Joe Schutzman is a Newport firefighter who loves Northern Kentucky’s culture, sense of place – and beer. Come back for a new column on the latest brewery opening, Joe’s seasonal favorites, and more. Find Joe’s previous columns and more on NKY dining here.
I’ve developed quite an affinity for travel over the last several years, and without it, I would never have been inspired to write for LINK about local places to grab a beer and great spots to spend time with friends and family. Normally, I’d have a new recommendation for you, but this month I’m traveling across France and Germany. So, if you’ll begrudge me a little self-indulgence, I’d like to take a moment to share how this article series came to be and why my home, Northern Kentucky, is on my mind today.
In the last four years, I have had the opportunity to visit Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy. It’s through these travels that I discovered my love of beer, my love of wine, my love of cheese, my love of cuisine, my love of art, and above all, my love for language and how all of those things relate to culture, both implicitly and explicitly.
I have also spent the last five years learning French. Despite daily practice and effort, I still only find myself at an early intermediate level. That said, I am proud of the progress I have made. It’s a lifelong journey, and I’ve learned to fall in love with the process because language, like food, is the perfect roadmap to give you a glimpse into a place’s culture.
It has also taught me a lot about myself. I have learned to give myself permission to look like a fool. You can’t learn to speak another language if you’re busy trying to sound eloquent or hip. Let me alleviate your fear and apprehension by saying this…There is absolutely zero chance you will sound remotely eloquent or hip while learning a new language. Zero. Once I learned to let that pipedream go, suddenly, I was able to quell my ego and get to work learning and improving.
Just a few weeks ago, I was on a video call with a French tutor practicing my listening and speaking skills. The conversation had been going well, and I was feeling on top of the world. I had been speaking French, somewhat well even, for almost half an hour without having to switch to English or be corrected by her. We were discussing our hobbies and daily habits, and I confidently shared that I like to keep a daily journal. However, what I actually told her was not that I have a daily diary but that I have daily diarrhea. From rockstar to clown in less than a sentence. It’s good for me, though.
Currently I’m getting the opportunity to put what I’ve learned to work. As I write this, I’m on a train from Lyon to Paris watching the rolling French countryside wiz by, and I can’t help but think of how much it reminds me of Kentucky bluegrass passing by the car window on the road to my grandparents’ house. I begin to think of my home, of my family, and I think of how much I wish they were with me and I with them.
Without turning this article into a therapy session, this year has been the most challenging year of my life in almost every aspect, both professionally and personally.
Now I don’t mean to sound like I’m complaining about this beautiful opportunity to travel or that I’m not having a wonderful time. At the end of the day, I know I’m just a privileged traveler with time on my hands, an article deadline, and a strong penchant for brooding and rumination. So first and foremost, I’d like to acknowledge how lucky I am to have the life I do.
And yet I can’t help but find significance in how travel seems to always cause me to contemplate life, home, and the greater picture of what it means and how I fit into it all. It would be painfully cliché to say that I regularly travel just to discover what I love about my home, but somewhere in that tired, over-used, and overly sentimental ideal is a modicum of truth and earnestness that feels wrong to ignore.
I love travel, and it’s something I foresee being a major part of who I am for the rest of my life. I enjoy spending time abroad, and I even have a goal to live abroad for an extended time over months to possibly even a year at some point. But I am discovering this year that the context will forever be that no matter how much time I spend in other countries around the world, abroad will always be abroad and Northern Kentucky will always be my home.
