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“The swords and the castles of their boyhood have long been replaced with pencils and cubicles; the sixteen shooter and cowboy hats laid aside for minivans and mortgages.” (Eldredge 42)

I know this is really about men, but I have to say, I would never want this to become my life. I feel that even though men are ‘the adventures’ there is also an adventurer in every woman. I would despise a life without any adventure. The type of life Eldredge describes, one lived with the absence of adventure and, along with that absence, the fleeting hope of enjoyment as the person is sucked into the vortex of the “American Life” and all of the things we are told we should desire. But these things don’t really bring us joy; they just bring us more things to worry about. We begin to wonder what else we the ‘guidebook to a happy life’ would tell us we need, and wonder whether what we have is good enough to keep us happy. We fall into the trap of believing that the more we have the happier we will be, and despite how cliche that sounds it’s true! The ironic truth though is that the more you can live without, the happier you can be.

Personally, I would much rather life without all of those things—the high paying job, the fancy car, the exorbitant house, the perfectly behaved children, the flat screen tv, the California King sized bed, etc—if living without them meant that I was still able to maintain the adventure in my life, the authentic, rustic adventure that every child rejoices in until the world teaches them to hide it away.

Honestly, I don’t understand why the world is so good at making people feel like they have to have everything put together. Why does the world tell us that we should have a set plan for our lives by the time we turn 18 and never deviate from the path? Does that fulfill our desires? Does it promise that everything will be alright as long as we have these things? It tries to. The world tries to convince us that these things are what’s best for us and that we’ll be happy if we just stick to the plan. But why? Why doesn’t the world want us to be individuals? Why does it demand that we try to be individualistic but only within the set parameters of what the perfect individual looks like?

The funny thing about all this is that the truth is so simple yet so far from what we are told to believe. Just look at the people in the world who have been bold enough to stray from the ‘standard life procedure’ and do their own thing. These are the people who go out on a limb, take a chance, and do what they really love. Sure, often these people take the risk of completely failing, but they’re not afraid to try anyway. These people I would argue, regardless of whether they fail or not, are the happiest people in the world. Haven’t you ever seen a person who is doing what they truly love? They go out into the world and see a sea of opportunities, opportunities for them. They don’t sit on the couch watching life happen, often a made up version of life of that doesn’t even really exist. No, they are out there living their lives. They are the ones with adventure in their lives. I guarantee the person who lives with adventure finds more enjoyment in life than the person who accepts the day-to-day monotony of a life built in a box.

I think that the most important thing about all of this is not that there are those who live their lives with adventure; and it certainly is not that there are also those who live on the sidelines, breathing artificial air pumped into our systems by the world that tells us it’s better than real air. The most important thing to note is that there is still that sense of adventure in everyone. The world may have taught us to mask it in an effort to synchronize the population, but it can never wipe it from our hearts completely. Every single person desires adventure, and every single person can let that sense of adventure into their lives. And when that happens, life will be more enjoyable than you could ever imagine.

Wanna know the weird thing about being in Italy? I’ve been here for three weeks now, and for the most part I still don’t feel like I’m actually in Italy. But the weirdest thing still is that I don’t really care. Before you get your undies in a bunch let me explain what I mean. Italy is beautiful, and it’s fun to explore places, to visit the major cities and the little towns. And it’s cool to be living in Italy for over a month, really living here. It’s scary and unusual but also a great experience to be living mostly disconnected from the life we previously knew. But all of this seems almost insignificant. I have felt since the beginning of the trip like I have been here in reality but at the same not really here—in the sense that I still don’t feel like I am actually in Italy. I think that part of this feeling comes from having seen so many other small towns or big cities in my life, and although none of them were nearly as old as the cities of Italy nor do they have as much history, nonetheless there are plenty of cities that imitate the styles you see in even the oldest of old in Italy. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that and although this has contributed to my strange surrealistic feelings it’s still not the biggest reason for those feelings. I am beginning to realize that although being here in Italy is really cool, it doesn’t really matter. This is why. Yes, it’s really awesome to be able to see all of these really old and unique places with such vibrant history. And yes, it’s cool to be able to say “I’ve been to Venice and floated in a gondola.” And yes, I do love calling myself a world traveler and I feel truly blessed to be able to see part of the world I have always wanted to see, and I know many others would love to experience this as well. But I have also realized that the reason it feels so surreal and I feel like sometimes—although I am still very grateful—I almost don’t care that I am really here in Italy, is that the people I am with and the relationships I have been able to build are much more important to me than being anywhere in the world. All of the trips we get to go on are fun, and being able to travel all over and see many different parts of Italy is amazing, but the best part of being here is being able to build relationships and get to know people. It’s the traveling, the walking, the getting lost, the new inside jokes, and the laughing at smashed bananas and funny faces with people I’ve just met but am already growing very close to. We each met at most 3 weeks ago and I already feel very close to many of the people I have met. My roommate Liz is totally awesome and we have such a fun time messing around with each other and laughing at dumb stuff. I have had multiple conversations with my new friends Matt and Kenneth and really feel like I could talk to them about anything. I have an awesome relationship with Julian full of jokes and high fives and I really feel comfortable joking around with everyone here. Tara is hilarious and weird and funny, and I just love laughing with her. Justine is friends with everyone, funny, and not afraid to do weird things in public. Vanessa is sweet but sassy and looks like she could kill you when she’s really tired, although she’s never actually angry. Eric is quirky and just loves taking his pictures. And everyone else is pretty awesome too. Each person here has their own quirks and niche in our community and I have really enjoyed getting to know every single person. So my point is not that I am ungrateful to be here or wish I was somewhere else, but rather that I am more grateful for the opportunity to get to know everyone here, and that for me Italy is not the focus but rather the medium through which that opportunity has come.