Passport on the verge of EXPIRATION!

Agrigento

The title of this says it all.....I HAVE GOT to renew my passport.  It is so about to expire and strip away my dreams of running off to a foreign country when this one does actually fall.  My long time ex-boyfriend, and one of the most intelligent persons I have ever met, used to say the USA will one day fall--just like the Roman Empire.  (I know, shocker--I do ACTUALLY have an ex-boyfriend...it's only been a decade, but there you have it.  I can actually be serious in dating, it just takes a lot!)  I am just about convinced the great fall of the USA is happening right now as I type this blog!

I woke up one day in my third year of working on my biology degree and decided I wanted to study art in Italy--it was much like that Sunday about six years ago when I just woke up and decided to move to Dallas.  Sometimes there is a compelling force in the universe that causes one to do things they don't quite get, but they are so confident it is the right decision.  Italy was THE RIGHT decision...applying for the passport, also THE RIGHT decision.  So there you have it...I called my mom and ran my idea by her.  As long as I finished my biology degree, the parentals were totally in support....have I mentioned I have the best parents on Earth?!  So I looked for a program online and applied for my passport.  I skipped walking for graduation and hopped on a plane to Europe as soon as I finished my bachelor's.  I was in Florence at a school from May 2001-May 2002 studying different types of Art Restoration, Interior Design, and a little Fashion design... And Italian classes, of course.

Since traveling is definitely one of my passions, I am sure I will blog more on my passport usage.  I have really been thinking about my studies abroad lately.  I really miss that time in my life.  I learned SO MUCH about myself.  Backpacking France BY YOURSELF in your early twenties is really liberating and I did so much soul-searching.  I really got to know myself in so many ways--one of my happiest times in life.  I loved learning other points of view.  I was over there during 9-11, such a surreal day, and it was so interesting to see what other countries thought of Americans and the differences in what their medias told and what our media was telling.  I think I learned so much about myself and my beliefs by being exposed to other ways of living and thought processes.  I felt more at home in Italy than I do here--I actually had more culture shock moving back to the United States than going over there. 

My mom said something very profound when she visited me.  She said, "The one thing I have noticed is that when you ask a person in Italy what they do...they tell you about there hobbies, interests, and life.  Pose that question to an American and they tell you about work or occupation."  I really learned to stop and smell the roses there.  You never know when there may not be a tomorrow--so I'm soaking all I can up from this life and loving every (well almost every) moment of it.  I've been getting a little bit of flack for my extremely busy social life lately, but I wouldn't change it for anything--I start school in just over a month and I'm going to enjoy the freedom of no test anxiety while I can.  I'll sleep when I'm dead...although I do love to sleep and dream great dreams!

So right before Easter when I was in Italy, I traveled with a girlfriend and a male friend to Sicily.  What a cool trip.  We took the train from Florence south, and the train actually got onto a ferry from the mainland and ferried us to Messina.  We saw the catacombs in Palermo.  Gotta be honest, Palermo gave me dark vibes.  I have a great ghost story from the hotel we stayed at...an entire other blog.  I learned to drive a stick-shift in Sicily--that was entertaining to say the least!  We saw the Greek ruins in Agrigento.  I saw the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life at the ruins.  I swear he was a Greek-Italian god sparkling like a gem in the sunlight!  We drove through Cortona.

BUT, the one thing I am remembering most right now, with Easter approaching and my passport on the verge of expiration, is meeting a family with my mom's maiden name--some sort of very distant relative in Castelvetrano, Italy.  My Aunt that does genealogy hooked us up with this family that she had corresponded with.  There was a street name the same as my mom's maiden name (her grandparents families were from Sicily and Naples,) as well.  This family treated me and my friend like family.  They owned a pasticceria and sent us home with cookies and a Pasqua (Easter) cake.  They gave us a tour of the pasticceria--smelled so good.  Maybe baking does run in the genes?!  They drove us around the town.  It was fantastic.  Not many Easters go by that I don't remember that family and their generosity while we were there.

At the Pasticerria in Castelvetrano with distant relatives about to receive fantastic Pasqua treats....yah, I know I'm looking pretty stellar in my glasses and travelled hair-do.  I'm not shy about being a nerd at heart.

I'm pretty sure there is the most gorgeous Greek-Italian god about to pop out from one of those columns and whisk me away.  His name is David--pronounced Dah-veeed....you know, like Michealangelo's David?!  Oh yes...and keep on your fig-leaf please, it's not pretty under there (for those of you that followed a previous blog.)

Agrigento--I do have better pics, but I think they are in storage from my last downsize and move.  Bummer. 

So there you have it......with my passport on the verge of EXPIRATION, and my insane addiction for traveling I MUST get on it and get it renewed!!!

-Sweet dreams......