Mt Vesuvius
These past two weeks have been a tour of Italy that I never thought would or could take place.
On September 21st I embarked on unknown journey. I had a lot of questions to be answered.
With this journey over now, all of my questions have been answered. I feel as though I am lost within a movie and dream all at the same time. On Friday I took the train with about ten other classmates from JFRC. My ten classmates got off in Cinque Terre, which means five lands. However, I continued on to Genova to embark on my own adventure for the first time in Italy. I was on my way to meet the family that I will be living with for around 6 to 8 months from January until August.
I missed a call while on the train. I happened to be sleeping as the phone rang, additionally my phone was on silent as usual. The phone call was from Francesca checking to see where my train was and when I would arrive in Genova so that she could take me to where she lived in Acqui Terme. I was reluctant to call back because I only had communicated with her through email. Even though we only had communicated through email I was taking a five-hour train from Roma termini to Genova Piazza Principale and visiting her and her family for the entire weekend.
Getting back to the other reason why I was reluctant to call was because with our Italian cellphones from school we only get 15 euro on our sim card and each call outside of a poste mobile phone charges our phone. Anyways, I waited about an hour and she called once again, this occurred just as my friends stepped off the train and onto the platform at La Spezia to embark on a journey of their own. The conversation between Francesca and I was very quick and precise. When will you be arriving? Where should we meet? And that was all she wrote. The train continued on zipping though tunnels, around and through hills and over bridges and passing through years and years of history. As I got off the train, I tried to get my bearings straight. Thinking to myself, I tried to find the two of the words I know in Italian. Uscita – meaning exit and Piazza… which are the public squares that almost everything else in Italy revolves around. As I brought out my Italian cell phone to call Francesca, I started to get nervous and sweat a little bit. What would she look like, will she be nice, and does she speak English. I called her and told her I was in a Piazza “I forgot the name.” She replies in broken English ahhhhh I see you Steven, I see you. I looked around and finally found an Italian women speed walking towards me wearing nice sunglasses. I greeted her with a Ciao and a kiss on both cheeks, as it is customary in Italy. We waited a little while to exchange any other sort of conversation, both feeling nervous.
She said that Acqui and the Piedmont region in general is known for focaccia, pesto sauce, and of course my favorite Salami, SALAME in Italian. She is from Acqui Terme, and her husband is from Milano. Their two boys studied English in London this past year.
I engulfed three Paninos and we were on our way driving through Acqui to the countryside. I had googled mapped where their home was, and I soon recognized the stoplight (semaforo) from street view feature. We took a sharp right and where I thought we were going to stop to go to there house was just an apartment complex. Google maps had deceived me, we continued up the hill almost to the top, went through two gates and around a few bends and all of sudden I was sprung upon a complex of two yellow houses and one huge pink house. This was their home, and I was not expecting this at all. She said welcome to our home and with that we got out of the car, not before my door almost got taken off by a car passing by to work on the house. I walked into the entry way and there were three sets of eyes looking at me. One was a Russian woman who happened to be the maid/chef. The other two sets were two Italian boys, Giacomo and Niccolo. I introduced myself and they responded promptly in English; all three of us were shy at first. I decided to skip the boring stuff and ask if they wanted to play some Ping Pong. They both piped in with a smile and said yes and away we went.
The rest of the weekend continued to be a sports fest. American Football, Soccer CALCIO, Ping Pong, Basketball, Piano, Guitars, and I also introduced the boys to sport called Baseball. I will be going back to visit the end of October to see if the boys are crushin the cover off the ball by now.
During the week I have two Onsite classes and I ran to class at the Pantheon, also had class in the orange grove where the Maltese Knights have the keyhole garden to the Vatican and St. Peters. Also had class at three of the four major churches in Rome and learned about the mosaics that cover the back wall of every church.
This past weekend on the 27th I went to the Amalfi Coast and went to the island of Capri where the Blue Grotto is located. Also went to Sorrento, and Positano and did some cliff jumping – I made it off a 40 foot cliff – mom you would be proud! And also hung out on the beach all day.
Sunday was reserved for Pompeii and it happened to be free, as is true at all attractions in Italy on the last Sunday of every month. Pompeii has to be the most preserved place I have ever laid my eyes on, and you can almost imagine being there when it was a Roman and Greek town. Also the feeling of being next to an active volcano is a strange feeling as it may erupt at anytime.
I keep telling myself that my stay in Italy cannot keep getting better, but everyday it continues to improve and I am living on a lifetime high that keeps flying higher and higher.
Stay safe
And go meet someone new today you never know where that introduction could get you!
Steve O