Hi y'all,

you wouldn't believe how often I have sat down and started to write
this message. And always I stopped again, just couldn't organize my
thoughts and get them into a simple email. So let's try again...

Yes, I am fine, I got home to Germany allright. Many of you have sent
emails asking what happened. Nothing. I just got home and that was it.
And maybe that's what's so hard to grasp for me at the moment. The
normality of being back home.

No more hitchhiking every day, no more daily worries about food or a
place to sleep, no more volcanoes to explore and plazas to see, no
more people to meet every other minute, no more big heavy backpack to
carry, no more packing in and packing out, no more Spanish around me
and within me, no more travel stress, but also no more travel
excitement.

The truth is that I was happy to come home. I was burnt out after one
year on the road and I was craving for some peace and relaxation, for
some time with my family, for some wonderful German food. I had seen
an awful lot of places, met incredibly many people, hitchhiked
thousands and thousands of kilometers and lived tons of unforgettable
experiences. But it was time to go home, and I was happy about it.

And then I came home and everything was so normal. It felt as if I had
never been away. It was a weird feeling, and I am still not quite over
this initial phase of culture shock. Also, I often felt like I had
been unplugged - all I wanted was to relax and not to do any crazy
activities. I am now getting back to a normal energy level, but I
think it was during the last few weeks only that I realized how burnt
out I had been psychologically. It is stress to travel for one year,
constantly on the move, maybe more stress than I wanted to admit
myself.

This is something that always shoots trough my mind now when I tell
people about this year. It was a wonderful experience, but it was also
a hard one. In this year I have lived as much as I would have lived
had I spent 10 years working in Germany. Sometimes I close my eyes and
imagine that I am in a plane flying overhead and seeing Veit down
there in many of those places I was at in the last year. So many
places. Those are the moments when tears shoot in my eyes and I
realize the beauty of this journey and the freedom I enjoyed.

It's really impossible for me to sum up this year in Latin America in
one message. The full experience will always only be in my head and my
heart. But then again, maybe I don't even have to draw up a big
conclusion. Through the messages you have been able to follow the trip
more or less closely, if you were interested. You have read about many
of the ups and some of the downs of a year on the road. It doesn't
feel like this year was one separated event. Because it was such a
seemingly endless voyage it feels more like it was, it is my life. And
this is why the list won't die...


A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE LIST
This list was one of the most important aspects of my journey. It was
time consuming and sometimes I had to force myself to get writing. But
also it helped me dig deeper into the cultures I saw and the people I
met. And now, when I sit back and read one of the messages again, I am
really happy that I wrote them. I want to keep writing. There are
still some untold stories from Latin America, and there will be new
experiences to be had. I can't tell you now how often I'll write.
Whenever I feel like it, whenever something interesting happens, you
will find a message in your inbox.

What I would like from you now is feedback. Which stories caught your
attention most, which ones bored you, what did I write well, where
could I improve? Many of you have sent me replies throughout the year,
and those were always a big motivation boost. But now I would like to
get some more feedback after one year. I think the next message will
be a compilation of your emails. This way all of you will also get an
impression of how diverse the people on this list are. So even if it's
just a line or two, please give me your input!


THESIS IN DRESDEN
It was not all relaxation the last two months, I also organized my
thesis. From tomorrow on I will spend three months writing at the new
awesome factory of Volkswagen in Dresden. It's a hypermodern glass
factory in the heart of the city that was inaugurated just a few
months ago and that will produce the new luxury model of VW, the
Phaeton. I am really excited about this, it will be a lot of work, but
very interesting work. Much better than just writing the thesis from
books.

I am now living with my grandparents in Radebeul, a mere 20 minutes
from the center of Dresden. If you want to visit me, go for it,
there's a lot of space here, the area is the most touristically
interesting in East Germany (besides Berlin, of course), lots of
things to see and do. I might even write a message or two some day to
make you want to come here.

My phone number here is +49 351 8301 408 and mobile is +49 173 77 49
365. Give me a call if you want to talk to me sometimes and not just
read long emails.

After the thesis it will be travel time again, but how long is up in
the air. Maybe a few months, maybe a year, I don't know yet. I want to
see Southeastern Europe, and then maybe travel overland to Asia. Also
I would like to learn Arabic, we shall see. I will try to find out in
the next few weeks if I am ready to work, send out some applications.
But my gut feeling tells me that there is still so much to see on this
planet that it would be a waste of my youth to start working at age
24.


Warmest greetings to all of you from Radebeul near Dresden, I am
looking forward to your messages!

Veit