summer reclaimed (& this month’s travels)

i have a lot to say lately, it seems!

so far, this has been, by and large, a good summer. but the day after the solstice, i found out some immigration news that has made me become an incredibly stressed person for the next month. i was able to mitigate this stress while on vacation in france by just sort of hitting pause and enjoying the holiday we had planned for so, so many months.

that’s the thing about worry: it’s stupid. either you can either do something about it, or you can’t. if you can do something, do that thing. if you can’t, don’t worry. especially when you spend $$ on a vacation which you booked over six months prior!

easier said than done, of course. in fact, my body has been failing my brain with deciding to break out in hives and all kinds of fun dermatological horrors for the past several weeks. add to that a heatwave and some odd side affects associated with that. but it’s not all bad – i’ve found that cutting my daily one or two coffees seems to really help! it makes sense: caffeine when experiencing stress symptoms is usually a no no – it’s not worth it. it’s just that… i didn’t think i was stressed. funny how the brain and body don’t always seem to agree.

tiny update on the visa stuff: we are feeling optimistic that everything should go well from this point on now that we’ve got some things sorted. thanks all for your nice wishes! here’s hoping for a good official answer.

we just had a tiring but lovely few weeks of summer camp, hanging with the most wonderful children and speaking english with them (while i secretly “sponge” up whatever czech i can! shhhh). the whole month of july has practically flown by this way, punctuated bythe occasional party, swim, letni kino showing, or stop at zmrzli for ice cream.

for the past week, i have been totally dedicated with fitting in as much summer fun-time that i can handle. from nights under the sky trying to find stars, planets, and the moon to a beautiful sunset evening up at the ponds, gathering up as much st. john’s wort (to make a little tincture) as i could find.

now, i am reclaiming the rest of it for myself! you see, i am officially on holiday until september. and i have plans. kind of. you see, back at the beginning of the year, i planned (loooong in advance, as i tend to do) to spend august or at least most of it in berlin. despite visa strife and against all odds, this is surprisingly still happening. i haven’t really been thinking much about because of being so busy running around to this office or that, nor have i bought a return ticket yet so i have no idea how long we’ll end up staying. as long as we can get away with, i suppose, ‘cause i’m not letting this ill-timed assault ruin nothin’.

so, berlin! i’m looking forward to some intensive german language study while being totally immersed in the language every day. unlike when i leave my german lesson here in budejovice and accidentally speak german to the cashier at my usual potraviny, ruining any repoire we once had.

it will be the largest consecutive amount of time i’ve spent there in ten years. and although it’ll be unpredictable, i am so looking forward to getting to know the city, that i’ve always felt as “a winter city”, in the summer. y’all, i know it’s amazing in the summer, but that’s just not how i know it. i know the grey skies, the 4pm darkness, the black outerwear, the glühwein, the beautiful autumns, the cozy bookstores and cafes. now it’s my chance for some berlin summertime gladness. swims in the nearby lakes. popping into places i’ve wanted to go for ages but never have got around to yet.

as always, you can follow my adventures more closely on instagram, and i’m sure i have a couple posts in the pipeline over the next week or few weeks.

cheers to a happy summer – to do all those summer things you’ve wanted to do all year long.