A short word to my friends and to the world.

Isn't it ironic how what your parents and you have worked for since your childhood suddenly looses most of its meaning because you realize that in reality you do not fit or that you fit better elsewhere? I find it really funny how I feel so much more free to think and be myself here than elsewhere. (By this I refer to Europe in general). Being atheist in the US, particularly in the south where I find myself, feels constricting and it hurts sometimes. I know that there I am free to believe whatever I want, but culturally I am an outcast. I see that religion is becoming more and more prevalent and strong within politics and government as the months go by and I get the sinking feeling that I will have to hide what I am so that I am not rejected. For example, I have a necklace that states that I am atheist and I wear it a lot in the US as a form of a challenge to the norm, but here I have not felt the need to wear it. I feel like in the US I am on the outside, but here I am normal. How is it possible to feel like such and outcast in a country that is so free...does that even make any sense?? I feel there is so much judgement and that so much is dependent on religion in the US that I feel as if one day I will see a goal that will be unattainable due to religion. People think that I choose not to believe which is a statement that makes me want to punch them in the face. The fact is that I do not believe because I am a logical person and in MY eyes there is no evidence for it. I feel that my life overall would be easier if I could put all my trust into an all knowing and all powerful being, but honestly, to me that has not meaning. I find all that I need within myself. If one day I was to find myself completely alone, I would be ok with it because I rely on myself. THAT is it. I live my life with confidence in what I do and in myself and I HATE so much when people pity me because I do not believe.

I do not pity myself which means that you should not either. I AM happy and I have nothing to prove. Overall, the summary of this blog is that I feel a part of the crowd here because no one cares what I believe or not. Ultimately it is not important. I do not have to justify myself here and I am not strange...there are so many others like me.....Here I am normal....I am not an outcast.....I LOVE IT!!!!!!! To those who judge me, I say .......SCREW YOU because I am happy.

I dedicate this blog to the wonderful people of all nationalities that I have met here. I love you guys!!!

This past week

I wish that I had time to write more often in this blog, but somehow life seems to be passing by really quick. There are very few things that I miss these days. I really miss the Gym and my personal trainer, but that should change in the upcoming week because I am supposed to join gym. FINALLY!!!! I miss Steve and my closest friends, but that is about it. Family is not missed as much because this is just as if I was in Lubbock and they in Houston. We talk just as much as we do when I'm in Texas. Money here seems to jump out the window. I am very careful with money, but it still goes by really fast. I love my host family. I am really glad to live with them because not only do I get amazing home cooked meals, but I also have improved my French.

Weekend

Well, this weekend was interesting to say the least. For starters, life is just as usual as if I was in the states. I am not one to change personalities because I am in another country. I still do not really drink aside from a glass of wine or two or maybe a beer on occasion. Not only do I do this because of migraines,but also because I just am not one to be drinking for drinking, sake as anyone who knows me is well aware. Even if did not drink this weekend, I had fun. I went to a rock concert with my former host brother Benoit and his friends. It was a lot of fun. It was a little odd to hear a French band cover American songs. I also went to the beach with my host sister and mom. Even if I do not have a partying personality, I can still have fun.

This personality trait of mine as usual makes me the odd ball out since everyone seems to bar hop about 8 times a week, but it’s ok since I have a great host family and I my camera to make the time pass by. France is a dream for photography. It seems like everywhere you turn there is a building, statue or bit of nature that calls me to take a photo. I get inspired by the elegant mixbetween the past millennium and the new one that is unraveling. It is very rare to find a building that is a couple of centuries old still being used as apartments attached seamlessly to a 2010 fullymodernized apparent complex. That juxtaposition is amazing because it represents what theworld is ultimately about. Currently we are in this world thinking that we are the end all and be all, when in reality we are all going to be gone one day and it will be up to someone else to decidewhat to do with and how to interpret our legacy. We will turn to dust and we will end, but our creation might just continue to be.

Thinking of this, I decided to go to visit Nimes for a second time in my life. The first time that I went was in 2008 with the TTU group. I did not really get as much of the experience as I could and should have partly because I was depending on a group and felt supervised. This time, I had the chance to really take in the majesty of roman architecture surrounded by modern living and taken over by a new generation. I walked around Nimes and took photos of the architecture. I am posting them below. Let me know what you think.

