Happy Independence Day ?
woke up early off
Paris airports are so
classy
idk why does everything seem better than the US in Europe lmao
maybe it’s just that more suited for tourists
spent an hour getting souvenirs
though one thing US does trump Europe on is space and people
place ride’s 9 hours long
it’s trip because the flight is 9 hours but the time zones go back by 7
so technically by the time we leave, when we spend 9 hours, we actually only spent 2 hours
smh
just spent the time sleeping uncomfortably and reading fan fiction
transferred flights lmao
got home at around… 7:30pm Austin Time, 2:30am Parisian Time
In that case, I’m estimating that because I woke up at 6:00am Parisian time Today, if I sleep at 11pm (which I probably won’t since by then I’ll be tired as hell), I would have pulled my 2nd all nighter hahahaha
damn
so ! evaluations of this trip and a to-do list for the next month or so
Cheers
Final Evaluation:
This was a trip of many firsts; going to Europe, if not at least going to France, Spain, and Italy for the first time, hanging out with my relatives for this long, eating this much food, speaking this many foreign languages, and even having a vacation for this long of a time (27 days!!). I learned to manage life things, what to do and what not to do on vacations in regards to balancing traveling and relaxing, being universally polite (as funny as that sounds), learning what it means to be a citizen of the world, and learning how to relax.
The last two are especially relevant to me. Y’all know already how I feel about Model UN, but I don’t know if I ever really go into //why// I’m so passionate about it. My philosophies stem from my upbringing in the United States of America as well as morals and stories that I have accumulated over the years of wanting everyone to pursue happiness. Happiness is simply a feeling. In order to understand whether you are currently happy or not, you have to listen to yourself, as cheesy as that sounds. You need to try different things, in order to “unlock” different ways for you to be happy. That means you can’t lie to yourself, and be true to who you are. I was never a good lier, but during this trip, seeing the lands, people, culture of Europe, I get a glimpse of how lucky I am to be able to have these sorts of philosophies and be able to have all the material goods and loved ones close to me, whether they’re over the Internet, or there in real life. Even though emotions are hardwired to compare two immediate situations that were consecutive to one another (meaning that sooner or later, I’ll probably find myself in a depressive crash), these sorts of lessons of self-improvement and ideals don’t leave me. Because why can’t everyone have food on the table, or a roof over their heads, or clean water to drink? Basic necessities, y’know. A place where everyone has the equal opportunity to be happy is a place that I want to carve out for the world.
As for the last bit of relaxing; you see so many people in my demographic in the US, currently working their asses off to try and get that 36 on the ACT, to get that 4.0 GPA by working themselves over the summer, filling out their college applications months in advance, or trying to start a blog when they’re supposed to be sleeping… Being a workaholic is great- especially when you do get the results you want- but at some point, we all need to truly relax and spend some time away from our normal regular lives and spend time with the ones we treasure the most. Because you never know when you won’t have the chance to see them again. Cherish those moments as you vacation with your friends, keep a photo book, and as long as you have that feeling where you don’t have a care in the world, and that everything in life is okay… that’s the sort of feeling I want to achieve from time to time now. It’s gotten me to the point where I’m worried I’m not able to become a workaholic again lmao.
I love and miss you all.
And whether or not you empathized me with my happiness, contentment, annoyance, anger, frustration, sadness, whatever ! It’s been a solid month, people.
I’m guessing you’re probably
At the end of Eur Rope.