This is my love letter to the Tuscan mountains… And then you were there. It was as simple as that. And all of your simplicity made my heart spark in its beating place. As a young girl, I used to dream like young girls do. But unlike those young girls who dreamed of finding a love so near, I wished for your comfort, I longed for your gracious space–a far away place, the unknown. And now, being the young woman that I am, I find myself surrounded by your magnificence. How funny it is how time moves. While I once only dreamed of you, I stand now as the young woman that I am, finding comfort in your space–oh how you are vast. I have traveled across the sea to find you, up the side of you into the sky–there are clouds below me–this must be what Heaven is. I have found myself as the young woman that I am within your midst with sun-kissed skin in the Tuscan mountains. What a life we live. Your greatness has overcome me. Your edges fascinate me. Your purity drowns me. How life continues to move… The birds sing your song in the most delicate of notes. You have merged yourself within me, you have fused your vastness with me. As I see your erosion I can feel mine. Maybe we should just let this moment be. Teach me what you will–we will move on anyway. Time has taught us that, hasn’t it? I can only stand here still and focus on what I hope you might tell me. Can you feel the blanket of the sun around you? Can you feel the pull of gravity on you? Isn’t it funny how it all will keep moving–you there, and me here? I will remember your greatness–the comfort that you lent me on this spot. I will remember your love. What is it that is beyond you? Beyond me? Will we meet again? I have fallen in love with this present. I have fallen in love with all that you once were, all that you are, and all that you will be. I have been moved by your space that was created and formed so precisely in that realm of the in-between. Your love is organic, it is stable and wise. My heart has grown since the last visit it has had with my mind. It has been influenced, contorted, and set with a blanket of grace. It has been removed and replaced, hoarded and buried behind the material that makes up my present. You have infused me internally with the external. I have fallen in love with the world.

Sitting in the airport waiting to board our flight I did not know what this trip would have in store for me. I sat at a small table working on my assignments and saw our plane being prepared for boarding. What would this trip feel like and what would Italy do for me? Upon arriving here, it took time for me to adjust to the changes. The city is beautiful and full of culture and a wide range of faces. It is fascinating to me how the people who are native to here walk past these remarkable places each day. I wonder if they view their world the way that I observe it. It has been somewhat of an overwhelming experience thing to take in everything that Italy has to offer me. It is a surreal experience to see things in person that until this point in my life I have only saw in pictures. I have had to tell myself to allow myself to be present within the moment. I have realized that in order to have the best experience here I cannot try to take in everything this beautiful country has to offer me all at once. Rather, in order to have the best experiences here that I have been looking forward to, I must try to only take in what is really in front of me during a moment. St. Peters Basilica was that moment for me. I was able to separate myself from the crowd of people and hear the music being playing behind me. I was able to gaze around the room and make the connection between the present moment I was experiencing and the past world that I was existing within.