City Girl Walks through Europe

Living in a 30 by 30 foot tent with 17 different personalities can be stressful. But Melissa Koszer didn’t sweat it, because belting out the song “Why Can’t We be Friends?” could usually always put a smile on her tent-mates faces.

Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y, Melissa prides herself on being bona fide city girl- so she surprised friends, family, and even herself when she decided to sign up for a semester abroad walking through four European countries.

Despite her fears about being fully absorbed in nature (even claiming her biggest fear was having to ‘pop-squats’ outside) Melissa stayed true to the challenge and strived to lead the pack. “It was like my mind and body were sponges and I just wanted to absorb everything around me,” she said. “I didn’t keep a closed mind. I was open to everything and everyone, and I think the people that I walked appreciated that and also followed that lead.”

When she wasn’t reflecting on the forested trails of the “El Camino de Santiago” trail routes of Northern Spain, or making foreign friends, like three 70-year-old Canadian travelers, Melissa shared her food, sleeping space, and ultimately her privacy residing in the at times cramped white tent.

Melissa has maintained strong friendships with a handful of the walk students, and credits the experience for making her into a more accepting person. “I was living with different personalities, so of course we clashed a lot.”

“She was a mediator,” her co-walker Sylvia Korza reflects. “She was so different than she was before, because on the walk she didn’t let things phase her. She was calm and really tried to get along with everyone.”

So conflicts like one boy breaking her Swiss army knife or Melissa accidentally losing her friend’s camera were dismissed when she would set out on her daily 16-mile journey. “I would walk alone, and afterwards I would be fine,” she said. “I had to learn to have patience with other people in a very short period of time, and it has definitely made me a much calmer, more Zen person.”