Don't Pump the Brakes

New Orleans. The Big Easy. N’awlins. NOLA. Whatever you would like to call it, New Orleans is high on the bucket for just about every American I know. When I found out that the NCTM conference was going to be held in New Orleans this year, a co-worker friend and I immediately knew that we needed to attend, and go down south to experience all of what New Orleans has to offer.   This flag flew above the USS Bayfield, and survived both the D-Day invasion in Normandy and a few months later during Iwo Jima.      On our first day in New Orleans, we went to the National World War II Museum , which was unbelievable. Throughout the four building exhibit, they had so much memorabilia from the Second World War, and it was exhilarating to say the least. After going through the World War II Museum, we had lunch at Cochon (which I would highly recommend!) and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the conference. Afterwards, we took a quick trip down Bour...

     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 wa...