You can take the girl out of Italy, but...

I've been home for two weeks now and was thinking it would be a good time for a bit of reflection. I've been adjusting surprisingly well, crying only once or twice, but most prominently while watching Under the Tuscan Sun with my mom and a glass of chianti, when the the Italian food montage made me so nostalgic I could do nothing else but wallow in the misery of my new world of frozen, preserved, microwaved "food".

Speaking of food adjustments, I almost had a breakdown the first time I went to a grocery store here. I was attempting to purchase that same sorts of things I would normally buy at my Italian market but was having the most difficult time simplifying American marketing strategies. Crisis # 1: Tuna. White. Pink. Albacore. Light. In water. In oil. Regular can. Easy open top. Bumble Bee. Chicken of the Sea. Ahhhhhhhh. Crisis # 2: Corn. In Italy, there's basically one kind of corn and it's called corn. Imagine that. Here, there's a million types of corn and the adjectives tacked on are overwhelming. In order to avoid a panic attack I just grabbed one: Crispy, sweet, summer corn. Mamma mia. You all know what a big role Italian food played in my year and leaving it was as difficult as leaving Bologna or Azzurra. Luckily I smuggled some of it in to the country and I'm also able to find a few exciting things in grocery stores here, like prosciutto and gelato!

I've called Italy (aka Azzurra and Federica) a couple times since arriving and they've had a hard time being in the apartment without us. Federica told me that Azzurra moved all the furniture around in our old room because she couldn't stand to see it in the same arrangement, but empty. Alessandro said he missed our voices. Luckily, almost everybody is out of the apartments and back down in Calabria with their families by now. Even though we had to uproot our lives and leave everything we had learned to love, they are the ones left with an empty room, just as my family was at the beginning of the year. I have got to stop doing this to people.

As for me, I'm just chillin', hanging out with my family for the next couple weeks until I fly down to San Diego to meet up with Shawn, Alessandro, and Francesco for our Italian/Californian road trip up the coast. I'm thrilled to reunite with everyone: Ian, Andrew, Gio, and Charlotte too! And to keep up with the Italian...

The language was one of my favorite things this year, in addition to the food. People ask me why I didn't find myself a hot Italian boy while I was over there, but I just wasn't interested in that, it's not why I went and I didn't want to put myself through the heartbreak at the end (I've seen it, it's nasty). Instead, I found two (much more satisfying!) lovers: Cuisine and Colloquialisms. And let me tell you, they've got it all: romance, pleasure, intrigue...and whenever I was with them, I felt like I was where I was supposed to be all along.

I can't put this year into words. I get blanket questions from people like, "So. How was Italy?" And I'm kind of at a loss. When my dental hygienist heard what I had done, she sighed, "ah, was that nice?" UM, YES, LADY! Nice doesn't even scratch the cocoa powder atop the tiramisu. But for any of you who have followed my blog, I think you can tell. This year totally rejuvenated me. It showed me all the possibilities, places, and potential I have in my life. It gave me self-confidence, perspective, and passion. It helped me to discover Who I Am and What I Want. Studying abroad was the best decision I ever made for myself.

I met so many life-long friends, traveled to places I never expected to go, and experienced other cultures that in turn taught me about my own. My three favorite trips were Holland, Greece, and Sicily. My favorite plate, I swear to you, is Federica's mother's eggplant parmesan. My favorite place in Bologna is the fresh market off of Piazza Maggiore. I can't wait to go back, to revisit the places and people that became so close to my heart, and to visit and meet new ones. I left a big chunk of my heart in Bologna, and little heartcrumbs all over Europe. I don't think it'll be too hard to find my way back!

I want to thank everyone who took the time to read my blog this year...knowing you all were at home rooting me on was such a big help when I was trying to get myself settled over there. I can't thank you enough for the support. It has been a pleasure writing about all my experiences abroad; I did this as much for myself as I did it for you! I'm going to miss it terribly. As a result, I'm thinking about writing a new blog next year, for my final year in college...it won't be quite as exciting, but hopefully it will motivate me to get out there and live something worth writing about!

"The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning." -Ivy Baker Priest

A dopo!

Festa di Partenza

Two nights before leaving Bologna, Charlotte and I threw a going away party for ourselves, to which we invited all the Americans that were left, and most importantly, all the Italians who had touched our lives over the past year. Fortunately, almost everyone we invited was able to come and see us off. Even Shawn was there because he was on a European vacation with his family to celebrate his brother's graduation! It was a very bittersweet night, me trying to enjoy myself, take everyone in, savor the moment while at the same time knowing that every time someone left the party, it would be ages before I'd ever see them again. Nonetheless, it was a very chill party and I think everyone really enjoyed having the opportunity to be together one last time!

Andrew and Charlotte, and their interpretation of

"pretend to like each other"

Julia and Kelly, Bella Italia Prom, 2008

Azzurra reached in at the last moment to make sure my dress wasn't misbehaving!

