The Detour Always Outdoes the Itinerary
We’ve all been there: color-coded schedules, carefully planned weekends away, or a trip itinerary so detailed it feels like homework. But life has other ideas, and that’s the best part. The moments we never planned, the ones that interrupted everything, are the ones that stick with us the most. We at The Edge know this feeling well. So instead of stressing about the highlight reel, here’s why detours, interruptions, and tiny pauses deserve all the credit.
Souvenirs You Can’t Buy
Yes, a sweatshirt from a city you once visited or a coffee mug from your favorite cafe in your hometown can be solid keepsakes. But the best souvenirs aren’t sold in gift shops. They’re the sound of the train that muted your professor mid-lecture. They’re the playlist you played every day sophomore year but never again. They’re the blurry picture you can never bring yourself to delete. Those are the memories that outlast the move-ins, the formals, and the graduations.
Studying Abroad
Study abroad teaches us fast: nobody remembers the twentieth photo of a monument. What we do remember? The bookstore in Dublin we wandered into on a whim. The crack in the checkered floor of a Munich café where we ate sushi and wasted an afternoon. The random train we hopped on taking us to the wrong city. The detours are the parts that live on, the pieces we never meant to collect but did.
Elon Has Its Own Souvenirs
It’s the same here in Burlington, North Carolina. We assume it’ll be the big moments; formals, parties, graduation that define us. But in reality, it’s the porch conversations that lasted all night long. The dinner at MaGerk’s that lasted longer than it should have. The long walks and deep talks. Those are the souvenirs that actually follow us when we leave.
Why Detours Always Win
Permanence was never the point. The itinerary fades, but the interruptions stay. The small, unplanned flashes turn into the reel we replay in our minds years later. So don't stress if the semester doesn’t look like the initial plan. It’s not supposed to.
What’s the best detour you’ve experienced lately? Tell us at @theedgemag, because your interruption might be someone else’s forever souvenir.