Alright, so rather than a countdown this week I'm going to use a chronological format - but still with ten entries! Over the summer I spent an amazing seven weeks in Europe traveling from Portugal to Poland primarily by myself. As is normal I had music playing in my head throughout the entire experience and have distilled the playlist for you all.
Frozen Medley
No real reason behind this song making the list aside from the fact that it was the only song I was able to use as an alarm on my iPad so I heard it every day - sometimes multiple times a day to alert me to trains, buses, shows, dinner, and other important times.
I Can Go the Distance
This was the song I sang in my head to bolster my confidence, especially at the beginning of my trip. I must have repeated the refrain in my head a million times by the time I landed in Lisbon. I continued with the song anytime I covered a large portion of land, such as going from Rome to Vienna.
I'll Make a Man Out of You
I sing this one all the time anyway so it's only natural that it followed me. I have some social anxiety and would use this as my motivator to get out and explore each day. I find it to be a fairly inspiring song - if Mulan can reach that arrow, I can leave my room and see the Colosseum.
Strangers Like Me
The more I explore this beautiful world the more I'm affirmed that we are mostly the same. Every stranger I've ever met is, in fact, like me. Often times I never find out much about them - this summer I shared so many moments with people I'll likely never see again - from the joyous to the sorrowful, the exciting to the monotonous. I believe that people are mostly good, and people just keep confirming it. I only had trouble a couple times in my trip - and even those memories stick out vividly, they are mere drops in the ocean compared to the many, many kind, helpful people I met.
Be Our Guest
Yeah, basically every time I sat down to eat in France (and to some extent Italy) I was singing this song to myself. Sad news - the flatware was never entertaining.
This Is What Dreams Are Made Of
I could not for the life of me get this song out of my head during my week in Rome. It was all I could do not to belt it out while walking around the ruins. I even had it rolling through my head while I toured the Vatican Museums. I was glad mind reading is not a thing because it may have been slightly quite embarrassing.
Down in the Underground
Speaking of embarrassing... I found myself often in subways or transferring between trains via underground tunnels. And this song... well, once I was in a glorious tunnel in Austria at about midnight and this song needed to be sung. Because amazing acoustics ya'know? Well, as I was singing (in a tunnel, at the top of my lungs) a man came down another staircase and gave me the oddest look. I'm sure I was as red as my bag until the next morning.
Do-Re-Mi
Salzburg was AMAZING! It was just a real nice place to chill. Plus I love The Sound of Music so the city was like skipping through one of my favorite movies. (Bonus points for happening to be there during a folk music festival.) The absolute best part of Salzburg? No one even seems to notice you singing because so many other people are too.
Put One Foot In Foot In Front of the Other
I know it was most definitely not Christmas (truly I don't care though). But whenever I go on moderately long walks or walk while carrying things or walk while I'm tired I break out this song. So the on my second to last day in Europe, while I was still only kind of over a cold, carrying a pack, and we walked roughly 15 miles.... I was thinking this song over and over and over and over.... and over.
Nothing in the World
By the fourth and fifth week I was still enjoying Europe, but I really wanted someone to talk to at the end of the day. Someone to turn to and say, "Did you see that?" Someone, to watch my stuff while I went to the bathroom. Someone to help decipher train schedules... You get the idea. I was so glad in Poland to finally have people coming that I basically had this song on loop in my brain! And that loop only ramped up when I flew back home.
