Venice, Italy

After a few days in Berlin, we took a plane to Italy. We had a connecting flight in Belgium which I loved, because I could actually understand a portion of what people were saying: In Belgium, they speak a mixture of Dutch, German, and French. In high school, I took Spanish for 3 years, but my first two years in college, I decided to take French and I absolutely loved it. Although I am not fluent, I was able to keep a conversation going with a few of the flight attendants. No, the conversation never exceeded the proper: "Hi, how are you?" question that I understood as they greeted me on the plane, and my response of: "I am well, thank you," but I was happy to be practicing my French. 

On the left: my view as we were leaving Belgium. On the right: my view en route to Venice, Italy. 

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After we arrived in Venice, Italy, we were absolutely exhausted. So after an extremely long nap, we finally got to explore Italy. Venice, also known as the "City of Water," is obviously, surrounded by water. In order to get around, we had to walk across bridges, like the one that I was standing on while I took the picture below.

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Basilica San Marco

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A love lock in Venice.

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The Biennale

My sister loves architecture and interior design (the latter is what she got her degree in), so we obviously had to go to the Biennale while we were in Venice. Every year, the Biennale switches between showing art and architecture, and we just so happened to be in Venice when architecture was being displayed.

Every country exhibits their own work, which is separated into their respective buildings. 

In this part of the exhibition (I forget which country this belonged to), everything was blue - blue walls, blue floors, blue ceilings. So, #nofilterneeded.

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France's exhibit. Like I said, I love speaking French as well as learning about their culture, so this was one of my favorite stops. 

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All in all, walking in and through The Biennale in Venice was beautiful. It brought together many countries for one purpose, and that was to display art. 

Reagan Fleming

Days 1 + 2 + 3: Berlin

For those of you who don't know, I have been in Europe for the past 2 weeks.

My mom and sister surprised me with this trip of a lifetime just a mere week and a half before we left. Here is the story as to how they did it: they placed my plane ticket confirmation paper on my face while I was sleeping, and then played a German children's song called "Schnappi" a little too loud to actually wake me up from a deep and glorious sleep. (If you feel so inclined, here is the link for the song, it's quite cute.) It was an awesome surprise, but I honestly didn't understand what was happening at first; I was extremely confused and knew that the song they were playing was in German, but what the heck was this piece of paper? As I began getting more and more awake, I slowly realized that it was the confirmation email that they got for buying an airplane ticket, but my destination said TXL. Where is TXL? Am I going to Texas? I kept staring at the paper, and my mom and sister were just sitting there, waiting for it to click in my brain. They lost patience, so they had to tell me, "You're going to Germany, Reagan." 

Hey, apparently TXL is the airport code for the Tegel Airport in Berlin, Germany. We're all supposed to learn something new each and every day, so I fulfilled my quota pretty early on in the morning.

As you may have guessed, I brought books:

Thanks to my sister and her miraculous packing skills, I managed to only bring a light backpack and a small suitcase. Organization, am I right? She told me to limit my books, so I brought... 3. In my defense, one was a mass-market paperback. Just like she thought, I partly read only 2 of them. But in my defense, you never know what kind of mood you'll be in, and which books you'll actually want to read. I brought: Catcher in the Rye (Salinger), Blue Shoe (Lamott), and Between the Lines (Piccoult). Needless to say, I was not bored on the plane.

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Day 1

It rained during our first day in Berlin. It rained hard. I'm one of those people that like to write and read when it's all gloomy outside, but when you need to actually be outside to get from point a to point b... I'm not as big of a fan of the rain anymore. We visited the Reichstag building + dome (pictured below), but like I said, it was raining quite profusely. Thankfully, it only rained on the latter half of our outing, so we were only partially soaked on the walk back to the place we were staying.

