Fulfilling a 10-Year Dream in Cinque Terre

Our next stop on our 10-year anniversary cruise after Genoa was La Spezia, a port city in Italy from which you can access many famous sites. Originally, we were planning on visiting the leaning tower of Pisa but decided instead to visit Cinque Terre, a series of five towns in the region of Liguria in the Italian Riviera.

This was the culmination of a 10-year dream of mine, because we wanted to go during our honeymoon cruise but we got a late start and missed the train and then it would've taken too long by the time we got into the city. We had to turn back then, hopeful we'd have another chance to visit someday.

So when we had the opportunity on our anniversary cruise, we knew we had to take it. We just had to choose whether to see Cinque Terre from Genoa or La Spezia, and M figured out La Spezia was significantly closer. There are a few options for transiting Cinque Terre: ferry, train, car, and hike. If it had just been M and me as it was on our honeymoon, we would have opted for as much of the hike as possible.

Instead, since we had S with us, we walked the easiest path between villages (Via dell'Amore between Riomaggiore and Manarola) and otherwise took the train between the towns. Even still, it was extremely hot and tiring to explore in the heat of August, and later on the ship we learned it had broken over 100 degrees Fahrenheit that day! So much for escaping the heat once we were out of Dubai.

We bought a Cinque Terre day pass that included the trains between the Cinque Terre towns and La Spezia without having to reserve specific times. The ticket came with other perks, too, like free use of otherwise paid bathrooms at the train stations. The Via dell'Amore path did cost extra on top of the Cinque Terre ticket, but having done the walk I think it was totally worth it since it was beautiful, mostly shaded, and recently renovated in 2024.

Online, people recommended you only attempt Cinque Terre with good sneakers, and I'm so glad we listened to that advice. All the towns were hilly, even if we didn't do the big hikes.

One mistake I made was bringing sunscreen and leaving it in my bag. I didn't realize until the end of the day that we hadn't put it on, and by then it was too late. I wound up with a dorky tan line, but somehow the fair-skinned M and S were relatively unscathed... They're better than I am about always finding shade wherever we walk, apparently.

Each town had its own charms. Here are some of the highlights:

• Manarola had the best scenic viewpoint, with the perfect snapshot of the town's colored buildings contrasted with the gently rolling ocean.
• We had spectacular gelato at Alberto Gelateria in Corniglia. The Basilico Speciale is a must, with creamy basil ice cream made from basil from their own garden topped with local olive oil.
• We didn't have time to experience them ourselves, but the beach clubs in Monterosso looked amazing. We glimpsed the iconic orange and green striped umbrellas from above.
• Vernazza had great shopping and smaller/calmer swimming areas than Monterosso.
• We just passed through Riomaggiore to start Via dell'Amore, but the town looked fantastic and I would've loved to spend more time there if we hadn't had a deadline.

We really had to rush to cram in all five towns in a single day and make it back to our cruise ship in time, so I can totally see why people stay in Cinque Terre for a week or more. It's one of those places that completely lives up to the hype. The towns were so cute, with colorful buildings lining the vineyard-striped mountains and crystal-clear blue water below. I would definitely come back again. Wouldn't you? That's all for now, until I blog about our next stop, where I visited Pompeii.

Eating Our Way through Genoa

Our 10-year anniversary Mediterranean Cruise stopped in Genoa, Italy following our time in Gibraltar. (Fun fact: did you know it's "Genova" in Italian but "Genoa" in English? I didn't until our trip.) Originally, I planned a complicated itinerary involving lots of train travel around the region, but M talked some sense into me and instead we spent the day exploring the city of Genoa itself as a family.

I tried three of the most famous local dishes: fresh Genovese pesto (which apparently is supposed to be made at room temperature fresh and never cooked but merely added to a dish at the end, oops) with focaccia, pansotti pasta with walnut sauce, and panisse (chickpea flour fritters that look identical to thick-cut potato fries). (I heard farinata, a fried cake of chickpea flour, is actually even more iconic in Genoa but I didn't have room for a heavy, creamy pasta and a full fried flour cake.) We also got gelato (because how can you not when visiting Italy), and it's always phenomenal.

