to stay.
-
8/15/2018
My final words are this — if you want something, do it — your dream will happen, only if you work hard enough to obtain it. So travel wide, and often, if you are blessed enough to do so.