A Lifetime of Adventure

Back in 2008/09, I took part in the student exchange program which had me rooted out of my cozy Belgrade student life to spend a year living and studying in Missouri. Of all the unfamiliar places I experienced during that year, certainly the most “out of this world” was the spring break trip with several of my new American/international friends to Hawaii. Since this whole adventure was booked at the very last moment (thanks to the modern travel-industry’s miracle called “last minute deal offers”), I barely had any time to mentally process and comprehend the whole hullabaloo of packing, catching flights, traversing half of America and a half of an ocean, and spending amazing sunny mornings on the Waikiki beach and cool evenings in the blossoming forests around the city. The first time I truly had a chance to dwell on the magic of it all was one night when my friends, tired from a whole day’s hiking to the waterfalls and subsequent indulging in pineapple cocktails, went to sleep, whereas I stayed roaming the streets of Honolulu, ending up on the nearby beach. It was only then that I took the opportunity to gaze at the full moon and listen to the lonely sound of waves. For all the clichéd sound of the whole scene, at that moment I felt incredibly lone, yet contented, and inspired to contemplate on the path that had led me to this point in time and space. It was an almost schizophrenic sensation, thinking about my family in a provincial Serbian hometown, my best friends probably just waking up somewhere in Belgrade, my numerous acquaintances scattered around the globe, and trying to connect them all into a single (and rather young) lifetime. How could a single person’s memory of barely more than twenty years hold and cherish such diverse experiences, span so distant meridians and enclose such a vast array of emotions? Daring to fall into the cliché waters again, I could truly savour the thrill of that moment, allowing me to admire the entwined nature of each person’s life path, and what adventures it still had to hold for each one of us. It made me all the more eager to strive to gain ever more novel experiences, set foot on the many unfamiliar spots, and meet new faces, enriching my knowledge of the world and of human soul. Although at that point I could not predict the path my life would take in the future (nor can I now), I realised that the most precious and the only unalienable treasure I can hold are my memories, and the ability to relive them.