On the 13th day abroading, Europe gave to me... (making up for my weekend in Rome)
[also too boring to continue same blog post titles so yeah I'm gonna be that person that put lyrics in places that make no utter sense for being, trying to stop doing my statuses that way so im compensating here]
#17- GELATO
#16- ABROAD SONGS
#15- PERSISTENT HAWKERS
#14- ITALIAN WEATHER
#13- ABROAD CONSTANTS
What is the Desmond to my Penny while studying abroad? Without a doubt churches and views from the top of the world. Yes, I know that's two constants but seriously my life has involved and been revolved around these two things.
Any place I have visited or practically every two streets in Firenze there is an old church with a huge importance or some famous artist that painted in it or helped construct it or some sculpture of theirs is inside. Whether it's the Duomo, San Miniato, Santa Croce, San Lorenzo, Medici Chapels, ancient Celtic ones in Ireland, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the Notre Dame, St Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel or insert any of the many other random churches I visited with my lost symbolism art history class. Churches are everywhere. So many damn old religious people in Europe that need to build monstrous and ornate buildings. I can appreciate them for their artistic value and how ridiculous the art is in the churches inside or out. For someone who is an atheist being drowned in church visits should be a frustrating thing, but it surprisingly hasn't been. I can bypass the whole God subject to truly enjoy these places as something greater than myself, places that represent the coming of time for humanity and how it evolved in these time periods. I think my favorite church that I have seen is the San Lorenzo Church, it's completely ugly as a brick wall on the outside as it was the first Renaissance church in Florence and never had a facade made for it so I was surprised to enter in and it be so enormous and marbled fantastically. It was one of the earlier churches I visited and it's one I pass by frequently at least 3 times a week so it was nice to be put in my place at the spot without expecting it.
Almost every place I go to there seems to be a unreal view where you feel as if you are on top of the world. This moment is epitomized when I climbed the Eiffel Tower about a mile off the Earth's ground to the top. If you have figured anything out from my blogging the fact that I love France shouldn't be shocking, so to have a life goal completed and actually see the world on the top of the tower before it was even 10:00 AM that day? Unbelievable. From seeing the world in Paris, to seeing the very green Ireland on top of the Blarney Castle, to seeing Florence at the Piazzale Michelangelo (Piza Mike as I like to call it), to seeing Florence on top of Giotto's Bell Tower, to seeing Florence on the top of the Duomo, top seeing Florence on top of a swanky hotel we sort of snuck into, to seeing Lucca on top of a tower with garden (still one of my favorite moments abroad), to seeing Nice from the top of a mountain, to seeing the Mediterranean and beaches while hiking across the mountains of Cinque Terre, to seeing London view the London Eye, to seeing the hills of Tuscany at Castello di Verrazzano, to seeing the city of Perugia via "Lovers Lane" it pretty much goes on and on. I've seen a whole damn lot of the places I have visited. Abroad with a view is definitely a common theme.
The constants of these two things have made my appreciate the simplicity that life offers. How nature can be untouched by man or how man can completely take over an area of nature but no matter what the beauty of it all still exists. Life is too short to not bust your ass walking up a mountain. Exert the effort and the outcome makes it worth it all. Let this lesson I have realized resonate with me in my life after abroad and apply to other things. Take the time to enjoy the view life has to offer.
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