March 21st-22nd (Day one of PUCArt Eurotrip)-Thoughts from Above.

Today is March 21 or 22, it's about 8:30 in the morning in Rome. I though, have not yet reached Rome. I am sitting in an airplane somewhere high above about the east coast of the United States I believe. We are a few hours into the flight. AS I move through the air at 563 miles per hour, it is apparent to me just how much technology and the internet is apart of my life. I've known that, but it's still weird. I do not have internet and I do not like it. It is only day one. The ground shakes under my feet as the Arctic Monkeys play in my ear. This trip is going to be great.

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After a short layover in Zurich we boarded a smaller plane to take us to Rome. As we took off I looked out at all these pretty buildings, these cute little Swiss houses nestled between trees and mountains, tiny towns covered with snow high up in the Alps, I am reminded, as I often am, that people live there. Like, actually live. They wake up. They go to school. They eat. They talk. They go to sleep. It's not just a place to take pictures of or go visit, it's their HOME. It seams ego-centric, because it is, and as much as I try not to be I am. We all are, we live our lives, know the people we know, go about where we live, do what we do. It's so easy to forget that there are over 7 Billion people out there, all thinking the same thing. all living different lives and knowing different people and placed. How is it that we can all live such lives, so similar, yet so different? There are numerous experiences and cultures and languages. How can anyone stand to never leave their corner of the world? I don't mean those who can't afford it because I know how expensive travel is, but those who don't even try. Taking a year of school far away, or finding a job on a different continent.
From the sky the world looks like a patchwork quilt, sewn together with rivers of tarmac, all across countries, connecting them together. Connecting us. We are earth. We are a patchwork quilt littered with bright blinking lights strewn together like constellations in the night sky. Beautiful tiny blinking lights. It's so easy to forget that behind those lights there are people. People who will turn them off when the sun rises.
We are landing already, it was a short flight. We get closer and the lights turn into cars and houses and street lights. People. life. I am reminded again that people live here. This time the here is Rome. It makes me wonder how I can keep forgetting, it is so easy to. And it gives me this feeling just like every time I'm driving alone down the freeway and suddenly the hunk of metal speeding beside me has a person in it. A person with a life. A person with a story. and I wonder what story.
The wheels have touched down and now we are at the gate. It is time to go, and I'm reminded that I have a story. We all do, and sometimes I get so wrapped up in trying to find a story I forget that I have one. And even with 7 billion other out there, Do I have the audacity to say I care, and to tell my story. I will.
I have found my center, and I hope I do not lose it again. Pack light, pack often, sleep in as many beds as I can, listen to as many stories as I can, and know people.

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10:36  March 22, We are all checked in. We have wifi as well. We all went out as a group and got some pizza and gelato. The pizza was delicious! We saw some young hoodlums steal a bunch of vegetables from a delivery guy.Welcome to Rome. Now for a little reading and them time for sleep! It's Friday nights and I've slept 5 hours since Wednesday.