This entry was written in the airport before my flight left for London. I thought I might share it along with my final reflections of my trip

So I am here at the airport waiting for my adventure to begin. But unlike in the movies, where actions don't have a direct affect on you, in my life, this trip has affected me and the characters around me.

It is the most emotional thing to see the ones you love sad. They are sad of the unknown. Mostly thinking something bad is going to happen. My mom felt so much pain when she let me go off on my trip. She never tells me of any pain she is in, but I saw it in her eyes when I said my final goodbye. My throat and eyes hold back the emotions because I hate to see my mom sad. Every time I see her sad my body just folds in pain.

I hold things back because for one... I don't want to bust out crying in an airport and also because this trip will probably change my life and I will become a greater man because of it.

Those who I love are scared of what could happen to me. But I feel the worst that can happen is some bad blisters, some smelly pits and a culturally diverse and international mind will be developed. What is wrong with that?

Susan might be scared that she will lose the only man who ever really cared for her and took care of her. She thinks that she will lose her best friend to some Swedish slut or something. But like my mom (and other overprotective Americans), she is just preparing for the worst; emotionally, physically and anything else.

The real reason I am taking this opportunity to (as my mom would put it) "soil my wild oats" is to disobey against how the system states you must live your life. I hate the fact that Americans get less vacation time than any other country. Someone for certain would get fired and have a hard time getting a job when he comes back if they did this. It is total bullshit. I work to live life; not live life to work. I want to live in a country where it is especially encouraged to adopt other cultures and to be lenient to students and young people. You have to really seek out opportunities to travel and I wish there was a more obvious push for younger people to go out and be adventurous, rather than just to get a degree and pay bills. Really my points here aren't very great, but what this journal has already helped me with is that I am now feeling better about my adventure. I think just writing these few lines has validated what I am trying to do, so I am feeling better. But yeah, I am feeling better about my mom being upset. I am sure I will get a call when I am in London (so long as my service provider picks up). Now I am going to listen to music.... that for sure will get me pumped!

Here are my final reflections on my trip.

This morning I stood in my empty room and I was really lacking good motivation to take down Rome, so I decided to put on the theme song of my trip. Its a folk song from my favorite Scottish folk band, the Peat bog Fairies. It previously would pump me up on trains going from place to place, but today it gave me an entirely different feeling. I felt really sad feeling as I looked out the window. Flashes of all the memories of when I heard this song whisked through my brain. A little bit of tears racked up in my eyes for I know that I am leaving my adventure in a few days.

I am sad that I cant experience more fulfillment. This trip has fulfilled so many different desires, fears, thoughts and sights. These are things that don't normally get fulfilled in everyday working life. It is as though a powerful force causes you not to be able to live your life independently. You must really try hard to seek it. Rather if you get sucked in to society, you must live most of your life as a zombie through a cubicle. If there is one pinnacle thing that is wrong in this world, that would be it. Society, family, corporations and politicians basically run your life, whether you realize it or not. What I realize is that the groups collective thoughts, desires, ideologies, norms, laws and religions are not in the best interest of your personal happiness. Mostly these are influenced by very powerful people who have some major bias or vested interest in their decision to change your life.

Some of these things cant be helped because we live in an organized society and there needs some infrastructure. But what I have realized out here is that many places in the world are exactly like the US.... only more improved because they look at our mistakes and modify their ways. I loved how so many communities and countries are more united than the US. (The only time the US was united was after 9/11 with their flags... but it doesn't seem to be that way anymore). Other countries are united in their morals, ways of thinking and they take care of each other a lot better than we do. I mean come on... we are the most powerful country in the world and we cant even adopt a public health care system..... it is so disturbing. We cant have public health care and great and efficient public transportation systems because of the damn corporations that ruined it with their greed. I want my country to take care of the people more than a big company. I guess thats why I am a liberal and thats why the American dream has changed for the worse. The people in other countries are more worldly and who would of thought..... they actually HAVE CULTURE!. They are more involved with current events rather than the secluded US. And when something in the world happens, and the US is passionate in assisting, most of the media brainwashes the opinion they want you to have. It is so messed up. I don't hate America, but there needs to be major changes in order for me to love living there. Thats why I really want dual citizenship somewhere else.

Okay well I will stop with my ramping about the world, because it would take so much more lines than I have time for. Just know that because of this trip I feel a lot more political and I want to be more involved with things that can hinder a possible better, more independent life I can lead. A life where I make the rules, not the media, government, family or a corporation. Because their interests aren't never usually in the best interest of everyone.

Many college students go to Europe to "find out who they really are". Sure a little bit of that went on with this trip, but I know who I am. Really, the best thing that this trip did was open my eyes. It opened my eyes to the good and bad of society, religion, history and people. The world is not a scary place like the news portrays. There are so many places in the world that people have told me about that are absolutely safe and wonderful.

These are the people that really changed my life. All the friends and interactions with people on this trip brought a new unique perspective, whether we traveled for a day, hour or week. They kept me company and vice-versa as we explored as much as we could. I cant thank all the people I met enough.

Each person I met shed some light into this dark abyss called life. Most people are afraid of what is in this dark hole because it is made of fear, new insights, new places, experiences and most importantly change. It is so very risky to go out and explore the abyss, for you might get lost, die or not enjoy what it has to offer. But I guess I am the type to just dive in naked, with no worries and accept change and new experiences because it enriches my life in so many ways. But I did need help to light my torch, and I thank all the people that inspired me to learn how to start a fire and I really thank those who gave me the stones to do it. Sparking that wick, they inspired me to a more fulfilling experience.

I learned so much while I was out here, more than any two months of my life. But I also had a total blast! I went through 12 countries, 7 capitol cities, three time zones, hundreds of cities and hostels and took over 1000 pictures and movies to document my adventure. From climbing the highlands to the Pyrenees mountains, from swimming with Nessie to swimming in the Mediterranean, from the grandest churches to the red light district, from the Parthenon to the coliseum, from Gaelic to German, from the Barcelona Olympic stadium to Steve Prefontaine in 74, from the eifel tower to the tower of London, from the crappy viking museum to the magnificent Louvre, from dancing with fairies to dancing in togas, and from The Thinker to The Statue of David I saw all extremes while I was here. From sure I made the most of each day and conquered as much of Europe as I could. I covered countless miles from the far north, south, east and west of this continent. I cant even say that about my own country. There isn't one thing I regret about this trip. There also wasn't one thing bad that happened to me while I was here. I wasted my money on the insurance (caused by fear). Nothing bad happened probably because I do have a good head on my shoulders and because I think ahead (i.e. giving the drunk a bottle of wine rather than confronting him).

I am the only young once with very limited obligations and I took as much advantage as I could. It wasn't an easy thing to pack up and go out here, but once I was over here traveling was very simple and easy. It really allowed me to clear my mind and take the longest break in my whole life, possibly the only time I can take this much off for the rest of my life. But when I come back, things will be relatively the same back home, but hopefully will look different to me. I am excited to be back, to start an entirely new journey that I hope will include the magnitude of life experiences I learned out here in Europe. Thanks for listening and supporting me while I was away on this adventure everyone!