I realize that I am such a blessed person, but sometimes I can't help but be annoyed that at 25 I have experienced very little culture and very few cultured places. I think that I have traveled quite a bit so far, but I've never really experienced anywhere.

I look back on Europe and get so frustrated with my 16 year old self. I was in Paris, Nice, Monaco, Italy, and Switzerland and did not pay attention to anything. I didn't spend any time looking out the window or marveling at buildings and landscape the way I should have. I didn't take pictures of the things that mattered. I was there--granted, in five different countries in nine days--but I was there, and I didn't care. I was excited, but I had no idea the magnitude of the trip I was taking. Some people never leave the country they're born in and I went to Europe when I was 16 as my first trip really anywhere. Not only all of that, but I don't even remember thanking my parents for paying for it. I would do anything to go on that trip again and appreciate it.

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