Hello anybody and everybody,
As I write this, some 68 minutes before the first flight of my journey, I can't help but feel a myriad of emotions about my impending departure and the next four months abroad. While I have travelled outside the United States to faraway Israel and the Middle East, my gut keeps telling me I am facing a different animal entirely. The trip to Israel began and ended with the company of a friend I have known for most of my life, therefore a good deal of the stress I dealt with while preparing my belongings last night was not present in the summer of 2006. I must confess that I am actually much more excited to visit and explore Italy and Europe than I was to roam around the land of my ancestors. Perhaps my lack of strong religious conviction is to blame, but I have been chomping at the bit to visit the Borghese gallery and museum while I remember exhibiting a significantly lower level of excitement about descending on the Negev desert. Don't get me wrong: I absolutely loved climbing both up and down Masadah, floating in the Dead Sea, and riding camels with Bedouins. The (almost) two weeks I spent in Israel were some of the most adventurous, fun-filled days of my life, and I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Nonetheless, I have been studying the history surrounding Rome along with France and the Netherlands for a while, and have fallen head over heels for the art of those areas in the past several years. Thus, as you can imagine, a trip to Europe for 1/3 of the year aroused quite a deal more interest than the ten day birthright adventure. I had fun in Israel and saw some amazing things, but I believe what lies in wait for me across the globe will blow that out of the water.
I will miss my family, dogs included, a great deal and my friends as well while overseas for the next several months. I hope I will get some visitors during my time in Italy, and have been promised as much by both my mother and sister. My grandma, aunt and cousin have also expressed interest at making the trip to Europe, therfore I am sure that my time abroad will not be spent entirely by myself. Still I am sad to say goodbye, if only for 8 weeks, and cannot wait to enjoy good times with my family again. Its a good thing I have such great art and countryside to keep me occupied in the meantime, and I hope to soon be distracted by the beauty of Caravaggio's canvases and the energy and emotion of Bernini's marble masterpieces. Rome is the first stop on my journey to Florence and beyond, and I plan on staying from tomorrow until Sunday. There is a lot to see, and I only hope I have the time and ware with all (sp?) to take in a good portion of the city's treasures. No matter what happens though, in the very least, I will make it if I have to crawl to the Contarelli chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi. Caravaggio waits. Hope this finds any readers well and that I have any readers, period, and that I make it to London in one piece.
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