My photos so far...

To see my photos from Napoli, click here.
For photos from Genova, taken from about two blocks from where I live, click here.

One out of three Italian policemen would vote for John McCain

People who work in Italy have to have, among other things, a codice fiscale.  It's similar to a social security number.  Employers need to register it, but you also need it for lots of other things: setting up a bank account, setting up a telephone line, buying a house, etc.  

The school where we work needs a codice fiscale from each of us.  Now, you can go online and get a fake one, sort of.  It calculates what your CF will probably be, as there is a formula to put it together.  But to do official stuff, they need to see your CF ID card.  You probably remember from reading Kim's post that she's had some major internet difficulties.  Ultimately, she learned that she can buy a wireless key to plug into the USB drive and have wireless internet wherever there's a cell phone signal.  Great!  But, the store won't sell it to her without a CF card.  

Yesterday morning we got up early.  We took the bus to the center of town and found the Ufficio delle Entrata, where they issue the CFs.  It takes us a little while to find it b/c they're doing construction ON the building, but we get in.  Wrong ufficio.  There are 5 or 6 branches, and this one doesn't issue CFs.  

OK - so this nice gentleman who speaks decent English tells us about how he was in Washington, DC, and a random woman there spoke Italian and helped him find his way around.  (Thank you, random woman!)  So he was eager to return the favor to an American, especially two from DC.  He sends us over to the right office.  (Sure, we went the wrong way a couple of times, but I will say that at least one local sent us in the absolutely wrong direction.)

We're at the right office!  We use our dictionaries to fill out the paperwork.  We have our passports.  We wait for our number to be called.  They're very nice.  But ultimately we're told, "No, is impossible."  Drat.  There's a lot of red tape here, and we don't cut the mustard at this office.  They send us to the police station, where maybe they can issue us a temporary CF or something.

So we go.  The guards at the front start debating with us about Obama vs. McCain.  (Sidebar - most Italians like Obama.  They think he'll be a great diplomat and international communicator.  Only one person so far has disagreed: one of these cops.  But they all have a pleasant demeanor about the whole thing.)  A translator takes us into a back office where we explain our problem.  They say ok - first, you need to go downstairs to declare yourselves.  The best way is to go outside, around to the right . . . of course we get lost again.  

After finally finding the right room, they give us new paperwork so we can formally declare our presence to the Italian government.  To do so, we're supposed to - on our own, outside of the police station - make copies of every page in our passport, and bring them back with the other paperwork.  Then wait in line and .... seek their approval?

"What about our codice fiscales?"  

"What?  No, you can't get that here."

"We tried the ufficio delle entrata, and they told us that maybe here...."

"No, is impossible."

Yup.

When we came back to the school and explained to our boss that we couldn't get the CFs, she said, "Oh - well, some offices won't give them out without being sticklers, but other offices don't care.  You just have to try another office.  No big deal, though.  I can just take the one you got online."

Yup.

Knowing what I knew ahead of time, I was easily able to laugh at the situation.  Italy: country of the red tape.  Welcome Annie & Kim!

Love is still an international language

Happy Halloween!  Today I dressed up as . . . . a teacher.  Hah.  After my car rental success, I did a little Assisi research, then went into school to teach a couple of afternoon courses.  My first class was one thirteen-year-old girl and three nurses.  Yep - all three!  Great class.  The following class was just two people: a married couple.  Francesco and Anna have been married for 31 years, and you can tell.  Love aside, they like each other so much, but they also talk over each other, finish each other's sentences, cut each other off, etc.  From tone and body language, I could understand almost everything they said in Italian.  It was so nice to interact with them and be able to recognize the familiar communication style of a happily married couple.  *sigh*

So being a teacher is hard - duh.  The actual teaching part is pretty pleasant and not too challenging.  Of course, most of my students are adults who want to be there, so I'm lucky.  (The 4 and 7 year olds - not so easy!)  Anyway, the hardest and most time-consuming part for me is the prep work.  So kudos to all you teachers who spend so much time planning lessons, anticipating the unexpected, and making learning that much easier for the rest of us!

Off topic: there's a bilboard I see on my bus ride home every day from work.  It has an overweight man in a tight green suit with a B on it.  His name?  Captain Basilico.  That's right.  Captain Basil.  I don't know if it's an ad for basil, or some sort of comedic ad for something else, but it makes me smile every day.  Captain Basilico strikes again!

I'm connected!

Yes! I finally have the internet! After three and a half weeks, a lot of misunderstandings, many different computer stores, $180, and a lot of frustration - I'm back in business. Thank you to Max, the guy at the school where we work (for basically buying everything I needed and installing it on my computer), Julia, the girl at the computer store (for not throwing me out of the store since I was there four times), and Annie (for going with me to the store and listening to me complain). Time to skype it up people!

