#I’ve been waiting to post the last two for a month atp I keep forgetting

[lucraven]

The trio!! And some others ig /lh

[germanfulbrighteta]

London + Lisbon = November

I’ve always hoped to see the ATP World Tour Finals in London, and I finally got my chance a few weeks ago. Spoiler, I took it. My reward was seeing the top tennis players in the world compete on one of the sport’s biggest stages, including Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov, the greatest of all time and the winner of the event.

I had visited London last summer, so coming back again a year later was a fun experience. Traveling offers many rewards, but few as meaningful as learning your way around the world’s most important places. It’s my hope that I can not only visit and explore many, many more in the future, but keep coming back to them throughout the rest of my life. 

Anyway, Federer lost his match to David Goffin in a shock upset. No one saw that coming, especially since Goffin had never beaten Federer before. The crowd, I thought, was very polite though; it was clear that everyone was hoping Federer would win, but afterwards they gave Goffin a big round of applause. Gotta love tennis sometimes.

Two weeks after London, I took the most random trip of my life: a long weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. I knew nothing about the city, even less about the language, and didn’t even bring a travel book with me. I just wanted to experience everything as it was, no preconceived notions or anything like that.

What ensued was one of the greatest weekends of my life. Lisbon, it turns out, is an extremely beautiful city, full of vibrant markets, stunning ocean views, humble and generous people, and outstanding food. Although The sun shone brightly the entire time, it was somewhat chilly, and I regretted leaving my jacket back home (though I felt the truest pangs of regret upon disembarking from the plane back in freezing Germany - never again).

Lisbon also showed how, despite all of the conflict, disagreements, and divisiveness clouding the world today, people can still find ways to put smiles on each other’s faces. On Friday night, for example, I found myself swept up in a small yet enthusiastic Christmas parade in the downtown area, comprised of a guy on stilts, dancing elves, and a handful of dressed-up musicians. I kid you not, hundreds followed this band of maybe 10 people up and down the decorated streets of Lisbon, taking pictures and singing along to carol after carol. It was one of those moments you can’t plan for, they just sort of happen by themselves, and all you can do is enjoy the moment.

But wait, it gets better.

Shortly before my flight home Sunday morning, I once again stumbled across the same parade (stilts guy included). Coincidentally, a marathon was also going on in the city, which meant many of the city’s streets were blockaded. This proved to be a problem for our dinky parade, as the police wouldn’t let them cross and continue spreading Christmas cheer around Lisbon. However, the band decided to spontaneously play for the marathoners as they ran past, eliciting many a high-five from the runners. It was a great scene that everyone, including the policemen, had to smile at.

I found it rather difficult to say goodbye to Lisbon. In 3 days, with virtually no prior planning, I had seen the Westernmost point of Europe (if you sort of ignore Iceland, that is), the impossibly built streets of Sintra, a medieval fortress, a medieval monastery, 2 epic sunsets, a swarm of peacocks, a castle with caves, and the most cheerful Christmas parade this side of the continent.

That being said, it’s a fun time to be in back Germany, as the Christmas markets are now in full swing. As it’s my first full holiday season in Europe, I hope to see as many of them as I can between now and Christmas. I will try not to inundate this blog with too many of them.

It’s been forever since I’ve last posted, and I don’t want to forget about the small details of my time over here, so I will try to update this blog more consistently over the next several months. Here’s to a happy and safe holiday season to everyone back home - Frohe Weihnachten!