One week to go......

This is my introduction. A little about me and how I ended up where I am: one week from moving to Florence Italy for about a year to attend Apicius Culinary arts school. I will be updating this page as much as possible. Anyway, here's a little background info.
I was born in Fairbanks Alaska. I grew up in the hills in a log cabin where i spent most of my time playing either with my imagination or my older brother Ian. I went to an elementary school across town that my parents had to drive me to every morning. I met my best friend Matt there, a person that I still hang out with today and that i bounce all my ideas off. About when I was in 6th grade my dad moved to Asheville, North Carolina. That was a big change for me, although I had been out of Alaska I had never lived in a different place. Instead of flying there we drove down through Canada and explored a large number of the 50 states, going down to florida before settling in NC. Although I had already found a taste for reading history books in elementary school, meeting so many new people and seeing so many different landmarks, little shops, natural beauty, and regional differences caused me to fall in love with traveling. After High School I went to UAF for a few years, alternating between living in my own places and living on campus. The whole time I was enrolled there I felt uninspired, bored, and disillusioned with college. I felt like I was just going because I was supposed to go to school, because I was expected to. While I loved a few of my classes and enjoyed reading the text books I did not do well. My attendance was horrible and I dropped many classes. Finally in the spring semester of 2007 I decided to stop wasting money and not go to school until I found something that would inspire me. My mother has always encouraged us to go to school and get a degree but was I was doing wasn't working. I quit school and got a real job at a furnace company and was ready to learn a trade. In the back of my mind I knew that It wasn't me and that I wouldn't be satisfied with my life unless I was doing something that i at least was interested in, if not enjoyed. My father came up to visit a few months into my new career and I think he was disappointed that I wasn't going to school, just like mom. About a month later he called and offered to send me to a culinary arts school in either Paris, New York, or Italy. He said that he and his wife had been talking about ways to kind of give me an opportunity to get back on track. I was shocked. I had become accustomed to the idea that I would be out of school for a while, seeing as I had already taken out student loans and had no inclination in taking on more debt. After about a day or two I knew what I would choose: Italy. Italian history, especially Roman, has always been one of my favorite subjects, and then , of course, there's the food. Everyone loves Italian food. The next few months involved hours of paperwork and preparation. To be honest I felt like it was too good to be true. I didn't tell my friends until I had seen the plane ticket!My step mother, Jackie was the engine that pushed this trip along. She did paperwork, made phone calls, researched, and generally helped me along every step of the way. The last couple of months have been a rush. I have always loved cooking, even making up my own recipes as a little kid. ( one was some lasagna noodles and about two pounds of cheese, for those of you who are familiar with "sean's special recipe") While I had thought of owning a restaurant I had never thought of going to cooking school. Now I am one week away from flying to another continent to lean the secrets of wine, italian cooking, and one of the romance languages. This is my first blog of what I hope is a successful endeavor. I want to thank my entire family, most especially Gary, Ellen, Jacque, meadow, bill, and Ian. Thanks to my friends and the people whos services I have used to help this dream come true.
You have all made what would be an easy departure a difficult one. Ciao!