Preface: As we write this, I’m still not in Uganda, but one
plane ride away. I stopped and saw one of my good friends in D.C. for a few
days and then traveled around Europe with my older brother Brett for a week. And
fair warning, this is a long post. Please take breaks as needed, stretch, eat
snacks, nap, and feel free to not read the whole thing (there won’t be a quiz).
I would shorten it to just the interesting stuff, but there’s probably a small
handful of people that want to hear all the details. Which might just be my
Mom. So here you go Mom! Hope I don’t put you to sleep too!
My first stop was to see my good
friend Alec in the capitol, Washington D.C. He moved to the East Coast since
he’s a stud in lacrosse, and is now doing what he loves by coaching lacrosse!
It had been 0.2 since I’d seen him and since I had to fly out of the east coast
anyways, I thought I’d stop. He’s also getting married to his beautiful and
awesome fiancé Kelly this summer which I won’t be able to make it to just
because they were too selfish to reschedule for when I get back. So I get in
with my 40-something pound backpack, my secondary, smaller backpack and also a
tertiary bag, which has stuff for me to bring to Brett. Needless to say, I look
pretty ridiculous. Alec laughs at me as he picks me up but then we catch up on
life, share a meal together, and then head to his place for some more
fellowship. Man, he’s an awesome guy.
So Alec has to work the next day
but I decide to set out to see the capitol by myself. The thing is, it’s like
33° and snowing/slushing out, and that isn’t exactly what
I had packed for since it’s more like 33° Celsius in Uganda! (Oh
man, conversion jokes. You engineers get what I’m saying). Nevertheless, I have
a great attitude, I’m in the capitol where lots of political stuff happens and
such, and I’m off on an adventure!! My attitude changes pretty quickly, as
nothing is open either due to the snow or that it is too early in the day. So
an hour and a half later I’m soaking wet and finally just go wait inside the
capitol building for my tour to start. Let me tell you, this is the best
building in the world. It is dry, warm, has a roof, it’s dry, it’s heated. It
was awesome. I guess the other parts of it were cool too… After a tour, I was
no longer dripping wet, so I force myself outside once again. I spend the rest
of the day visiting museums and such until Alec joins me after work. Let me
tell you a bit about Alec’s car. It’s the best car ever. It’s dry, warm, has a
roof, and even a heater. It’s awesome. We go see some more museums and learn
about things, then go back to his place, play some FIFA, talk and hang out, get
dinner and enjoy being bubs together. The next day we go on a “hike” to the
“great” falls in Virginia. And by hike I mean a nature walk. And by “great
falls” I mean more of large rapids. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day and it
was great to enjoy some nature together. We go do the whole tourist thing the
next day, visiting monuments, yelling “FREEDOM!” Mel Gibson style off of the
Lincoln memorial, seeing other statues and such. It was actually very
interesting and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. We then grab Kelly
from the airport and we all go to the store together and prepare for an Italian
feast that Kelly makes us. She made some phenomenal lasagna along with other
appetizers, and after consuming about double what I normally eat, we all hang
around her place in Georgetown and talk until we’re all about to fall asleep. The
next morning Alec and I go to the library of congress to try to steal the
Declaration of Independence. Oh wait I mean to go see books and stuff. I also
was on a mission to find a transcript of a speech my Dad gave a long time ago
about the internet (I think he was onto
something), unfortunately I wasn’t granted access to the library cause I
couldn’t get ahold of Obama. I texted him and he responded, “Sry in a meeting.
ttyl :)”. So it didn’t work out. Oh well.
Alec then dropped me off at the
airport and we said our goodbyes. I had a few hours before my plane left
though, so I hung around, read some books, talked to some strangers, one of
them said he had candy in his van but I wasn’t hungry. I talked to this one
girl who was on the same connecting flight and she decided that I was required
to have a proper American meal before I left the country, and we both had a
layover in Philly, so we decided we’d have my last meal in America together.
Apparently fate wasn’t a fan of these plans and our plane got delayed an hour
so we both had to rush our separate ways. The
one that got away… But anyways, I make the flight to Munich, try to sleep
the best I can, and then arrive in Europe.
This is when I would suggest taking
a stretching break, going outside or getting some coffee or tea. Once again,
sorry it’s so long.