Throughout our trip, S's appetite continued to amaze (especially when we found some of his favorite foods out and about in the wild, like grilled squid in Genoa). He was also a huge fan of panisse. To my surprise, focaccia was not so much his thing. It was nice we had plenty of options without allergens that he could enjoy, and he's getting old enough to understand that's why we sometimes can't share all the food on the table.

Besides eating our way through the city, we walked around without a particularly detailed plan or guide. One of my favorite things to do in an old European city is visit old churches, and Genoa had plenty we could stumble across and explore (as you can see by the dominant theme of this post's photos).

My favorite one we saw was the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, which has a unique striped design on the exterior and interior that sets it apart. (The black and white stripes also made S go, "It looks like Halloween!" - which I'm sure is not what the architects were going for there.) That church was built around 1098; the time scales are mind-boggling and it's amazing to think about when you're standing inside and enjoying such historic buildings and art.

We wrapped up our time in the city with a visit to the local aquarium, partially to get a break from the August heat and partially to do something more fun for S than seeing old buildings. Although we all had a good time, I agree with reviews online saying the tickets were quite expensive and the aquarium was overcrowded despite doing timed tickets only. I personally prefer the value in terms of quality for the aquariums in most other places we've been, but we did get what we needed out of it and learned a few things. My favorite things I discovered were about dolphins, including the fact that some species of dolphins form nursery pods where aunties and sisters help dolphin moms with their babies. Isn't that so sweet?

Eventually we returned to our cruise ship and watched the first part of Moana 2 for the umpteenth time at S's request. (Yes, we are those parents who stretch our normal screen time rules on vacation. We love family movie nights when we travel!) By then, we were grateful just to be back in an air-conditioned room and no longer dripping sweat from our summer stroll. It was a low-key day full of wonderful family quality time, and I was glad we took it easy because the very next day we went on a much more rigorous adventure... Cinque Terre! You can read all about that in my next post, but for now I hope anyone reading this is staying cool.

Hiking the Mediterranean Steps in Gibraltar

M and I just celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary and decided to do it with a two-week Mediterranean cruise, just like we did for our honeymoon except better with a few more stops. I decided instead of trying to cram information about every stop into one mega-blog post I would break it up so that I could give each place the care and attention it deserves. Our first stop was Gibraltar, a British territory attached geographically to Spain. I learned a lot of fun facts about Gibraltar on this trip, including:

• English is the official language but most locals also speak Spanish and Llanito, a specifically Gibraltarian dialect that merges English and Spanish with words from other languages such as medieval Genoese, Hebrew, Maltese and Portuguese.
• The local currency is the Gibraltar pound, tied to the pound sterling, but they print their own banknotes that are distinct from the pounds you would find in Great Britain.
• There is one university in Gibraltar, established only a few years ago, which is best known for biomarine science.
• Morocco is only 9 miles (14km) away across the Strait of Gibraltar.
• The whole of Gibraltar is only 2.6 square miles (6.8 square km), but over 30,000 people live there.
• John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married there.

Cool, huh? I was excited to see a hike on our cruise ship's list of excursions for Gibraltar, and then I was even more excited to see the hike labelled "strenuous" because sometimes I'm disappointed when what's billed as a hike turns out to be more of a leisurely stroll by my standards. So I asked M if he wanted to join and when he said no (as he usually does for that sort of thing) I booked the excursion with a tour group for myself. This hike was up the Mediterranean Steps, the challenging ascent up the Rock of Gibraltar, a 200 million-year-old Jurassic limestone formation that dominates the Gibraltarian landscape.

