vacation

My boyfriend has an unusual hobby called urban exploring (urbex).
This means you go and visit abandoned places all over the world.

For example, the picture on the left is taken in an abandoned mansion
somewhere in France

We also went to an abandoned bed and breakfast in France. This is abandoned since 2002 because the owner had to close it because of money issues. The picture above is taken in one of the rooms you could rent there.

Now the shocking part for me.. The right picture is a picture I also took at the abandoned bed and breakfast. This was in a storage room. Keep in mind the bed and breakfast was still open in 2002 and used this holding plate of dark women. Something that definitely represents slavery. I was so shocked when I saw this. It felt like a new wake up call. I again realised that the remains of slavery are enormous.

The next day I took my grandma's wedding dress with me while visiting an abandoned mansion. I'm so glad I did that. Since the pictures we took mean a lot to me and my family. I never knew my grandma since she died way too young. Years before I was even born. It's so magical that her wedding dress fits me as if it was made for me.

This day really made me think of how important family is and how I felt connected with my grandma through her wedding dress even though I've never met her.

Since connecting has always been important for me in my work (connecting as a social worker with clients) this day really made me think of ways people (can/will) connect.

After two days of road tripping and urbexing we arrived at Annecy (Lake Annecy). A beautiful piece of nature in France. We had three days here to discover and relax of course.
Because of the other environment, I noticed I came with new ideas, new arguments and new insights for my essay. (I mean, I had to the first deadline is in two weeks.)

During those days my essay came to live in my head. I'm grateful for my boyfriend constantly listening to me and helping me out while I was having a discussion with myself about my essay topics.

This vacation was not just relaxing, it brought me much more on a personally base.

It brought me personal growth.