Brett, his
buddy Lucas from Austria, and I meet up in the central train station and we
drop off my excessively large bag at one of their friend’s house so I don’t
have to lug around the 40 pound monster the whole time. What a blessing that
was! We all stroll around the city, nearly getting hit on multiple occasions
not because of the driving, but more because Brett and Lucas are used to
walking around a town of 5,000 and the traffic is slightly less there than in
the large city of Munich. And naturally I’m like a lemming and follow them into
near death situations. Somehow we all survive. We go watch the surfers down in
the English Gardens for quite some time. It’s more like wake surfing, but there
is just a constant wave in this part of the city and they ride it and do pretty
sweet tricks, almost like skateboarding. Then a group of ducks try to swarm us,
along with the two leaders, the swans. Those things are pretty intimidating
close up. They account for nearly as many deaths per year as sea turtles do. We
do more tourist things then meet up with Maya (girl who’s house my bag is at)
and all of us go out to this restaurant that’s been around since the 1500’s and
this place was packed with futbol fans that are celebrating a Bayern Munich game
earlier that day. The place was pretty legit.
The next
day Brett and I fly out to Barcelona via possibly the weirdest, least friendly
airline out there, RyanAir. They’re great because the flights are so cheap ($60
bucks round trip to Barcalona) but they are the stingiest company ever. If by
some chance your luggage is half an inch beyond the required size, it’s a 50
euro charge. Pretty crazy. I meet this really nice girl on the plane, Francis,
who gives me some awesome tips about the city along with hand drawn maps and
lists of things to do… So basically a free tour guide! We land in Barcelona and
find a pretty cool hostel called the Hipstel. You’ve probably never heard of
it. It came complete with trendy people, terrible jazz music, and an attempt at
being green. There was a sign in all the bathrooms saying that water was a
non-renewable resource. Now I’m no genius, but I’m pretty sure water is one of
the more renewable resources we have. Regardless, I limit my showers to 12
seconds and don’t wash my hands after going to the bathroom. Gotta conserve the
water. While walking around the city we find a small place with Tapas, which
are just smaller dishes with a variety of food. We let the guy pick out a few
things for us, mainly because we couldn't read the menu and couldn’t understand
him. We watch some Real Madrid futbol and then he comes back with some fried
squid and some other food. Now I’ve never tried fried squid, but I’m glad I
did… And probably won’t do it again. We then went to another bar and watched
the second half of the game and celebrated the victory like the locals!
The next
day we went to the beach, but it wasn’t terribly hot out, but it felt great to
someone who has been in Oregon and in the Austrian Alps, so Brett and I are
walking around the city in shorts while other people are bundled up like there
is a snowstorm coming. It was honestly 15-20 minutes before we saw someone else
in shorts, and it was in the 60’s. We made lunch at the local market which had
the most beautiful fresh fruits, juices, meats, cheeses, chocolate and other
local foods. It was an Instagramfest out there, so many people taking pictures
and rightfully so, the colors were unreal. From there we made our way up to the
Parc Guell on top of the hill, which the architect Gaudi had done a lot of
design at, and he also lived there. We hiked to the top of this hill and got a
breathtaking view of the Barcelona panorama. That night at the hostel we met a
group of German’s around our age and talked to them all for a while. They were
pretty awesome people. In fact, most everyone we met in the hostels was pretty
cool. And also a bit weird. Not a whole lot of travelling business people stay
at the local youth hostel. Speaking of youths, there was a massive group of
school kids at the Hipstel so Brett and I decided to mix it up and find a new
place. Go figure, there’s a group of kids there too. I feel like an old man
complaining about kids, but they wouldn’t get of my lawn and I didn’t want to
get out of my rocking chair since my cane was inside by my walker.
After a
less than restful night due to those pesky kids and their music, Brett and I
head towards a hike to an old monastery in the mountains half an hour outside
of the city. Thinking we’re a couple badasses, we decide we don’t want to take
the path and want to go right up the ravine and do some free climbing and such.
Well, after bushwhacking for half an hour and then coming to essentially a dead
end, we go back down the hill defeated. Nevertheless, the adventure continues but
this time on a well marked trail with signposts and such. About halfway up, go
figure we get stuck behind a group of 160 elementary school kids, so the going
is slow from there. But we eventually summit the mountain and go on a path with
several scenes retelling the story of Jesus, and then we get to the actual
monastery which is very beautiful. (I’ll be posting pictures eventually,
somewhere so you can actually see what I’m poorly describing by generic words
such as “beautiful”). We hop on the train back to Barcelona, exhausted and go
take a nap at the hostel and wake up and decide to make dinner for ourselves.
