London, England: fast-paced, cosmopolitan, home for the next three months. Add internship, working trip to Scotland and visit with family in Norway ... and stir.
I have always been stubborn. So much, in fact, it took 15 days beyond my due date to convince me to leave the warmth of the womb. But it is this stubbornness, coupled with an inborn thirst for adventure, that has carried me through the most challenging situations, most of which I create myself.
“Whatever Doesn't Kill You...” is one such example. Following a year of extreme stress, illness and the uncertainty following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, I traveled to the United Kingdom to complete my master's degree in journalism. It was an exciting learning experience, and not just because of my internship with the National Campaign for the Arts in London.
While there I made my second trip to Lockerbie, Scotland, the site of 1988's Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist bombing. Thirty-five students from Syracuse University, my graduate school, were killed in that attack, and I was there as part of a collaborative book on the town.
Less than a year after the attack on my own home soil, it was cathartic, informative and, most of all, inspiring to spend time with those who had survived and managed to keep going, and smiling, after all.