Life is about to get weird.

Again.

Roughly translating to: What’s good, and brief, is then twice as good. 

When my professor said this in class, I felt my face flush with heat and a shiver crawl its way up my spine as the moment felt like further proof of me accepting an undeniable reality. No matter how much we want things to happen forever, everything ends. 

If you're reading this, chances are I'm back at home with my family in Upstate New York. Although my time in Vienna has come to a close--as I write this, I have only one full day left in the city--it hasn't fully dawned on me that I am going home. Finals are almost over, my suitcases are halfway packed, and I have a cab lined up to take me to the airport, but home feels almost as foreign as Austria did a little more than four months ago.

When was the last time you heard somebody say, “I’m really looking forward to my upcoming layover”? As somebody who actually likes the interlude between flights, I’m considered a statistical outlier at best and absolutely insane at worst. Hear me out: layovers are great because they give you an opportunity to sit or walk around comfortably in between flights, exploring the familiar setting of the airport.

Hi, my name is Analise.

When I was in the 5^th grade, I read the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. And then I read the second. And then the third. And then I watched the movies. And then I bought a pair of jeans and was distraught when they didn’t fit my friends, too. I was obsessed. Ann Brashares, you got me good. Going to Greece, (particularly Santorini) has therefore long been a dream of mine, and as soon as I knew I’d be studying in Europe this semester, I was dead set on getting there.

A well known observation about the act of growing up is that, as we get older, we slowly but surely lose our sense of fearlessness. As a little kid, I never worried much about where I was going or who would be there, I sometimes wondered about the prospect of snacks but aside from that, I was a go with a flow kind of girl with a knack for creating adventures. Now, however, I worry and get nervous, I buy 3 kinds of insurance to travel abroad and frankly, if they had insurance for insurance I might have that too...

What to say about the lakes of Italy? I guess I’ll start with this thought: Lake Como is not the only lake in the country! Yes, I am aware that George Clooney owns a home there. I know who George Clooney is. I get it. But let’s move past this fact, shall we? Because there are many other beautiful lakes in northern Italy to explore! So let’s get started!