Sometimes the most profound experiences occur during travel, before you even reach your destination. I’ve had several of these experiences throughout my travels around Europe.

One profound moment occurred during our flight home from Stockholm, Sweden. We had just spent five days exploring the city, so by the time we got on the plane I was exhausted. I fell asleep shortly after take off.

When I woke up, everything outside was dark and clouds pressed against the windows. I couldn’t even see the wing of the plane, just a few meters from my window. I had no idea where we were or what the time was. Our plane was suddenly buffeted by rough turbulence. Being an avid watcher of the TV show Lost, I began to get a little nervous. I kept my face pressed to the window, trying to squint through the clouds.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that I had absolutely no control over our situation, but our pilot did. He was the one we put our trust in as soon as we stepped on the plane.

Our plane finally broke through the clouds and the city of London lay glittering below us. The experience served as a great reminder: sometimes life gets bumpy and you have no control. The important thing to remember is to trust the Pilot and He will lead you to something beautiful.

Our class trip to Italy during the last two weeks of March was, in itself, a profound experience. We spent seven days traveling together as a group before we were released for five days of free travel.

We began our tour in the village of Assisi, located in the Umbrian region of Italy.  St. Francis began his order and did most of his work in the area around Assisi. We spent a good deal of time in class learning about St. Francis, so it was fascinating when we were able to visit many of the places where he lived and worked.

During our last day in Assisi several of us took a taxi up the mountain and hiked to the caves where St. Francis and his friends lived. While resting on some benches by a shrine we had a brief worship session, including a loud chorus of “Highways and Byways” and ending with “The Lord Bless You and Keep You.”

After Assisi we traveled to Rome, a definite switch from the peaceful environment of Assisi.  The crowded city provided us with narrow cobbled streets, fountains we could drink from, the occasional Ferrari and plenty of gelato. We visited the Vatican, tossed coins in the Trevi Fountain, climbed the Spanish Steps and ate more gelato.

We toured the Coliseum on a Sunday afternoon, so we decided to have a brief devotional. It began raining when we arrived, so the nearly 40 of us huddled under a doorway while listening to stories of Christians who were killed in arenas similar to the Coliseum. It was a solemn moment, but it was necessary for us to remember.

After we left Rome we spent two days in Florence, which is located in the beautiful region of Tuscany. Our visit there consisted of art museums where we say Michelangelo’s David, the Galileo museum, and a climb to the top of the Duomo, a church with a dome that provides a view of the entire city and countryside.

We were allowed to travel on our own after we left Florence. I traveled with a group of friends to Venice, and later Lake Como, two of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  We splurged and rode a gondola in Venice and took a bus from Como to Switzerland for a few hours – just so we could say we did.

I had another profound experience on the plane home from Italy.  We took off from Milan and flew over the Alps on our way back to London.  As I sat there gazing out the window at the snow-covered mountains, I realized I was listening to country music on my iPod.  There I was flying over one of the most beautiful and treacherous mountain ranges in the world.  The mountains were so high and almost uninhabited and blanketed in glittering, pure white snow.  And there I was listening to my favorite country song.

That particular experience proved that, even though I am going through all of these life-changing experiences, I still have my simple small-town-girl roots to fall back on.  The things I’ve seen and done in Europe are influencing who I am, but when it comes right down to it… I’m still me.