The Spartan Reader

Best of the World 2012
 A picture can only do so much to represent the actual image, but when it's all an individual has to rely on, it most certainly lives up to it's worth of a thousand words. Nobody examines pictures of Fort Wayne and thinks, "WOW! I want to go there!" That seems almost rudely sarcastic, nevertheless, it just makes every other place even more exciting to visit. It almost becomes a fantasy until the returning to a fiery, corn-filled hell the second that individual steps back into familiar territory. Each hop of the border or cross of the pond, one enters into a foreign world, like walking into kindergarten class for the first time. There is always something chimerical about it--a new learning experience, a new adventure.

From the cool, flowing waters of Iceland to the serene villas that rest upon the pristine beaches of Koh Lipe, Thailand, these photos prove that there are a vast number of microcosmic components to make up the home that nearly seven billion call their own, Mother Earth. A simple glance can act as a super power teleporting one's mind into a new world, one he thinks he knows so well, but in all reality, hasn't the least bit idea. There are Polar opposites of busy port cities in Croatia to the frozen and abandoned Siberian taiga of Mongolia. The steaming Geysers of New Zealand are complements to the smoke filled air surrounding the volcanoes partitioned among Rwanda, Uganda, and the Dominican Republic of the Congo, but are entirely different at the same time. Compared to the endless possibilities of jaw-dropping scenery or foreign lands, it's a wonder how Pittsburgh claimed a spot in the list of "Best of the World". Regardless, this list of only a small percentage of this wondrous world is filled with endless possibilities. Whether it be indigenous cultures,  innovative architecture, or the best of earth's natural elements, the world provides beauty, adventure, and boundless learning experiences in a mysterious multitude of ways.