As I finish up my last final tomorrow, I am also prepping for my Dental Admissions Test in a few days. Needless to say, I haven’t had a great deal of time to think about the trip coming up. Next Wednesday, my friend and I will be flying to Rome a few days ahead of our group to check out some of the sights that Rome has to offer. After that, we will be meeting with about 30 other people to start our Grand Tour of Western Europe’s most important art, gardens, and historic sites. I am so excited to get see some of the many different sites that I have learned about through literature, television, and studying the classics. I’ve always found beauty in gardens, but never actually learned about them in a structured lecture, so I am excited about learning a lot of new things from Dr. Smalley and Dr. van Iersel.

I’m also very apprehensive about what is to come. I’ve never flown or been so far from home, so I’m interested to see if I’ll even be able to sleep on the flight over. Also, I’m excited to meet lots of new people. The last trip I went on with CAES resulted in immediate friendships, so I hope that this one turns out to be the same.