I rented a car!

That's right!  I rented my first car in Italy!  It ended up being much easier than I anticipated b/c I got lucky and found a Hertz just a bus ride away, plus I was able to make the arrangements online last night.  Score!  Driving back home was interesting.  I haven't driven a stick in a while, but it came back to me.  The directions, however, were not specifically followed to get back to my house.  I had to follow my questionable sense of direction, which actually came through for me today.  Found a parking spot and everything!  Parking is tight here.

Tip: When you rent a car, you need your driver's license, credit card, AND passport.  Good to know.

Other tips in general:

-If you buy a weekly/monthly/yearly bus pass in Genova, you only have to stamp it once, then just carry it with you on the bus.  Officials occasionally come through and make sure everyone has paid.  (Hasn't happened to me yet.)

-You get your codice fiscale at the ufficio (office) delle entrata.  Not all offices issue them, and some of them are sticklers, while others aren't.  Story to follow, including a police station visit. 

-When you go to McDonald's (not that we have, clearly), you have to pay for catsup.

-No stores give refunds.  If you have your receipt, you can make and exchange for something that costs the same as or more than your original purchase, but No refunds.  Ever.

-You'd better know where you're going if you take the bus in the rain, especially at night.  In the mornings, most of the buses have an electronic sign up front that says what the next stop is.  (Don't count on seeing the sign out the window - they're tiny and sometimes covered by trees.)  For some reason, they turn off these helpful electronic signs at night.  And if it's raining, all of the windows fog up, and you can't see where you are.  It gets a little risky for stop-missing.

-Fanta rocks.

More tips to come as we think of them.  It's been storming and pouring all week.  Not fun for taking the bus to work, but it makes the ocean look really wild and beautiful.  From the comfort of the shore, of course!

But back to the car rental.  It's purpose: Kim and I are driving to Assisi this weekend to see the town and visit with Barbara (who helped my family while here), her family, and Francesco and Vincenza, in whose house my family lived.  I'm so excited!  As foreign as everything has been lately (both figuratively and literally), I think it will be a comfort to return to a familiar place.  I probably won't remember my way around very well, but it's not a big city like Genova.  We'll just be there Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, but hopefully we'll get some good stuff in.

We'll be staying at a hotel up in Assisi with a great view.  Barbara was kind enough to phone Francesco and Vincenza to see if we can stay at their place (wow - would have been really awesome and surreal), but their daughter is living there at the moment.  Still, as nervous as I've been about renting the car and making our way there, I'm so pumped.  The hotel is booked, the car is here, the hard stuff is done!  Kim's sense of direction is much better than mine, so with two minds in one car, hopefully we'll get there in a decent amount of time.  

I'll take pictures!

I could never be in an Indiana Jones Movie

Kim spent the night last night to use the internet and get in some quality Annie time.  (You know you miss me.)  She opened the door to leave today, and in scurried a tiny lizard.  This guy has really jerky movements and does Not want to leave my apartment.  What do we do??  (Sidebar to Dad: I almost called you, but figured you'd tell me to suck it up and pick him up.  I Can't!)

So a ridiculous girly scene ensues.  We try to scare him towards the open door, but our actions cause him to venture in further.  (And don't think I'm not thinking about all of the other lizards out there who might saunter into said open door.)  Kim screams, and I jump on the couch.  He goes behind the snowboard.  Behind the TV.  Behind my closet.  This is unacceptable.  I move all furniture to the center of the room.  We find a tennis racket.  Progress.  

First we try scaring him by rattling the wall with the racket.  This pretty much makes him stay still and play opossum.  After some more rattling, yelling, and stomping, we get him halfway back toward the door, on the wall.  My triumphant moment: I use my novice backhand swing to swat him from the wall to the doorway and proceed to jump up and down.  Of course, he goes behind the door.  Again.

We are freaked out.  After a little more poking and prodding, he is in the doorway.  Kim and I are taking turns being brave (for sissy-girls), and it's her turn to swat.  So she gets him out the door, and we slam it shut.  Success!!!!!

This has zapped my energy, which returns immediately with alarm every time I feel a tickle on my toe, arm, chin, etc.  How do I know there aren't 3 more in here?  That will crawl in my mouth while I'm sleeping a la Parent Trap the remake?  EWW.

Hi, my name is Kim and I'm an internet junkie.

