nicoleshariat I pack my bags for my month-long trip to Switzerland, Netherlands, and Italy and am engulfed in shocking anticipation. I look at my Osprey backpack overflowing with clothes and toiletries and realize I forgot my two most important things my travel speaker and pair of wire headphones. Honorable mention includes my passport but only for strict for utility purposes. It’s the real-life saver is the thing that can make any moment a bit more magical.
Music in all its fun glory has always meant the world to me and my sanity. As I got ready to take this backpacking trip, I knew I had to make music one of the priorities. I would search out musical experiences my whole trip. The thing with music is that it communicates more than mere words could so at times I was at a loss for words. Here are some highlights and songs that made my trip.
Part One
The first portion of the trip was to Switzerland to visit my cousins who live off of Lake Geneva. To start the trip with some familiar faces and family who I haven’t seen in years. It was a week filled with mountains, wine, and family bickering in French. As I passed the Swiss alps, and the glacier filled water here are a few songs that filled my soul…
- “Vincent” by Don McClean
- “Smoke On the Water” by Deep Purple
- “Stand Tall” by Dominique Fils-Aimé, Synapson
Part Two
The second portion of the trip was to Amsterdam and fitting all of our belongings into a day backpack that was the size of a travel tissue, thanks Easy Jet regulations. It meant strapping my speaker to my belt under my four layers of clothes so my bag would fit on the planes. Once we got to Amsterdam, we realized we booked the earliest flight arriving at 9am when our check in was not until 4pm. We decided the best course of action would be napping wherever we could find a spot. By doing this it meant breaking out my travel speakers to send my best friend and I to sleep as we got finished with an 8-hour travel day from hell and to give us a sweet escape. While napping in a random Dutch neighborhood park here are the songs that lulled us to sleep.
- “Easy Lovers” by Piero Piccioni
- “Mirrors III. Une barque sur l’ocean” by Maurice Ravel
- “Plage Coquillage (First Kiss Song)” by Mon Amour
Music IRL
A few days after that my best friends and I stumbled into this dive bar. As I seem to be the sickest, I’ve ever felt in my whole life I ran into the bar’s bathroom. I’ll spare gory details but as I exited that bathroom feeling like a new woman, I felt like I was being greeted by home in two ways. The sounds of rock filled the bar as I left the bathroom, and it was almost like the soulful songs served as my medicine for my previous sickness.
As the night danced on, my friends and I started talking to the musicians preforming. We came to realize that beyond the similar taste of music taste; Four Kentuckians showed up in the same rock bar in Amsterdam. Niki Buzz, the lead singer mentioned he’s from down south, and he was bringing his roots to the venues of Amsterdam. The conversations turned into shared knowledge about Muhammad Ali and other Louisville natives and which high schools we attended. The big new city that my friends and I ventured through the streets became smaller and smaller as we talked about our home. Bonding over our home city and Dutch beers we became fast friends that night.
As someone who lives for live music, finding spaces like these are insanely important in exploring different walks of life because it most definitely will bring you home in one way or another. After talking with Niki learning about his most recent album and his past musical influences. His performance was fiery and powerful, after mentioning he worked with James Brown. Everyone could tell that man had a gift, here are some songs that came out of that night.
- “It’s a Man’s World” by James Brown
- “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder
- “Power of The Union” by Niki Buzz
Reflecting Back
Throughout the trip I of course was blown away by different languages, cuisine, and ways of life. It’s the reason why I venture out and experience things that we don’t have the opportunity to at home. To say I went on this backpacking trip to find myself is a cliché but is true. When in a new place there is no one but yourself to make decisions or take care of yourself. It’s almost a validation of self-reliance reinstates a newfound confidence. I promised myself everything I would do would be intentional. To every café I sat at or the bar I got a beer at I wanted to be excited about the decisions I made. Especially the music I experienced.
As I am back in the states as a way to reminisce about my time abroad, I formed my playlist of songs that comforted me as I had oceans away from my Kentucky home. I thought about why it was that music is the thing that worked to calm me or send me into another dimension. Art in general, whether it be street performance, drama, or musical composition, it’s the thing that connects us to familiarity. It’s a universal language that can form a community almost instantaneously or be your friend as you experience a lonely night. As Walt Whitman said, it’s “necessary to sustain life” but to sustain to strength our reason to live. Peak into the playlist below to see the selection that fostered the trip of a lifetime.
Playlist:
- “The Promise” by When in Rome
- “We Are The People” by Empire Of The Sun
- “Roi” by Videoclub
- “Elephant” by Tame Impala
- “Dawn in the Adan” by Ichko Aoba
- “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”
- “Deception” by Le Tigre
- “Better in the Dark” by Jordana, Tv Girl
- “Money” by The Drums
- “Alright” by Supergrass
- “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” by Radiohead
- “A 200 A L’heure” by Francis Lai
- “Lovegod” by Sarah Kinsley
- “This Feeling” by Alabama Shakes
- “Something About You” by Eyedress
- “Duvet” by boa
- “Super Graphic Ultra Moden Girl” by Chappell Roan
- “My Dad” by Bendigo Fletcher
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