The City

The City 

          The group convened behind the door. Excitedly whispering about the night ahead. The plan was simple, easy even. To move quickly and quietly out. We waited for the right time. And anxiously paced again and again. Yet time would just not budge. Everything had to go perfect, smoothly. No mistake were to be made. Our less adventurous companions watched closely. They are our lookouts and guiders. Calling if they hear any signs. The clock struck 12, go time. So one by one we walked. Down the stairs, down the hall. Past the doors, past the desk. Through the turnstile, to the night. The brightly light city before us. Although we could not celebrate yet. The building still stood behind us. A few more paces to go. We looked up back and above. A shining familiar face now visible. Our friend sitting in the window. Watching us walk down the path. It assured us of our purpose . Turing back to the city lights. We then continued on our way. The foreign place seemed so enticing. Streets and corners still left unturned. New memories and new faces waiting. Here the streets were empty, cold. Yet ahead they were bustling, warm. Night still young, we were ready.  

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          The summer after my junior of of high school, 12 students, including myself, flew across the Atlantic Ocean to the Czech Republic. Prior to this trip, I knew nothing about the city Prague, or even the country itself, which honestly made the trip that much more exciting. I loved the idea of traveling. Even the typically daunting airport setting thrilled me. The crowds and crowds of people pushing and shoving, put me at ease. It was bustling and busy and full of life, and became the physical embodiment of how I felt on the inside. Sure I was nervous, and maybe a little bit antsy waiting for the plane, but traveling would not be the same without the huge journey to the land of airports. 

          The city was beautiful. Nothing like anything I had ever seen before, despite traveling a bit in the past. The building themselves oozed character and made me wonder about the stories behind them. What had happened behind those walls? What would it have been like to live there so many years before now? Nothing in the United States made me as curious about history as this city had. New York City, my absolute favorite place in the U.S, was filled with life and people and even memories, but something about this new, exotic place captured me, and made me want to explore. 

          This group of people, people I had never interacted with before suddenly some of what felt like my closest friends. We bonded over experiences. We sat, in the only Starbucks we could find, laughing about how “American” we were before we soon set off to find the best local pastries we could find. We craved the seemingly black list foods like Doritos and devoured the potato dumplings we never thought we would enjoy. We missed the comforts of our own beds but longed to walk the streets of the foreign city. We were caught between doing what we knew and trying to discover what we did not. It made us close and I will never forget the moments we shared.