Five years ago, I studied abroad in Salzburg, Austria during college. One the girls from the collage of nationalities I befriended was Felicity, a brunette from near London.
A few weeks ago I got an e-mail that she was going to be in the States. As I read, I was thinking, "What are the chances she will be on my end of this huge country?" It just so happens, her next sentence told me that her destination was California. My second thought was that there was no way she would make it all the way up here in the foothills of the Sierra. That's when she asked if she could come visit.
I met Felicity at the bus station in Modesto Friday night. Five years is a long time. It's a life time for some people. But it didn't seem like it's been that long. We basically picked up where we left up, filling each other in on all the details of each other's lives, from the trivial to life-changing.
Seeing her was a trip back to the year we spent riding bikes into the Alt Stadt (Old Town) in Salzburg, laying by the pool together and crowding around large wooden tables at an old monastery that is now a brewery. Felicity and I once made a turkey together for Christmas dinner, a huge gathering where everyone brought sometime traditional they eat at the holidays to a large dinner. We all attended midnight mass at a huge cathedral in the center to town.
We spent Saturday at a swimming hole in a river here that is pretty unique. I took her to a nearby town to show off its quaintness. LA and San Francisco weren't too surprising since she's seen them on the movies, but this area was a whole new experience. She thought this type of architecture only existed in the movies and ghost towns.
We also spent some time trying to decipher each other's "language." We swapped a few favorite words that we each promised to spread in our local areas.
Today was her birthday, so we went out to celebrate last night. After brunch this morning, I sent her off again. I was sad to see her go.
Lesson learned: Now it's my turn to visit her.
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