Before Sunrise is one of my favorite movies. In February of 2015, in search of my very own Before Sunrise encounter, I embarked on a train journey departing Istanbul for Berlin. I envisioned endless scenes of gorgeous golden fields, maybe some time engrossed in a sultry novel, and life-altering conversations with others going home. I must have forgotten I wasn’t in a Hollywood hit. Either that, or I just didn’t plan well–plan at all, for that matter. My only goal was to see an old college friend from Serbia, except she had moved to Berlin.
So, I headed towards Berlin with a few stops in between.
Istanbul –> Sofia, Bulgaria –> Belgrade, Serbia –> Budapest, Hungary –> Berlin, Germany –> Paris, France –> Boston
After the journey, I made my first “scrapbook.” Below are images from that scrappy book.
October 8, 2015 (a journey entry)
The train journey I took from Turkey to Germany this past winter to see an old friend, a journey that was exhausting and long, but embarked on by choice, was the same route people today are taking to freedom. To escape from war, families are crossing the same borders I crossed. How was I able to travel from Turkey to Germany so easily, no questions, no pressure for survival or threat to turn back? There was an African man who sat across from me on the first leg of the journey to Bulgaria, with all the proper stamps and documents (from what I could tell), but was still taken off the train by the bulky Bulgarian officers…I still wonder what happened to him. For some political and/or historical reason, I, holding a U.S. passport, am allowed unequalled privileges and freedoms unattainable by so many in our world. Simultaneously grateful for my privileges and freedoms, I’m also ashamed.
May 10, 2017
I don’t wish to disparage my brief adventure across Europe by ending with those somber thoughts. It was wonderful in many strange ways. I just think it’s important to remember how lucky I am in this world, and that I should take nothing for granted. What I took for a leisurely trip was another’s path of survival. It’s a humbling truth.