Wish me luck ...

Over a year has past since I started this blog to chronicle my European "education" ... which was unfortunately cut short when I (near as I can figure) simultaneously caught every cold and flu that I had missed out on upon my brief return to the US in July ... I missed my flight to Madrid, and subsequently my month and a half in Spain ... I beg my good spanish friends to forgive me ... perhaps Spain was not ready for me yet ... you will have a few more years to prepare :)





I am back in Cleveland now, and seeing how the good things have stayed the same during my absence (like bbq's on the front porch) ... my immune system is fully recovered just in time for my Infectious Disease rotation as I begin to pretend to be a doctor for real this time ... armed with my new perspectives and a massage table (I'm also taking classes to get certified in massotherapy), I'm ready to make a healing difference in peoples' lives ... all I have to do is remember all of the medicine that I forgot during my year off ....


Wish me luck ...

Final Few Days ...

During my final few days in Italy ... went to the sold out summer opera annual premiere of Verdi's Aida in the Verona amphetheatre (although unfortunately they didn't have live elephants this year) ...

And then was joined by a very dear friend, who helped me explore Urbino, Vicenza and gigantic quattro formaggio pizzas (lactose intolerance be damned!) ...

And then graduation ... according to the EU and three universities, I'm now credentialed as a advanced master of bioethics (finishing magna cum laude ... whatever that means in this situation ... if the priests in my program only finished cum laude, does that mean that I have a greater command of ethics?!? God help us ...)

What an interesting journey it's been for all of us ... much like with the quattro formaggio, I guess I just need more time to digest it all

Under the Tuscan Cloud ...

Spent a few days in the towns surrounding Siena and Firenze trying to get in touch with my inner Medici … trying to avoid tourists and amazing rain storms, and discovering that beauty is to be found everywhere -- even out of bathroom windows !

Rome if you want to ...

Rome is a city that obliterates reasonable perspective ... from the Pantheon (a spectacle in engineering that has been in continuous use for nearly two thousand years, with its original doors) to the Vatican Museum/Basilicae (the greatest demonstration of Renaissance politics and imperial power) to the 3rd century Christian catacombs (22km of underground passageways) on the Via Appia, Rome makes make most modern marvels seem unnecessary and redundant. It took me a great deal of effort to see the city in its past glories (with far more substance than its surface value as a modern tourist Mecca), and I believe, perhaps more than any other city, a full appreciation of it is very much an acquired taste.

Raphael started his best work there when he was 22 …
Michelangelo was 23 when he did his Pieta …

I’m 27, and have only just finished yet another Master’s thesis, which probably wouldn’t be enough to cover the Sistine Chapel (nor be nearly as decorative) … although it sure would be fun to try :) ...

but then again, don't they say something about Rome not being built in a day ...

We Saw Warsaw ...

Met up with some friends in Warsavia and Krakovia for a few glorious days of music festivals, fellowship and Polish alcohol (Zywiec and Wodka Zoladkowa Gorzka) … enjoying the multiple realities of an emerging capitalist Eastern Europe that is still shedding its Soviet skin … hoping that what survived the cold war doesn’t fall victim to market forces ...


Examining the lounges that now repopulate the Kazimierz district (the old jewish ghetto) … Attending mass in one of Pope JP II’s old churches in Rynek Glowny and then crossing the street for a coffee at one of Lenin’s favorite old cafes ...


A disturbingly gorgeous day at Auschwitz … while I can see why “writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric’’ (Theodor Adorno), it seems as though nature doesn’t always agree …

My backyard ...

If I had to find a word to replace ‘music’, the only word I can think of is ‘Venice’” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Living only 30 minutes from the “Most Serene Republic”, I often find myself wandering the canals searching for inspiration, hunting ghosts or just entertaining foreign dignitaries (most notably, my parents) … Here are a few of the better images that I’ve captured while contemplating the How and Why -- trying to get intimately familiar with the Where …

The Ae-NEIL-id

As I am in Europe getting a Master's Degree in a Philosophy-related discipline, a visit to ancient Greece seemed to me a required experience ...

Walking in the footsteps of Socrates and Aristotle in the big museum known as Athens ... trying to convince everybody (with great success) that I'm a student from Holland so that I could see all of antiquity for free -- debate the ethics of that !

I believe that God created the color blue for Greece ... this works on several levels as the Greeks are also notoriously pessimistic (documented to have a worse outlook on the coming year than even Iraqis), but I can't really understand why ...


After a few days in Thessaloniki developing a 10-euro-a-day cheap coffee habit with local student friends, I made the voyage out to Santorini (the most visually stunning place I have ever been) .... where I rented a quad to explore the island's red/black sand beaches and wineries, and to hunt for colors, shapes and shadows (in true Platonic fashion) of all forms ...

For more spectacles from my odyssey, wander over to the "Greece" photo link on the right ...