Our group drove up part of the way and then began our hike. The path was easy to follow and well-labelled, with restrooms at the entrance to the hiking path. At first, we moved very slowly as a group since the tour guide asked the more experienced hikers to stay in the back and let slower folks set the pace. About halfway through, though, he took pity on us and let folks go at their own speed while he stayed in the back to help the slower people. Unfortunately, this delayed the tour group quite a bit, with some members seriously struggling with the difficulty of the trail. It was challenging, and I would not recommend it unless you're in shape and have hiked before. Because the last folks in the tour group were running hours behind, I and a few others who finished the hike first ended up breaking off from the official tour group (letting those who stayed know we left so they could tell the guide) and finding our own way back down the mountain via cable car.

The view at the top, which I heard is normally excellent and allows hikers to see from Spain on one side to Morocco on the other, was completely obscured by clouds on the day we went. Although this made the summit a little disappointing, it led to some stunning photos on the way up with the sun filtering through low-hanging clouds and reflecting on the misty ocean. I enjoyed stopping at various points throughout and capturing the movement of the sun, clouds, water, and boats as the morning progressed.

At the top, we visited O'Hara's Battery, a must-see for military history buffs. We could visit the engine room and see the ammunition and the cannons that hint at the site's past. The exhibits were quite minimal by way of explanation, so if you're really interested in this topic I recommend you go with a proper tour guide or at least an audio guide.

Another surprise of my time on the Rock of Gibraltar was the prevalence of Barbary macaques, monkeys that can be found all over the Rock of Gibraltar. Our tour guide warned us to give them their distance and he did not need to tell me twice. I'm not here to disrespect wild animals or tempt fate by teasing or feeding them. (I saw one group of tourists getting the monkeys to jump on their shoulders and pose for pictures, and I gave them a very, very wide berth.) That being said, I did enjoy taking photos from a distance. The monkeys were everywhere! I even saw several sweet little baby monkeys with their moms.

After finishing my hike and getting down by cable car, I met up with M and S in Gibraltar City for lunch and a nice walk around. I had the best fish and chips of my life at a pub called Lord Nelson, and I understand Gibraltar is well known for British pub fare and Spanish tapas. By the time we finished our food and explored a bit, though, we were really sweating. Once we all got back on the ship, we were so relieved. S laid on top of our cool bed sheets and said, "Ahhhhh, I like cold things." I guess living in Dubai has given us as much a taste for appreciating air conditioning as tolerating the heat. Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about our time in Gibraltar, and I look forward to sharing other stops on our 10-year anniversary journey in future posts, starting with Genoa! Until then, I hope you're enjoying your summer as much as we are.

The One Best Piece of Career Advice I Can Give

I'll never forget in my first tour when a dear mentor told me, "You'd be amazed how far you can get in this career just by responding to emails." I have a whole blog post about how to manage emails when you don't have enough time, but as I reflected I realized that if I had to share my single best piece of career advice it wouldn't be "manage your emails!" It also wouldn't be things like "make sure you get a Master's degree" or "read The Economist cover to cover every day" or anything like that.

The single best piece of career advice I can give anyone is to learn how to give and receive feedback well. A former State Department senior leader whom I deeply admire once said, "Feedback is a kindness." Although it can be extremely difficult to see feedback (especially constructive criticism) as a kindness in the moment, the more I progress in my career the more passionately I feel that this is true. In the conflict averse culture of diplomacy, many Foreign Service personnel I know have never received constructive criticism at all. Yes, there are people who have been in this field for 10, 15, or even 20 years and never once received any information about what they could have done better, what they need to work on in themselves, and what weaknesses they should address to prepare themselves for the next level. This is an enormous disadvantage.

