Thoughts en route

A bit more positive:

As I was sitting at the train station in Narbonne, a man began speaking to me in French. "Je ne parle pas français" is usually enough to end the conversation, but he was persistent. We stumbled through conversation and he seemed genuinely interested in why I would be traveling in a foreign country, alone, without knowing the language well. We awkwardly spoke in French and he learned that I was a student studying in London and heading to Barcelona on vacation. I learned that he was returning from two weeks of vacation and, while he was not looking forward to returning to work, he couldn't wait to see his family.

He asked me if I had family in France, or friends in Barcelona, and no matter how many times I replied "non," he couldn't seem to grasp the concept. He asked me how I could travel such a long way on my own without being able to understand hardly anything. When I couldn't find the words to answer him and could only attribute it to "bonne chance" for lack of a better answer, I was aware of how I must have appeared to him -- fearless, adventurous, maybe even a bit stupid. The thing is, I don't feel either overly confident or scared ... I just feel amazingly fortunate.

As I watch, from afar, the chaos and destruction unraveling in New Orleans, and witness the beauty and magnificence surrounding me, I am pained that the world can be so utterly bittersweet and unfair. I am growing more and more grateful each day and my resolve to make a difference in the world is growing stronger. I don't know how to yet, but hopefully by the end of this journey -- whenever that will be -- I will have found some direction.