Small Town America to Europe

Good morning beautiful people (:

So if you read my first post, you would have learned that I am from a small town in Oregon. And when I saw small I don't mean, 5-10,000 people. I mean 600. My high school had less than 50 kids in it. That's a fraction of most graduating classes.

Side note:: Graduating with eleven classmates always was my 'fun fact' during college. It never failed to get shocked faces, and no one could ever beat me.

I always had a love/hate relationship with my hometown while I was growing up. I felt so isolated from the rest of the world. We didn't get cell phone service until I was 16, and high speed internet until my senior year of high school. But my entire extended family lived within a mile of me. I saw my grandparents daily, along with my cousins, aunts, and uncles. I had a brother-sister relationship with my classmates. Most of us went to preschool together. We were together for our entire childhood, adolescence, and beginning of our adulthood. I played three sports, was valedictorian, and student body president (my classmates really didn't care so I got to bulk up my resume) and easily had time to hang out with my friends, work after school, and complete 25 college credits before graduation. Who else can say that they accomplished so much in high school?

Still, the second I graduated I was off. I moved three hours away to go to school at the University of Oregon (I quickly realized my mistake and transferred to Oregon State University...go beavs!). It was such a culture shock. Over the next four years I learned about life outside of my isolated little town. I met people who were brilliant that did not share my opinions or my beliefs, but it was okay. I learned to have an open mind and listen to their views, and learned to understand where they were coming from. I still don't agree with most of what they believe, but I see why they think the way they do. I traveled to Europe and discovered that the rest of the world is not half as scary as some Americans believe (and I met my husband and decided to move there).

Side note:: My grandpa still refuses to leave the country to come to my wedding. (Yes, I'm already married. Yes, I'm having another wedding. But that's for a different post on a different day.)

The people in my little hometown are never going to change, and that's entirely okay. They live there lives the same way today that they did twenty years ago and they still will twenty years from now. They are some of the most kind, wonderful people on this planet. Every Friday during football and basketball season they never fail to be in the stands at the high school cheering for the best team and yelling at the refs for making the worst calls (you don't want to tick our crowd off, trust me). They have hard hands, but hearts of gold. But they're never going to leave. They love their lives there, but I have outgrown that little place.

My heart yearns to see the Northern Lights in Iceland, the Pyramids in Egypt, and the canals in Venice. America is beautiful, but it does not have the human history that the rest of the Western World does. The beautiful Gothic buildings. The castles, the cathedrals, the cobblestone streets. The stories of Kings and Queens, of war and peace. Literary geniuses such as Dickens, Shakespeare, and Wilde. Artistic geniuses such as Leonardo, Van Gogh, and Michelangelo. I am addicted and obsessed with exploring every bit of our beautiful world.

End note:: Well I meant for this post to be about the political differences between small town America and Europe, but that got away from me apparently. I guess another topic for another day.

Ciao lovelies.

Love, 

Taylor ❤️