Every day I get to see mountains. I get to witness their snowy caps reaching for the cloudless blue skies in an effort to look majestic and beautiful. And they do not fail. They stretch to seize the sky and look to dominate the scene. And they do. They are utterly captivating. You can't help but stop to look at them. The weather has been so nice here lately: sun shining, clear skies, green grass, a rushing river, and NO snow. But that isn't the only thing that has changed. The attitudes of people, the atmosphere of the day, and the view toward life has morphed into something else. Everything seems positive and bright. It radiates and people bask in it.
What is normal? I think it's what we make it to be, how we see things. It's stereotypes and personalities and opinions and events and traditions and rites of passage. It's about perspective. But is anything really normal? I'm not so sure anymore; I don't think normal is the right word. Seeing mountains every day is normal here, and seeing the luscious, tree clad Quad is normal when I'm in Kirksville, but I'm staying in both of these places for only a certain period of time- for Blagoevgrad it's four months and in Kirksville it's four years. Being in Ukraine a couple weeks ago made me realize that normal is temporary. People in Kiev, or really anywhere besides the States' East Coast, get to live in history [we have a very short national history and not many places showcase that outside of the east. I'm also biased and don't have full knowledge of other places in similarity to the States' situation]. They get to walk by famous monuments and churches and museums and amazingly intricate architecture and that is normal for them. And millions of people all over the world flock to these places to see what these locals see everyday.
Not to be morbid, but life is temporary. I don't think I'm saying anything new when I point this out, I have just come to see it in a different light. Being away from home and realizing all the places I want to see and all the possibilities this life offers and seeing that the world really isn't that big once you step out to explore it, it's exciting. It's good that things don't stay "normal". I won't be living in Bulgaria in about a month and a half and I will be off to Beirut and then back to the U.S. and then to school. But what is after that? I don't know exactly and for right now I'm okay with not knowing. All I do know is that in this moment, I just want to be here with these people, in this place, having these experiences because in three or four months they won't be normal, they will just be remnants of a normal I fell in love with.
What is normal? I think it's what we make it to be, how we see things. It's stereotypes and personalities and opinions and events and traditions and rites of passage. It's about perspective. But is anything really normal? I'm not so sure anymore; I don't think normal is the right word. Seeing mountains every day is normal here, and seeing the luscious, tree clad Quad is normal when I'm in Kirksville, but I'm staying in both of these places for only a certain period of time- for Blagoevgrad it's four months and in Kirksville it's four years. Being in Ukraine a couple weeks ago made me realize that normal is temporary. People in Kiev, or really anywhere besides the States' East Coast, get to live in history [we have a very short national history and not many places showcase that outside of the east. I'm also biased and don't have full knowledge of other places in similarity to the States' situation]. They get to walk by famous monuments and churches and museums and amazingly intricate architecture and that is normal for them. And millions of people all over the world flock to these places to see what these locals see everyday.
Not to be morbid, but life is temporary. I don't think I'm saying anything new when I point this out, I have just come to see it in a different light. Being away from home and realizing all the places I want to see and all the possibilities this life offers and seeing that the world really isn't that big once you step out to explore it, it's exciting. It's good that things don't stay "normal". I won't be living in Bulgaria in about a month and a half and I will be off to Beirut and then back to the U.S. and then to school. But what is after that? I don't know exactly and for right now I'm okay with not knowing. All I do know is that in this moment, I just want to be here with these people, in this place, having these experiences because in three or four months they won't be normal, they will just be remnants of a normal I fell in love with.
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