We meet some new friends, Kat and Encode, in the kitchen and collaborate our
meals together, which ended up being super delicious. That night we get talked
into going out clubbing with these two girls who kept bugging us about it, not
because they liked us but because they worked for a company and got paid based
on how many people they brought. I felt so used. There was a Russian and
Swedish girl, Natalia and Jenny. Jenny was a lot of fun, Natalia was more…
Well, Russian. She didn’t seem to enjoy my stupid dance moves. But Brett, Jenny
and I stay out until like 4 am, which is probably the latest I’ve stayed up in
4 years doing non-school related stuff. But we’re rookies compared to Jenny. As
we’re taking the bus home, she gets off midway through the stop because she has
a friends birthday party to go to. She invites Brett and I, but we decline,
mostly because its 4 in the freaking morning.
It’s raining
pretty hard the next day, which isn’t the worst thing because we don’t feel bad
sleeping in until 9:30 and reading in the morning. We make a new friend in the
Hostel that morning and then all go to the Sangrada Familia, which is a
in-progress cathedral designed by Gaudi, which was the most amazingly
architectured building I’ve been in. I would highly suggest googling it and
checking it out, but basically the support and inspiration of the shapes and
such we’re inspired from nature, so the columns would go up as one “trunk” then
branch out to four different supports and stuff like that. Once again, google
it, it’s totally worth it. After spending quite some time in there we go check
into the new hostel, which is actually really nice and has a very modern feel
to it. It sorta had a skateboard theme to it, which was fitting because we met
a some English guys who were sponsored by DC and other local shops. But that
night Brett and I hung out with a New Zealand girl named Amanda and a French
guy named Quinten, who was a total goofball. We went out and bought two fresh
baguettes and good wine for 3 Euro, and feasted communion style. We busted out
some playing cards and rotated through a few games, learning each other’s games
and just enjoying some good times together.
Thursday was our last full day in
Barcalona, and we went to the old Olympic site. All day we were “baguetting”
(check out Brett’s Facebook album) while enjoying the beautiful day, seeing the
old castle, going to the market again for lunch and enjoying an array of juices
along with fresh bread and meat. I wish we had eaten more meals there, the
fruit was some of the best I’ve ever had. After exploring some more, we made
our way back to the hostel and reunited with our buddy Quinten. We started
playing paddle ball/wall ball with a bouncy ball and shoes for paddles on the
roof of the building. There was a group of people staying at the hostel who
spontaneously broke out in a choreographed dance while making dinner. I felt
like I was in a musical. They were pretty legit, and turns out they were there
for a competition. Alright dance extras of Step
Up 13, game on. So naturally, Brett and I teach (or attempt to) everyone
the line dance “Good Times”, which seemed pretty basic compared to their
routines, but who cares, it was fun! Then we started a dance party and had some
dance-offs. I was clearly out of my league, but I was thinking screw it, I’ll
never see these guys again, might as well make a fool of myself. Since that’s
what dancing comes down to for me, not how well I can do it but how many people
I can make laugh at me for my lack of dancing abilities. We then get talked
into going out on the town again with some of our friends (minus the Next Best Spanish Dance Crew). I guess I
didn’t learn the lesson on peer pressure very well. So we leave the hostel and get to the train
station at 11:58 and the trains stop running at midnight. It was a close one,
but nevertheless we take this Metro to a bar where all of us from the hostel
hang out and get ready to go to the club. Everyone eventually goes into the
club but Brett and I end up taking a taxi back to the hostel with the host who
took the rest of the group to the club. Everyone was obviously sad, nay, heartbroken, when we didn’t go clubbing,
since they wouldn’t have anyone’s dance moves to laugh at, but on night of
clubbing in Barcelona was enough for me. I’m not as young as I once was…
Back to Munich the next morning,
had just another world-class experience on RyanAir then go find ourselves
another Hostel. Brett and I were pretty tired again from traveling, so we had a
low-key night of card playing and hanging out. We found an awesome burrito
place similar to Chipotle (obviously not as good though, more of Qdoba quality)
that really hit the spot. They even had Tapatio. I know, right?! Talk about a
taste of home. They guy even gave Brett a bottle to take back to Austria, which
I regret to report was stolen from his jacket. Tapatio is a hot item on the
Munich black market. Okay if you’re
still reading this, maybe take a stretch break or get a snack. Here, I’ll even
start a new paragraph so you can have a good stopping point.
