"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."

If you have come to this website, chances are that you received the address from either myself or my mother. Thank you for taking an interest in my foreign studies and please feel free to comment on a post or e-mail ( lwort3ne@umw.edu ) me whenever you want. If you did not receive this site from either myself or my mother, and are also much without the pleasure of my aquaintance, then please enjoy my writings in silence... unless you're some sort of publisher and want to pay me.

I will attempt to keep myself disciplined and write something on here once a day. In all likelyhood, these will be very short entries for the most part. Should I go against my mother's urging and only write when I have the fancy to, don't expect more than one a week at the most. That said, the less frequent updates will make up for lost time with a superior quality of writing. I will try to this with some regularity, as the point of a travel journal is for personal benefit mostly (though I am not privy to the composition of this "benefit") and I would like to gain something from this.

I had decided to create a mass e-mail list, and keep everyone up to date once a week, but that is so much more scrupulous. With a blog, I can write little bits when I feel like it and not worry about jamming inboxes all the way across the ocean with stupid little items. In an e-mail, you get black and white, Times New Roman size 12, and questionable formatting (especially from the UMW e-mail). On a blog, I change the colors, font, size, format to whatever I feel like. It's much more personal. It adds to the writing. And it's a lot easier for me to upload photos. Plus, you all can choose when you want to read. So you see, I did this all for you. I am the beacon of selfless internet acts.

This is your chance to live vicariously through me. I will narrate, express, communicate, impart, announce, disclose, report, and maybe even insinuate all the goings on of my studies abroad. Please note, however, that living vicariously through me is a passive act. I do not think I need worry about the passivity of those who are able to read this on the internet. But I can think of 1 or 2 people for whom "vicarious living" is active and will tell, order, bid, advise, indicate, and maybe even insinuate what it is that I should be doing. As long as you are aware of the difference between suggestion and indication, and of which I would infinitely prefer, you can write whatever you want to me in a comment or e-mail ( lwort3ne@umw.edu ). Thank you very much for taking an interest. Please enjoy your virtual reality trip to Madrid.

Just a tidbit: this post's title is a quote from an author.