Goal of the day: 387 words. Written: 387.
This letter was written on 11/10/2014 and has been rewritten and updated today (February 2017).
Hello Mileta,
I haven't written to you in a while, right?
The old days.
You know, I've been thinking about you a lot these past few days.
Maybe not so much about you, but about what I learned from you.
Do you remember how we talked about what we had learned from each other during that period of our friendship, lying on the sunbeds on Cleopatra Beach in Antalya, after we broke up? The further I go, the more I am convinced that I was not talking nonsense, but the sincere truth.
Mileta, I know that it must be strange for you to receive my letter like this, out of thin air, but I feel that I have to write it to you. It would be strange for me to keep this gratitude to myself.
Are you wondering what I am thankful for?
* * *
For the month of October I have a challenge – meet 100 different people. Living in the Czech Republic, without using Facebook or talking to other Erasmus students.
And you know me, it's a really crazy goal for me, because I've never been a big fan of interacting with so many different people. You remember my apprehensions during my trips to Greece or Italy, I guess you also remember those when I was with you in Lithuania.
Now, here I am, setting out such a challenge.
I want to thank you that it is only thanks to our travels that I now have the courage to set myself such a challenge. And I just wanted to thank you for all the trips we took together.
For all those foreign language words I learned, for the courage to say what I want and the inspiration to talk about other countries.
Because that's the only reason I can talk to those traveling people and add "Hey, I've been to Turkey too!" I was in Sardinia too! I was also in Kos and Bodrum! I tranny with one furist! And I was sitting in the car of a creepy bitch, my ex-girlfriend!".
Or at least that makes it easier to start conversations with English-speaking Czechs.
It is only because of you that my story and the map of my travels are as interesting as they are now. Thank you, sincerely. And you know - I will travel. More. I will definitely travel in the future.
And I will probably always remember you as a traveler. I hope you still travel a lot now?
Thank you, Mileta. For a year full of adventure. It's been an amazing year.
I will admit that I did not expect to break up so quickly, and even more so that you would decide to leave me so suddenly. But that's okay - the important thing is that you at least didn't push yourself together and that you were open during the whole ending process.
Our acquaintance was born unexpectedly and I had to learn a lot. I hope I learned something - I guess I did. And I promise - I will use the acquired knowledge.
I will travel. I will continue to communicate with those around me. I will grow up.
I will remember you. And I will thank you.
Dan