Italy

Last night’s dinner was like no other meal I’ve had. It was Tara’s farewell dinner. Today she’s en route to Budapest and intends on spending the rest of August and September meandering through the European hinterland, at least until she runs out of money. To say goodbye, my three roommates (Malissa from Virginia Beach, Mallory and Jessica both of whom are from Texas), Dan from Illinois, Ariana from L.A., Christy from Michigan, Tara from Ireland and I went to a little restaurant down a narrow alley that, according to Mallory, “has amazing lasagna.”

We sat down and the evening started out just fine. Wine was passed around along with sesame seed bread and we ordered our meals. Sometime after our food came, Malissa mentioned to me that Christy also didn’t eat meat. I said to Christy, “Oh really? What’s you’re reason for not eating meat?” and she replied, looking in the opposite direction of me, “There’s too many reasons to talk about it.” I was just trying to make small talk but with a response like that I decided I didn’t care much to inquire further and replied, “OK.” And began slicing my pizza.

Later, somehow she got on the topic of Texas and she had nothing good to say about the state. According to Christy, the state is comprised of two things: cowboys and white trash. Jessica and Mallory heard this and Jessica asked, “Do you hate all Texans?” and Christy said most confidently, “Yes.” After Ariana made Christy aware of the Texans at the table, she still remained firm in her opinion that she hates Texas and all Texans. I was flabbergasted and turned to Jessica and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh!” I simply couldn’t believe someone would be so rude and ignorant. I was on the verge of asking how she felt about Kentuckians, only because I’m sure she would feel Kentucky is teeming with white trash. But being that is was Tara’s farewell dinner, I didn’t think it appropriate to provoke further tension.

Stemming from that conversation, the new topic was republicans vs. democrats. The table was mostly democrat, with the exception of Tara, who is Irish and Dan, a republican. Suddenly a political debate broke out. I stayed out of the debate as best I could and since I was in the exact middle of the table, I looked to one end and then to the other listening as both sides went back and forth with rebuttal after rebuttal. Although incredibly tense, it was entertaining.

This lead to thoughts on global warming. Big mistake. According to Dan, it wouldn’t be a problem to lose the polar bears; after all, “nobody misses the one at the top of the food chain.” Several of us attempted to argue how the extinction of one species is detrimental to an entire ecosystem but it was really no use. Dan is not one to back down from his argument, a characteristic of his that was made clear during our weekend trip. The topic was squashed soon thereafter as some expressed that global warming and politics are not good dinner topics.

By this point, I was finished attempting to be friendly to Christy. She had stated that she hated American students that come to Europe because they're loud and drink too much and embarass the United States. Everyone sitting at the table were students and except for one, all were from America. What audacity. She had put a premature end to another conversation I started with her and she had also insulted my friends from Texas so I really wanted nothing to do with her other than to give a well-deserved punch to the face. I was talking with Ariana about going to Israel and Christy asked if I was part of that ‘birthright thing.’ She asked me if I ever felt unsafe being in Israel and I told her that I never felt unsafe. I told her that it was really quite peaceful in most places and she was skeptical. So I told her that television really portrays Israel to be much worse than it actually is; it’s not bad everywhere. To this she huffed and puffed and said that she didn’t believe what I said and I tried to assure her that the violence is going on in the Gaza Strip and that we didn’t go there on our trip. It really bothered me that she asked for my opinion and then dismissed it as invalid. Don’t ask me what I think only to indicate that what I say is of no worth; she hadn’t even been to Israel before and I have. I never use the B-word because I really don’t like it but this girl was a bitch. Plain and simple. (Sorry family, especially you Mom!)

The following topic was one I need not explain except that it dealt with differing opinions between the only male at the table vs. the females (headed by Ariana, a very outspoken, forthright person) on the topic of a certain part of the male anatomy and whether or not it is considered an erogenous zone. In the end, it was made obvious Dan’s inexperience with women and I felt quite terrible for him because I know he must have been embarrassed.

Walking away from the restaurant, I was in step with Tara and the rest of the group was walking staggered either in front of us or behind. She said to me that she was amazed at the conversations that were had and I agreed, saying that I had never been to a dinner quite like that before. I have never been in such an awkward, tense gathering of what is supposed to be a fun night out. However, I laughed nearly as much as I was taken aback throughout the meal so all in all, it wasn’t a bad dinner. Just a bizarre one.

It was as if I was in some romantic movie. Golden hills of sunflowers. An occasional rustic villa surrounded by hay fields and vineyards. Medieval castles at the peak of forested mountains. It was picturesque in every scene I laid my eyes on.

