Mark Davis, Berlin: Global City in the Center of Europe, Summer 2013
Out the window of my plane, I filmed lightning flashing bright through dark storm-clouds cast in purples and reds over grayscale shades by the setting sun. I couldn’t look away as the storm tumbled by. I was enthralled, mystified, and most of all, humbled.
This was the last leg of a long flying day. The two-hour flight felt like a short hop across the South compared to the ten-hour voyage over the ocean I’d just finished. For the long flight, I woke up at 0500, before the sun rose over Berlin. I flew from Berlin to Miami, waited in Miami, and took off towards Charleston. The plane was likely somewhere over Georgia when the sun had made its loop around Earth, caught up the distance from Berlin to America, and finally overtook me.
But I welcomed the setting sun. The painted clouds reminded me of how far I had come and how far I have yet to go. Because I knew as I landed, I would break back through the cloud layer, diving out of the dreamy heaven-scape of the summer and into the realities of home, the planning for school’s return, and the reintegration into my native culture. But I knew as I watched the clouds that I had time left. Time was left to enjoy, to still be free, to remember my German months and the joy, creativity, and adventure they brought. And time was left to reflect on how far I had come.
The sun was setting on my experience, but I expect the sun will rise again, as it tends to. For now, I have to say goodbye to a language, a culture, and a nation, to friends and cities I learned to love. But I think of this “day” which has passed, between watching sunrise out the window on my flight over to watching the sun set on this flight home. And knowing how much I will miss from this “day” reminds me how much we have done in it.
I don’t have any worries right now. I’m sure that will change, but it’s nice to know that, looking back, I have no regrets. I am proud of what I did in Berlin – of how much I changed, how much I learned, how much I grew.
I don’t worry about the sunset. Because I feel prepared for tomorrow’s sunrise, and I can’t wait to take what I learned in the “yesterday” of Berlin and bring it home with me.