Hi everyone!

I'm a recent graduate of the Master of Arts in Professional Writing program at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, and you are looking at/reading a part of my final thesis, or Capstone project. I kept this blog for the duration of a study abroad trip around Italy in the summer of 2007, and now I hope to add more travel-related entries to take this blog even further into looking at how travel broadens one's horizons. As I worked on my Capstone on this trip, I kept up with my photography and journaling techniques. The latter also had to do with a class I took with ASU-that was the university I took this trip with, and our group was comprised of students and many others that made it all the more interesting.

One of my goals after putting together my work from Italy with my surveys from study abroad students (adding in literature readings by the big names in the genre) was to have a solid piece of travel writing. The travel narrative is my primary interest for placing my travels in print form, but I aspire to be a travel writer in any capacity, really--a features magazine would be just the ticket for the near future.

So family and friends, MAPW colleagues, my wonderful project committee, and fellow travelers, please leave comments and partake (and contribute to) my experiences as a writer journaling and pursuing the travel writing field. This trip took place from June 25th to July 20th, 2007. Thank you!

-Katrina


I've created a map through Google that I would like to have show the trip route. It's posted in my first entry (since I had to put it in an entry somewhere to make it show up, I think), but maybe you'll be able to view it as I add the trip route (I'm not reading much about an 'edit feature' option for it on this site, so oh well. We'll see.): http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_45I.html.

Also, it should be noted that my blog and 'field research' on Italy has a "co-captain" of sorts. I was indeed at the mercy of Italian technology (or at least their available computers) for this trip, so my Mom volunteered to help post or edit things from back home. I would have had her do more of that, but again, this was a major learning process for us all. :-) Now comes the time that I present more of my "field research;" the blog's not over just yet! Please keep these little stipulations in mind as you navigate through everything.

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