Giving feedback effectively is just as important. You may have learned to provide a "feedback sandwich" of praise, followed by constructive criticism, and then more praise. The conventional wisdom is that bookending the constructive criticism within the praise will soften the blow. Yet my understanding is that research shows the format of feedback isn't necessarily as important as how it's delivered. I do think it's kind to express praise for what went well or gratitude for the effort (and there's always something worth praising if you search hard enough even when it's just "Thank you so much for taking this on. I appreciate the time you took for this project.") But you must deliver the constructive criticism or the person will never have the chance to improve, and that's not fair to that person or to yourself or anyone who has to work with someone who keeps making the same mistakes. (And no, just because you know you need to have the tough conversation doesn't make it easy or fun. I have a whole different blog post about managing conflict that might be helpful if this is something you find challenging.)

Let me share a story about myself in my first Foreign Service tour, when I was in Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. I had to send a press release out to hundreds of editors and journalists. I watched how my colleagues did it a few times and then, finally, my boss said I was ready to do it myself. I worked with the team on the next press release, about a major donation the United States made to Kenya and what a strong symbol this was of our partnership. I edited it, read it a million times, and then released it into the world. In that moment, I felt proud and excited that I was trusted to convey such an important message to so many people.

Later that same day, however, my supervisor pulled me into her office. I had made a huge mistake: an error in converting the Kenyan shillings to the U.S. dollar amount. Or maybe it was the other way around? (It's been quite a few years since then.) Either way, now all the editors and journalists had the wrong donation number and we had to issue a hasty correction to the press release to avoid the wrong number getting published. I was so disappointed in myself, but one reason I was able to bounce back is because this feedback was necessary but kind. I spent more time training and practicing for a while, and then when I was more reliably catching every detail I was allowed to do press releases myself again. And I didn't make any more mistakes with them after that.

This is the difference good feedback can make. Good feedback, although painful, allowed us to correct the record and for me to improve so I could succeed in the future. If the feedback had been delivered in a cruel way, I might have lost all my confidence and struggled much more. If I was extremely arrogant and refused to admit my mistake and receive the feedback or if I tried to blame someone else, I could not have accepted the need to improve and changed. Worst of all, if the feedback had never been delivered but my boss had quietly corrected it and then never let me do it again, I might be confused and wondering why I was suddenly losing professional opportunities with nobody telling me why.

I don't think the difficulties around giving and receiving feedback are unique to diplomacy. It's always hard to do this well, but I think the most important thing is to try never to sacrifice a long-term working relationship for short-term gain. If you knew you were going to work with that person extensively in the future, how would you deliver feedback so you can work together effectively? How would you receive feedback?

Even in the Foreign Service when we change assignments every few years, I think it's a huge mistake to postpone those conversations and assume you won't ever see them or work with them again, so they can be someone else's problem. If everyone stopped running out the clock on issues that should be addressed right away, the whole institution would be a better place - and we would all be better for it.

There are many articles online about how to nurture "criticism-open" employees, but a few of my favorite tips include providing a few suggested solution options along with constructive criticism instead of vague feedback like "needs to work on their judgment" as well as demonstrating genuine openness to constructive criticism and acting on it from the seniormost levels. Because people have a hard time giving feedback unprompted, it's helpful to request feedback frequently on your own work and where you could improve.

I also agree with inclusive leadership experts that feedback should be a two-way conversation. There were times when I wanted to provide constructive criticism but learned during the conversation that the person I was giving feedback had other very logical reasons for doing things a certain way that I hadn't known about before we talked. In those situations, we usually can find a new solution that addresses the issues I raised and accommodates the additional factors I wasn't aware of before.

I hope this career advice helps someone else out there, especially those earlier in their Foreign Service careers. I wished I had known when I started out that "feedback is a kindness" and nothing to avoid or fear. Dear colleagues, friends, subordinates, and mentors have given me feedback that has helped me grow as an officer and a person, and I'm so grateful they did - it's really helped set me up for success.

Duhello and Dubai to My Dear Friend L

Some moments in life are full of contradictions, and so was my week last week. While my dear friend L visited me from the United States, poor S got sick and M and I ended up alternating shifts watching him while I squeezed in quality time with my friend. Then in the midst of all of that, the Department of State fired over 1,000 people - including dear friends and mentors who have meant so much to me and given so much in service to our country - the same day my friend left.

