In the beginning...

A big congratulations to everyone who found this blog...you made it! After taking me a few hours to set this up, despite the "easy to create" blog feature, I hope that everyone gets some satisfaction out of it and finds it an easy way to keep up with our adventures abroad! A word of warning to our readers, I tend to use a lot of !'s and an even greater number of elipses...mostly because a.) I never learned proper grammar in school and b.) I think it demonstrates how spur of the moment these blogs will be, without attention paid to proper punctuation. I realize it may be a bit tough on the eyes...oh well...please forgive me.
So...three days until departure. Carlyn assures me that all her gear will fit inside her small backpack! I'm psyched/scared of how much stuff that actually is. Does anyone think she is a minimalist?! On the plus side, that means we have more room for souvenirs for all of you (please don't hold me to that as we all know the dollar stretches about as much as a fat kid when it comes to European purchases).
Either way, I'm very excited! I only offer one word of advice to everyone, if you don't have the time to read both of our posts, I highly suggest you skip mine and go straight to Carlyn's. It will undoubtedly be filled with much more insight, fun-facts and detailed depictions of our time abroad. My blog will surely focus on the more mundane topics such as "What beer did Matt enjoy most in Munich?", "Why didn't Carlyn let me knock on the Pope's door?" and "Where can one find a Chicago style pizzeria in the heart of Italy?". All good questions which deserve a proper, well-thought-out blog posting.
Until tomorrow...
Matt (a.k.a. Goober)