Dear Friends!
How are you? An entire month has passed wherein I'm sure you've been on many adventures of your own; some ordinary laced with the extraordinary, and some purely extraordinary I hope. Being back in New York City after living the past month in Athens, Greece is surreal. How lucky it feels to trade one iconic city for another. Meeting a new city is like meeting a new lover in a strange way. At first you are stunned by the immensity of it all and slowly you fall for the minutiae.
There were many moments quietly spent on my own. Freedom was felt in the meandering streets and pastel colored buildings below The Acropolis. Awe was felt at the Parthenon. Imagine standing among the ruins of a civilization people thought would live forever. There were lots of tourists there too, but... There was delight in every bite of baklava and ice cream cone, often had in the company of my beautiful sister. I felt calm and maybe a little sad on long walks by the sea which is the bluest azure I've ever encountered. There was joy riding up narrow impasses on a scooter through the mountains of The Meteora and a still curiosity walking through an Easter candlelight procession on Aegina. Stray cats mewing in an alley, an old man with a bouquet of wild flowers hiking down an impossibly steep olive grove, octopus hung out to dry, being chased by a Greek guy on a moped and then being rescued by one...
I've always found that living abroad for however short or long a stint, makes you appreciate home and better yet encourages you to be with yourself. If you can't take a trip halfway across the world then do at least one of the following, and I'm sure you'll find something new that will make you be happy you stayed.
Look up; don't presume you know what you'll find.
Talk to strangers; they could be friends in the making.
Walk, walk, walk; it's one of my favorite things to do no matter where I am. You hear, smell, and engage in the personality of a place in a way that you can't from the confines of a rental car.
Leave the plan behind; what happens when the museum is closed, or the tickets are sold out for the show? I don't know, but don't go back home.
Leave your neighborhood; it's hard to do, but the sooner you do it, the larger your neighborhood becomes.
Try to leave your headphones at home; sometimes a little insulation is comforting and necessary, but sometimes it's lovely to be open.
Sit down somewhere and be quiet; sometimes the park is better than t.v.
sometimes your fire escape is better than the movies.
All love to you on your quests wherever they may be.
xo,
Frankie
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