I wanted to write a simple blog post about the joys of spending time with my friend (to whom I owe the pun in the title), but my heart is heavy thinking of my colleagues. I will continue writing that initially planned blog post, but I hope you'll read to the end where I provide a list of things I'm doing and you might consider doing, too, to support public servants who have been removed from service in State and elsewhere.

After a few days in Abu Dhabi, my friend L came to meet me at the iconic Burj Al Arab, a gorgeous tower that's not as famous as the Burj Khalifa but deserves to be (in my humble opinion). We meant to have tea at Sahn Eddar inside the tower, which turned into tea and desserts when we saw the desserts, and then turned into tea and desserts and ravioli when we had such a good time we didn't want to leave. I had a dessert made with tonka for the first time, and it was good. I don't know if I'd agree with the reviews that the flavor is "so good it's illegal" given it's banned in the United States, but it was tasty.

Then we did the Jumeirah Mosque tour (one of my favorite things to do with visitors as I did with my sister and her husband when they were here) and Etihad Museum. The architecture of the latter was striking and the history was so cool, but the exhibits were a little minimalistic for us. My favorite part was a film on display in one of the three (!) theaters showing documentaries where they interviewed older Emiratis about the incredible transformation of the country they witnessed in their lifetimes. (If you're interested in this subject, I highly recommend the book City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism by Jim Krane.)

The next day we visited Sharjah, the northern emirate neighboring Dubai. We stopped at an immersive art installation called The Rain Room where water falls from the ceiling and sensors turn it off where people are standing so you can be dry in the midst of the downpour. Or at least, that's the idea. My friend L was way better at staying dry than I was, even though I tried my best to follow the instructions not to move too suddenly. But at least the videos were awesome!

After that, we picked a random cute cafe to go to for lunch but on our way to the cafe we stumbled across a stunning restaurant with a beautiful gift shop and courtyard, so we spontaneously made a change of plans. The lunch we ended up having at Bait Elowal was extraordinary, with outstanding flavors, presentation, and service. Following our meal, I saw a sweet collection of children's books in Arabic about the relationship between a mother and baby written by Sharjah royal Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, and of course I had to buy a set for S. And he loves them!

The following day L and I were back in Dubai for the famous (or infamous if you ask M) Dubai Mall. We decide to book the Dubai Mall food tour by Frying Pan Adventures, which many other American women in Dubai had recommended to me. The tour was wonderful, introducng me to so many hidden gems at Dubai Mall I'd never experienced before. My favorite dish from the tour was the Dan Dan noodles at Zheng Dong Dan Dan Noodles in the food court of the mall's Chinatown section - though it really pushed the limits of my spice tolerance and I don't know if I could have finished without a sugary herbal tea from nearby Jasmin Time to help wash it down.

Once we finished the food tour, L and I went shopping in the mall for hours until we worked up our appetite again. Then we had a delicious dinner at Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese restaurant chain famous for its soup dumplings, xiaolongbao. I never had it until I moved to Dubai, but L already knew about it and loved their dumplings.

After that, we booked it over to the Museum of the Future as the sun was setting. I had visited the museum for many work events but never explored the actual museum exhibits before. I insisted we go at night so we could enjoy the view of the exterior Arabic calligraphy lit up from the observation deck, one of my favorite photo spots in Dubai. (On the way up, though, they had a touristy mandatory green screen photo spot and the photographer tried to get us to hold each other closer until finally L exclaimed, "We're just friends!" The guy was very embarrassed and apologetic after that.)

Other highlights included a robotic dog that greeted guests on the ground floor as we entered, a rainforest room with amazingly fresh air, a cool visualization of a hypothetical future plant and animal DNA repository, and a random worker squealing, "Oh my gosh, is that Mark Zuckerberg?!" at my friend. (The best part about that last bit is my friend told me that kept happening to him, but that was my first time getting to witness it in real life.)

