The Liberation of Eman

"I don't want to hear you talk anymore. I want to hear others talk about you." - Alfredo, Cinema Paradiso

FLORENCE, Italy -The quote comes from a film that we watched in our Italian Cinema class. An old man said this to his young friend, encouraging him to leave home and pursue his future. When I decided to come here, I decided that I was in need of some amnesia, and I'm sure many of my classmates on this trip will drink to that. The purpose of this trip was to not give any thought to anything or anyone back home. The truth is that I've thought a lot about my life in California since I got here.

I think most about the things and the people I have tied myself down to at home. I am coming to realize that I invest far too much into things in which I have no future. It is in my nature to get too attached to things and while I keep a forward momentum, I live my life looking too often into the rear view mirror at my past. Life, even with all of the things that tie us down and set us back, is to be lived forward.

I am eager to see the difference my time in Italy will make in my life when I return home. The most profound power we have when we travel is our ability to remove ourselves from who we are at home and to recenter our self-perception. All I can say is that I've grown tired of being who I was before Italy, and I'm anxious to discover who I will become when this is all over. I feel more ready than ever to become that person.