Typical

Before my study abroad, my life consisted of a series of unfortunate events. Nothing too grave, but just enough to have me wish I was anywhere else doing anything else much like my fellow philosopher, Gusave Flaubert. I never had one specific location like Flauber. My dreams and fantacies involved the entirety of Europe. I dreamed and ached for the lights of Paris, the warmth of Italy, and the sophistication of England as I sat behind a desk at either work or school. Nor do I hold Atlanta in the disdain that Flaubert had for France.I do love Atlanta as a city but the same cannot be said for my feelings towards all of its people.I share Flaubert's sentiments described as believing "the French bourgeoisie was a repostiory of the most extreme prudery, smobbery, smugness, racism and pomposity." I find Atlanta to have all these qualities for all the wrong reasons. I walked the streets with people that found their lives revolving around the right club, at the right time, with the right outfit. Had their Saturday night not met these requirements, the were forced to try and convince everyone they were actually cool until they had another chance to redeem themselves the following weekend at the club deemed 'popular' by others. I found myself not even visiting parts of the city in order to avoid this mindset and pretentious display of Atlanta's own bourgeoisie on Friday and Saturday nights.
Now that I have been able to finally leave on my journey, I have found that I can still relate to Flaubert on his discovery of the real Egypt as I have now discovered Europe. Before arriving, I had twenty-two years to idealize the monuments, cities, and people in Europe and everything I thought that lacked in Atlanta would be found on this continent. Currently, my six month stint in the European continent includes expectations not met, let-downs, and even bad experiences, this does not mean my attraction to Europe was misconceived. I find my exact sentiments toward Europe now mirrored by Flaubert's senitments, " simply replace an absurdly idealized image with a more realistic but never the less still profoundly admiring one, he exchanged a youthful crush for a knowledgeable love." You may say that it is typical to have the 'perfect picture'in you mind destroyed when you actually experince it but now I find it typical to not have this picture destroyed but rather altered. Altered from a different point of view to a new one, altered because of gained knowledge or altered because of new experiences. Having your opion changed because of these situations are typical and necessary to the adventure of travel.