reflections of home

I had lunch with a friend of mine yesterday that reminded me of an Emerson quote that really fits the intentions of this website.

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once I believed that the world would show me the identity this city sometimes sheds away from you in times of darkness. Now it can only be believed and seen that this world is a very small place and so are we. Inside of ourselves is a tiny world that unless held in some righteous and self respecting place, no physical world will ever seem beautiful or inspiring. As I walked through the city this week in the sweet air the autumn brings, I am reminded what a manifestation of these ideas New York City really is. 

It is one's world in constant battle with concrete and noise and existence. This battle however is an inspiration and it is justified when one person comes to this understanding and finds themselves within these boarders. Coming to New York as a naive 18-year-old, your own identity is shattered, desperately lost between the cracks in the cement walkways in which every kind of person in human existence seems to come across in one way or another.

There you are trying to survive and watching others lose themselves in their own demise or leaving to avoid it. I believed that leaving this city to discover the one inside my heart would give me the piece of mind I desired more than anything. However the greatest concept of my own existence that I found on my travels was the love I had for the city that I identify with the most, New York.

Diversity, excitement, change, rain, life. It found me while I was away and I came back to find myself.

I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there besides me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Overseas Study

Congratulations, Veronica Malley. 

Center for International Programs has accepted your application to Study Abroad at Kingston University for the Spring, 2010, term. Please click continue to complete the post-decision procedures outlined on the page that follows this one. This may include the signing of some required documents and a statement of committal.

Finally.

My whole life I have dreamed of becoming an experienced traveler. It pained to me to see pictures and movies set in Europe and far away places I had never seen. I wanted to feel that world so badly and learn the cultures I was entering into. Now, I will finally have this opportunity to move to London. This application process has taken months of waiting, anxiety, not knowing the whereabouts of the rest of my life, running around, tears, heartbreak ..and I only got my acceptance letter TODAY! 

However, I can't say I haven't had practice with study abroad applications before. Just this june I embarked on my first real journey, all on my own. As soon as I got into Hunter I began researching study abroad programs but so many of them were over priced, unorganized and a little out of my league in terms of location. I consider myself to be an adventurous person but living in a hut for 2 months in the middle of costa rica was definitely something I'd have to put aside for then. I searched through the Hunter College catalogues, the USAC programs and eventually I came across Queens College's Italian Summer in Perugia. The entire program costs consisted of CUNY tuition, boarding and some $200 worth of administration fees. Joe Grosso the program director was incredible. I went to him with questions and concerns that were answered with enthusiasm. 

So after months spent working late nights at the local cafe, saving every last cent and still trying to keep up with school work, the day finally came - MY ESCAPE! I cried for an hour in the waiting room of the airport, never having left my family or Hayden for that long before, not knowing what to expect, not knowing whether or not the plane was actually going to land! It was the scariest thing i had ever done. 

After 8 hours of uncomfortable sleep, I had made it alive and managed to get my bags all by myself, speaking perfect ..Spanish? I started getting a little confused, apparently italian and spanish are two different languages, spoken very quickly and in turn creates a really big issue for a girl that was told "You speak spanish you have nothing to worry about." Yeah, getting off a plane in Rome and thinking to myself "maybe you didn't think this through.." was not my idea of fun anymore. I wanted to get back on a plane and go home.

After asking about 15 different people, in as many languages as I could come up with the word bus in, I got it together. I met an english speaking Roman who changed the course of my life. He told me everything would be okay and waited 2 hours with me for my bus. I bid him goodbye and thanked him for all he had done and stepped onto the Sulga bus. I couldn't help but fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried to stay awake and take in the dream like scenery... but I did. Four hours later, there I am. I was in Perugia and my world would never be the same. 

I will continue to post different stories of my trip from Perugia, Spain, Colombia, Ireland and much more of Italy as I prepare for my 5 month trip to London. Updating on the status of my voyage and remembering my past travels will allow me to piece these moments together and share them with the world. Hopefully it will also serve to help other first time travelers and those going through the same process I am in preparing to move to another country.

"between the seal a church is revealed.

And I would rather be... lonely along the way"