THE PRIMORDIAL CELTIC FOREST OF DOOM.......

Today I didn't have any responsibilities, so I decided to go on an adventure. Remember, I'm staying in a small village in the hills outside of a giant city, Lyon. Well, I stepped out of the house, put on my favorite Celtic Folk Metal album, picked a random street, and followed that street for two hours straight. The street carried me out of the village, through the hills, and into a thick forest. I love France's nature. Maybe it's just because I'm a history freak, especially Celtic history, but the forest just made me think so much of Gaul (the ancient Celtic tribes that lived in France before the Roman conquest.) The forest was so old and mysterious, and I could just almost see the Gaulish tribes trekking and hunting through this very forest two thousand years ago, performing nature-worshipping rituals, and communicating in their runic tree alphabet called Aughm. There's nothing quite like being in a place that you've read and studied so much about. I had so much fun hiking through the forest, and when I came out the other side, I found myself on top of a very tall hill with a view for kilometers and kilometers. I could see the whole city of Lyon and far beyond in a breathtaking panorama of the French countryside. I'm so glad I chose that particular street for my trek. I was so at peace and so in tune with nature that it was seriously a spiritual experience. Then, Satan felt like he had to ruin my beautiful nature hike by convincing a spider to make a stupid web all the way across the path so that when I was trekking along I ran face first into the web and found the spider on my head. That was not fun. From then on I started brandishing a stick ahead of me to clear the path of any spiders.
Then when I got back to the house I had a long and deep discussion with Sarah's mom about the current social, religious, and political situation in France and various political parties' contributions to the mess. I was so amazed at how much my French has grown! Even though I still can't speak nearly as well as I understand, my understanding has grown so much and I only had to look up a few words that she said. I'm so proud!