The Salt Mine

 Way back in 1973, I signed up for the Summer Study in Italy course, which was offered through Trenton State College—now The College of New Jersey. (I really hate it when colleges change their names.) A colleague of mine suggested the tour because she went on it and loved every moment of it. I signed up, saved my money, and when June came I flew off to France with the tour group. The course included six weeks in Italy, but there was initially a week in Paris and at the end of the tour, a week in Munich. 

The photo above was taken on that last week in Germany when we went down into a salt mine. Everyone donned special protective clothing and boarded a small train. The salt mine was large and to me, it smelled salty. 😆 It was a fun way to end our time together. After eight weeks, we all knew each other quite well. 

I took two courses on that trip, an art history course and a watercolor course. The credits transferred toward the graduate degree I was pursuing at Jersey City State College—now the New Jersey City University. (Why did they have to change the name?) 

It was the first time I was away from home for such a long amount of time and I was homesick for a while—until my cousin wandered into town. He was touring Europe that summer, too, and his mother instructed him to visit me. He showed me the letter she wrote to him as proof.😂

I brought my guitar with me, but also discovered the residenza where we stayed in Florence had a piano in the basement. I bought a crochet hook when we landed in Paris. LOL! Some things about me never change. Obviously, I had homework but I enjoy being busy all the time. I wasn’t writing any books at the time though I wrote many, many letters home. The internet hadn’t been invented and phone calls were practically impossible. I still have all the letters. Those are a real treasure to me. 

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