I sat on the edge of the world last night.

At least, the closest thing to the edge as I've ever been.  Last night was my final night abroad.  And I got to spend it watching the 10:00 PM sunset over Reykjavik. 

Words are insufficient to sum up my experiences.  Pictures aren't enough.  Trinkets, postcards,  and t-shirts don't even scratch the surface.  What's in my heart and my memory is too much to begin to share with anyone who may stumble upon this goodbye letter.

I saw and experienced things that as a child I dreamed of.  I saw humpback whales in the bay of Reyjkavik.  I smoked hookah among a den of grizzly old men in Turkey.  I saw Michaelangelo's David and was struck by the grandeur of it, deep in my heart.   I ate pizza while sitting on the stoop of an old building whose steps were submerged in water in Venice.   I let a chocolate melt in my mouth in Belgium.  I drank a beer in a lively pub in London, enjoying the good spirits of all around me.  I stood on the spot where prisoners of war were hung for their "crimes" at an old concentration camp.  I saw a host of other cultures and people from all walks of life and what's in my heart are pieces of all these people, and experiences, and moments, and I will be basking in their glow for the rest of my life.

Conversations over dinner you never think you'll have

"Lindsy, you can have the last shrimp."
"No thanks, I just had this whole bowl of jellyfish."
Me: serious.

"Lindsy...fish eyeballs!"
(My Korean friend over dinner.)
"No thanks, you can have them!"
"No, Lindsy, I eat one and you eat one!"
(I mull this over...I'll eat one if she does...)
"Lindsy, joke...joke! Don't eat fish eyeballs!"
Me: relieved.

"This octopus is stuck to my chopstick with its suckers!"
"Nay, (yes) it's still alive."
"Will it stick to my tongue?
"Bite carefully."
"Chew?"
"Nay, chew carefully, it can stick inside your throat!"
Me: shocked.



By the way, live, wriggling octopus dipped in hot sauce is absolutely delicious. Another sentence I never thought I would say.