The next day we went to Dubai's Gold Souk, where I was quickly impressed by my friend's knowledge and skill at gold shopping. (He promised me he'd help me do a blog post on how to shop for gold later.) L bought a lovely gold ring and necklace, and then we were on our way to our lunch reservation at Orfali Bros, a Michelin-starred restaurant owned by three brothers from Syria.

This was the best meal I've had in years, and I will be thinking about it for a long time. L and I can highly recommend the tasting menu, but even after you finish that you have to order dessert. I had the best kabob of my life there and one of the most unique and delicious desserts that blended black sesame, yuzu, and tahini. I think dishes that combine unexpected ingredients for surprisingly delicious results demonstrate some of the most skill and creativity a chef can have.

Then, my friend went off to Al Maha Resort in the desert by himself for a few days. For what it's worth, my friend said the stay was amazing and a standout luxury experience. When he returned, we explored Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood and then capped off his visit with dinner at a Filipino restaurant and Korean karaoke with some of my Dubai friends.

Before long, though, L had to head to the airport and we bid farewell. It was delightful catching up with my dear friend and spending more time with him than I have in years, even if I had to spend more time than expected coming back home to trade off taking care of our sick kiddo with M. I made such precious memories and was reminded of how much less lonely the Foreign Service life is when you can host people you love.

Thank you so much for reading this far! As promised, please see below some of the things I will be doing and I hope you will consider doing as well to support public servants who have devoted their careers to the American people:

• If someone you know shares that they were recently fired, send a kind note that you're thinking of them with no expectation of a reply. Many people who were fired were given very little notice and may be extremely busy organizing their personal, professional, and financial affairs - not to mention the emotional impact of being fired. Like in most cases of grief, though, I've found people often err on the side of being too scared to say anything and so those affected may miss the positive impact of others checking in and thinking of them.
• If someone you know has not shared that they were recently fired but you only heard a rumor that they were, do not reach out unless they tell you themselves or share the news publicly. You might mean well but do more harm than good. (I'm grateful to those affected who made this point in some of my Foreign Service groups on social media.)
• Hire them! These are extremely qualified and hardworking professionals. You will not find anyone more adaptable, mission-driven, or creative when it comes to problem-solving.
• Provide career support whether that's a resume review, reference, or even a simple informational interview. Sometimes it can be difficult to translate government jargon that we use such as "control officer" or "public diplomacy officer" into terms that will be understood in other fields, so help those who need it make the transition.
• Help with those transitioning, not just professionally but personally. For example, if you know someone moving back to your hometown after an abrupt end to their career in expensive Washington, DC, be a friend to them and their family. If you know of resources that might be helpful to them, share them.
• Contact your elected representatives in your personal time. (Please do not violate the Hatch Act!) For me personally, I'm letting my representatives know I believe that any reductions in force (RIFs, our term for firing) should be done in accordance with existing law, regulation, and policy and based on qualifications and merit - not where someone happens to be on an arbitrary date when many of us rotate positions so frequently. I'm also letting them know that there are plenty of qualified people who were just fired who can help us fill critical staffing gaps for positions that haven't been closed.
• Let those public servants in your life more generally know you appreciate their service and repeat that sentiment publicly. Many of us choose this career because we are passionate about and committed to serving our country. We forego more lucrative career options (and in the case of the Foreign Service regularly uproot our families and live far from home) for the chance to make a difference for the American people. It means a lot to hear our work matters.
• Listen when people who were recently fired ask for help or offer suggestions of what you can do.

Take care of yourselves and each other, dear readers. Until next time!

To Write and Roam in Florence and Rome

I do feel like the title of this post isn't the best of my rhyming game, but it was the perfect description of my time in Italy. I travelled from Dubai to Florence by way of Rome to attend the Futurescapes speculate fiction writer's workshop for writers in fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres.

