I made this video for the “Where do you want to go” assignment. I loved doing this assignment because all I want to do is travel. I have been so lucky in my life to have gone to many different places: Italy, Spain, England, Wales, etc. etc. My parents provided me with a worldy education to say the least and it created a sense of travel in me. I cannot be happy until I see the world, how others live and what they like. Everything is interesting when it is different: what they eat, drink, what art they have, what they read. Each country has a history complete with different art, politics, books and more. This is what I find so interesting and what I want to learn about. Traveling is about seeing certain places, but also learning about a group of people, and more about yourself in turn.

I have a bracelet with charms of countries I have been to and I love bringing things back from where I travel, and just little things, like scrap booking materials, notebooks and more. With each place I go I make a notebook of ticket stubs, paper scraps and photos, interspersed with notes of what I did. This helps me immerse myself in the place and remember it forever.

I read something the other day in a New York Times article by Stephanie Rosenbloom. She wrote, “There are orphaned things in the world — coins, books, fallen leaves — that when you chance upon them feel like winks from the universe. They are at once the most ubiquitous and intimate souvenirs. “Souvenir” comes from the French word for “remember.” Everything it represents, marks or makes you wonder exists as long as you live and remember. In this way the ultimate souvenir is not a coin. Or a book. Or even a thing as ancient and everlasting as a stone. It’s you.”

It’s kind of sappy, but I find it true. So I put in not only places I want to go to and buildings I want to see, but specific times, like the Christmas festival in Germany, and my favorite bookstore in the world, Shakespeare and Company in France (I have been there but wish to repeat the trip). I put in an airplane taking off noise at the beginning of the video and a landing plane at the end. In between I put in a song from my iTunes that I listen to whenever I travel. It just sounds like an adventure song and makes me feel like I can do anything.

So look and enjoy, and dream like me of seeing the world, pack on back and notebook in hand.

3*