Today's the day

8:30am: It's July 2, which means it's my parents' faux anniversary! (This was the day they were supposed to get married until Dad tried to stop a truck with his face while bicycling three days before the wedding). Today is also the day we leave! I can't believe it's finally here. Bags are packed (almost), got in my ten mile run (I couldn't believe how hot it was at 5am, and Sarah ran 17, whew!), and I will be meeting Sarah in less than 2 hours at SUNY to catch the megabus to NYC. I am super excited but also sad to say good-bye to my beloved Brady.  She seems to know something is up, as she has clung to my side more than usual the past few days. I know she'll be in good hands in Nisky, though.  Here's a picture of her yesterday at the Mohawk River, where she had a blast. 

Update, 11:45 am:

And we're off! Megabus has wifi which is very convenient. Thanks to Mrs. Domermuth and my grandfather for dropping Sarah and me off at SUNY, and to my brother for stopping by after his class to bid me farewell.

So, since I have the time, I'll take this opportunity to give a brief history of how this all began (for those of you who might be interested, and for me when I look back at this twenty years from now and can say, "wow I typed all this on an ipad? How old-fashioned!").  The first seed of an idea was planted back in early January, when my friend Kara invited me to see The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty with her at the the movie theater. That time of year is always the worst. The holiday excitement is over and we northeasterners still have a long winter ahead (this winter was especially brutal!). I was still in the recovery phase of a devastating breakup from the fall and knew I needed something to look forward to. Well, Walter Mitty, as strange as the movie is, showed Ben Stiller traveling all over the world. That's when I realized that was exactly what I needed: some sort of traveling adventure. It had been three years since the last big adventure, when Heidi, Liz, and I biked through southern Germany, western Austria, and all across Switzerland. And the time was right for another one. So I started planning. I had a brief idea of volunteering abroad, but couldn't find any non-for-profit programs that really called to me, and I realized as self-centered as it may sound, I 

really needed this trip for me. (Interestingly, in late December I got a fortune cookie that said, "perhaps you have been spending too much time on yourself lately" [sidenote: what kind of fortune is that?!] but it ended up being somewhat true.  After spending much of my mid-twenties way more stressed than I should've been, focusing on trying to help others (adults and students alike) through their many, many issues, I was finally prioritizing myself. 

So where to go? was the main question.  Italy and Ireland have both been on my list for awhile, but I decided to hold off on Ireland for a bit since at the time, my Irish friend Eleanor wasn't due to return there from Canada for another year or two. So Italy became my focus.  Since receiving my citizenship two years earlier, I've been wanting to go and actually immerse myself, learning some of the language and experiencing the culture.  I remembered Heidi (one of my college roommates) doing an abroad program in Italy the summer after sophomore year, so I got some information from her. I started researching, and also started recruiting. I was definitely going, but it's more fun to have people with you! It was an open invite for anyone, but obviously time and money were challenges, even though I was hoping to do the trip fairly inexpensively. I was thrilled that my other college roommate, Sarah, also a teacher, was interested, as well as my friend Brad, who is self-employed and could take the time.  I ended up finding numerous Italian programs through the International Programs for Study Abroad (IPSA) website, and one instantly got my attention: a language, cooking, and wine class for two weeks in a little Tuscan city called Lucca. Sarah was also interested, so we began the process of enrollment.  Brad was less interested in the class and more in traveling around, and always wanted to see Greece, so we added that to the end. Sarah was to spend the first half with me, and Brad the second half, with a weekend of overlap in the middle in Florence.

Hours and hours of planning have gone into it, as we have quite a few legs to the trip, as you can see from the itinerary I posted. But it's been a lot of fun and the anticipation has made me almost annoyingly-happy this spring. I've had a lot of nights where I couldn't fall asleep because the excitement was keeping me up.  For the most part, we'll be staying at people's homes, as arranged through airbnb.com (fun fact: the site was founded by a niskayuna grad!). When Heidi, Liz, and I traveled in Europe three years ago, we couch surfed, and for the most part, everyone we stayed with was awesome and that added so much to the experience. I was hoping to do a similar thing again, but felt we could advance to the point of paying to stay in people's homes as opposed to couch surfing for free. For the class, Sarah and I had signed up for student apartment-style housing, but I got an email a couple weeks ago saying they had run out and we'd be staying with a host family. I've communicated with the mother, who works at the language school, and she seems very nice, and she speaks English, which will likely be very helpful! She said they have two boys, aged 14 and 19.  Except for the final stay in Santorini, where we splurged, my average accommodations for the whole trip should be $50 American or less. Not bad, especially when you consider the conversion rate which is not in our favor!

Ok, I'm done for now. Sarah will be the next to post so you can get a break from me :)