I just had to write again because I am so thrilled about this city of Varanasi. Corey and I arrived here a few days ago somewhat frustrated with India, but ever since we arrived things have been going so wonderfully. Varanasi is one of the holy cities of India. It is located on the Ganges River and every day you can see all sorts of people swimming around in the water, bathing, praying, going on boat rides, burying their dead. It is such a lively yet peaceful place. Varanasi is the place where I have been feeling the most relaxed..down by [View Full Entry]

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India is turning out to be a very interesting place. This is what I have come to conclude most recently: -There is no such thing as silence here. Whether it is car horns or yelling or music in the streets, there is always something happening. Even when we woke up at 5am to see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal there were still so many people on the streets and playing in the parks that it was unbelievable. -These people have an incredible knack for survival. In extreme hot weather with little balance of vitamins and minerals, unsanitary cities and polluted [View Full Entry]

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This time I write from a totally new continent after spending the past few days surrounded by a completely new culture. Leaving Italy last week was very very difficult. Parting from the cities has never been the hardest part for me because I know that Rome and Viterbo have been around for centuries and most likely will continue to sit in those same spots for many more years to come. But the people, the friends...all of us will be dispersed in our own new spots and who knows when we will meet again. Especially because so many of my friends were [View Full Entry]

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Another short trip has come to a close...three days ago I flew out from Italy and into Barcelona, again with Emily. This time we experienced quite a few problems at the airport..such as delayed flights and fears that Corey had not arrived on her flight from the united states. At the end we were united though and all was well...we came to our beautiful hostel in Barcelona and slept for the evening. The following day we walked around the center of Barcelona looking at live statues and people selling animals and jewelry and clothes on the streets. We looked at Gaudi [View Full Entry]

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I write today from the Greek island of Santorini...a friend of mine from Viterbo, Emily, and I arrived in Greece on Thursday evening, and we are staying for 4 days. We spent the first day in Athens seeing the Acropolis and the National Archaeological Museum. Yesterday we caught a ship early in the morning and for 8 hours looked at the sea and passing islands until we reached our destination, Santorini, around 4 in the afternoon. We found a hostel where we dropped off our things, and in the evening we used the island bus system to reach the city of [View Full Entry]

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Some pictures from my time here in Bulgaria.... [View Full Entry]

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Well here I am writing again, but this time I find myself in my homeland of Bulgaria, visiting the family. This is the first time I have ever been here alone, but it is largely how I imagined it would be...I spent a couple of days in the beginning in the capital of Sofia, where I was born, where I saw my aunt and some of my cousins. I spent the majority of the time with my aunt, who showered me with gifts of jewelry as she always does...earrings, rings, necklaces, all of it! We walked around the neighborhoods, ate some [View Full Entry]

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Here are some of the pictures I have from my amazing journey to Egypt. Of course there is no way I can upload everything, but I would like to give you at least a little idea about what sort of experience it was. Conclusion: Egypt is amazing. I cannot wait to return. The people, the culture, the desertscape...its like a dream, an amazing, beautiful dream. Enjoy... [View Full Entry]

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My experience in Amsterdam was quite the opposite of that in Egypt. It was very short, very free (not a whole lot of things on our schedules to see), and pretty normal.. I arrived in Amsterdam Saturday afternoon and was greeted by several other friends from Viterbo, among them Diogo, Ze, Stefano, and some of the Spanish - Manu, Adria, Agnel. We went to the hotel where they already had a room reserved for me and for Seul (who was with me at this point), dropped off our things, went out to eat an Indonesian dinner, and then Seul and I [View Full Entry]

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Alright so where even to begin? On a journey like the one I just took throughout Spring Break, there is so much meaning in even the tiniest details that I cannot see a way to include them all, to make any one of you understand what sort of experience it was. Words can express only so little... Trying to move beyond this obstacle though... I went to Egypt for a week with three friends of mine from the USAC program, and then headed to Amsterdam for a couple of days to meet up with more of our friends, including some of [View Full Entry]

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