A New Set of Priorities

I'm home! Here I am in Annapolis, Maryland, sitting at a table outside the City Dock Cafe in 70 degree sunny weather. It actually feels like summer here-- shorts and flip flops, ice cream outings, and that beautiful Chesapeake Bay. At the Naval Academy, the freshmen-to-be will be starting Plebe Summer soon (I'll feel sorry for them the next time I'm running on the Navy track in a tanktop and they jog by wearing camo and backpacks, but I admire what they go through.) Best of all, Annapolis is hosting a triathlon this Saturday! At the Tri-Rock sprint triathlon, athletes swim in the Chesapeake, bike by the Naval Academy, and run through historic colonial downtown. Live music all through the course! The race directors were in desperate need of lifeguards, and since Oscar is officially sold to my roomie and I'm therefore bike-less, I'll be seeing the race from a perspective other than a competitor this time. I'll most likely be on a float or boat out in the water looking out for tired swimmers-- and meanwhile, I'll get a chance to check out people's open water swimming techniques and maybe get some tips. :)

I'll only be here for ten more days, though. On May 23, my mom and I fly to Paris. We'll spend a few days in France visiting my other mother, Moe Delaitre, at her farm in Ussy. After that, my dad and grandmother will fly out to meet us and we'll tour Italy for a week or so-- my grandmother is especially excited to see Bari, the southern Italian town where her family grew up but which she has never visited. On June 10, my family heads home and I meet my group in Urbino, Italy, where I'll spend four weeks doing a study abroad in magazine production and international reporting. :) The University of Urbino is one of the oldest colleges in the world, founded in 1506. It's in central Italy near the Adriatic coast. We'll spend our mornings taking Italian language classes, have a break from 1 to 3 according to Italian custom, and do reporting, interviewing, seminars, or one-on-one coaching in the afternoon. Our end goal is to create an English-speaking magazine called "Urbino Now" about the community, its culture and customs.

Our course description tells us that the magazine "will be a reflection of your explorations and discoveries in this beautiful rural region of ancient fests, traditional crafts, slow food, and slower living." It sounds like the perfect summer to me. One thing I'll have to make peace with, though, is that I won't be training a whole lot. I won't have a bike, so riding won't be possible. I'll spend some time in a pool if there's one nearby, but I'm not going to spend hours a day in a place that's probably just the same as any in the U.S. I have been thinking over the possibility of some open water swimming in the Adriatic, but we'll see if that's realistic. I'm definitely going to try and run, but I've heard that if you run in Italy, people thing you're running from the cops or something, so I'll just have to see how it goes. These six weeks will be a chance for me to enjoy the "slower living" described above. My priorities will be learning as much as I can about writing and reporting, stepping outside of my comfort zone, exploring new places, meeting new people, and taking the time to savor Italian meals of pasta and red wine. I'll have all the time in the world to get moving again once I get back to Annapolis, but in Italy, I'll go slow.

Dare e prendere.
Caryn