Enchanting experiences...

I must say I haven't had many "enchanting experiences" with the non-human world. I've grown up in a city my whole life, and my hometown Kiev is definitely not a place where nature is prevalent. Our botanical gardens may be the size of our classroom. However, in the summer of 2007 I went to Rapid City, South Dakota for about 3 weeks. I was in complete culture shock, but I knew I wanted to experience it. I'd say the most magical thing I experienced there was something I never really thought about. The fact that there were such wide open spaces, the sky actually turned black at night, and the best: I could taste the fresh air that hadn't been tainted with industrialized smoke and toxins.

At home, I'm not one to really go outside and look at the stars...mostly because I can barely see them, but when I was in middle America, I could actually see more than four stars, without a purple haze in the background. I had also never noticed the difference of air throughout parts of the world. It was so clean, crisp, and fresh...definitely not like home.