Before we all went off to college, and pledged fraternities and sororities, we were just kids. We were just kids who lived down the road from each other. Kids...who drove our parents cars. We all pulled for the same team. We all hated that same rival. We all wore the colors of our pride, and we all shouted the same song when we scored a touchdown.
Before we were travelers of the world, and lovers of the seas, we were innocent. Before we left our adolescence behind, we fell in love. That first love. The one that we still think about on Sunday afternoons.
I am back in America, after a long (what seemed) stay in several European countries. To sum up my experience, I'll never sit by while someone downs the USA again. I have returned with an extreme sense of pride for my country. The old saying goes, "sometime you don't know what you have until it's gone." Well....that applies to citizenship too. I don't know how to describe Europe with words. Partly, because I've heard it described with words before, and let me say....they did it no justice. I've learned that leaving the country is not a black or white experience. Things do not go exactly like the movies, however your favorite scenes may often show up. Europe is different to every person. Some are in love with it, some settle for it, others don't wish to visit. The American idea of leaving the country is one that can leave you feeling skewed and confused. Crossing the Atlantic on a 9 hour flight may or may not be the party you seek. Mostly, it's a lot of passports, shoes-off, boarding passes, and poor exchange rates. I left with every intention of bringing the European continent to it's knees in a whirl wind party like it'd never seen. And I was out done. I was brought to my knees. I was scared. And no one spoke English. It was a priceless trip, for the fact that I will never have to live with the elusion that I'm missing greener grass by not living in Europe.
I learned. so. much.
I feel like i haven't begun to spill out all of the feeling Spring Break filled me with. I don't know that I will be able to. I think I'm going to go buy an American flag pancho....and run around the park.
Kyle
