It has been 11 days since my last post. The reason being not quite black and white, but not quite complex either. I have not posted in 11 days because for the last 11 days, the excitement and nostalgia has been slightly diminished by a combination of weather, school and general laziness.

Shortly after my last post, I realized that I had in fact been here two months, and that during that time not much studying had been done on my part. I countered this by catching up on my reading for the next few days, as well as preparing for several assignments that were to be due the next week (i.e. last week). All this studying was accompanied by weather that seemed to follow my mood. Rain, wind, cold, and more rain ravished Nijmegen for more than a week. This didn’t help my mood any, and made going to class even more grueling than before. The 20 minute bike ride to campus stretched into what seemed like hours, what with the wind perpetually against me… and rain, did I mention rain?

Anyway, these things made the weekend seem more of a recuperation period than a time to tire myself out with travel and sight-seeing. And thus, no travel and sight-seeing happened. So, after two weeks of work in my two months abroad, I was tired. And for some reason, not just tired, exhausted. This made no sense because at home I did this amount of work every week, yet, for some reason, I was truly exhausted.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t sit around my room all last week, but rather, I remained in Nijmegen, and, after some much needed study time, met with friends, drank a beer or coffee to warm ourselves from the cold, complained about the weather (especially the rain), talked about everything, and nothing in particular, and ultimately, relaxed. Perhaps some of the best times I have had here are days when all we did was relax. In this way, last week may have been the most successful week of my stay.

So, here I am. It has been a little over two months, which is still unthinkably hard to believe, and I still can not get over how amazing it is. I mean, I am still quite literally in awe…

I think in all languages you get to a certain point wherein words fail. Not just fail. They nose dive and crash and burn and leave no survivors behind. This point shows itself solely during truly emotional experiences – an unfathomable summit in time where every attempt to explain something comes out watered down or convoluted.

Regardless of how well you write, there are just some things that a person cannot convey with words. There is no substitute for the real thing. And, unfortunately, for a lot of the people reading this, everything I am trying to explain will just be gibberish. And for that, I am sorry. Because I really hoped I could put across how truly amazing all of this is. But unfortunately, no matter how many times I attempt to tell you everything I am feeling and seeing and doing, I will fail. Because of this, I simply cannot explain how surprisingly captivating it is to sit in a bar after biking 20 minutes in the cold, windy and rainy city, and talk with friends about everything, and nothing at all. I just can’t elucidate.

So, I hope that you have experienced this feeling in some way – the feeling that there are some things that just can’t be communicated. And I hope you cherish those times more than any other, and hold them close to you, until the very end. Because when that bright light is upon you, and your life flashes before you eyes, I guarantee, these will be the memories you see. Until then, take pride in the fact that the uncommon occurrences of the failure of words are just a sign that life is being lived to the fullest. So smile. I’ll be right there smiling with you. For reasons I cannot explain.

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