No really, there was a mouse in my suitcase. Well, not my suitcase, it was my boyfriend's (thank GOD), but that's besides the point.
Before I get too far into that story, first I want to share with you why I'm telling it. While reading through your amazing responses to my welcome post, there was one in particular that gave me a lot to ponder. It came from my high school-roommate and close friend Laura's dad, Robert Dolci. After sharing a hilarious memory of Laura and I's freshman year dorm room together, he passed on to me a wonderful and thought-provoking piece of advice that an old Japanese teacher had once told him. This advice was from an Oscar Wilde quote, one I want to share with you now:
“We should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality” -Oscar Wilde
The meaning of this quote, as Robbie told it to me, is that "a good life is when we take serious things lightly, and light things seriously." Reading that made me think back to traveling Europe during my semester abroad in Germany this past spring. Specifically, it reminded me of some experiences I had that were, let’s say, less than ideal.
That brings us back to the story. Cut back to when August and I literally found a mouse eating through his suitcase. It was only the second night we were in Europe. We had decided to come a week earlier than the rest of our group in order to spend some time in London and were staying at a very quaint and comfortable AirBnb about thirty minutes by train to the city center.
We had come back to the AirBnb fairly early that day, as we were exhausted from the time difference, and after greeting our lovely host, we immediately got ready for bed and crawled in. We thought nothing of leaving his suitcase, filled with emergency protein bars (in case we couldn't find celiac-friendly restaurants for a meal), open on the floor, and immediately fell into a much needed sleep. Unfortunately, this sleep was interrupted a mere two hours later when I was woken up by the sound of tiny scurrying feet (NOT the sound you want to hear when it's pitch black in a house you don't know and you're the only one awake). Being absolutely terrified of mice, there was NO way I was dealing with it by myself. I woke up August as quietly and calmly as possible (which isn't saying much). Unbelieving of my prediction, he started pulling clothes out of his suitcase until a tiny mouse jumped out and made its escape.
After searching and trying to catch it for more than thirty minutes, we realized it was no good going at it alone and that we would have to let the host know. While August closed up his suitcase, I was volunteered to be the messenger. Lucky me, right? Sheepishly, I knocked on our host's door and apologized when she answered it sleepily. She agreed that were wasn't much to do, so we decided it was best to just not have open bags with food, and to keep all bags off of the floor. Sounds like an easy end to an unfortunate story, right? Wrong.
The next day we spent the afternoon at Harry Potter Studio Tours. If you know me, you probably could guess that I geeked out and spent way too much money, particularly on Butterbeer with a souvenir mug, a monogramed faux-leather Hufflepuff passport holder, and the holy grail of snacks: a chocolate frog. It wasn't just one of those small chocolate frogs wrapped in see-through plastic, no. I'm talking the ones you can only buy at the parks and the studio. A giant chocolate frog in the same cardboard box as you see in the first movie, complete with a holographic trading card inside. I was pumped. Even so, since I was now an adult who could travel without parents, I decided it would be most mature for me to practice delayed-gratification and leave the chocolate frog for dessert. Well, I can promise you that's last time I try to act like an "adult."
We got back to the AirBnb really late that night, and, like the night before, passed out as soon as we crawled in bed, dreaming of the chocolate breakfast we would feast on in the morning since we were too tired to stay awake. Worries of mice were as far away as they could be as I smartly put the bag with our chocolate up on the nightstand next to my side of the bed, thinking I had outsmarted the tiny beast. But alas, those dreams were promptly interrupted yet again with the terrible sound of tiny, chomping teeth and scurrying paws. As per usual, August was sleeping like a rock and it took me a good few minutes of shaking to wake him up, but eventually he did. Upon turning on the bedside light we heard a violent scurry and then absolute silence. August pawed through my bag to find that the mouse had climbed up the nightstand, crawled into it, and then vanished again. I thought I had zipped it up completely, and we found no holes in the lining of the bag (thankfully, my wonderful Godmother gifted me an anti-slash-material bag before I left home). Even so, there was one tiny hole in the empty mesh pocket on the side where I usually stored my water bottle. I had hoped that was as far as the mouse had gotten, but when I opened the bag to check on my chocolate treasure, I realized the damage was far worse than I had expected. The box and holographic trading card had been chewed through and the chocolate frog was nibbled all-over. Upset and anxious that the mouse could crawl into the bed and seemingly apparate, we threw away the frog and decided to sleep the rest of the night with the light on and my bag hanging on the door to deter our little enemy.
