Back from Lebanon + Quick Updates

Hello, everyone! I just managed to get back home from my trip to Lebanon. Which means, I'm going to be doing NOTHING today!! XD Well, nothing outside of the this journal entry and surfing the web, anyway. But yeah, I'm exhausted, so first, I'm just going to make quick updates concerning drawings:

I'm gonna be starting college August 22nd again, which means will mostly likely mean I'll have a lot less time to work on my drawings; I'm off on Fridays, but I will mostly be heavily occupied during the weekdays. So with that in mind, I'll try working on 2 projects before college: my b-day gift for , and my contest entry for . I'll also try working on commissions in the mean time, and I'll do some of my own drawings as well.

Thaaaaattttt aside, I've been wanting to talk about my trip to Lebanon. The trip itself... well, let's just say there was a lot of good AND bad to it. '^^ There were a lot of things I liked about the trip, but there was a lot of things I didn't. To sum up, the HIGHLIGHTS of the trip:

- The first two days were pretty awful; we got to Lebanon very late (so at around 3:00 A.M.) where my father, brother, and I stayed at our uncle's house (in Kfar-Hazir) while we were there. In our room (with my brother), the AC wasn't working. And considering it's Lebanon in the summer, we basically woke up drenched in sweat after we slept. It also didn't help that we already started doing activities the MINUTE we woke up. I don't know about you, but when you just arrive from another country after spending 20+ hours in a friggin' airplane and dealing with constant security check-ups in between, the first thing I'd like to do is get myself a little settled in first. The first place we went to, however, was actually pretty nice. It was at Mt. Lebanon (no, not the Pennsylvania one), where we got to visit one of the forests there, and I also got to learn a bit more about pine trees. It was really fun, but the tour was only about 30 minutes long, actually. Getting TO the tour and back, however, took about 2-3 hours a piece. That was NOT fun. Honestly, most of the issues I had with the first 2-3 days is that we just spent most of the time in a car/bus. When you're packed in airplane for a surplus amount of time, being in another vehicle for long periods of time is the LAST thing I want to do.

- The next two places we went to that were far away consisted of a mansion belonging to one of our cousins, where we partied over there, and a winery. I guess there, you can have wine if you're 18 or older, but I still didn't have any; it just didn't really feel right for some reason. My dad did have me try an alcoholic beverage that's commonly drunk there (it's pronounced Ara, I think). It was horrible, to say the least.  

- The next couple of days did get a bit better, eventually. We actually got to relax and settle ourselves in at Lebanon. We chilled a bit at one of our aunt's houses in Lebanon, where we actually got to go swimming in a pool. It was pretty fun, and it was quite a nice break from all the traveling we did. Only issue was, that's when I got sick again. By again, I mean I went to Lebanon 7 years ago, where I had suffered from diarrhea and actually vomited at times. I think I still have some stomach issues again, but thankfully, I'm not vomiting, so it's probably not as bad. 

- The wedding itself was actually really fun. The food there was phenomenal, and there was actually a live singer there; while I was not familiar with his works, he was actually really good, and overall, there was just a lot of energy to the party. That said, my brother and I were pretty much exhausted near the end. 

- Lebanon actually has a really good pizza place called Napoli's, I believe. It was very good, and if my stomach wasn't hurting at the time, I certainly would've had more. XD

- There was a store we passed by in while traveling in Beirut called 'Tie Me Up'. I don't think I need an explanation there. XD

- My brother and I actually watched the Arabic dub for SpongeBob while staying at our uncle's house. And it was wonderfully entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

- The driving in Lebanon is pretty..... crazy. It's literally every man for himself, and it's much more aggressive than U.S.A.'s driving. That took some time to get used to. There's hardly any street-lights, people drive in between lanes, come right in front of you, honk like maniacs, sometimes make up their OWN lanes, and even sometimes go into the opposite lane at times just to pass someone else. You REALLY have to be defensive when driving there just because of how aggressive everyone else is there. I really did get a headache from just how hectic the driving can be sometimes.

I do have a lot more to talk about, but it's pretty hard to describe it without getting into family relationship stuff and the like. Sorry if all my thoughts are so scatterbrained in this journal, but overall, I just had some really good and really bad moments in Lebanon. It was pretty hectic for a 7-day travel, but I have to say, it feels really nice to be back at home where I can just spend the last few days of my vacation relaxing and drawing. 

And it also feels nice to be back at DeviantArt as well. X3