Being my first lecture, it's an understatement when I say that I was a little nervous. After all, Distant Lands Bookstore in Pasadena had my presentation published in the Los Angeles Times and probably mentioned it on KPCC, the local NPR station, so I had every right to be a little nervous. But once I started talking, it didn't take long to find my rhythm and keep the 25 guests entertained for the duration of the slide show. I wrote a few notes beforehand and had a handful of stories I wanted to share, but I really got into things and talked for an hour! The helpful staff at Distant Lands didn't mind that I went over my allotted time by 30 minutes.

My discussion was centered around the Eastern European portion of my trip with tidbits on how my journey was a "pilgrimage". I talked mainly about Sarajevo, Romania, Dubrovnik and what is now Montenegro in the former Yugoslavia. Here is a bit of the transcript from my discussion regarding Sarajevo:

"One thing I learned, especially on the long train ride from Zagreb into Sarajevo, was that there are a lot of cemetaries. It's very sad to say but there are probably as many cemetaries in Sarajevo as there are Starbucks here in the US. It really meant a lot to me to be able to see this area of Europe, especially after September 11th" ... "It was very emotional to stand here and look over this beautiful city and to see so much damage because of the war. There is so many things that haven't been repaired yet."

I showed a total of 14 slides, talked for an hour, and answered questions for another 20 minutes. I walked away from the evening ready to do another presentation soon!