Posts by Erin Banco

We were without our interpreter at the base of Saturday morning’s market.
“Ready?” Lauresa said.
“Um, sure,” I replied, uneasy about how we would be able to manage trying to speak in Italian.
I had no idea how our interviews with families would fare that chilly morning. First of all, I did not think any families would be [...]

I looked at my right forearm: white, crusty, dried drool … ew.
Scratching the drool off my arm, I found myself alone and walking down the path toward town. It was only 5 minutes before that I had been lying on my bed not wanting to move. I had had no intention of leaving my room [...]

“Happy trails to you Erin! Christmas 2006.”
I looked through the scratched silver backing to my 80 GB video ipod and read the etched words while listening to my favorite artist—Keith Urban. The electronic device looked weathered, as though it had been thrown in and out of my backpack for years, but this was my first [...]

It was as if nothing else existed. He did not care that I only knew three words in Italian. He did not care that condensation had started to form under my armpit from walking up the hill or that my hairline was slick with sweat.
He pointed to his camera lens, which was sitting on his [...]

I always thought of running as a positive activity, something that induces a certain state of mind.
On my 6:30 a.m. jog,  I discovered that some  people in Urbino find it foolish to trot around town aimlessly at such an early hour.
Galloping up the hills of the town on the cobblestone streets, I found myself drastically [...]