Since the beginning of time, humans have been continuously drawn to the unknown. Even with everything provided, they sought the unfamiliar, lured by a hunger for knowledge and curiosity. The first story, Adam and Eve, acted upon that same human trait, not as an act of rebellion, but rather as a desire to discover. The act of wanting to touch the untouchable seems to follow us throughout the centuries.

From Pandora opening the box just because she had to know, to Prometheus, who stole the fire because he imagined more, and not out of necessity. In the same way, the Vikings left the comfort of their “fjords” to chase foreign winds and travel into the unknown, to see, to feel and to embrace it entirely. Even when everything became known to us, we seem to constantly believe it is not enough, because, frankly, it is never enough. The thrill of the unfamiliar will always outweigh the comfort of familiarity.

That longing and thrill never left our hearts and minds. Even across time, all of us have something in common: curiosity. But now this desire is fully capable of being fulfilled. From GPS maps to flights, everything seems possible to us; we just have to crave it.

Coming to Liechtenstein was scary, and not because I had lived with the fear of danger or some other unreal situation, but because it was unfamiliar. Arriving here made me unsure. I didn't know how to interact at first, and frankly, everything seemed different, even though we live on the same continent.

Despite that, I have realised that a lot of cultural practices here are a bit different from mine back home in Moldova, but that didn't make them any less beautiful. Perhaps all this unknown started to feed the fire of curiosity inside my chest. I couldn't even begin to express how much has been so interesting and foreign here, from practices and amazing people to nature.

I have learned a lot in the five months spent here, but not just about Liechtensteiners, but also about myself. I have learned a lot about who I am and what I seek, not with the prospect of becoming the next Galileo or biting into an apple to gain consciousness and knowledge, but by learning to trust myself in the unfamiliar, the unknown.

Everything still felt unfamiliar to a degree, but I've learned to adapt and perceive everything around me. My favourite unfamiliar, though, has to be the people. I miss them very much. Even though I had learned a lot about different cultures back home, being at the dorms and interacting with other students from Liechtenstein, but also from Erasmus, broadened my perspective on the unfamiliar.

Perhaps now I'll crave the unknown, the misunderstood and the fear; almost as if I embrace what it means to be human, to be curious, to want to discover.

I started writing this blog close to two weeks before I left, and frankly, I stopped writing in the middle of it because I wanted it to be genuine and real. But I couldn't pick it back up ever since I came home because I felt sad and lethargic. In a way, I felt as if I was reborn there, and when I finally got back home, the cultural shock hit me so hard that I was in tears for close to a week.

I felt like a stranger in my town, my own house, with my own family and friends. My home turned into something unfamiliar, and now I had to familiarise myself with life in Moldova.

I miss my friends from the dorms, my friends at the University, and just the place and the peace and the unfamiliar that managed to become familiar without me realising it. The smiles, the laughs, the tears and the goodbyes – they're all engraved in my soul so deeply that I don't think they will ever go away.

Evenings spent in the kitchen at the dorms, watching a movie or just talking about life. All these people were strangers to me in February, but now I think about them and how much I learned from them, and how much I hope to see them again. I see them as a family, and in a way, I hope they miss me as much as I miss them.

This way, I became familiar with thankfulness in Liechtenstein. I'm very thankful for meeting people, changing environments and becoming someone new. I never knew my curiosity could be so close to the surface; it's something I was never familiar with in myself.

Moreover, I had to rediscover my own country, in which I had lived for twenty years before coming to Liechtenstein. I started observing more, speaking up, smiling and just enjoying life slowly. I know the people around me don't understand why I'm so relaxed and calm now. I learned that back there, and it became a part of me now, in this place.

And in the end, I found something I never knew I even had, and I'm grateful for all the life lessons I learned while in Liechtenstein.

P.S. If my friends read this, I miss you very much and I love you ♡