Exactly one month ago, I graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor's degree in Architecture.

Three weeks ago, I made the decision to travel to Italy for a couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago, I left for Italy.

At the present time, I am back and writing about the experience.

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This whole last-minute, impromptu, totally impulsive trip came about from a conversation I had with my parents the weekend after I graduated. Over lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in San Gabriel, I mentioned how many of my friends were taking post-graduation trips all over the world. Destinations like China, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hong Kong, South America, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, and more. And I let slip that I was definitely jealous, since I wasn't planning on going anywhere far during the two months I was taking off between the end of school and the beginning of real life full time work.

"You should go somewhere too. Go to Europe," my parents urged (in Chinese), thoughtfully.

"I'd love to, but I don't have any money." Most of my cash, of course, had been liquidated in the Great Study Abroad Trip of 2006, when I had studied in France and had visited several surrounding countries.

"We'll pay for it," came the generous response.

"But I don't want you to pay for it!" As much as I appreciated their generosity, I didn't want my parents supporting me financially on everything.

"It's okay, really!" they cheerfully protested. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You might never have the freedom and flexibility to do this again. Right now, you don't have to worry about school, work, or family. You should seize the chance and go! Besides, just consider this your graduation/birthday present!"

"Well, okay... I guess you've talked me into it," I replied in a jokingly disgruntled manner. "I'll see if it's possible to plan a trip with almost no time to spare."

It's not that I didn't want to travel, of course. I've always wanted to travel. I've just rarely had the chance. But when parents offer to pay, it doesn't take much to cave in, no matter how noble or independent-minded one might be. So with that, I embarked upon a frantic internet binge to see if I could possibly find airfare, lodging, and ground transportation to and in Europe for a relatively affordable fee. My initial idea was to try Italy. That was one country I had been unable to visit during my study abroad last year, and I was eager to see all the fascinating architectural sights it had to offer. Furthermore, it just so happened that two very good friends of mine were taking a one month backpacking trip through Europe and would be starting in Italy. I'd be able to tag along with them for the two weeks they were there, satisfying my inclination to travel with other people, rather than by myself.

Luck was on my side. I was able to find airfare for under $1100 total, book my long distant trains, and find some form of housing relatively close to the hostels that my friends were staying at. That was that; I was going to Italy!! And it would cost me only a couple hundred of dollars more than my friends, even though they had been planning this for a year and I basically did everything on the fly at the last minute.

Glad to know that one of my few instances of procrastination didn't really hurt me.

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My itinerary consisted of a non-stop flight aboard Virgin Atlantic from Los Angeles International Airport to London Heathrow Airport followed by a direct flight aboard Alitalia from London to Rome's Leonardo di Vinci Airport, also known as Fiumicino. Strangely enough, the Virgin Atlantic flight felt relatively empty. I noticed far more empty seats than there had been on my flight to and from Paris half a year ago, and I was even able to place my bag and jacket on the seat next to me, giving me extra space.

I suppose what surprised me was that there were empty seats on Virgin Atlantic--an awesome airline company. Despite being in economy class, I received some pretty good food and an entertainment set that included several dozen movies, tons of music soundtracks, games, travel guides, a flight tracker, and even internet news. Plus, the "house wine" was actually pretty good. If you include the sub-par airline food factor, it was actually very good! A sharp, dry red with a potent attack, much in the style of a Cabernet Sauvignon--my favorite type of wine. It goes without saying that I was quite impressed with what Virgin Atlantic had to offer, and I even found myself wishing the flight was longer so that I could watch more movies, because the film selection was quite excellent. There were numerous Oscar-nominated films as well as several other movies that had received great acclaim. With choices like The Pursuit of Happyness, Little Children, Blood Diamond, Pan's Labyrinth, and more, I found it a bit difficult to decide on what to watch. Ultimately, I settled on Blood Diamond (an excellent film with tremendous performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hansou), Happy Feet (which played out more like four TV entertaining cartoon episodes but was nowhere near as good as Cars), and Little Children (one of those films that leaves the viewer feeling like nothing really happened, and at the same time, that everything has happened; I decided I liked it). Overall, my plane trip to London was quite satisfying.

--

The Alitalia flight to Rome was delayed by 45 minutes--all on the plane, but by then I was so tired and dazed that time didn't really seem to register. Fortunately, the flight itself was faster than scheduled, and by 8:00, I found myself over the verdant farmland of western Italy, slowly descending upon Fiumicino.

What caught my eye (and woke my mind up) as I glanced out the window were the patches of umbrella pines that dotted the coastal farmland. From several hundred feet up, they were quite the sight: slender appendages of wood rooted upward from the ground, bare and elegant, stretching into a thick canopy of dense foliage right at the top, like a green piece of sponge skewered right on top of a split toothpick. In the warm glow of magic hour, they exuded a reassuring blanket of comfort over the surrounding land.

And the effect was even more surreal when the trees gathered into forests. One umbrella tree is sublime. A colony of them is simply ethereal. I gasped in wonder as the plane passed over such wonderful unspoilt vegetation, and that's when it registered: I was back in Europe, a beautiful land.

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I've always had a sort of romantic notion about Europe... the Old World. A lifelong California Kid, I've never known a place with substance and history... character and heart. Los Angeles isn't horrible, but it's clouded in superficial media and hyperfrenetic psychosis. It's urban sprawl extending across hundreds of square miles... a hardscape of metropolitan gray and impermeability. There is little connection with the natural environment, except at the beach and up by the foothills. But even that seems tainted by the massive spread of development.

Europe, on the other hand, exudes culture and history. It's had thousands of years of growth and development. Even in its basic mode of architecture, with shops on the ground floor and apartments typically above, it has substance and character (meanwhile, in the United States, architects love to throw "mixed use" projects around like they're the new, stylish fad, even though in Europe, that's just called "how we've always done it.").

Don't ask me why Asia has never appealed to me as much, though. I just plain love Europe. I was enamored with it before I came to France last year. I grew even more infatuated during my four months of study. So every chance I can get to visit it is a chance I really shouldn't pass up.

The point of all this? Well, as the plane landed, my excitement level shot up from mellow to absolutely ecstatic. This despite the approaching 24 consecutive hours of non-sleep.

--

I was greeted with the following fantastic sunset as I disembarked off the plane.

It had to be a sign. These next two weeks were bound to be full of beauty and wonder in a country famed for its arts and architecture. I had one of those cheesy premonitions of delightful days and magical evenings. My heart lightened by this anticipation, I put my fatigue behind me as best as I could and proceeded to fetch my luggage and process through customs. A half hour trainride to Rome itself, a fifteen minute walk from Rome Termini to my hostel near Vittorio Emanuelle park, and a free dinner from my hostel later, I was definitely ready for bed.

Two weeks in Italy? What a treat. First up... the Eternal City.