Leave a meal for the future

I have always liked a story about farewell in an ancient Chinese novel. A person met another person in the mountains. Then They traveled together and spent a few pleasant days. One of them wanted to treat the other person to one more meal when they went to the next place. But because of some changes, the other person had to leave first. When they parted, he said, “Leave a meal for the future.” This means that there is no need to regret not being able to have this meal together this time and I will definitely come to meet you again in the future. “Leave a meal for the future”, saying this at parting, is both a consolation for the regret of not being able to do something in this encounter, and an expression of looking forward to the meeting next time.

“Leave a meal for the future”. As the day of leaving is approaching, I keep thinking of this sentence.

During the four months of exchange study, I have done a lot of things, but there are still many things I want to do but I haven’t done or haven’t done enough.

I went to some places I really wanted to go:

I went to Todtnau to visit the small wooden house of Heidegger, a philosopher who touched me deeply. The wooden house is located in a secluded mountain. I had to take a long bus ride to get there, and then walked a lot of mountain roads. In the end, there was almost no road. The sun warmed the steps of the wooden house and made them a little soft, and the sound of the wind blowing through the forest seemed to blow time back. The spring where Heidegger used to draw water every day was still flowing. Being in such an environment, I seemed to be able to imagine how Heidegger thought about “being” and how he explained “poetically man dwells”. However, because of the tight time, I was not able to sit there and read a passage from “Being and Time”, which was quite regrettable.

I went to Frankfurt to visit the University of Frankfurt, the birthplace of the Frankfurt School, where the names of Horkheimer and Adorno have been transformed into road signs and stand forever. I heard that Adorno’s tomb is in the Frankfurt Cemetery, but I still couldn’t find it when I was about to miss the train (but I found Schopenhauer’s).

I went to Düsseldorf to attend Dokomi, the largest anime expo in Germany, to experience the difference between European and Chinese ACG culture. I heard that there are many activities and places related to Japanese culture in Düsseldorf, but unfortunately I didn’t have time to explore them.

I also took slow trains to some small towns around Munich that are like paradise. There are still many mysterious or interesting towns that I haven’t explored.

Even in Munich, where I have lived for a long time, I feel that I haven’t explored enough. I feel that I haven’t explored enough about our school, our university, and some topics and knowledge mentioned in our courses.

The feeling of “not enough” reached its peak when I was at the Orsay Museum in Paris few days ago. When I was walking around the works of Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin and others, I suddenly felt very regretful and anxious. Why did I only leave such a little time to see these masterpieces – it’s not enough! But then I thought that even if I stayed for another four months, a year, or even longer, I would definitely still feel that it was not enough. Now I’m no longer anxious to rush through what I want to do in the short time left. It’s good to spend and feel a day here leisurely. As for those things that I want to do but don’t have time to do, I will leave them for the future meeting.

I also met many people who showed me more possibilities in this world: some Chinese friends who have come to Munich to study since high school and can make many things by themselves showed me a very independent and dynamic lifestyle; many classmates who came here from all over the world for exchange study also made me better understand how people in different cultures live; A great number of schoolmates who generally speak three or more languages, especially German schoolmates who speak Chinese or Japanese very well, inspired my enthusiasm to learn more languages…. But some people have to part just after meeting, some people I want to know more about but we can’t find a time to have one more meal together, and some people I really want to see more…. The thought of not being able to meet them face to face for a long time makes me feel a little sad, but I also feel lucky to have this sadness, which means I’ve met so many people worth missing. Goodbye, my friends. On the last day, I will say goodbye to you with the feeling that I will definitely see you again in the future. We still have a meal to fulfill in the future.

Goodbye, Munich. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you next time.