Chicago

Freshman year my dorm organized a day trip to the German Christmas Markets in Chicago. It was a terrible, near-blizzard sort of day and perfect for staying inside and cuddling with a movie, but I had been waiting for weeks for the outting and wouldn't let the weather get in my way. I left J to fend for herself inside my tiny room for the day and bounded for the bus.

Looking back, the German Christmas Market in Chicago wasn't really anything terribly exciting, but to 19 year old me, it was as close as I'd ever come to a European Christmas, and I loved it! I was mesmerized by the cuocuo clock stand and the man explaining how each of them worked in his thick accent. I was enchanted by the warm scents of candied nuts and cider. I pranced along to the little quartets with their festive singers. It was all just so... foreign and exciting!

As I wound my way through the market for the millionth time, snowflakes dusting my eyelashes, I thought to myself, "How amazing would it be to go to a real German Christmas Market?! I mean, to get in a plane and fly to Berlin or Munich and lose yourself in the REAL THING?!" The image made me giggle to myself, but I gently brushed it aside as a quaint little fantasy.

"Nobody would really fly all the way to Germany just to go to a Christmas market, Chels. That's a loooong way just for a little festive shopping!"

It's moments like the one I'm in right this second that I wish I could go back in time and give younger Chelsea a tiny little message. If I could, I would go back and find her in downtown Chicago and show her our plane ticket and give her a little wink.

Still, as I sit on this plane, I can hardly believe it myself. That a tiny little wish I made one afternoon five years and two weeks ago is coming true all because I stumbled upon a flight with an overnight layover in Berlin! That in a few hours, after stopping first to see the Berlin Wall, I will find myself strolling through one of Germany's largest Christmas Markets, drinking mulled wine or hot cocoa and perusing each stall, taking in the sights, smells and sounds of it all.

Man, 19 year old Chelsea would be THRILLED. But not quite as thrilled as 24 year old Chelsea is right now. ;) Thirty minutes until touchdown! Holy. Crap.