Making the most out of every opportunity

I like to live life without regrets and take full advantage of opportunities that come my way, but I have to admit there is one thing that I do wish I could have experienced more than I did at the time. This one particular thing is traveling. When I was in Poland my junior year of college, I had the opportunity to travel a little bit here and there. I visited a few different areas of Poland, and I went to Berlin, Paris and Rome. Even these are places that many Americans have never even had the opportunity to go and see, but I do wish that I had done more effective planning before I started my endeavors. Had I researched these places better and created a plan of action to see specific things, I might have gotten more out of my visits. In addition, if I were to do it again, I would have made contact with local residents to find out which places were not the “tourist” areas, therefore getting a better feel for the city and what it would be like to actually live there.

When I look back on my adventure in Paris, for example, I shudder at the thought that I actually went to a restaurant called “Buffalo Bill’s”, a Western-themed American restaurant. Why in the world I would ever make this sort of decision to eat here still puzzles me. Had I done a little research for good, well-priced (I was still a student, after all) restaurants, I could have experienced some authentic French cuisine versus downed a previously-frozen burger and greasy French fries, the closest to French food that I could have come to eaten. I even have a memory ingrained in my head of going to café for breakfast and ordering the “American breakfast”. In my own defense, the “French breakfast” consisted of just a croissant with jelly and tea, which did not seem like it would be filling enough for carry me throughout the day. However, this could contribute to pointing a finger at overweight Americans who consume eggs, bacon and sausage for breakfast on a regular basis.

My Rome experience was somewhat more authentic, eating at local restaurants and taking in the culture and atmosphere. Perhaps the biggest thing that I regret is not touring the Eastern European cities, especially Prague. I had planned to first go to Prague with a group of friends that were also from different countries but studying in Poland for the semester, but then had decided to go with another friend who was in the south of France at some point later in the semester. In the end, I did not end up going and regretted not making the solidified plans to actually make it happen. I still fully intend to travel to many places around the globe, and perhaps my very brief travel experiences and regrets of not seeing more will be a blessing in disguise because it will motivate me to change things the next time around.

Sorry, Buffalo Bill’s. Next time I’m in Paris I’m getting some frog legs and Bordeaux.