Phoenix Feather Tattoo

Just a picture of my first tattoo. You're welcome to comment, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't leave any comments about how I shouldn't have gotten it. Believe me, I've heard it all.

Pain
The first thing anyone thinks about when getting a tattoo for the first time is how much it's going to hurt. I spent months trying to decide the perfect place, and when I decided to get this tattoo on my neck/behind the ear, I was especially concerned about that. I did hurt, but not as much as you would think. It hurt a LOT less than I was expecting, (especially in a place where there's so many nerves) I actually think a pinch hurts more, it's just that this pain in more drawn out, which makes it uncomfortable. However, it was never more than I could bear. Actually, I'm really ticklish, and I was having trouble keeping still because I was laughing too much.

Visibility
When I first started thinking about a tattoo, I wanted my tattoo to be covered up, so that I could have the choice of showing it or hiding it. I never in a million years thought I would get it here, but it's actually quite perfect. I don't really like to do much with my hair, and I prefer to keep it down, so it naturally hides itself, and if I ever want to show it off, I just put my hair up.


Symbolism: What this tattoo means to me.
1. I'm a gamer (and I want to go into the video game industry), and a feather has various references to games such as God of War, Assassin's Creed, ect.

3. I moved to Brazil as an exchange student, and My host mom in Brazil calls me "Passarinho" aka "little bird". Also, the name of my school is Colegio Senhora da Pena (pena, meaning feather). I wanted something to remember my time here and my classmates who made it so special, and this seemed like a more subtle way to do it rather than getting "Brazil" tattooed on my ass.

4. Again, a reference to Brazil. As an exchange student, i'm changing so much as a person. I don't even recognize who I was before all this started, and all the better. I've gone so many hard things in my life, and I was kind of a scarred person before I came here, but Brazil is putting me back together better than I was before. This tattoo is also about how I've been, for a lack of a better word, reborn as this new person, as phoenix is reborn from it's ashes. I know it seems kind of cheesy, but it's true, and I don't expect anyone else to fully understand without having experienced what I've gone through for themselves.