We've Got Two Tickets For The Long Way 'Round...

  Today, January 27^th, students all across the University of Wisconsin- River Falls campus will be starting to get back into their daily academic routines. The overwhelming piles of syllabi, the discovering of the ever-so mysterious teachers, and the grogginess from the under slept night before will be common for many. However, for the ITCer's, January 27^th is the marking of the last two days before our anticipated European adventure. 
  For those who don’t know, International Traveling Classroom (ITC) is a study abroad program through UWRF that backpacks through several different European countries during the spring semester.  Hitting eight different countries, which include Scotland, England, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Ireland, will demand several responsibilities from us as the students traveling; it will not only include packing for a three-month journey, but it will also include preplanning hostel locations and figuring out transportation methods for independent travel time, just to name a few. 
  Now, planning for a 3-month long European trip sounds like an exhilarating task for an adventurous expedition, but as this is run through a university, not even the program’s title can escape the academical aspects of this endeavor.  So along with regular classes and homework, a 6,000 word essay is also demanded and is due by the end of the trip (but was highly suggested for us to start and/or finish early).  We, Alex and Katelyn, commend our fellow classmates for starting and/or even finishing their essays already, but for us, just to prove our skill at procrastination, together, our combined total word count is… drum roll… 23 words!
  Even though the trip will require more than just our lethargic efforts, we are truly looking forward to and anticipating what a life-changing experience this will be.  We will be challenged by the limits of our comfort zones, tested by the journey of friendship, and of course, seeing how far “winging it” will actually take us. 

  But even though the countdown until take-off continues, procrastination aside, we want to wish our friends and families well for the time we will be apart.
We will continue to post throughout our academic and adventurous endeavor, but for now we say,

“Au revoir! Arrivederci!” and “Auf Wiedersehen!”