I wanted to open my eyes wider.  To breath in every bit of air around me.  To take note of every sound particle, and subtle nuance.  What an incredible moment, I thought.

Sitting on the rocks of Akropolis — the Parthenon temple to my right, and all the lights of Athens dispersed below me.  My mind was trying to comprehend the immense 3,000 years of history  that ensued at this very spot.

It felt like I could witness and sense all the years of history that transpired here.  All the thousands of ideologies, thoughts, certainties, beliefs, doubts, loves, disappointments, and inspirations that took place on this hill.

All accumulating to this single present moment.

My friend Giannis and some Greek students we had just met were deep in conversation.  I was listening in, trying to understand from the bit of Greek I’ve learned in the past week of being here.

Such a mesmerizing language, I thought.  It’s like a subtle mix of Latin suaveness with raw undertones of a Slavic language.  We were discussing philosophy, travels, Greece, language, and life in general.

I took a deeper breath.  I wanted to squeeze that moment into eternity.

The sounds, sights, smells, touches, and space just seemed to reverberate throughout me.  I could feel myself wanting to leave my body, very similarly to the onset of a lucid dream.

This is why I travel, I thought.  This is why I do what I do.  It’s the moments like these.

It’s the feeling of being in foreign lands, foreign languages, and foreign faces, and the recognition of our humaneness beneath all of that.  These raw sensations and feelings we all experience, and that make us one and the same.

I then closed my eyes to kiss the sky.

I was met with an overwhelming sensation of gratitude and appreciation.   It was a reminder of my purpose, and to the person I deem to become.  To experience, understand, and partake in this human experience.  The experience of a lifetime.