France and Italy Tour 2008
So amazingly awesome.
I could write a book on all the stuff, and I probably will one of these days. But I'm still so tired from the trip. Got some great stuff....can't wait to get new clothes for next year, especially since I haven't gotten new clothes in like two years and I threw most of them out along the way XD
But, it was amazing. I loved seeing the nuns walking around, seeing all of those amazing cathedrals and architecture. It pissed me off that people were expecting to be let in to these holy places wearing miniskirts and spaghetti strap tanktops. Seriously, in conservative churches, women aren't even allowed to wear pants, and they expect to be let into these places with nothing on? But on a side note, if anything could help an affirmation of religion, it was that. Even from a non-religious standpoint, it was gorgeous---gilded pictures and crosses with emotion bled into the canvas or wood, the Holy pictures covering walls and walls. I wish that I could have stayed long enough in them to go to mass in the duomos.
On a ranting religious side note, it really bothers and pisses me off to hear people talking about how much God sucks, or religion sucks, or anything having to do with belief systems. It's just a set list of beliefs, anyone can change at any time. No one is stuck with any one religion, just like no one is stuck in any one situation. Religion isn't just a belief system, it's a way of life that provides people with standards of living. Religion can only just help individuals, but when some people take it overboard, then they get it wrong. But it's not the religion's fault, it's the person's, that's what people get mixed up. And I'm so tired of hearing about how everyone either has to adhere to one practice, or that that practice is the bane of certain people's existences. I don't go around talking about my beliefs or my politics other than to say "I'm Catholic" or "I'm a Democrat", because I think it's proselytizing. One doesn't have to have a religion to proselytize, though--there's so many agnostics and atheists that try to "convert" religious people it's upsetting as hell. Yeah, it's a free country, but there has to be a middle point where all people can coexist, and I really believe that that point is where no one talks about religion or politics in a public setting. I didn't even know my own mother believed in the stuff she believed in until last month. That's crazy.
But on a more general note, (end rant) I am definitely going back to the Provencal region of France. Come hell or high water, I am going back. Italy is my heart, man---the people there are amazing, and the atmosphere is just electric. No wonder all the great writers go there. I saw Ezra Pound's house! He lived right by a canal in Venice. The Adriatic is awesome, I got lots of cool shells there, and the Mediterranean was absolutely amazing. The waves knocked me on my butt like fifty times.
I got some kickass French books, and my French as improved so much it's crazy. I'm definitely majoring in French, and learning Italian, and I have officially decided that I'm going to be an avian vet. Of course, I'm going to work with other animals, but I really want to focus with birds. And I'm getting a poodle, either white or brown, and his/her name is going to be Pamplemousse, the French word for grapefruit. "Moose" for short though :D
That's pretty much it, though...lots more, but I don't really feel like writing all of it down.