Letters from Abroad

Yesterday, as IU students moved through their first day of classes for the 2007-08 school year, I was 30,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. I am headed for a country – no, a continent – that I have never been to. I just kissed my family and boyfriend goodbye because I won’t see them for 10 months. And, I am seriously questioning \nmy sanity. \nFor the next academic year, as students dash into Ballantine Hall and crawl out of Kilroy’s, I will be in Bologna, Italy. No lunch meat jokes, please.\nI have a very limited vocabulary and no permanent residence. I get to stay in a hotel for two weeks and then I am on my own. In October, I will start taking art history classes at the University of Bologna, the oldest university in Europe- founded in 1088, which has an alumni list that puts IU’s \nto shame. \nItaly is the home of pasta, fashion (Armani, Gucci, Versace...oh my!), some of the world’s greatest artists and architecture and now, me, for a good part of a year.\nI have never been so scared and excited, all at once. For the first time in my life, I have no idea where I am going or what I am going to do. It is going to be a real-life adventure. \nI would like to give you, the devoted IDS reader, an opportunity to live vicariously through me. I don’t want to rub it in your face that I am having a much better time than you, except that I probably will be. I don’t want to give a droll account of every major art museum in Europe, and I don’t want this to turn into my travel journal. I want some feedback from you. \nPlease e-mail me. Tell me what you have seen, or wish to see, that I should experience. Tell me what you would like to do and I will tell you if it’s worth your time and a trans-Atlantic flight. My dream is to become a foreign arts correspondent. I want assignments from you. Ask me questions. Send me answers. Be my editor this semester (editor’s note: She already has two fabulous editors, thank you). \nJust be sure to allow for a six-hour time difference while waiting for a response.