I spent this past weekend in Berlin, a trip through the school that I am studying abroad with. Of course, I was captivated by the history and atmosphere of the city, but that was not my only new experience this weekend. Before now, I had never stayed in a hostel before. From what I had heard, hostels were supposed to be dingy, dirty, and the only people who stayed in them were broke college-aged travelers. Well, the particular hostel I stayed at was extremely nice and clean with a great bar. The only thing my preconceptions were accurate about was the age group of the guests.
No one had ever mentioned to me how absolutely fantastic the atmosphere of a hostel is. As I stated before, it's mostly young adults who are interested in traveling and seeing the world. Everyone I met there was friendly and genuinely interested in your story and the experiences you had to share.
As a raging introvert, even in blatant social settings like pubs or night clubs, etc., I find it basically impossible to strike up a conversation with a stranger. At the hostel bar, people just came up to me and started talking. They ask where your from, why you're there, and other things. I found that from those basic questions, the conversation begins to become a sharing of travel stories. Over the weekend, I met so many people with such interesting stories to tell and they seemed invested in what I had to say as well.
It wasn't uncommon for a stranger to just sit down at the table with you and start a conversation. Anywhere else I would have found that strange and it would have made me immensely uncomfortable, but that was just the atmosphere of the place. Strangers begin to drink together, and by the end of the night you have added them on Facebook and exchanged phone numbers.
Though I was in a large group, many people travel alone. I think that is what makes them so at ease with talking to strangers, because drinking with others is more fun than drinking alone. I found that the lone travelers were the ones most likely to sit down with strangers. Everyone there had a genuine interest in the people around them.
I am beginning to feel that way too. There is something rewarding about getting to know people from other places and hearing of other places. It puts in perspective of just how big the world is, and just how different other places can be. And though the hostel may have been full of complete strangers, we all had one thing in common: the desire to see the world and experience new cultures and meet new people.
