Ya Lubnan...

I recently spent 17 days in Lebanon.. my first ever trip there. Where to even begin to begin? It was (and is), as I explained to everyone who asked, a very complicated and fascinating time to be there.
I thought, until the second-to-last day of my trip, that I was, indeed, the only tourist in all of Lebanon. Then I was introduced to a fellow American (a very nice guy who I ended up taking a trip to Byblos with on my last day in the country) who was even more of a tourist than I (he had no family connection to Beirut, but had just stopped by for a month to check it out).
Needless to say, what with the war last summer and continuing political instability, tourism in Lebanon is at a standstill. However, my friends and family welcomed me heartily, and I truly enjoyed being with them. It took me a while to get used to Beirut, but now, writing this from Turkey, I miss it. It's funny that, upon arrival, somewhere in the back of my mind was the desire to "connect" to this country I had grown up hearing about. In short, I was at first surprised to feel a lack of connection, to feel, basically, lost in such a complicated place that I really, despite having studied it in school and on my own, didn't know at all. In truth, these outcast feelings make perfect sense - it's really the cliché of all third-generation immigrants returning to the family "homeland." No matter how much I try to understand, to relate from a first-hand point of view, I didn't grow up in Lebanon, and I didn't grow up in Italy; I'm American. I can't pretend to know the collective history of any place I have not lived in, a history I have not personally experienced. So now, of course, I feel that there is so much to do to make up for this lack - so much to observe, to learn first-person, so much to read, to write, to listen to. I'm inspired, basically, to continue with this learning.
I have posted many of my photos from my stay in Beirut in an album on my Facebook profile, which, unfortunately, you can only access if you have a Facebook account. Photos to come on here, but Facebook was a faster and more universal option for now.. Check 'em out if you can - there are some really interesting ones, I think.

More to come..