The fun of Dormitories

If you have ever traveled budget (aka gone for the dorm rooms and not the private suites) then you would know how important it is, for everyone, to have a little bit of space for your own. Your bed is your sanctuary, your bag is all you own. "This is my backpack. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My backpack is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My pack, without me, is useless. Without my pack, I am useless." We kind of have a certain nonchalance about our baggage at the same time. You carry the valuables with you-- you never leave them in plain sight for sure, but you leave everything else to fate. You know that if someone wants something from your bag bad enough to dig thru smelly clothes and disorganized junk, then they deserve that whatever they grabbed. What are you going to take? My underwear? The soap? Shoes, perhaps?

I guess what I'm saying is that no matter that none of the places we've stayed in the last few weeks have had storage of any kind for baggage, you can't really get too worked up about it because you know you only have a few things worth stealing, and you never let those go.

As for the unsettled feeling that comes from switching rooms, throwing an unorganized bag around, sleeping in a different bed each night... it wears on you, just that tiny bit that makes you feel like you've never known what it was to shuffle in your sleep without fearing to wake the person above or below you. Or to shower without having someone barge in or turn out the lights (these silly Europeans have the lightswitches for their baths outside the bathrooms, highly inconvenient.)

It wears at you, but it can also be kind of fun, like a big, long sleepover; without friends though.