Hanauma Bay is beautiful. And pristine. And really paradise within a paradise. We got to snorkel in the beautiful nature preserve and work on our suntans. It was really fun. Won't say much more, I think the pictures speak for themselves... ... read more

Aloha from Hawai'i! I'm here on the island of O'ahu, actually on business. I've been here for a few days now, but today is the first time I've been able to actually slow down a bit and take in some of the sights. Since I graduated from the University of Illinois I have been working for a travel agency that specializes in tours for foreign exchange high school students studying in the United States. It's business, but what better place to do business than in Hawai'i... especially if you're from Chicago! I'm having a hard time believing I'm still in America though. Europe seemed more familiar, despite the fact that I didn't need to exchange money and there's only a slight accent here in the Islands. Riding around in our rented van on the highway is ... read more

Well, somehow I find myself back in New York. This time, I'm here for some preliminary law school visits—as I head into my final semester of undergraduate education this fall, law school applications are all I'll be thinking about. So I thought I'd take my last spring break and go on a mini tour of the best law schools on the East Coast, starting with New York University and Columbia University. And of course, while I was here, I might as well further my education of New York City. So this is going to be a fairly short entry, but I'm sure I'll be back sometime soon. Since my first and main reason for being here was the law school visits, I didn't have too much time, but true to form I did manage to get ... read more

Well, I have climbed Mount Vesuvius. And I won't lie, I feel pretty cool saying that. The volcano is the only volcano on mainland Europe to have erupted in the last century, and owes most of its fame for the destruction of the cities Pompeii and Herculaneum back in 79 AD. But don't worry, according to its main website: the Park is closed while Vesuvius is erupting. Like most people I assume, I have never climbed a volcano, have never looked inside a volcano, have never seen a volcano erupt. A met a girl later on who, upon telling her I went to the top of Mount Vesuvius, asked if I got to look inside and see the lava bubbling up in the pit of the volcano. I tried hard not laugh at that, but I'll ... read more

Wow. Rome is closed on New Years Day. It has shut down pretty much all but its heavily touristy areas and souvenir shops it seems. This fact may be an indirect result of most of the city's population staying up until 4 AM and beyond to ring in 2008. I'd want to sleep all day too if I saw the first sunrise of the new year; however, I was impressed with how clean the city was the next morning. The clean up crew was working relentlessly from what must have been a formidable hour of the morning until it was back to normal. I only saw a few plates broken in alleys or firework remains. Regardless, having only half of Rome available was kind of a bummer on our last day in town. And I still ... read more