Being in Granada in Spain was wonderful: enjoying the warm, winter sun and sharing wine with people from the caves. Camping in the mountains in Israel was amazing: sitting around the campfire, gazing at the stars and listening to friends playing Simon & Garfunkel on the guitar. Having a party in an underground pub with live music in Germany was great for being between lots of friends and dancing the night away. Now, this birthday, I’m not sure where or how it will be celebrated. Perhaps, with luck, Danielle and I will make it to Albania or Macedonia.

I’ll be 30 when I wake up in Athens tomorrow. It’s a funny thing; being in Athens, and using these numbers to keep track of your age like that.

How we ever ended up in Greece I don’t know, much less why we stayed there for one and a half month. I’m grateful for having been here though. There have been countless upon countless of wonderful experiences: the sight of lots of tiny mountainous islands disapearing in the sunset; the Spanish couple with dreadlocks playing the Greek bezouki; and the big white storks, the scary vultures, the cute little monkeys, the hungry goats, the big wild boar and all the other animals at the wildlife hospital.

Greece is a good place. And as always time is still limitless and freedom is there, and this time we’ve decided to use this time and freedom to go home to Berlin. It’s been a long trip, and a comfortable home will be welcome. Tomorrow Danielle and I will start hitching. Travelling on my birthday and not knowing in which country we’ll be, or with whom we will be celebrating seems quite a proper thing to do! I’m looking forward to the adventure, the unexpected meetings and the landscapes we’ll be encountering!

It’s a funny thing. Nearly thirty and at last I know how I want to live. It’s been a long trip of self-exploration. I’ve had an amazing amount of freedom and time to meet people and to try lifestyles which I would never have explored if I had still been in my old university routine. At long last I have learned something, even though I’ve no grades to show for it.

Many nights in Greece I spent on the island of Ikaria, on Nas beach, a place where lots of free-floating people camp in summer. Now in Autumn it’s been quiet though, despite it still being warm enough to sleep outside. Many nights I sleep next to the murmuring river, under a branchy tree, while at night stars appear like a carpet of beautiful tiny lights. In the past I’d feel amazement, wonder and also a slight feeling of uneasiness – in all this giant endless universe, where do I belong? Looking up at the stars now I still feel full of amazement and wonder at all this endless beauty. The uneasiness is gone though. It’s like I have a deep knowing inside – here where you are right now is exactly where you need to be.