Where I Went and What I Did in the Fall of 1999.

The story of my getting the Phillips Travel Grant is a simple one. A few friends of mine had applied and were awarded this grant one and two years prior. When I got back from Louisiana, Aaron encouraged me to apply. "There's nothing to lose," he said, "except maybe some sleep and getting a little nervous and throwing up. Well, maybe not that last bit," he offered encouragingly. So, I did some research (along the same lines as the grant I applied for in 1994, the Class of 1938 Fellowship - which I didn't get, to my chagrin; guess Canada doesn't count as "overseas" enough), wrote some well-meant verse about a travel purpose, and turned in the application at 4:30 on the very last day it was due.

And I got it.

I thought I would be going in a certain direction, in a certain pattern, for a certain amount of time. At the end of the day, most all of my advance planning was tossed out of the window in favour of a go-with-the-flow approach. I got to meet fantastic people along the way, saw more castles than I have fingers, enjoyed the company of a swarthy Frenchman, hung out on a houseboat and visited the Europe I never expected - but always wanted - to see.

If you want to see how my trip matched up (well, in a manner of speaking) with what I had planned to do, check out this. I have yet to write the final report for the Phillips committee, as I have been hard at work trying to find a job. Each time I try to sit down and write, I ultimately am stymied as to where to start, exactly.

A raw listing of pictures can be found here. Right after I got back and had time to waste money developing colour film, I took the negatives and scanned em with the J School scanner (er, thanks J School folks). No real editing was done, though eventually they'll make their way into both my report and into an online scrapbook. How many people will actually care that I did this, however, still remains to be seen.

So, watch this space in the coming weeks for updates, changes, etc. Got any questions about where to go in Europe? Drop a line. If I can help, I will.

go back to Kelly Jo's World of Wonder.