The next night, we turned the light off and left the bag hanging up, but we were woken up again by the mouse searching for food that we did not have. In the end, we had to sleep with the lamp on for the rest of the trip in order to get a full night’s sleep.
That second night, the one of the chocolate frog incident, I was pretty upset. It was my first week on a new continent, the first time I had ever been out of the country (except for Canada, but I live in Maine so that doesn't really count), and I took it as a bad omen for what the semester would bring.
Thankfully, I couldn't have been more wrong. In fact, I had a semester packed full of laughter, adventure, love, amazing food, and experiences I‘ve dreamed of having since I was young. Looking back on that week in London all I remember is the incredible things I got to see and do, and the mouse has become a hilarious memory that helps me to remember the first place I lived in Europe, and just makes me smile. I only wish I hadn't taken it so seriously in the moment, but as cliché as it sounds, I was a different person then. Plus, if I hadn't taken it so seriously I would never have learned such an important lesson.
I learned that the most memorable experiences are often the ones you never meant, or even wanted, to have. The story of the mouse was just one small example. There are so many more serious things that come to mind, such as when August got gluten-ed by eating an entire bread roll in Spain or the day in Paris when August and I were told our semester would be cut short and that we'd have to be back in the US the following week. Both of these experiences, in the moment, were awful, but both turned into wonderful, funny, and exciting memories, because I choose to see them that way.
You see, when something goes wrong - especially while traveling - it can seem like the world is against you or that the universe is trying to tell you to stop doing scary, adventurous things. In reality, it's just as likely that it won't matter in the long run, or that it will actually turn out to be a fond memory... if you choose to see it that way.
Take my semester getting cut short, for example. That felt like the worst-case scenario in the moment. My trips to Italy and Ireland would be cancelled, I wouldn't get to do my greatly anticipated international internship, and I would lose out on the rest of what Germany had in store for me. I won't lie to you, looking back, it is still sad that I got pulled home, but it also pushed me to experience as much as I could in my last days in Europe. Looking long-term, if I hadn't been pulled home I wouldn't have gotten extra credits to add a whole communication major to my degree, I wouldn't have visited Napa, California, and I wouldn't have spent three months enjoying time with my sister who I only see a couple days a year, if that. Leaving Europe sucked, bad, but what I got out of it was pretty amazing too, just different from what I had anticipated. But then again, what's so wrong with different? More to that point, what's the point in focusing on what would've or could've been? There is nothing I can do change how my semester ended, and wishing I could does nothing but cause pain. What I can control is how I remember it. I can choose to see it as an opportunity and not let it tarnish the incredible memories and opportunities from both the trip and after it. I can choose to see the silver lining, even when it's not obvious.
So, when something happens while traveling, or just in life, that is less than ideal, I challenge you to take a moment to consider the possible positive outcomes, and remember that you can choose how it fits into your story. You can choose to see it as something negative, or you can choose to not take it so seriously, and seek out the silver lining, however invisible it might seem.
The quote Mr. Dolci sent me certainly challenged me to look back on these experiences as ones that make my life exciting. I now hope to take that wasted energy I once used to look back and remember things negatively, and intentionally focus it more productively on the things in life I see as simple or take for granted, like adventure and love, and pursue them fearlessly and intensely by using the lessons I've learned from the less than ideal. I hope you will too.
All in all, I hope this story put a smile on your face and gave you the courage to face the unexpected with grace and optimism. As Robbie also told me, "Life is a blast, enjoy!"
Stay safe and healthy, and I'll see you soon,
Sierra
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