While in Greece, I took a day trip to Aegina, an hour ferry ride from Athens. The day was clear, beautiful, and incredibly windy. After tiring of walking down streets trying to duck the wind, I sat in a café and drank French pressed coffee for the first time. I was just about to turn 22.
More Aegina exploring
I spent hours reading The Robber Bride for my senior thesis on intertextuality, and I felt so content being alone.
A too-brief moment in my life, which I will not forget because I felt adult. It’s also another experience I won’t forget because I almost missed the last ferry back to Athens. Hilarious now—it wasn’t at the time—and that is a story for another time.
Aegina
In many ways, visiting Greece was a serendipitous trip—in Athens, we stayed in a beautiful hotel which had a rooftop view of the Acropolis. As I sat up on there on the last night, a shooting star flew above the Acropolis .
Soon after returning home, I realized that traveling closer to home was just as rewarding. Nowadays, I visit my twin sister, Jen, often. I’ve followed her to DC in college, Sacramento, and now Austin.
And as I enter my mid-twenties, I look to the every day to inspire both my writing and me. Some of my most successful work has come from listening to others’ conversations, from reading, from watching TV.
Interesting writing stems from slowing down, listening and experiencing life.
So I leave you with this: a writing prompt. Keep a list of phrases that inspire you and use them as epigrams to spark your writing. It’s what I often turn to.
Tell me: what inspires you? Have you had any funny traveling mishaps?
-SM