September 29, 2023

I met my first American in Poland today!
She was one of the coolest people I've ever talked to, and I want to be her when I grow up. She is 90 years old and has been to nearly every single country in Europe. We started talking when, after hearing our English for a few minutes, she asked us where we were from. We both replied "America," and she responded, "Well yeah, I know, but where are from from?" And then we could tell by her accent that she was American as well. Sophie, one of my friends from FLEX, and I were so excited, we just had these big smiles and responded "Oh my god you're American!" The woman said "Yeah! I'm from Arizona." We told her that we were from New Jersey and Colorado and continued talking for 20 more minutes. Here's her story:
At age 83, her husband passed away and she explained that "if I had stayed there and only thought about him, then I would have died too." So instead, she booked a one-way flight to London, and from there she country-hopped, staying in youth hostels and going wherever she wanted whenever she wanted. She said, "I was so spontaneous that after one night staying at a place, I would walk outside, take a look around, and decide right then if I wanted to stay longer or move on to my next spot." She explained how she got addicted to spontaneous adventure and travel and that for six months every year, she goes back and forth between mainly Athens to Warsaw (her favorite places), staying at youth hostels by herself. Ninety years old!! When I asked her what advice she would have for her younger self she laughed and said, "well, I know that younger me would never listen, but I would put more work into having a strong education." Doesn't she just sound incredible?! I was completely fangirling over her and her life story. I learned from this brave, lively, and free woman that life should not be clean-cut and predictable. On the contrary, once you push yourself to take a reckless leap of faith into the unknown, only then do you have true ownership of your own freedom.