bliss7's VirtualTourist Home Page

So, I will be going to Roma on May 18! I will be attending la Scuola DaVinci, an Italian language school. They are located near the Piazza Navona, which I hear is stunningly beautiful.

On my trip I hope to make many friends and have a wonderful time. I think my first stop will be the Vatican, I have always wanted to visit San Pietro, and I hope to see Pope Benedict XVI - if he is back from Brazil - hopefully I can see him.

Also, I love ancient Rome, and I am excited to visit the Forum, Colosseo, Circo Massimo (and say a little prayer for the Catholics who were slaughtered there), as well as the Aventine and Trastevere.

I'm going to also try and visit my relatives who live in Martinsicuro, in the province of Abbruzzi, on the Adriatic coast. It will be nice to connect with them. My uncle lived in Italy for a time and got to know them well. My aunt recently visited them, and I would love to meet them. I've also found out that one of my relatives lives in Rome. He is an old man who does not speak English but that should make the encounter all the more memorable!

I will be sure to post all my pics and stories once I get back!

The guy in the picture is me, absolutely exhausted after 13 hours of travel from Newark, NJ to Fuengirola, Spain.

I chose this picture because it describes a lot about my love of travel. First of all, I am dead tired. 13 hours of just "going somewhere!" This will tire anyone out. But the smile on my face means that, even though I can barely keep my eyes open, I am ecstatic inside because I know I am beginning a journey into the unknown! And what can be more fun than that?

In visiting a foreign country for the first time, you really can't prepare yourself, (with the exception of learning some language and culture), and I don't think you really want to prepare yourself more than that. The best part about it, better than all of the sights you came to see, places you want to visit, is that you have absolutely no idea what to expect, you are in a land wholly different than your own, and you know it will be an adventure, though you have no idea what the adventure will contain!

The trip abroad to Spain in April 2005 sparked in my heart the love of traveling abroad, and this feeling also prompted me to share my experiences, thoughts, and advice on this website so that others may be encouraged to travel into a foreign land; if you stay at home, you really have no idea what you are missing.

So, to answer the question, who am I? I'm an American who knows there is more out there, and wants to see it.

Since I was young, I always took an interest in other cultures, from Italian, to Native American, to Spanish, to Arabic, to South American. I love languages. I love God, and I am so blessed and grateful to see some of the wonders He has created for His children, as well as the fruits of the artistic talents he has given to His children. I love beauty, plain and simple, and I want to experience as much of it as possible.

I smile when I see the towering architectural monuments of Catholic Europe, I frown when I see a McDonalds marring a beautiful city skyline in Europe. I am a man who is awed by the paintings of Raphael, who loves being lost in a foreign city, I am a person who cringes when he meets Moroccans who hardly speak English but can recite line for line the latest American rap songs. I am one who loves meeting people who speak a different language, and live a different life.

We are placed on this earth in different times, locations, and cultures, but we all share something in common. And I seek to find out more about what that is.

"Man cannot make statues without rejecting stone."

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or when you are in a hotel in Spain, and you can't find the silverware, sometimes you need to eat your cereal with a ladle. And then find the spoons in a cabinet *under the television* (?!) later that day....

Maybe it is because I had just woken up, but I look like I am 13 years old in this picture! It was actually taken when just before I turned 24, believe it or not!

April 2005: Fuengirola, Spain
April 2005 / May 2006: Sevilla, Spain
April 2005: Madrid, Spain
April 2005: Torremolinos, Spain
April 2005: Tangier, Morrocco
August 2005: Cologne, Germany
August 2006: Aachen, Germany
January 2006: Miami Beach, Florida
May 2006: Barcelona, Spain

I am in the midst of planning a trip to Rome in May 2007. I have wanted to see Rome ever since I was little, and this may be it! My great-grandparents were born in Italy, and the culture has been preserved fairly well in my home.... and I can feel the love for the homeland in my bones every time I hear the beautiful lingua bella.

In the meantime, I may have a weekend to San Diego in September, and I'm already booked for a few days in Nashville, TN in November. Those would be business trips, so, not as fun, but still I will make it as much fun as possible. :)