[Mayor of Miami]

My story is interesting for a number of reasons. One of the reasons it’s interesting is because I made the decision to go to Italy only weeks before the actual trip. Another reason is because I went to Italy to live for five months without speaking a word of Italian. Maybe I was crazy, but I knew it was what I wanted to do.
The dilemma for me came down to this: I was a junior in college, an involved student contemplating making a run for President of Student Government. I knew that I had support from close friends and my fraternity to run, but I had this never-ending nagging to leave it all and travel.
I made the decision in North Carolina of all places. I was traveling there with some other people from UM to watch us play NC State in football. The trip wasn’t a daunting one by any means, but my mind could not stop thinking about the decision (as a side note, I met my ex-girlfriend at the airport).
It was the first night there and my friend and I were drinking beers in the hotel room because there was NOTHING around us at all. We got to talking about how I was feeling, and one beer led to another to another, and before I knew it we were making a pro/con sheet for what I should do. After much discussion and more beers, I decided that I had to take the chance to travel. I could not turn down the chance to do something I might never get to do again.


I don't know if anyone is intersted in what happened, but let me know if you are.