The first picture is of the Reichstag building. We went inside, to the dome (picture 2), and received a little cassette-player-sized device with headphones. We each put in our headphones, listened to the audio tour, and walked up the ramp at our own pace. It was really interesting to hear the history behind this building and the other significant buildings neighboring this one. 

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Day 2

We had the pleasure of walking past this scene (pictured above) many times during our trip. Guys, Berlin is beautiful. 

This is a picture of the coffee beverages and pie that my mom, sister, and I got at a coffee shop we stumbled upon. The café was called La Tazza (thank you for reminding me, cup), and we all ordered Americanos. (Americans ordering Americanos. Ironic, I know.) The drinks were served with these tiny biscotti bites, and we also got what we thought was a piece of fig pie, but turned out to be a surprisingly delicious plum pie. I highly recommend it. 

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Day 3

Reader, before I show you this next picture and you worry about my health and how much caffeine I consume on a daily basis, let me share this with you: I have tried weaning myself off of coffee before. But, I simply discovered that it's not the caffeine that I enjoy, it's the taste and the experience you get when you drink a cup of coffee. Also, the migraines that I got from being coffee-less were excruciating. So, here we are! I am also currently at Starbucks, sipping a latte, and writing about coffee. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. 

Sunday before church, we went to this coffee shop called Bonanza Coffee. You may remember my picture (below) that I posted on Instagram. It was taken inside this very coffee shop... I really love her haircut.

Never have I ever had a better iced flat white before in my life. There were moments where I almost lost all the contents in my cup (due to the lack of lids present in that establishment), but every sip was worth the risk.  

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After our 3rd day in Berlin, we went to Venice, Rome, then Florence. My next post will be about those adventures.

Till next time,

Reagan Fleming.

Individualistic

It's amazing how words we read, a sight that we come across, or something we listen to can evoke many different emotions, all remarkably different to each person. 

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In the evolution of my reading preferences, I have gone from Junie B. Jones, to Nancy Drew, to Jane Austen, to Anne Lamott and Charlotte Brontë. (I will always have a place in my heart for little Junie B. That crazy kid.) Looking back at these authors, I realize I was kind of an odd kid since I chose to read Pride and Prejudice for fun when I was 12. Half the time, I didn't know what was going on due to the British lingo, but I enjoyed it and finished it nonetheless. I guess I wanted to know why it is said to be a classic. 

My taste in music has also evolved: Obviously I listened to Hannah Montana, JoBros, Aly & AJ, and I just listened to whatever was on the radio. Now that I am in my 20s, I have a very eclectic taste in music (pop/instrumental/electronic/indie/singer-songwriter). Do I listen to the occasional JoBros? Yes. That is called nostalgia, people, and that is totally normal. 

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This past year at college, I wrote down my favorite quotes from books, interviews, song lyrics, poem stanzas, etc. on index cards and taped them up around my desk in my dorm room. I taped said index cards as well as pictures of family and friends in hopes of making it feel more homey. It did its job, and it made my dorm room feel more like my bedroom back home rather than a place that I just inhabit.

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I have realized that some statements mean something more to us than others. For instance, there are many times that I get excited about something that I am reading, and I recite back to my friends. More often than not, the other person doesn't like or appreciate the quote the way I do. This forces me to tell myself: Hey, you have eccentric taste, my friend. 

This amazes me about books, poems, essays, songs, and other works of art: there will always be a different interpretation for the audience member. In my high school English classes, I LOVED the questions on exams and homework assignments that gave a quote or an instance that happened in a book we were reading, and it asked you to explain what you thought it meant. I always got these questions correct, because as long as you defended your thought process, there was no wrong answer. That's what I love about art: there are no wrong answers. 

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Words, lyrics, paintings, etc. all have the power to move people. An author's words have the power to make their readers not feel so alone in the world, even alone in what they're going through. The reader and the author are able to have this connection, simply from having their words read.

This sums up why I am a writer. I know how much other peoples' words have changed me, and I want to do so for others as well. 

Reagan Fleming