Thus Said Zarathustra

And thus, here we are.

Among the things I thought I was ready for on this trip, I couldn't have imagined I'd be even more ready to go home. Three months in a foreign country does that to a man.

It's glib, yes. Like, no s$%t I'm a privileged little baby whining about spending three months in Rome. No, that hasn't slipped past me--but I have to at least be honest about how primed and oiled up my homesickness emitters have become.

So allow me to be glib for a moment.

The Bioparco di Roma. Even the zoo, man...

Allow me to be so glib as to reject the very notion that even the entrance to the zoo was designed by Borromini or something. I mean, look at this. It's like if AI generated an entire real world city based on old museum pictures except nowhere near as trite. The fact that me, this whiny little kid, is seriously bemoaning his continued existence in such a space should make you angry.

And it makes me angry, too. I went all over the country. I stayed overnight in Florence and Venice. I saw Assisi and Tivoli and Sorrento. Walking past the Colosseum and the Pantheon became normal to me. That is a very enviable position.

So of course I'm grateful. How could I not be? Not just for the country, but for the bastards I went with. These guys are awesome, seriously. Every single one of them is a gem to be around--but especially my roomies, Joe, Drew, Ivan, and Ren.

Notably not a picture of Joe, Drew, Ivan, or Ren.

I'll miss everything. I know that when I'm actually home I'll regret wanting to come back. This is a dream come true; life in Europe is outside of the American mind, we are unable to comprehend that a state can function so well and so in the interests of its people. Even Italy beats America.

The cities are built for humans. Their roads haven't been stolen by asphalt and car companies. Chain stores are a rare occurrence. Almost every store is local. Perhaps this can only be said for the capital of Rome; obviously I haven't seen any small towns outside the city center. And I concede that this interpretation of an entire country--a non-permanent foreigner living in the city center--is flawed. But it's still a wonder that America's own city centers are nothing like this.