slowing down in slovenia

We arrived in the relaxing capital of Ljubljana, Slovenia yesterday afternoon from Vienna. The train ride was stunning and the landscape amazing: jagged cliffs and beautiful, rolling green hills.

It has been a much-needed break from the big cities—we are staying at the amazing “Most Hostel,” where the hosts are excellent and made us Turkish coffee.

We spent last night over pizza and Slovenian beer with two guys we met from England staying at our hostel: Chris, an Oxford graduate on his way to a PhD in chemistry to look for alternative sources of energy, and James, a recent graduate of theology who aspires to be a Vicar in the Anglican Church and is engaged to be married next June.

They were the first outspoken Christians we’ve met so far on our trip. With a common bond and language, it was refreshing to talk to these two brilliant-minded thinkers—about the church, the Gospel, our stories, and different theories of how it all will work out in the end.

About a year ago I was frustrated with the “Christian Bubble,” where we can often get lost in ourselves. On this trip, what has been truly refreshing is the opportunity to talk with people who are different than me: to be challenged, to be stretched, to learn to listen. A few we’ve met along the way:

The engineer from Alabama constructing robots to defeat the world’s best poker players;

The two wonderfully intelligent Jewish girls from Jersey taking a final breath before entering med and acoustics school(s);

The Australian chef who drinks absinthe in heaps with laughter as contagious as the bird flu;

Two young Australian girls on a holiday before going to school in Sweden;

Two older Australian girls on a two-year travel hiatus who aren’t afraid to dress in Italian futbol gear amongst 3,000 opposing fans;

Two music-crazy Austrian girls starting to attend school to be elementary teachers;

Two fresh LA high school graduates dreading the beginning of college;

Three image conscious girls whose parents own vacation homes in Whistler, British Columbia;

The Russian-born turned New Yorker girl who teaches children how to play piano;

The 19-year-old jokester from Ohio who tells others he’s a 22-year-old from Orange County;

Young Toronto girl who quit her job to travel Peru for three-weeks before heading to Croatia for a family wedding;

The deep-thinking writer working on his second book project;

And I, the cubicle-wearied turned entrepreneur on a multi-faceted journey;

We are all much the same, yet very different. Each of us is on a search for something, and I hope we all find it.