It's marked on my calendar in big red letters: Berlin. From April 21st till April 26th I'll be in the German capital with my college class. My mom is glad college is offering this chance; Berlin is familiar territory and I won't be all alone in a big city. Loads of people will keep me from getting into trouble, she thinks. She's not worried about this trip at all. No, she's worried about the word on my calendar that's covering May 2nd till May 7th: Ljubljana.
My trip to the Slovenian capital will be my very first solo journey and while I'm well-prepared, my mom isn't sure I'll survive...

My mom thought she had me there, right with her first question. I'm one of those people who easily forget a meal once they're in some interesting place. Because hey, that tree looks cool! Oh look, a bird! Woah, that building is so beautiful. Wait, wasn't I supposed to do something?
Especially when I'm on my own I forget about food, which is one of the most important things to keep you going while you're out exploring the world. So I have a food schedule. It may sound lame, but for some people it's useful to keep an eye on themselves. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, simple as that.


Plan might be a big word I used at that moment for the simple thing I had in mind. I would have liked to use the word 'strategy', but my mom also isn't impressed by fancy words for small things. You see, whenever I go out by myself, I realize I fail at adulting. I'm very bad at taking care of myself and easily forget things. So to keep myself aware of the fact that I sadly can't live on chocolate bars, I buy one piece of fruit every day while I'm away. When I leave my hostel, I always take a piece of fruit and a bottle of water with me. Under normal circumstances I forget about both fruit and water, because of the cool trees and birds and buildings I already mentioned. So when I go out, I put that piece of fruit and the bottle of water right on top of all the other things in my bag. That's a good thing because your fruit won't get squashed and every time I need to get my phone or camera out of my bag, I'm reminded of my duty to eat and drink like a responsible adult (Did you hear that? That was me laughing because I just can't imagine myself as a responsible adult).


I prefer not to get sick or injured while I'm away. It would be weird if I did like those things. I keep an eye on myself, try to eat healthy food around the same times each day. I generally try to prevent any kind of mishap, but shit happens. And when it happens, it's always nice to know some basic sentences and words like 'Where is the hospital?' in the language of the country you're visiting. Just to be sure.


I'm going to be honest with you guys: every time I go out there's 50% chance something will go wrong. I'm very clumsy and usually not that health-oriented. So sites like Amino help me out when I, once again, forget to take care of myself. The site helps you find a doctor. You tell them what your problem is (I mean asthma for example, being chaotic doesn't count in this case), how far you're willing to travel and also takes health insurance into account. Oh, and don't worry if you're chaotic like me, the site will guide you through all the steps and offers reviews and information on all doctors who could help you out. Honestly, it's so easy to use, I couldn't make a mess of it, which says quite a lot actually. Not even my mom could mess it up as she sat on my bed, trying the site for herself.