Our driver, Fabio, met us at Roma Termini (the train station in Rome) and drove us out of the city and into the country, up narrow, twisting roads to our first destination Orvieto, where we viewed the Duomo (nearly every city has a Duomo, or domed church) and the church of St. Mary. We had only a short visit there and then we were off to Assisi – you may have heard of St. Francis of Assisi? On Bardstown road there is a church with that name and I think there may even be a school attached to it. The complex that the basilica was on was an enormous monastery. We saw monks walking around but to our dismay, never heard their chants. (I love to hear Gregorian chant.) The basement of the basilica held the tomb of St. Francis and above that was a small chapel (but small is a relative term; it was actually a very large church by American standards) and above that was the larger church. The whole church was decorated in frescoes displaying bible stories and portraits of saints, martyrs and prophets. Mallory was thrilled to be there because she has studied St. Francis extensively; it was dream come true for her!

Everyone was in good spirits during the trip and we giggled like little kids the entire car ride. I’m sure Fabio probably was growing annoyed with us because we couldn’t stop being silly.

The next morning we headed to Siena to view the Duomo, Bapistry and a few other places. We climbed up a very narrow staircase to view the entire city from the Facciatone or the big façade of the church. It was incredible. Dan was uncomfortable being so high up. So we went back down. Inside the Duomo, I was partially awe-struck by the degree to which I felt dwarfed by the monumental architecture; but I also partially felt disgusted at how ornate the church was. Although beautiful and breath-taking, I couldn’t help but think about how much everything must have cost and how that money could have been given to a better cause, such as feeding the hungry or clothing the poor. It made me angry to see where the priorities of the Catholic Church were.

We stopped by a few medieval towns to eat and shop for souvenirs. I found an Italian leather purse/backpack that I knew I wanted the moment I saw it. It was 36 euro but it was totally worth it! On the drive back to the train station to leave, I found myself with eyes wide open, even though I was very tired from our hurried trip. It was as if I wanted to remember everything. I wanted to absorb every hill, every house. I wanted to soak up every morsel of Tuscan and Umbrian life. It was some place I’ll make it back to someday, I’m sure.

We ended our trip with Fabio back in Rome, right where we had met him. There was only 40 minutes until the train departed for Siracusa so we needed to hurry to purchase tickets (something that should have been done the day before when we arrived). We stood in line for more than 20 minutes and by the time it was our turn to get tickets, the train was sold out. We could either buy tickets for the next train at 11:30 but we’d have to make a connection on the very toe of Italy (the layover would be 6 hours!) or we could stay in Rome overnight and get on the 11 am train but we’d have to stand…for 11 hours! We decided to take the layover route.

Our ride back eventually resulted in hysterical laughter, which covered up our desire to weep at our conditions. We started off the night in a very cramped cabin: the three of us, (for Erin took a separate train back to Naples, where she lives with her mother) plus a couple and their two small children. Each cabin has a total of 6 seats, three seats facing each other; having just 5 bodies in one cabin is uncomfortable enough. Seven is almost unbearable. We searched for another cabin and found one in the next car down. Dan was concerned that the cars could disconnect and go off in different directions. But we reassured him, what are the chances that our number 8 car would disconnect from the number 7, where we found an empty cabin? The decision was made and so we packed up and went to the number 7 car.

We straightened out all of the seats (which laid out like lazy boy chairs, though not nearly as comfortable) and made a bed of sorts in which the three of us could lay. It was gross and dirty but we were tired. So we attempted to sleep. The cabin window was down, which was nice at first because it was pretty stuffy. But soon, the air got really cold and we began to shiver. I pulled out a long scarf I bought in Siena and it was so long it covered me from head to toe and was just wide enough to cover me from arm to arm. Dan created a blanket of t-shirts to cover him and Mallory did the same. But it was not enough to keep us from being terribly cold. Meanwhile, since we were traveling through tunnels often, the noise was incredibly loud. And it was startling each time we went into a new tunnel so I couldn’t sleep. Mallory attempted to shut the window several times but it wouldn’t lock into place and kept falling back down – which also made a really startling noise when it fell. At one point, I got up too and tried to shut it with her with no luck. She took a look at me, with my long scarf-blanket and took a look at Dan with his shirt-blanket and we began to laugh at how ridiculous the situation was. NOTE: bring a pillow and blanket when you’re going to be on a train for 12 hours!

When we arrived in Villa San Giovanni train station to make our connection, we hopped off the number 7 car and looked behind us. All of the other cars (1-6) were missing. Gone. Left at some previous stop and on their way to some other destination. We looked at Dan and laughed. If we had gone any further, to any other train car, we would have waken up in some other city and then we would have needed to buy another ticket to get home and we would have spent another undetermined amount of hours getting to Siracusa. We got lucky.

