On the way to Italy

I can still remember the night I came back to my apartment with the CIMBA brochure in my hand. The program was recommended to me by a professor so I felt obligated to at least glance over it. I figured it would just be another cool idea that was never followed up on. But given that I am currently writing this blog on a flight to Venice, that was obviously not the case.

My name is Connor O’Donnell and I am a junior studying Economics at Virginia Tech. I don’t actually know if anyone will be reading this blog over the next few months but if you happen to stumble upon it and don’t already know me, I feel like I should introduce myself. I have lived in Norfolk, Virginia, by the beach all my life and enjoy surfing, fishing, and being out on the river. I’m a huge baseball fan and grew up playing it since my wee tee-ball years. I love being outdoors, meeting new people, and taking on new challenges. I have gone to public school all my life with a mix of students from finically privileged households and ones from very underprivileged backgrounds. Being said, I realize how fortunate I am to receive a college education and let alone embark on a trip like this. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got about myself for now so just stay tuned.

I honestly can’t believe I am about to be living in Italy for three full months, traveling all over Europe and doing it with a group of 100 other students who I have never met. The last time I stepped on a plane was five years ago when my family took a Carnival Cruise out of Miami. Other than that, the extent of my travels has been to the mountains of Blacksburg during the school year and annual vacations to the Outer Banks. Needless to say, I don’t really have any clue what I am getting myself into.

While I may not be the most travel savvy, my biggest fear is not that things will go wrong or that I will make mistakes along the way. My biggest fear is that I will fail to take full advantage of the opportunity I have been given. Over the next three months I want to travel to as many places as economically possible and take in the full experience of each new destination. I want to learn to navigate and plan trips on my own without completely relying on technology (a downfall I have recently succumb to after upgrading my stone age Envy3 to the iphone). Lastly, and one of the main reasons I chose CIMBA, is my hope to meet as many new people as I can. After doing some initial facebook stalking of the 100 students in my group I was really pleased to see the large number of different colleges represented. There are students from Clemson, Iowa, West Virginia, Kansas and so many more. At the end of it all I want to leave with lasting connections, not only with students in my program but also with people I meet while traveling.

Throughout the semester I will be updating this blog at least once a week. I am fully confident that I will never be short of writing material over the next three months. Since so many CIMBA students will have access to this blog I just felt that an introductory article could give you a little background on me and why I decided on this program. Being said, I couldn’t be more excited to start getting to know everyone, planning trips, and having the semester of a lifetime.