Homeward journey

'Good bye, good bye! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good bye till it be morrow.'

(freely inspired by Shakespeare)

Friday morning: my 48-hour journey home begins. There's Matcha Latte and sandwiches at the train station, then three hours on the KTX express train to Seoul.

(A little K-Drama live on the platform: a friend and his girlfriend have to say goodbye because he's going to the military. He had to quickly run back to the door to hug her one more time. Ah, young love..)

From the Seoul train station, it's an hour on the S-Bahn to Incheon, where I can freshen up and sort things out at the hotel. One last dinner on Korean soil. Hopefully a long night of good sleep.

Early Saturday on the S-Bahn three stops further to the airport. On the plane, 12 hours to Istanbul. A few hours layover, then 3 hours to Düsseldorf. From there, 2 hours to Bielefeld. If I'm lucky, I'll be back in my bed by 11 pm on Saturday evening - so Sunday morning Korean time.

Plenty of time to reflect on all the experiences of the past month and process a bit. Once I've arrived in Germany, there will be a little conclusion.

What happened yesterday (Spoiler: not much)

My last day in Busan was gray and humid, matching my mood. Once again, I had a short night due to noisy neighbors in the evening and construction work under my window from 6 am. I'm currently only functioning on emergency power.

As a farewell, there was another round of karaoke (hooray!), a long walk in the northern part of the city, dinner, and long conversations with my Busan tour guide.

Do you know the feeling when you meet a stranger and feel like you can completely open up emotionally and show vulnerability, which you might not always be able to do in familiar contexts?

It's this... well not anonymity, but this emotional distance that sometimes allows you to speak completely openly and without any hesitation, to unload everything without worrying about burdening the other person too much.

What a coincidence to meet someone on the last leg of my journey who can empathize with my worries, fears, and burdens of the past years in many ways, because they've experienced them too, and with whom I could exchange thoughts over the last few days.

It almost feels like the universe sent me this person to slowly transition me from vacation mode to 'now let's focus on what's been left behind' mode.

Well, these are the thoughts of a very tired Nina, barely typing with one eye and one finger before dozing off on the train.

Keep your fingers crossed that all modes of transport cooperate, and then I'll check in one last time from Germany.