Vienna, Austria -- I'm on a riverboat cruise along the Danube River between Passau, Germany, and Budapest, Hungary. Kristi, my wife, is a part-time travel agent, and she fixed us up with a holiday vacation.
I'm trying to write my 3rd version of this column because the local Internet gods do not favor me. However, I'll just quickly note that I've been enjoying this cruise, although the one thing I dreaded at first was sharing meals with strangers. Kristi is normal, healthy, and sociable, but I idolize Dr. House, the Grinch, and pre-conversion Ebeneezer Scrooge. I'll eat alone, thank you very much.
So on our first night at dinner, Kristi asked a younger-looking couple if we could sit with them, and the fellow answered with a "ya'll." We knew right away he was from the South, and I don't mean the global south.
Yep, as chance would have it, on our first night at dinner, we sat down at a table with a fellow from Aiken -- the one in South Carolina. He even has some family ties to Dillon. He got his undergrad degree from Clemson. He and his new wife (from Georgia) are both studying at Emory in Atlanta, in separate grad programs.
How weird is that? I go to Europe, and by happenstance, sit down with a South Carolinian. Well, Kristi's favorite ride at Disney World always was "It's a Small World After All." I think of it as an assault on the senses, but it's true -- small world.
I had best run before the local Internet gods strike down my post again. I'll write more, States-side, next week.
-Colin Foote Burch
