THE SPELLS : TIME & CONVERSATION INITIATION
Whenever I solo travel, I always stay in hostels because “I want to meet new people, have a conversation, learn and maybe build a network”, but it never happens because I never initiate the conversation, I only respond when I’m spoken to. Even at that, my responses are always on a very surfaced level, with the maximum conversation duration being 90 seconds (don’t ask if I check for the time🙄).
Well, they say there’s always a first time to everything. Thanks to Malaga where the Time Spell was broken because I spoke to someone in the hostel for about 5 minutes (She initiated the conversation).
Welcome to Geneva where the conversation initiation and time spell got completely broken.
DAY 1
On the 25th of January 2024, one of the days where I was sleeping in, I was alone in my hostel room, when this pretty woman walked into the room clearly, back from an outing. While she was minding her business, I was having internal battle on whether I should mind my business too or for the first time, achieve my aim of staying at hostels. After a few minutes of battle, I thought “what’s the worst that could happen?” and decided to talk to her.
Little did I know, that the conversation with Mebeth would become the start of an amazing experience for me. My conversation with Mebeth is one for the books!
We had a lot in common, mostly travel-wise. It was a nice, almost hour-long conversation with a pretty stranger I had just met, who slept across from me.
We gisted about our countries, where we are currently based and what we were up to at that point in time. During the conversation, I mentioned that I didn’t know much about Philippines asides the information from some of the movies I had watched –“Handle me with care” and “Mara & clara” – ones I really enjoyed. To my surprise, Mebeth was shocked to know that Filipino movies ever made it to Nigeria. Here I am, across the bed like gurllllll only if you knew! At least within my environment then, it was a MOVEMENT!! Especially those two movies.
One insight from my conversation with Mebeth was that the Philippines were colonized by SPAIN. Never would I have thought of that. She further mentioned how some Filipino words are Spanish-derived and I gained other insights into the connections between Spain and the Philippines especially post-colonization.
As our conversation was coming to an end, she offered me a Filipino dish she bought on her way back to the hostel. It’s called RICE CAKE in English. The bottom tasted like cake and the up like the white of the egg. I enjoyed it.
When she heard that I had been indoors for about two days and I still had couple of days in Geneva, she then suggested some places to visit – some of which she had visited.
I honestly enjoyed my conversation with Mebeth. It was an INSIGHTFUL and INTERESTING conversation.
DAY 2
On this day, Mebeth was leaving the hostel and she did something so sweet. She came to say goodbye before leaving, and I thought, ‘Oh my! That’s so sweet of her, she didn’t need to do that!’. Honestly, if roles were reversed, I don’t think I would have 😂 especially if the other was sleeping, but I genuinely appreciated the gesture.
It was so sweet to me that for the first time in my life, for as long as I can remember, I asked if I could take a picture with her(I’m always so shy about asking for pictures, even with my friends😂). My picture with Mebeth is one of my favourite pictures.
After my experience with Mebeth, It has been easier for me to communicate with people and even ask for pictures (though still wrestle with myself internally and sometimes still end up not asking).
Dear Mebeth, Thank you for sparking something in me and giving me the confidence I didn’t know I would need for the events that followed in 2024. Thank you for being so sweet and a vessel.
Hopefully for my next solo travel, I get to pull up another Mebeth or even a better one and not shy away from it😂. Cheers 🥂to growth, networking and meeting people whilst exploring the beauty and wonder of the world!