Europe: How It All Happened

Before I begin to tell you of my adventures in Europe, there's a bit of background information I think you should know. It all begins at the end of 2003, while I was still a teenager in high school. I was finishing up my first semester of grade 11 and getting ready to spend the second one in Costa Rica on an exchange. Fed up with Canadian, North American culture, I saw the trip as an opportunity to scout things out before making a final decision to settle there (and perhaps open a restaurant on the beach, with a grand piano and only a few tables so that I could go out and play when I wasn't too busy cooking)...

Well, it was a wonderful trip, and I'm still quite attached to Latin American culture, however, after that, I was convinced I couldn't settle anywhere outside Canada. Because of the way that trip seemed to lead me straight back home - and also because of some of my experiences - I had got my fill of seeing the world and wasn't very interested in travelling again anytime in the near future; I was happy simply to focus on enjoying Canada and discover and build new communities there.

The next community I got to know was in the small town of Sackville, New Brunswick at it's university: Mount Allison. At the time, I may have been sure of wanting to live in Canada, but I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to study. Shortly before arriving, I figured out ecclectic mix of course for my first term, but I still had one spot to fill. Being somewhat of a linguaphile and knowing I would inevitably end up in Europe one day, I thought German would be a nice choice (the professor's amazing reputation probably didn't hurt either). To make it worthwhile, I thought I should at least do a minor in it.

Next in this chain of events, was my application for the Killam Fellowship, a scholarship that allows Canadian students to study in the US and vice versa. Not knowing the level of the German that I could be faced with in the US and unsatisfied with my abilities, I jumped at the opportunity to take and archaeology field course in Italy for the whole month of July. The connection, you ask? Well, if was going to be in Italy anyway, it would be easy to take a little time to visit some friends in Ausria and Germany and practice my German.

And that's it. I got into the archaeology course and made plans to visit my Icelandic friend, Biggi, (whom I met in Costa Rica but is now studying German in Vienna) during the last to weeks of June; Petra, an au pair I had when I was 3, and her family (who are now great friends of my family) during the first week of August; and my German friend, Marina, (who was on an exchange at Mount Allison last year and helped me with my German) during the second week of August.

Actually, I take it back; that's not quite the end. I forgot to say that I also did get a Killam Fellowship. Now you're probably thinking: "Gosh, Nico wasn't doing to bad for a first blog entry. Why did he have to go along and spoil it with this shameless boasting." But just hold your horses one minute and let me explain.

Seeing as I had 2 weeks in planned for the end of August and I was also off to Washington, DC on the 16th, that left me with a mere 2 days at home between the two trips. In case anyone out there wasn't aware, it sure isn't easy to cross the Canada-US boarder these days, so not only did I need to pack, get health insurance, do paperwork, etc. for both trips before I left for Europe, but I also had to get immunisation records, "prove" I could financially support myself in the US... and prepare for the dreaded interview for my American visa (which, my host university, "American University", kindly reminded me the visa officer could deny me without giving me a reason).

All that to say, my pre-departure stress level was pretty high and my excitement level was verging on nill.
But that only made my post-arrival state of amazement that much more unexpected and complete...