Letters from Italy (6/6/06)

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Okay, it’s my break time and even though the lesson this morning was a culture class taught in English, my brain hurts already. The professor, Greg Smith, is really interesting and very knowledgeable, but the class is intense. Each week a journal entry, which is much more like a paper than a journal, is due. We also have four books to read, an 8-10 page term paper, and a final essay exam consisting of three questions (2-3 page essay per question).

Letters from Italy (6/5/06)

 

Note: The following e-mails are from my study abroad trip back in June of 20066/5/2006

Dear Family and Friends,

I apologize for not e-mailing all of you right away. I left on Wednesday for Rome and arrived on Thursday. It was a long flight. My roommate and friend, Leah, went to a mandatory meeting at the school. We weren’t happy about that because we were all very tired, and Leah and I got lost on the bus so we were about 45 minutes late for the meeting. We caught the last 20 minutes of it.

Letters from England (cont.)

August 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

The weather here is very good, especially compared to the rain every single day in England. Anyway, again, this letter is going to get long, so feel free to just stop reading it!

Edinburgh is lovely, but honestly I still prefer Rome. The people are nice and the diversity is amazing.We went to London on the 22nd of August (Wednesday) and went to Edinburgh in Scotland. The scenery is gorgeous.

Letters from England

August 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope everything is going well. I’m waiting in the First Class Lounge at King’s Cross (recognize it from Harry Potter?) for the train to Edinburgh in Scotland. We get to sit in First Class because we did it through an agency before we got here. It was only 11 dollars!!! King’s Cross isn’t as grand as in the movie of course.Doesn’t almost everything look better in movies?Anyway, everything is going great and it’s a great learning experience. I have a feeling that this e-mail is going to get very long so feel free to just quit reading it.

My First Triathlon

The woman who starts the race is not the same woman who finishes the race.

I completed my first triathlon yesterday! I got into it when my Mom’s friend Mary did her first triathlon. It was absolutely amazing and I thought to myself, “I could do that… yeah, yeah I could definitely do that.” Well, it wasn’t until three years later at the 2007 Danskin Women’s Triathlon that I finally committed. It is an annual women’s only triathlon series and I participated in the Chicagoland one which, strangely, doesn’t take place in Chicago. It is considered a Sprint Triathlon with a distance of a 750 meter swim, 12.4 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run. It is a great tri for first timers and even the seasoned pros. It doesn’t matter what your time is… it is the fact that you finish that’s the most important. And seeing that finish sign is even more exhilarating when you get a high-five from Sally Edwards as you cross it!!! By the way, that’s me holding the water bottle on the right hand side with the black swimsuit, blue & pink shorts in the picture.