Wants and Needs

Perhaps the most recurring theme of my semester thus far has been wants versus needs. Or, better put – things I think I need versus things I actually need.

Traveling has a way of putting that sort of thing in perspective: you discover the essentials and your own creativity in obtaining them. You learn to separate the things you need – like sleep – from the things you don’t – like a bed.

One could argue, for example, that the litmus test for how badly you actually need a restroom comes when you see the “service charge” machine blocking the door. You stop and evaluate: a Euro, a Euro-fifty? Hmm, that’s a half of a meal or better yet – a whole loaf of bread for tomorrow’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner. How often one finds that one did not really need to go that bad!

You learn the tricks, of course: that McDonald’s doesn’t charge for restrooms, that a scarf makes a fantastic pillow, that (as a friend of mine warned me before I came) travel-sized Febreeze is your best friend, that chewing gum can make you feel full…and all those remarkable insights that come with the challenge of traveling.

Returning from ten-day break, for example, my friends and I spent two consecutive nights sleeping in airports. Airports are not bad--when they’re heated, that is. But you learn: you find the warmest hand drier in the bathroom and spend a fair amount of time underneath it. You buy the cheapest, hottest drink (usually tea) and just hold it. You walk around. A lot. You turn the scarf that was a pillow into a blanket and master what my friends dubbed “yoga sleep” – any number of ridiculous positions that manage to conserve body heat.

It’s incredible what you get used to and how quickly you get used to it. Like cold showers, or the kind (in some hostels) that shut off randomly. You perfect the one-minute shower (my family should be happy to read that) simple to avoid having shampoo left in your hair all day.

Yet I do believe that these are some of the most formative situations I have encountered. It takes a sense of humor, an attitude of humility, and a disposition toward simplicity to make it back to the Kartause each Sunday and be able to say: “That trip was a blessing and I was changed for the better by it.”

Blog post written by Cara Weiss, Fall 09 Gaming Student