Summer Times

This summer has been a whirlwind of travel, work, and above all establishing deeper connections to my friends and making some new ones a bit different than me. I travel to Europe last month with a friend from MBA school who is Hungarian but a Romanian citizen and currently resides in Romania. We enjoyed the days on the beach with our new Dutch friends and nights drinking Sangria by the sea. It was a different experience for me because for 4 days I was the only American, and I loved it. I loved the cultural differences, the language barrier and above all the warmth of meeting new people who embrace you the second they meet you.

I started to think about my Grandfather and his diary on the beach during the day. I thought about the story he would tell me on how he got to the desert fighting Rommel. He was stationed in N. Carolina (I believe) and the Captain of his command asked for volunteers to go fight with the British Army in Egypt. My grandfather told me he was the first to raise his hand not because it offered more money but because it would be an experience of a lifetime. An adventure that he never thought in a million years he would be able to achieve. I have pictures of the Egyptian Pyramids that he took from his fighter plane along with stories he wrote regarding making friends with the locals. It made me think that perhaps I am walking in his shoes by meeting new people, trying different things and above all loving others for the beauty they bring because of our difference.