Me and the Patton brothers
Yes, that is Shawn's younger brother...

Once it had widdled down to an even more intimate group, we broke out dolci and prosecco, and Charlotte and I both gave speeches/toasts to everyone there. I cried through the whole thing but everyone was really patient and appreciated what I had to say. I was happy to have had the opportunity (to attempt) to express to them just how important they each had been to me and how special an impact they had had on my year in Italy.

Goodbye after goodbye left me broken into smaller and smaller pieces. Azzurra was really sweeet and she'd pull me into her room with her to cry for awhile. Whenever I couldn't find her or Federica that night, they were always hiding in the darkness of that room, crying, and smoking to help ease the stress of it all. By the end of it, we were all just emotionally exhausted and seriously ready for some sleep. But sleeping meant I would wake up to my final day in Bologna...

My Bologna has a first name...

All year I've been meaning to do a blog on BOLOGNA but have been amiss. Now that it's almost time to leave it, I've been running around like a crazy person trying to capture all the places/people/memories that are very special to me. Here's an ode to my most recent home away from home.

San Petronio, Piazza Maggiore

More Piazza Maggiore

Le due torre

Neptune at Christmas

Plenty Market

My street

My building

My campanello (doorbell)

My room in the winter

My room now, in the summer

My kitchen

Absolutely lovely portico in Piazza Cavour

Favorite place in Bologna: the fresh market
This is my daily produce vendor!

The villa I walk by every week on my way to tutoring, into which I would love to move all my things and call it home.

Me, 50 years from now

Claudia and Elena

All year I've been tutoring English for the Getici family, a wealthy Bolognese family that lives in the hills on Castiglione. There are two girls, Claudia, 10, and Elena, 6. Yesterday was my last day with them and I finally remembered to bring my camera! We've had a lot of fun throughout the year and we were all sad to have to say good-bye. Here's me and my girls:

Last stop: Puglia

After Calabria, Charlotte and I decided that since we were already all the way down south, we might as well make a pit-stop in Puglia before coming back up to Bologna. Puglia is the heel of the boot (while Calabria is the toe) and I had wanted to go all year. We went to Lecce, the capital, which really is quite far down there. Charlotte and I had both caught Azzurra's cold and the weather in Puglia was so hot that we really took it easy while there. The people were super friendly...we exchanged life stories with a number of Pugliese.

On the first night we went to one of the best restaurants I've ever been to, called Le Zie, translated The Aunts. They squeezed us in even though we didn't have reservations and the food was spectacular home-style cooking, with a homey atmosphere where the kitchen was open and the Aunts would cook some and mingle some. We were brought an appetizer sampler and then shared orecchiete con polpetine and eggplant parmesan (one of my favorite things ever). For dessert, we shared a chocolate soufflé and a ricotta cake which were to die for. Seriously, if you ever go to Lecce, this is where it's at. Here's us in the kitchen with one of le zie and her daughter:

During the day it's pretty dead in Lecce because it's hot and they have 5 hour long siestas. But in the night...it's a whole new scene! The streets are packed with people, street vendors, and musicians. There's also of course the rows of old people out for some fresh air and gossip:

In the morning, we got breakfast brought to the room-what service!

On our one full day we decided to take a day trip to Otranto (emphasis on the first O) which we had heard was cute with a lovely beach. We wandered around looking at churches and shops, imagined how we would privatize and redecorate the castle for ourselves, ate at a place called Peccati del Vino (The sins of wine), and sat out on the rocks with our feet in the water to escape the heat.





That night there was a dance performance called Dance Mania! in the main piazza, Sant'Oronzo, for a local dance troop. They were actually incredibly good and they had these hip hop guests as well, called Spunky Love, hehe! We spent at least 2 hours marveling at them and wishing we could join/have that much skill.

The next day our sickness really set in. We couldn't leave for Bologna until after 9pm because there was a train strike all day, and we had to check out of the hostel at 11, so we had far too many hours to spend wandering the city with colds in the killer heat. Basically we'd go see some monument, then find a cafe and sit there for at least 2 hours, then repeat. It worked quite well. Charlotte and I spent all that quality time reflecting on the year and talking about everything we're going to miss about Italy.

We went to the park for a few hours too to lay down on benches and saw this amazingly-dressed man:


Then-finally!-it was time for our train. The night train from Lecce up is quite ill-regarded but we had no other choice. Other than being crappy and hot, it wasn't all that bad because it wasn't over-packed, as usual. We got the conductor to take this one for us, since we spent a lot of time out the window for air:

Then some nice southern boys joined our cabin and, being nice southern boys, they pulled out wine to eat with their sandwiches and shared with us:


Thankfully, around 6 the next morning I arrived home in Bologna for the last time by train. I am so going to miss trains! They are beyond convenient.