HELLO everyone :-) As I said, I was on a trip to Europe!!!!!! It was so nice and peaceful, but also pretty insane and crazy and basically a huge eye-opener for me! Someone suggested that I do a little review on the trip and I thought it was a pretty good idea, so here goes!!!
I think the craziest part of this trip had to be looking at these insanely gorgeous buildings everyday. They are so detailed, beautiful — yes they are buildings, all that buildings do are to house things and people on the inside, but artists were so careful. Artists are so careful. Maybe we need artists and architects, not just architects. Our buildings are tough and gray and glassed, they are durable and professional and boring as hell, don't you think? I'm just saying that we think all that matters is the inside but hey, imagine walking down streets like that everyday instead? Wow.
We visited a lot of really really really old places — a lot of chapels and also Roman Forums where the Roman Empire used to be. Now, all that's left are remnants. These places were incredible and crazily impressive. I was literally impressed for the entire trip. I learned a lot about artists whose names I barely recognised before, and some of them were pretty funny too. Tour guides told us stories like how Michael Angelo painted the Sistine Chapel bc the Pope called him back to make a sculpture for his grave and tricked him or something. I learned a lot about religion, although I don't have any religion myself, but it was pretty impressive to hear how far back it dated. Also, there was a lot a lot a lot of art, which I did quite enjoy!!! (though my sister and dad looked like they'd rather die)
Here is an excerpt from my dayre, which I wrote while we were in Florence:
People here have darker hair and wore too much black. The voices were a little rougher, policemen looked a little better — unshaven jaws and fitting dark uniforms. It was raining when I arrived (maybe that's what made the place seem gloomy) the town wore rusty railings and excess drainage pipes like rain was a daily routine. The town was rougher around the edges and everything smelled like smoke. It was humble place, they didn't have christmas light hung around every corner. People looked bored — bored of their jobs, bored of their shops and streets. I know I'm making this town sound pretty bad but believe me, it was beautiful in its own way too.
Oh my god I think Venice was actually my favourite place. The town was gorgeous and there were no buses or cars or anything, just boats. The boats were buses, with their own boat stops and boat tickets that we had to pay for, it was really cool! I think I like the idea of not having traffic horn away all the time — it's such a racket. The place was truly like a maze and finding our way around was not at all easy. We had to remember every street and every turn (mind you, the streets were maybe 10 steps long before we turned to another 10 steps and then another) but we did remember our way around!!! only 2 days but we managed to familiarize ourselves :-) maybe that is what I like — familiarity.
We took a really really long train ride to Switzerland and the first thing in my head upon arrival was: Freezing. Okay, freezing and also, wifi. (21st century kid I KNOW it is a vry bad habit) Anyway, any level of beautiful that the previous places were — Switzerland was a level higher. It was amazing in a different kind of way, aside from the crazy-gorgeous mountains that were absolutely everywhere, it was amazing in how the streets didn't have that many people even on a Sunday night, how there was a pretty ice-rink in the middle of town, how the shops were quieter, how there were huge wide roads but barely any cars driving on them. I walked out (and also MET ALICIA!!!! how crazy is that? very!!! it was so cool n fun, I was so glad to meet her there!!! we were so lucky) on the second night of my stay there and I felt this warm fuzzy feeling although it was REALLY very very cold. It's so difficult to explain, but I felt at peace, like everything was perfect. We went up to the mountain (Jungfrau) that very morning and holy crap that was insane. The wind was crazy and snow was everywhere and I couldn't feel my legs like everything waist down was numb and my face was freezing — what a difference right? Well, that's Switzerland. Mountains surrounded the city I stayed in and they made me feel so small — I like feeling like that, like I could tuck myself in the pocket of someone else's shirt and hide there. I like feeling little (not like a child but literally, little) I like feeling less significant in this world, it makes my problems and life seem less significant, like there are so many other incredible things in this world and yknow what humans suck for killing this whole nature thing HAHAHAH ok (I have also recently found out that I tend to run away from my problems so um maybe that explains why I like feeling that way)
Notre Dame, Paris, France
Remember that really really long train ride to Switzerland? Yeah, it was a really really really really super long train ride to Paris. But Paris was just beautiful — both day and night, I wanted to pack Paris into a box so that I could go home and relive being there whenever I wanted to. This, I really don't know how to describe. Maybe I will talk about it when I do, but for now let's just leave it at that — I will throw you pictures in hopes that it will explain things better than my words do.
Every thing and place has its own flaws, and although these places are beautiful, so is Singapore :-) If you look closely enough, you'll see. Living in these countries everyday kind of take the joy out of everything, and I'm sure the French and Italians find their towns as mundane as we find ours, but man this world is really amazing and we ought to see that. VRY glad to be back in Singapore although I do really miss Europe!! But in Europe I really missed Singapore, okay I kind of missed Singapore but I really did miss people here and it feels great to be home :-) Familiarity — like I said.