Finally after a long layover spent in a coffee shop and a long train ride with strangers, we made it back to Siracusa. I was happy to ‘home.’

7:30 – awake due to the faithful start of hammering in the building next door (toss and turn for an hour and a half more)
8:30ish – get ready for the day and make breakfast (usually consisting of a nectarine, a boiled egg and piece of bread with spreadable cheese)
9:30 – head to the open-air market to buy more produce (only on a couple days a week) and to Conte’s small grocery
10:30 – go to school to check email, update pictures and/or blog
11:40-5:00 – history and archaeology classes (maybe eat a granola bar during one class)
5:10 – attempt to talk on skype
6:00 – I’m hungry! Head home to make dinner (spaghetti with green beans or broccoli, a piece of bread and a salad with oil and balsamic vinegar)
7-8:30 – in between talking with roommates, attempt to read or do homework, import photos to computer
9 or 10:00 – take a shower
10:30-11ish – write a blog entry
Midnite – go to sleep

This schedule is broken up by days filled with 8-hour field trips, afternoons swimming and lying on a sandy beach, nights out to local bars and time spent in Caffe Minerva, our favorite place to use free wifi. But this is why I told Andrew last week that I feel like I have a meaningless existence here. I don’t really do anything of importance.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I miss having a job, paying off student loans and going to awesome abs and water aerobics. All of those things help me to feel productive. It surprises me that I miss those things but I'll try to push that to the back of my mind and enjoy my time off because I know when I get back I'll be longing for the days when I didn't have to be so productive. In the meantime, I need to do some research for several projects due next week.

Hi. I thought of you today.
It was when I lost my grip of Monti Climiti (a big rock).
I screamed.
(It was a silly, girly yelp and I felt silly and girly)

And then I remembered that I have muscles!
Arm ones and leg ones (and a couple others).
Amazing, right?
I thought so.

I used them.
And they got me quite a distance upwards.
They could have gotten me further, I believe.
But I felt accomplished nonetheless.

Did I mention I’ve never pushed myself
in so many ways as I have this year?
It’s true.
I like to think that some of my motivation is you.
I never had a reason to do things
like climb mountains
crawl through caves
raft
or any other thing that requires strength
and induces a little fear.

I never had a reason or the interest.
(And perhaps I didn’t have the confidence.)
I was afraid of the two F’s:
Failing and Falling.
(Both of which are scary things.)
But I have discovered that they diminish as confidence grows.
I didn’t know that would happen.

I just thought you might like to know.

Well right away the plane ride to get here was better than to Israel. I had no problem getting past security and turbulence was rather minimal. There was no rushing to make a connection; instead I had plenty of time to explore the airports of Philadelphia and London. London was crazy busy with people moving in all directions.

It’s now the second night and as I listen to American hits of the 70s blasting from the jazz bar directly across the street from my bedroom (yes, it sounds like the Forrest Gump soundtrack), I sit in amazement that I am actually here. Men converse loudly with excitement sitting at the outdoor tables. Occasionally a few will walk beside our open window and make cat calls into the room at us and smile disgustingly. We’re on the first floor, which is good because we didn’t have to hoist lots of luggage up any stairs but bad because people can see me sitting on my bed and typing on the computer at this moment.

But as I said, I sit in amazement.

How awesome is it that I can go to the beach at anytime? Today for 3 euros a boat took us a short way across the sea to a small sandy beach (the beach that we can walk to isn’t a sandy beach but a rocky one, but you can still swim there though). The one we went to today was nice and the water was a somewhat clear green-blue. The view was spectacular, except for the view of the speedos, of course. No one should wear a white speedo, EVER.

This afternoon, we walked down the narrow streets of the town (we’re staying in Ortigia, which is connected by bridge to Siracusa) and marveled at the beautiful architecture of the apartment buildings. They all have balconies that usually have flower boxes hanging from them. The buildings are made of white stone and often have cracks or a thin layer of rock that has chipped or weathered away. And I think they’re just fascinating. But I tried not to look too much like a tourist and not take too many pictures of what the locals probably feel is a mundane subject for a photograph.

I also took a tour of the archaeological park in Siracusa and sat at a greek amphitheater and a short walk later, sat at a roman amphitheater as well. I'm fascinated at the thought that people had constructed them thousands of years ago and they are still there, however overgrown and run down they may be. it's mind-boggling. You can walk down the road and suddenly see some greek ruins, right beside a car dealership. it's just another world out here.