"Is she back yet????!" Short answer: soon. Long answer: Wednesday. Sept. 17th. 19:00. JFK.
In just under 48 hours I will be boarding a plane in Milan, Italy for the final leg (if you don't count the drive from the airport) of my trip since COSing August 7th. It will be the first time that I have been on American soil since July 2012. This statement both astounds me and seems quite insubstantial. It has been simultaneously a lifetime and no time at all.
"Are you ready?" As ready as I ever could be. A good 3/4ths of my stuff made it back to my family (thanks Maggie, Ellen, and Cori!) before me (sorry Mom and Dad!), so it is my turn I guess. And no doubt about it I am excited. A bit nervous maybe, but also excited.
I have had an incredible time here in Italy. Oh did I forget to mention that?!? Yeah so at the end of August I left Nepal and ended up in Italy where I spent every weekend playing in Ultimate Frisbee tournaments (3 in total) and the weekdays doing a mix of exploring and eating and enjoying people's company. My darling friend Maggie (same amazing gal who visited me back in April) spent the summer working as an intern (tuttofare) at Tenuta di Spannocchia, a beautiful agritourismo a stone's throw from Siena in the Tuscan hills. The first week after a beach tournament I met up with her and her family who were also visiting and then hours later another great Kenyon College friend, Ffej, drove in after a whirlwind European tour. To paraphrase a great quotation, traveling with those you love is like home on wheels. Eating phenomenal Italian meals at the rented home or out in the small hill towns in Umbria we just couldn't go wrong. Pasta, cheese and meat, not to mention coffee, wine and gelato? Yes please! I left these loving friends the next weekend for Milan and tourney number 2 and then struck out on my own for the Cinque Terre ("Five Earths") along the Mediterranean for a few days of hiking, swimming and boating. Then on to the other side of the boot and Venice to wander the streets for a total of 16 hours over the course of a day and a half. Beautiful confusion. This past weekend I connected with yet another Italian Ultimate team and played in the city of Padova just a hop skip and a jump from Venice and the place where my younger brother Thomas spent the past spring on his study abroad program. I was fortunate enough to meet and have a lovely homecooked meal with T's host family and to get photo evidence that they actually exist! (Which you will just have to take my word for until I get on a real computer.) Family connections around the world. Continuing to make the world a bit smaller.
Now I sit in Trieste, a border town with Slovenia that may just be the least Italian city I have been in - more of a melting pot of cultures and peoples. A beautiful coastal city seated on the Adriatic Sea. And I am tired. Tomorrow I have a train to Milan and from there... well you know the story.
It has been a wonderful 3 weeks in Italy and a wonderful 3 weeks before that in Nepal. Additionally I am looking forward to a wonderful 3 weeks upcoming filled with big changes and plenty of excitement. It will be quite a transition and let me tell you why...
Once I arrive home I will have only 4 full days until I am on the move again. Where to, you may ask? Oh maybe I forgot to mention, I got a job. In Maine. Starting end of September. Rewind! Only just a week before COS I received an offer and accepted a position as Outreach Coordinator for a small outdoor education nonprofit based in Brunswick (read: big sister is moving to little brother's college town!). I had already booked and planned my COS trip long before that and so with the amazing support of my parents and the flexibility of the team at T3, I was able to go ahead with everything. So now in just a week's time I will be up in Maine! Jumping right into everything headfirst and full steam ahead. I think my Mom summed it up best in the note she snuck into my carry-on back in DC July 2012, "you are truly a rolling stone" never collecting moss.
So you will just have to take my word(s) for it that I was in Nepal and Italy as photos are yet to appear. And now I continue my journey along the streets with no names. Until next time.