Well,

On Thursday I went to a little mountain medieval village called St Guillem le Desert.

It is a beautiful stop

over for people who used to make the pilgrimage to St Jack de Compostella. I took a bunch of photos with my Nikon. I am really becoming a photography addict. This is becoming a pricey hobby. Here are some of the photos that I took.

Orientation

Today was the first time that I went to the school. I had orientation at 11:00 at Sup de Co. I took this photo out of their website because for some stupid reason it decided to rain on the first day that I needed to walk to school. Everything went well. We had a few welcoming remarks and then lunch. After lunch we had a scavenger hunt around the old part of Montpellier (by old I mean 1,000 years!!!). It is so beautiful. I had a really nice group except one of them decided to bail on us. It was no problem since the rest of us got along really well. I met a lot of interesting people. I came to find out that there are very few who come to do the masters here. Most people do a bachelors. I am looking forward to finally starting and getting into a routine. That will make life better because I will be able to plan my days. Tomorrow I have a really long day with French class from 830 to 1230 and orientation from 2:15 to 5:30. I am going to die lol. I think that on Wednesday I will try to out of town for a few hours to take pictures and go on a hike. I am very excited to take photos. On Thursday, I am going to town after class so that I can take pictures of the old part of town as well as go to the botanical gardens. =)

The only thing that is not so cool is that as usual, I am the person who would rather not party and EVERYONE that I meet gets drunk almost every night. So annoying. Why cant people just drink normally and not be stupid. I feel like the only person who is atheist and does not drink lol. Oh well, I have a lot of fun with my host sisters.

Good Morning

It is kinda nice to hopefully be done with the jet lag (which I thought that I did not have). I went out to town with the girls yesterday in search for perfume from one of them and later on to meet some friends at a cafe. It was great with conversations ranging from their crazy party the night before to what I thought about the mosque thing in NY. I am not going to put any political commentary relating to that because I do not feel like getting a debate going on in my blog, but lets just say that I am so happy to have heard that at least people in some part of the world by and large share my opinion. (I will leave it at that). Considering that in the US I am extremely liberal, I feel normal here. I'm within average thinking most of the time lol. Me reading Dawkins in the morning has nothing bizarre about it. In any case. I need to go exploring because everyone is asleep and its noon ish. The girls went to a crazy party last night and got back after 5 I think. Only problem....I do not remember the code to get back into the building lol hmmm

Views out of my Window

For someone who despises and fears any even remote thought of flying anywhere, I think that I did pretty good considering that during probably 7 of the nine hours of the transatlantic flight there was turbulence. If it was shaking the 777 pretty hard, I would hate to imagine what misery I would have faced had it been an embrayer puddle jumper. After arriving in London, I had to run in order to catch the next flight. It arrived at the gate 5 minutes before it closed. London is weird because as soon as you get off the plane in terminal 5, you have to go through security. WTF, I figure that if you just got out of a plane from the US, then you have been very carefully screened. (no complaints though because I feel that better safe than sorry, especially with my fear of flying lol). After my arrival in Paris, I had to find a bus to take me on an hour drive across the city to the other airport. Once there, I met a girl traveling to Montpellier to the same organization with me. We hung out and I helped her out because the had recent leg surgery due to a car accident and was walking with crutches.

My last flight was uneventful until we flew over mountains with terrible turbulence. I was sitting next to an Air France pilot who kept me from throwing up by telling me stories lol. I felt like I five year old child lol.

My home stay family is the best. I have two sisters one who is 22 and the other 18. The oldest is about to go back to school in another city while the youngest is studying here. I am probably going to go out tonight. They went out last night, but I figured that I would rather take care of the jet lag.

Speaking of jet lag....I have none...weird! I went to bed at eleven at night and woke up at 8 am. The only problem is that I woke up with a migraine due to the worst case of dehydration EVER. I have never been this dehydrated even when I was backpacking in Arizona. I hate how I was not allowed to take a water bottle to the plane even if I was already thorough security. Oh well. I drank a liter of H2O this morning.

Well now, i'm off to explore. Will return later!