At Civitella Ranieri, I had a lot of time alone with my thoughts, and that was unsettling at first because I am used to writing with what I now realize is the comfort of distractions. Everything that distracts me back home is part of a familiar routine. Conversely, when I sit down to write a poem, I do not know what to expect. All I am certain of is that I am eventually going to write myself into foreign territory that may make me uncomfortable. Writing in a foreign land has intensified this process. I have produced work that I would not have been able to produce without this experience, and I know I will return home a more courageous writer.