Place and Time | 27.4

2004

Digital only; out of stock in print.

I was speaking to a friend today who, at age fifty-five, had just returned from his first trip to Europe. He described the visit as “life-changing” and was obviously exhilarated by his experience. Travelling to new places enriches our lives and opens us up, allowing us to embrace the foreign as our own.

To really get to know a place, you have to spend some time there. I was in Rome for the first time this spring, and though I had studied it for years as an art history major and did plenty of research before going, I see so clearly now that this was only abstract knowledge. I know it in my heart now. Place has a strong effect on us, can leave an imprint on our souls–and some never disappear.