This week has been mildly rough on me. For some reason I have had a hard time sleeping. My brain decided it wasn't working hard enough while trying to learn another language during the day, so it decides to not rest during the night either. Though it has given me a lot of time to think and one thing I thought of was that I am glad I put my bed next to the heater. I have my heater barely above off so it only has a small warmth. I keep my window open so I can have cool air because it's awesome, but the small bit of heat is perfect. Just so long as the vile ladybugs don't find the heater awesome as well I will be fine. It has frosted a few times now so hopefully they are all dead.
Because my mother is awesome and she sent me my flip flops that I forgot, I now get to wear my flip flops…quite a lot…and the people around me who don't know me quite as well think I am crazy. Everyone else just knows I am. Every morning I hope on my bicycle and pedal furiously to breakfast. This works excellently for me because the faster I pedal, the warmer I will be, and axiomatically speaking I also am moving faster. Normally for one on a bike this is a bummer for his or her hands. But because I am not a novice rider, I ride with my hands in the pockets of my hoodie and sit back enjoying the my perch on my ride to breakfast. Yesterday someone told me that it was crazy cool that I could ride without using my hands. I told him of the convenience of avoiding frostbite on my metacarpals. He was still really impressed and it made me feel cool and my fingers not cool all at the same time. Naturally this is a good thing. My next goal is to ride a bike while operating a flycam. Just kidding. But I have taken video while on my bicycle. It wasn't too bad either.
I have been waxing philosophical in my recent "Nachtgedanken" and it has helped me realize that nothing worth having comes easy. I remembered a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that said something along these lines, so after a quick google search I found it, copied it down, and posted it on my door to help me stay motivated, especially through the times when I am tired and all I want to do is sleep. My paper taped to the door says "Nothing in the world is worth having or doing unless it means effort, pain, or difficulty. -99% Theodore Roosevelt." The 99% part is because I changed the second to last word to "or" when it used to be "and". I felt it was more correct for my situation…kinda like one of those multiple choice questions, "Which answer is most right for the situation." Those things are terrible. I just want to get that off my chest. But I digress. I had a good reason for changing it so that is what I did. I didn't feel like one should have to experience all of those things just to get something good out of life, but one or two was something I definitely agreed with.
Any time I think life should just be easy, I should just suddenly be able to speak another language, or magically know everything I need to about my future I think about this quote. When things come to you easily, you often don't have as good of an appreciation for them. It's only once you have worked hard, had challenges, and maybe even some pain to achieve a goal do you fully appreciate its value. This is something I was raised with, but as I experience more of life I find this to ring truer and truer. Or to put it simply, you get what you pay for, and free things are often crap. That being said, I do like free things, but it doesn't get you anywhere in life. Part of growing is being challenged, and without challenge you will never grow. This is something I have thought a lot about in the past week. I have just wanted to know what I was supposed to do with my future, or be able to speak perfect German. Both of these would be awesome to just, poof, know. But it wouldn't be the same. If I don't go through the work of actively searching for what I need to do with my life, I won't have as good of an understanding for what my ultimate purpose is supposed to be.
Don't get me wrong, I am not a philosophizer by any means. That usually hurts my head and I have to scurry off to a corner and rock myself back and forth to the world I am used to, where I avoid prolonged experiences in overly serious situations. But this trip has helped me to grow in various ways. And with growth comes new knowledge and new life experiences. While this week I didn't go anywhere and explore new lands and eat different and delicious foods, I did still learn something about myself and have life experiences. If nothing else is accomplished with my time in Germany, and all I do is learn valuable life lessons then it was a good life choice. The awesome thing is, I am getting more out of it than just that.
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Ok, just because I don't believe in having something serious all the time, I thought I would end with a funny story. The other night I was riding my bicycle through the campus. There were no clouds out and the moon was behind some trees so it was very dark. My bicycle has a light on it but I haven't hooked it up. After this experience, it might be worth my effort.
It was right after Week of Prayer here at the school so everyone and their bicycle was out and about. No one rides a bicycle slowly in the cold, so everyone is flying around in the dark. No one I encountered had a light. Literally one of the scariest things ever.
The first person I encountered saw me, but I didn't see them until we were right in front of each other. I was still going no hands. This normally is not a problem. My reaction time is good. Sorry guys, but I averted disaster here. My brakes exclaimed their protest shattering the illusion of relative quietness. I did not come to a complete and full stop, so I kept on riding without much more thought. Along came another person. They were moving at an inadvisable speed for it being a dark sidewalk. He clearly didn't see me but I could see him pedaling quite efficiently in my direction. Not wanting to cause a scene I moseyed on over to my side of the walk and was going to let him pass when all the sudden he saw me. Apparently he thought we were going to come to an abrupt stop, with our bicycles in a fiery wreak and the carnage of our potentially mutilated corpses scattered hither and yon. Of course none of this was the case. He hit the brakes harder than a person learning to drive stick in San Francisco. This made his bicycle careen towards me at an alarmingly sideways trajectory. By the time our vehicles were in the near vicinity both were moving slowly, and when they collided, eggs may not have broken. But the acrobatic move the rider pulled to avoid getting run over by his own bike would put some countries' Olympic teams to shame. We exchanged "My bad"s and "Sorry about that dude"s, and went on our way. The most harrowing bicycle experience I have had in regular weather conditions was done. But it wasn't until we had stopped that my feeling of control escaped me. As I had earlier mentioned, everyone was out. Another person goes zooming by, blissfully ignorant to the potential their ride could bring them. I didn't see them at all, and since I had nearly died twice, my nerves were at the ends of their ropes and were about to give up.
They did. But in an order to maintain the appearance of control, only on the inside did I jump. And figuratively speaking, it was an athletic feat in its own. But on the outside, I probably just exhaled quickly and forcefully. I don't know. There was no danger but at that point I bid a hasty retreat inside where there were no more cyclists.
