ema522's VirtualTourist Home Page

I'm female & "of a certain age", as the French say, which means I'm old enough to be reluctant about my actual age but still young enough to get away with lying about it once in a while.

Right now I work in university administration and I'm also an outside agent for a local travel agency. Although my background is in education, specifically high school English, I've taught college freshmen and paralegal students. I've also worked in law firms and department stores, but I'd rather avoid the former and just shop in the latter.

I love to cook & try new recipes, although I have fairly definite tastes in food. I'm not vegetarian but I don't eat meat all that often. My favorite cuisine is Italian but I also enjoy many Asian dishes, and since some genuine Mexican restaurants opened in my area, I'm really liking that too. However, I also crave good old American diner food like meatloaf and macaroni & cheese, and once in a while I have to have a good hamburger or a grilled hot dog.

I enjoy reading but, having overdosed on the classics for many years, I prefer non-fiction, such as biography, how-to guides, and of course travel guidebooks. I often buy a guidebook on a place where I haven't been & have no way of knowing when or how I can get there.

Although I come from an Italian family, I didn't learn the language as a child and so I've been working fairly hard on it for the past few years. My other hobbies are drawing & painting, crochet, and more recently, beading. Shopping for me ranks a bit higher than a hobby since I'm always hunting for just the right this or that, preferably at a bargain.

Italy: Rome and Florence
Austria: Vienna
U.S.A.: New York, Las Vegas, and my own hometown, Pittsburgh, PA

Japan, especially Kyoto
Poland
Croatia/Dalmatian coast
Germany/Bavaria
The Scandinavian countries
Hawaii
Switzerland
Spain
South Korea
Cruising the Mediterranean & Caribbean