I can't believe that this time last year I was preparing for my great European adventure. Some sad things happened while I was gone that I wish hadn't. And I missed Eric and my family and friends. But it really was an adventure. Even going to the grocery store was thrilling, or walking to class in the morning. Did I mention there was a sketch by Michangelo on the wall in the classroom next to ours? They'd just found it under layers of paint. My apartment was across the plaza from Santa Croche church. There were twelve flights of stone stairs to our rooms. In Paris, we stayed two metro stops away from the catacombs entrance. It was all so amazing and unreal I can hardly believe I was there. If Libby hadn't of come I would have thought it a dream.

Day to day life in Lawrence is more fascinating to me because of my trip. I thought I wouldn't be able to bear it, but instead I am more in awe of everything.

In Europe, there were place I simply shuddered to think of who else had seen what I saw--Galileo's instruments, St. Peter's, the palaces of Vienna, the plaza where Hitler held his first rally, the cell of Marie Antoinette, Ann Frank's house, the relic of the Holy Blood. So much history. Things I've been learning about my whole life.

Many of my friends from the trip are bored back at KU; can't wait to got out and travel again. I'm going to China for three weeks this summer and couldn't be more excited. But I'm not going because I have a sense of adventure, or I can't bear the US. I don't know why I'm going. I guess I've been a traveler my whole life, and I don't think I can stop now.