Twelve Days

I love this one! It's going to be a good quote to keep in mind while I begin packing and finalize planning.

"They have worries, they're counting the miles, they're thinking about where to sleep tonight, how much money for gas, the weather, how they'll get there - and all the time they'll get there anyway, you see."  Jack Kerouac

"All the golden land's ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see."  

Jack Kerouac

"All of life is a foreign country."  Jack Kerouac

Par-A-Dise

All this talk of Italy at my house has got me thinking a lot about my idolized visions of travel. All of which go back to Jack Kerouac, the epitome of taking control of the open road, in my mind. I'm sure it was "On the Road" that first put the travel bug (not a Geocaching reference) in me, so it's only natural that as I prepare to depart without a map, I find myself returning to the stories of the greatest of the Beats.

Kerouac is a poet, to state the very, very obvious, and his poetry is inspiring me this afternoon as I peruse my copy of "Road Novels." I'm rediscovering just how many beautiful quotes Kerouac has penned on travel (although his travels tended to stay within and along the States), and - heads up - they are going to start appearing on this blog soon. I've even taken my new title from a Kerouac novel.

Even if you aren't a fan, I hope you can appreciate my fondness for these words and I hope they set the same tone for you reading this blog as they will set for me writing it.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” ~ Sal Paradise, On the Road, Ch. 3:5

Twenty-two Days

So I'm switching things up on this blog - for the next few months at least. Obviously, I haven't been keeping up with this, and I apologize. Although, this is the first time many of you are reading this blog and - if you are honest with me and with yourself - this is the first you've probably heard I had a blog.

It's quite all right though. You know now and here you are.

If you didn't know it before, I am leaving the United States in less than a month. I'm catching a plane from Pittsburgh International Airport Jan. 8 and flying to Florence, Italy, where I will live for four months. Actually, to be accurate (or as accurate as I am willing to get on the internet) I will be flying from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to Frankfurt to Florence during that second week of January, but you get the idea.

I've always wanted to travel, so you could say I have been planning this trip since I was a child. But I began planning this particular study abroad opportunity in my first semester at Kent State and now, three semesters later, here I am. It was kind of a whim and a series of doors opening unexpectedly that got me where I am now. I went to one study abroad meeting, thought it sounded like a good idea, applied for the next open trip, got accepted, told my parents, and have been slowly preparing in a state of disbelief since then.

It's worked out wonderfully, and I pray it continues that way as our actual departure date draws nearer. ("Our" meaning myself and the fourteen other Communication and Information students participating in the Florence trip this upcoming semester.)

Now here's the part you'll care about. I'll be blogging my travels right here starting as soon as I can access the internet between the 'burgh and Firenze. Since I will be living in Italy until May, I'm hoping to be able to generate weekly, interesting content on this blog.

It will be the usual update of my life for friends and family that a lot of travelers and study abroad students do, but with my own spin, of course.

I don't know yet what to expect of what I'm beginning to think of as my European adventure. I do know that in my time abroad, I would like to accomplish the following checklist, in no particular order:

• Go to Croatia.
• Go to Germany.
• Go to Ireland.
• Go to any other country I can go to.
• Get a touristy photo of me holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
• Eat authentic Italian pasta.
• Drink authentic Italian wine.
• Take a Beatles tour of England.
• Get a photo of me crossing Abbey Road.
• Take a Harry Potter tour of England.
• Get a photo of me at Platform 9 3/4.
• Strike up a conversation with a local.
• Try to read an Italian newspaper.
• Spend a day just people watching.
• Follow a road just to see where it goes.
• Visit all of the major Italian cities. 
• Visit Dante Alighieri's house.
• Swim in the ocean.
• Actually see an ocean.
• Stay in a hostel.
• Attend an Italian youth group with Jess and Katy.
• Go to an Easter service in a church older than the United States.
• Appreciate the fact that I can be in anything older than the United States.
• Get lost without panicking.
• Do something 100% spur-of-the-moment.
• Grocery shop in an open-air market.
• Make one purely selfish and frivolous purchase.
• Hang my laundry out to dry over the street.
• Not lose/ruin any laundry in the process.
• Watch the local news (I do this everywhere I go, but it will be particularly good in a foreign country).
• Learn about international communications (duh).
• Learn at least enough Italian to get by.
• Learn about art.
• Live out of a backpack for a weekend.
• Go to a pub.
• Take more photos than I know what to do with.
• Blog every (?) day.
• Remember to keep my feet off the frescoes.
• Spend Valentine's Day in Paris (I'm looking at you, Katy).
• Not lose or let anything bad happen to Katy Welch because I promised Sarah.

And... so much more. But this is just the starter list I've been able to come up with in the past two or three minutes. I'm sure as D-Day (Departure Day) arrives, I'll think of more things. I'm also banking on the fact that most of the best adventures will come about on their own once I'm on the other side of the Atlantic.

That's all for now. I'll be blogging more and more once I actually start packing and finalizing details, and of course, shipping off to Palazzo dei Cerchi. So check back often or, better yet, subscribe for some email updates, and I will keep you posted on my life as it gets a little more interessante.