Epilogue

Almost 3 weeks after leaving Chicago in front of an impending snow storm, and I sit sipping espresso in Zurich, watching the sun rise over the Swiss countryside, my final flight back home only 5 hours away. Arriving here on Swiss airlines, the attendants spoke both English and Swiss/German, alternating passenger by passenger. Most of the time when they saw me, they spoke Swiss. I found this rather warming. I am 25% Swiss. While I have more Irish in me than swiss, My grandmother who helped my mother raise me is 100% Swiss. I never thought of having much Swiss culture in my upbringing, as she as well was born in the US. However, walking through the airport, there was something very familiar to the souvenirs that they have here. Being greeted in Swiss instead of English, furthered a strange ,foreign feeling of "home." I am still dissapointed about not getting out and seeing this country as I'm sure it is quite beautiful as well. Unforutnatley the logistics were just too difficult.

I never set up a counter on my blog, so I have no idea if many are reading it, or the few that have commented and emailed me about it. Even with those, I don't know if anyone reads it or just looks at the pictures. Regardless, it has certainly helped me personally. First I have found that my memory works strangely. I can't seem to remember things, unless I have a catalyst to bring on the memory. Ask me what I did yesterday, and I usually stare blankly. Provide one reference point, and I can talk for hours. This has provided me a way to help solidify my memories. Also, I have found that it is very easy to get lonely when you are away from the people that you know and love for so long, and don't have anyone to converse with regularly. I find myself craving conversations with people on the streets, and at times was close to just picking a person to talk to. I'm reminding myself of strange old men on park benches. Its strange how the human being requires communication.

As I sat and read over my blog, it brought back a lot of the emotions that I experienced each day on this trip. I've heard people say that travelling and seeing provides much better education than any text book. I guarantee you this is true. I feel I've learned more over the past 3 weeks than I did through 15 years of education. I've been able to reach out and break bread with people in culture's and lands that were just a strange shape and name on a map. I've seen the uniformity of the human race, its needs, desires, and interests, but also seen the wide and varying conditions under which we live. A starker contrast could hardly have occurred, from the indian child pointing at her grumbling stomach asking for food for her and her brother, to the arabian housewife shopping the elite stores in Dubai, and several countries at various points between.

In each of these areas, I was amazed at how closely tied we all are. American politics being an odd common thread. And I must say an unfortunate item to be used to be a representation of our country, as our politicians and political process (while I do believe its probably the best in the world) is so ripe with inefficiencies, and silliness. I was a little embarassed that I knew very little about the governments of most of the places I visited, in fact could only name the leader of Oman-none of the other ones. They however are all watching the elections as close, if not closer than the average american. In some cases, as the Iranian I met in the Dubai spice souq, because it may directly effect his home land.

Being as large and as wealthy of a country as we are, I guess it makes sense that more people know us, than we know of them. But it does seem we as a society should be more in tune with what's going on around us. 9/11 showed us that conditions and events in lands that we may never have heard of on the other side of the globe can iimpact us in our very homes and offices.

Communication, whether the internet, or the media has certainly put even the most remote place very accessible. There was something very surreal when Rashid in Al-Hazm, sitting on the desert floor in Oman pulled out his cell phone, and within a few seconds, was calling my American phone. Likewise, when I found that I traversed a market in Delhi, and then found that a random friend on myspace had parents that were artists, and used to often have a stall there. The internet has made the world so accessible its amazing.

The world is a big, beautiful place. I think the world population is up to 5 or 6 billion people. Many of them very wonderful people, each one with years and years of life experience and knowledge to share. I only ran across a handful of them, but this has certainly been life-changing.

I am so gracious for the opportunity to do this. More than anything for Natalie, who forcefully encouraged me to take as much time as possible for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I cannot thank her enough, and truly wish I had her by my side the whole time to experience it as well.

If there is anyone else that has made it through all my memoirs that I have left here on this message board, I thank you for taking the time to share them and read them, and I hoped it provided some benefit to you as well.

But for now, this is Ryan, signing off of my trip. See you back home.

-Ryan

February 16, 2008 2:25am (CST)