Preparation

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If it isn't fun, don't do it. You'll have to do enough that isn't.

-Robert Creeley

Here I am. Here we are. It's quite intimate, isn't it? We're here, you and I, trying to find some understanding. Well, let's not kid ourselves. I'm in the world wide web discussing private matters in a public place, as David Antin would rightfully assert, and there's nothing intimate about that. But please, friend, let's continue on with the exploitation!

So no, I'm not yet in Ukraine, in case you're wondering, but throughout my limited years I've come to at least realize that things begin long before we think they do. Everything begins with a thought, does it not? In the case of traveling, it all begins with our cultural identity and the assumptions and expectations that come along with it. But it's not only our cultural identity that shapes our travels, is it? It's much more complex than that, if indeed such a thing can exist. I constantly ask myself why it is that I'm even going to Ukraine. Why have I chosen this route? That answer lies not only in my cultural identity, but in my desire to escape that very identity and broaden my horizons in order to gain a more expansive outlook on the world. Is it terrifying? Sure, in some ways it scares the hell out of me to think that I'll be on the other side of the world, seven time zones away from anything close to resembling familiarity. But I've taken Robert Creeley's "Sad Advice," and I'm going to seek out some fun.

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