The next day we got our stuff from
Maya’s place, then had Vietnamese food for lunch with Maya’s best friend
Annika, who was a movie makeup artist and the cool kind too, like gunshot
wounds, broken bones, severed arms and stuff. They were hilarious girls, we really
enjoyed hanging with them. From there Brett and I went back and found a new
hostel and wanted to go check out what renting a surfboard and wetsuit would
cost for the river surfing. We get to the surfshop and the smell was beyond
nostalgic, definitely reminded us both of when we lived in Hawaii and used to
surf. WhERe doES tHe tIME go? Unfortunately they didn’t rent wetsuit booties,
and the name of the river is “Ice River” which made us decide it was probably
pretty cold. That, and the fact that it was like 35 degrees out both made us
decide that it was a little too cold to go without the proper gear. But we
start talking to the guy who owns the shop and share a little bit about what
we’re both doing and stuff and start talking about church and faith and stuff
like that. Turns out Christiano is a youth pastor/worship leader at his church
in Munich, and his dad is the head pastor, and this skate/surf shop is his
ministry to the city and the demographic of skaters and surfers. It was so
amazing to hear about his heart for this city, this generation, and
specifically those he gets to interact with in the shop. Talk about being
immersed in, but still standing out in the world! He invited us to come check out his church
called the Christliche Biblische Gemeinde, and we were excited to go the next
morning! After hanging out at that shop for quite some time, we go back to the
hostel and shower up, this time actually with soap. We may have forgotten it
while in Barcelona, but it was ok since we both stunk. We also forgot our
towels in Munich too, but it turns out T-shirts soak up water too. Technology,
it’s crazy stuff. So, freshly shaven, we meet up with Maya and Annika again for
burritos again, because they were pretty legit and we spent a few hours with
them listening to some live music at the hostel, then we parted ways for the
night.
The next morning Brett and I packed
up and left the hostel after a delicious German breakfast, which consisted of a
toasted peanut butter and Nutella sandwich, and another toasted sandwich with
meat, cheese, cream cheese, and other toppings on it. Not quite the same
breakfast we do in America, but I have no complaints whatsoever. Using our
expert navigating skills, i.e. Brett’s sense of direction, we show up at the
church a few minutes before it begins. It was crazy how much this church felt
like home even though I couldn’t understand the preacher, lots of the worship
songs, or what I was laughing about, but I seriously loved it. My mind was
wandering a bit as I was sitting there listening to the pastor speak in German.
Deep thoughts with Beau Milliken: I realized there are some things that
transcend all language and cultural barriers, classes, stereotypes, countries
of origin and people groups: Smiling, laughter (I seem know when to laugh at
jokes in several languages), the evidence of love of Christ in a group of
people, the glory of Brett’s crazy long mustache, fellowship among believers,
and the camaraderie of people being in an unfamiliar environment while
travelling. It becomes so apparent that we’re all on the same team, just a
bunch of people trying to figure this whole “living” thing out. I feel like the
whole “Finding yourself while backpacking through Europe” is one of the most
cliché things of my generations, and I want to say that it is definitely the
more expensive route to “find yourself”. Mirrors are only a few bucks, or you
can find a sign that says “You Are Here”. Ha, get it? Alright sorry, that was
awful, but all joking aside, really it’s not about going somewhere to find out
who you are, it’s about being yourself where you’re at. Put yourself in new
situations where there’s no reason to put on a mask, and you get to just be
you. Turns out you can just do this everyday! That’ll save you some expensive
plane tickets…
So we talked to Christiano for a
bit after church but had to leave soon after since Brett had a train to catch.
We gathered his stuff from the hostel and went and grabbed some lunch. We
decided to spring for some really fancy food: Burger King. Don’t judge us.
After buying the train tickets and sitting around talking, it was time for
goodbye. This goodbye was really tough, not only because it was my brother and
a best friend, but it was also the last familiar face I’ll see for a while. It
really hit me as I went and checked back into the hostel. I’m still crazy
stoked, but that was the last piece of home that I was holding onto, and now it’s
off to the next chapter of life. So I’ll leave you with the words of wisdom
from Brett: “Don't forget the memories. When the good times get coming don’t
you dare forget them. Truth is, memories are coming atcha, so don’t let them
hold you back.” Truer words have never been spoken.
I am so tremendously blessed to
have had this opportunity for a few pit stops before Uganda and I thank the
Lord for the gifts he blesses me with that I in no way deserve. I urge you that
if you don’t know our creator, just check him out. He’s pretty darn amazing. He
loves you more than you’ll ever know and wants to bless you because you too are
his child who he loves unconditionally. My prayer is that whatever I do
glorifies him and not myself, because every gift comes from him.
I am in the Doha, Qatar airport
right now, a 5 ½ hour flight from Uganda where I hope to do a quick update to
let you all know I’m safe and sound, but in all reality please don’t worry, I
have my Lord watching over me! All glory to the maker of the heavens and the
earth!
Love you all,
-Beau
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