Study Abroad Journal (last one)

Can you get the complete experience while still traveling?  This is something that I have been thinking about since the trip ended and everyone was excited about going home.  Everyone was tired, ready for things to be over, and grumpy some.  I started to wonder if the stress of traveling and having to adapt to a different currency,

May 22, 2014.  The front of the Sforza Castle in Milan, built in the 15th century by Francisco Sforza.  This is the first part of the city states that we have visited looking like a seat of power.  The Sforza sun was evidenced throughout the insides, there was a moat, ramparts, and ruined watch towers that gave the impression of this castle standing her for a long time.

  different language, different culture takes its toll on the ability to enjoy the experience as it is happening.  I believe that this is true to some degree.  I believe that the actual act of travel takes away from the current experience that can only be realized sometime after returning to your “normal” life.

Having been to many sites that I was extremely excited to see and then feeling a sense of being underwhelmed, I believe that there is something about high expectations that can impact the actual viewing.  Sometimes, it is only after returning to the hotel or home 

May 22, 2014.  Leonardo's horse at San Siro in Milan.  This is one of two full size casts of Akamu's reinterpretation of da Vinci's plans that are on display.  This one is on a plinth and the other horse is on display, placed on the ground, at Frederick Meijer gardens in Grand Rapids.  They are both 24 feet tall, but it felt like the one in GR was bigger when standing by both of them.

and going through the pictures of what I have seen that the true experience hits and I realize that I have seen something that was on my list of “must do”. 

I believe that art, travel and philosophy have this in common.  There can be a sense of “okay, so what?” when you first see a great work, go to a land you have always wanted to visit, or learn about a philosophical theory/idea.  All of these experiences are 

Seen on May 21, 2014. Photo courtesy of schmoop.com.  While this was on seen on the day that this journal was completed, this was the highlight of the trip for me and has to be included.  Except for  the guide talking nonstop in an echoing chamber so that you could not ignore her, this was a spiritual experience.  There is something special about the way that you have to get tickets so far in advance, only go in with 25 people, and get to just be around this piece of art.  I was amazed that it didn't strike me as the best work of art of all time, but still just awed you.

things that need time to ferment in your brain, you need time to process what you saw, what you experienced, what you heard, smelled, felt and when it soaks in, there is a euphoria that comes with the knowledge that you saw that in the flesh, you understood that idea, you experienced that place.  The comfort of home or whatever you are using as home in your travels is almost a must to get to the point of processing.  Because the stress of the unknown gets in the way of truly just experiencing in the moment.