Field trips and road trips

When I really stop to think about what I'm doing in my life, I can't help but shake my head and wonder, "How did I get here??" I have visited more countries in the last two months than I did the first seven months I was back in Europe. From March 21st-the present, I have visted the following countries (not including Belgium):

England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Italy, Holland, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, and the US. Phew. It's no wonder that my eyes have been doing some drooping the last few days...I am seriously sleep deprived!

One week after returning from our two week spring break in April I was off again, this time with 23 twelve year olds in tow, for the annual sixth grade field trip to Florence to study the Renaissance. I was able to help chaperone last year as well, so, fortunately, I had an idea of what to expect. We did lots of walking through the city, saw more museums than I had ever seen in my lifetime, and ate lots of gelato. No students were lost, though we faced a very close call when catching the train out of Florence. Due to a typo on our ticket (our departure time was stated as 7:44, not it's actual time which was 7:14) we literally found ourselves sprinting with suitcases, waterbottles and phones flying every which way (or at least mine were), clamboring on board with just under a minute to spare. My kids found it highly amusing to see me freak out (GET MOVING! NOW! GO, GO GO!!!) and I think really appreciated the experience of getting to run to catch something. Or at least that's what I told myself.

A week and a half after returning safely from Florence, I was off again, this time on a road trip with my good friend Mel. What started off as a low-key drive through Germany soon escalated into a "Hey, we're not too far from this country, let's visit there!" extravaganza. I was able to play the role of navigator, only getting us seriously lost once (the road signs were inadequately clear!) and loved getting to see parts of Europe that would have been completely inaccessible by train. Running across a covered bridge in Vaduz, Liechtenstein; drinking lake water in the Swiss Alps, eating apple strudel oustide a castle along the Rhine River...all of these things could take place due to our leisurely pace, open minds, and spontaneity. I had a couple of important firsts this trip as well, including (but not limited to) driving on the Audobahn (though we couldn't get the car to go above 145 km/hour) and sleeping in a parked car (two nights in a row!).

By far, my favorite part of the trip was driving along the Rhine on our way through Germany. The river is gorgeous anyway, but it is lined with absolutely exquisite towns, each filled with lots of character and quaint Germanness. The coolest part about them, though, is that most of them also feature a castle. The castles are lined along the river just as often as the towns. In the one hour that we drive along the Rhine, we saw at least 12 castes along the way. The only thing that kept me going instead of insisting on staying there forever was the knowledge that I would be back to visit someday.

So although the number of hours spent sleeping the last two months has plummeted, the hours spent experiencing things beautiful, uniqe and spontaneous outweigh any missing hours catching z's. I justify it this way-

At the end of my life, which would I rather have accumulated: memories or hours of rest? As one of my friends so eloquently puts it: you can sleep when you're dead.