Pack your bags and let’s start planning. As I promised in my last note, we are ready to travel. We are heading to Italy! As many of you know, we had to cancel our previous Italy trip due to COVID-19 but now, borders are open and we can once again, start planning to tour Rome, Florence, Siena and Montepulciano, Italy. Montepulciano is Kennesaw State University’s first permanent international education site, and it is located in a beautiful Renaissance town. It is known as the largest hill town in southern Tuscany, and we are happy to include this magnificent part of Italy to our travel trip. The trip will be led by Ken Hill, who is a KSU faculty member that lives in Montepulciano. He knows the ends and outs of Italy and will make sure that we do not miss any of the must-see areas of Italy but will also make sure that we see those special places only known to by the locals.

Plan to join us for one of the two Information Sessions about this trip. The first session is scheduled for Wednesday, September 29th at 10:00am and the second on Wednesday, November 17th at 5:00pm.. Ken Hill will be joining us remotely for the first information session and has promised to let us peak outside his windows and see the beautiful surroundings of the city. Italy is on the top of my bucket list and I am counting the days until we embark on this adventure. If you love to travel as I do, we have all been waiting to be able to plan an international trip like this again.

I am not stopping with this trip. I am already in the process of planning a second OLLI trip that we can all begin to enjoy together. One of the best things about traveling with OLLI is so many people travel alone, and this provides us with an opportunity to make new friends that share our same interests.

Mark your calendars for one of the information sessions and we will review the itinerary, cost, trip dates and all the details. I will also ask your input about what other destinations that you would like to see us offer. Reservations are not required for these information sessions.

Don’t forget to review the catalog for new classes and a return of your favorites. You may notice that the Personal classes and the OLLI classes are not divided in the catalog. We felt it was easier to combine the classes and allow everyone to participate. Feel free to register for any of the classes that you see here in the catalog. You may also view the classes on the website at cpe. kennesaw.edu. Each person that is 50 years of age or older is eligible for two scholarships per fiscal year. You will find the scholarship information on the website too.

I look forward to seeing you soon and I am always available for questions or suggestions.