It was my first time participating in a workshop like this, and it was an amazing opportunity to receive feedback on the first 50 pages of my novel as well as my query letter (the letter writers send to agents asking them to represent them and submit their work to editors, required by most traditional publishers) and synopsis (a summary of the rest of my novel).

The faculty were outstanding, and I received feedback directly from Lucienne Diver (a U.S. agent for N.K. Jemisin and for two of my friends from college, one of whom I interviewed for the blog previously), Zoe Plant (an agent from the UK), and Matt Kirby (an award-winning young adult and middle-grade U.S. author).

We all enjoyed a special session on including sensory details in our writing taught by Fran Wilde, a Nebula Award-winning author whose short fiction I've been reading and loving in Uncanny Magazine for years. She announced early in our workshop a surprise contest where if we completed a sensory detail writing exercise she would pick a few winners to get copies of her books.

I knew I had to participate, and I was so thrilled I won! I picked as my prize an Advance Reader Copy (meaning a print edition of the book before it goes to official publication) of her short story collection, "A Catalog of Storms", which she was kind enough to sign for me. The story "A Catalog of Storms" made a huge impact on me when I read it for the first time, and it has some of the best expressions of familial love and grief I've ever read.

I also learned so much from the other writers who participated. I was part of a five-person critique group with excerpts spanning many genres: space western, contemporary first-world fantasy (meaning fantasy set in today's world and today's time) including Meso-American mythological elements, secondary-world queer romantasy inspired partially by Spanish and Persian history, secondary-world dark fantasy inspired by African American folklore, and my own submission that I had submitted as a dystopian medical science fiction and Zoe Plant assured me fell firmly within "high-concept speculative fiction" - a label I love.

In Florence, I did several group walking tours as well as a hike. It's so fun to do things like this with other creatives, because for example we hiked to the top of a hill with a beautiful historic cemetery, where we did a writing exercise exploring how the societies in our novel understand and cope with death. It was a profound and inspiring experience, and to my delight besides us there was a group of artists similarly sketching various views. Florence is still truly a city of the arts even today.

I took advantage of my solo trip to Italy to add a few days in Rome to my itinerary, as well. I visited the Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was the closest Temple to Dubai until the recent completion of the Nairobi, Kenya Temple (which I also can't wait to visit someday).

When I went, the Rome Temple was completely packed and they had to bring in rows and rows of extra chairs, and I learned it was a special final Temple visit day for missionaries assigned to Italy who were finishing their missions. How wonderful it was to share my Temple day with them!

On a complete coincidence, some of my dearest friends I had lived and worked with in Seoul happened to be visiting Rome for a weekend when I was there, so we met up for a late dinner and gelato. It was so nice to see them again. One of the best parts about being in the Foreign Service is having friends all over the world you never know when you're going to reunite with on a whim!

As you can probably tell from the photos I've sprinkled throughout this blog post, I especially enjoyed walking around many beautiful churches and cathedrals. I love the history and art in these sacred buildings, as well as their openness to the public. Multiple times, I found myself kneeling in prayer alongside total strangers from all over the world in these beautiful spaces designed to help us turn our hearts to God and more spiritual things than the bright, noisy streets just outside.

On my last morning in Rome, I decided to swing by one more church that happened to be right next to my hotel before I went to the airport, and to my surprise I discovered only after I arrived that that church was the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where Pope Francis was just laid to rest. I was grateful to have the opportunity to pay my respects and see such a special place before I left.

I came back home with a mind bursting with creative energy, which I'm already applying to finishing this first draft and then hopefully getting started as soon as possible on revising my novel. I had so much fun in Italy, but I really missed my family and it's good to be back with them. I would definitely recommend a writing workshop to any writers who are looking to take their craft to the next level, build community, and take some time away from the stresses of regular daily life.