Don't Pump the Brakes

     During the commencement ceremony at my graduation from Marist, our guest speaker Chuck Todd talked about taking risks and opportunities and offered some other great advice along the way. One of the lines that stuck out to me the most was when Mr. Todd said that, “now’s the time to travel the world; because if you don’t do it now, it will be harder later. I didn’t get to Europe until my late thirties. That’s a regret.”  I started to think about that, and although I was very fortunate to have had many once-in-a-lifetime experiences during my college career, one that I hadn’t was studying abroad and going to Europe. Coinciding with this speech was the fact that some of my best friends from college were studying in Florence for the fall semester. After giving it much thought, the decision was easy: I had to go to Europe while I had the chance. My first international flight      Fast-forward to the first week of November, and I was off to Europe for the first time