In less than ten days, I will be en route to Italy. This means I will be 40,000 feet in the air, fiddling with air conditioning vents that will never attain a comfortable setting, adjusting and readjusting my seat to the chagrin of the poor passenger behind me, stretching my sore muscles like a 90-year-old rheumatic, munching gourmet airline peanuts (with a friendly label on the package warning me that "this food item may contain nuts"), and silently weeping at sappy in-flight films.
Maybe you're wondering, why did I debut this travel blog by describing the luxuries of air travel instead of predicting my glamorous Roman adventures to come? Why didn't I say that in two weeks, I would be "sipping cioccolata calda in a whimsical cafe in Trastevere" or "admiring myriad street performers on the Spanish steps", or even "eating pizza at the piazza"? Well... since this will be my first time in Europe, I would feel pretty presumptuous writing those flowery participial phrases about situations that may or may not be realistic. Honestly, I don't know what to expect from this trip, from Italy. Transcontinental flights? Been there, done that. But once I step off that plane onto Italian soil (or metal of the terminal, I guess), I am in new territory.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
numero uno
Hi! I'm Jessica, and this is where I'll be keeping account of my upcoming trip to Rome, Italy for a winter study abroad program dedicated to Baroque Art and Architecture.
Fact: I am slightly obsessed with travel blogs. Now finally, I get to keep one of my own. Instead of vicariously circumnavigating the globe by poring over photographs of sunlit cityscapes and glittering lights and delicious local cuisine, I get to be the cultured world traveler - for the next month at least. Expect lots of photos and even more rambling.
So about the title: Exiles Among You is a song by one of my favorite bands, the Weakerthans. Fact #2: I actually created this blog back in the 7th grade, but I'm pretty sure I only updated it once... with a Myspace survey, of all things. I was recently in the process of making a new blogspot when I stumbled across this ancient one (I felt like a paleontologist unearthing relics of generations past from the depths of the internet), decided the name was rather fitting for a travel log, and went with it. I know, you're giving me shifty eyes at the mention of "exile", but no, I didn't commit some heinous crime and am now banished from the United States or anything. I will defend my blog title with a dictionary.com definition, which says that an "exile" is simply "one who lives away from one's native country, whether because of expulsion or voluntary absence." Bam. Let's be philosophical for a moment and recognize that no matter where you go, there are always ~exiles among you. Nice job, 7th grade me - way to plan ahead.
Anyway, thanks for visiting/clicking on the link I shamelessly advertised on some social networking site! Hope you enjoy reading about my future adventures in Italia.
Fact: I am slightly obsessed with travel blogs. Now finally, I get to keep one of my own. Instead of vicariously circumnavigating the globe by poring over photographs of sunlit cityscapes and glittering lights and delicious local cuisine, I get to be the cultured world traveler - for the next month at least. Expect lots of photos and even more rambling.
So about the title: Exiles Among You is a song by one of my favorite bands, the Weakerthans. Fact #2: I actually created this blog back in the 7th grade, but I'm pretty sure I only updated it once... with a Myspace survey, of all things. I was recently in the process of making a new blogspot when I stumbled across this ancient one (I felt like a paleontologist unearthing relics of generations past from the depths of the internet), decided the name was rather fitting for a travel log, and went with it. I know, you're giving me shifty eyes at the mention of "exile", but no, I didn't commit some heinous crime and am now banished from the United States or anything. I will defend my blog title with a dictionary.com definition, which says that an "exile" is simply "one who lives away from one's native country, whether because of expulsion or voluntary absence." Bam. Let's be philosophical for a moment and recognize that no matter where you go, there are always ~exiles among you. Nice job, 7th grade me - way to plan ahead.
Anyway, thanks for visiting/clicking on the link I shamelessly advertised on some social networking site! Hope you enjoy reading about my future adventures in Italia.
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