During the Easter break, I travelled to Poland with a high school friend. I stayed one night in Wroclaw, and the next morning I got on a train heading toward Krakow. Somewhere along that journey, I lost my passport and wallet, which I had put in a small body bag that I rarely use but, for some reason, decided to carry that day instead of my usual setup.
My immediate reaction was not shock but a kind of quiet disappointment in myself, the feeling of “I did it again”. I hate to admit it, but I have a long history of losing things, especially my phone, which I have lost (and fortunately found) four times over the past eight years. As my thoughts started racing through every possible scenario, I contacted my hostel, posted on local Facebook and Reddit groups, and asked my friend to call the train company. I was hoping for something close to a miracle and even found myself praying, despite not believing in any particular religion.
About three hours later, we heard from the train company that a bag matching my description had been found all the way in Przemysl, near the Ukrainian border. Although I could not be completely sure it was mine, it felt like a small light appearing at the end of a tunnel.
The next morning, I took another long train to hopefully retrieve it. After some confusion at the information desk, I was guided to a lost-and-found. The two staff spoke in Polish for a while, and I caught a word that sounded like “passport,” so without thinking I immediately said “tak!”, one of the very few Polish words I know. Soon after, I was directed to a police station, where an officer brought out a brown envelope containing my bag, still holding everything inside. In that moment, I felt all the tension leave my body at once.
People often say that you grow from mistakes, but in my case, I am not entirely convinced, because every one or two years I find myself in almost the same situation, losing something important through pure carelessness.
Ironically, I had yet to come up with a meaningful New Year’s resolution this year. I think I have finally found one that is both necessary and long overdue, which is to actually learn from my mistakes this time.
Yuki Nakamura, a third year bachelor student Arts and Culture