I thought about postponing this entry until I fully recovered from jet lag, but prudence isn’t exactly my forte, so why try to force things?

A select few of you will have the enviable experience of hearing me detail my travels, ad nauseam, until the coffee/beer I bought you as a bribe is brimming over with tears of boredom. The rest of you are luckier. I will dip into my tales here and there, and maybe post a few pictures that do the best job of belying my complete lack of photographic talent, but for the most part I’m content to allow the impact of my travels simply seep into my writing style, which according to graders at ETS, merits only a 4 out of 6. Those f***ers.

Here are some things I’ve learned, or relearned, about myself this past month.

1. When unhindered, I use outrageous language. A lead-in: A college friend once told me, “Lee, out of the ten most horrible things I hear said each week, you say eight.” Call me a softy, but after this compliment, I walked on sun-beams for days. In the intervening years, however, it seemed that I’d mellowed, left the sharp tongue behind me, and made sure strides up maturity hill. What I learned was that any “mellowing” I’ve done has been purely for the benefit of others, and when 95% of the people in my vicinity only speak Greek, I make Eminem look like Fred Rogers (rest in peace). On the plus side, I can be surprisingly creative.

2. I shouldn’t walk around alone and drunk in a bad Roman neighborhood at 4AM. That is, unless I want to end up at an all-night pizza parlor, sobbing while listening to “It Must Have Been Love”, and drawing murderous looks from the natives.

3. I like mosh pits.

4. I love America.

Great to be back,

-Lee