I apparently signed up for computer rehab and did not know it. I went cold turkey. Ouch. I have no internet connection (and by no internet connection I mean I have to walk 40 minutes to Annie's house to use the internet). Seriously, I had no idea how much time I spent on my computer and cell phone until I got here. For two weeks now, everything that could go wrong with communciation for me, has pretty much well, gone wrong. I've been complaining to Annie and Chris a lot (thank you both for not yelling at me) so I'd like to take my complaints global. I like to outline things. So, here we go:

1) Internet: In Napoli, my family had the internet but it was only upstairs and it was very difficult for us to get on. You see, to get to that room, we had to go through the kitchen. To pass the kitchen was almost impossible. We would get stopped just for passing. There's no passing go, there's no collecting $200. You're stuck talking or eating for awhile. So, anytime we tried to use the internet, well, it just didn't happen. When you did get to the room, sometimes the connection would fail. Plus, we were contstantly going somewhere which allowed little time for emailing. No problem I thought. Once I get to Genova and get settled, I'll be on the computer all the time. Right? I'll catch up then. Not so much.

The apartment I'm staying in has no internet connection. Of course not, that would be too simple. The family I'm working for who lives across the hall has wireless, but it is secured and so I cannot tap into it. Fine. I understand. Please give me the software so that it can securely recognize my computer. They give me the CD. For some stupid reason, my computer cannot translate Italian CDs into English. Therfore, my computer doesn't understand which folders to store the software in. Next possible solution: They have a wireless key here, which is basically a USB port that carries wireless. I had never heard of such a thing but it exists. However, when I went to the store, they only had the software for XP. Luckily for me, I just bought a new computer, which has Vista. Well, they don't have the software for Vista. To make it all more frustrating, whenever I'm in the computer store, I understand about 6% of what the computer person is telling the person I'm with. The person I'm with then says, ahhhh...okay. Then looks at me and says, let's go. So, I leave still frustrated and having very little understanding of what's going on. The person I'm with cannot translate computer jargon into English. We're all frustrated. All I know right now is that I still do not have the internet. I'm a total addict. I need a hit!

2) Telephone: As you may know by now, Italian phones are all prepaid. There's not a monthly plan for unlimited minutes, etc. We go and add Euros to our phone and we talk until it runs out. Then we add more money. Thankfully it does not cost for incoming calls. So, I sit around waiting for people to call me. Yeah, they don't. Since I don't have the internet, I've been using my phone way too much and spending too much money. The fun part is that I don't know when my phone is going to cut out so it just cuts out in the middle of a conversation. It's a fun game to play.

3) Mail: Annie and I tried to send our first postcards while we were in Napoli. When Nico asked how much the stamps were to send a postcard to the US, we were told 2 Euro and 40. That's ridiculous! For a postcard? No way. I had him ask again. We even pull out a postcard and show it to the woman. Si, 2.40. So, we buy a few very overpriced stamps. When I was in Holland, the stamps were .90 to send a postcard to the US. There's no way you people are getting postcards for 2.40 Euro a pop. Sorry people. It ain't happenin'. We get to Genova and are in a tobacco store (that's where they sell bus tickets, phone cards, etc) and overhear a very nice little old man buying a stamp. He's sending a letter to the US. Texas to be exact. The stamp is .82. For a letter! So, yeah, we got screwed over in Napoli. We both get several euros worth of stamps. Postcards are on the way people.

I really had no idea how much I used the internet and my cell. I guess when you really think about it, it's a bit ridiculous how dependent we've become. The people here don't understand why I feel it's such an emergency. No internet for two weeks? So what! So what is probably right but for now I feel very lost. What's going on with my friends, family, and in the US? I mean, there are questions I need to ask Google and they're getting backed up! I seriously have a list going. Surprisingly, until I find the solution, my heart still beats. Withdrawls and all.

Thanks for letting me complain.

Frustrated,
Kim

I Added Minutes!

This is a big deal.  In these parts, you buy a phone and some euros' worth of minutes.  I'm running low, and bought a card for 10 euro.  I've been trying to add them to my phone - you have to call in, work your way through an audio menu, and punch in the secret code after scratching off your card.  The menu lady is clear in her pronunciation, but hey.  It's in Italian.

So I just wanted to let y'all know that, without assistance, I called and added minutes to my phone!!  All by myself!  So at a time when learning the language seems impossible and so much is unknown, this feels like quite a feat.  

Patting myself on the back enough for all of you,

Annie

Anybody remember Skippy?

I used to fall down the stairs regularly.  This happened mostly after graduating from college, I should clarify.  This isn't a childhood coordination development thing, it's an adulthood clumsy broad thing.  

At our first apartment in the DC area, I fell down the full flight of stairs on my back, and Kurt took me to the emergency room.  Ouch.  (Go ahead - ask him why he had to leave me there, or how he reacted when I ate pavement in Disneyworld with his family - hah!)  My stair mishaps continued in my early twenties, apparently my formative years for coordination.  I soon earned the nickname Skippy, used among a few of my smart-ass friends.

You may be amused to learn that, although I'm practically 30 years old (October 15, 2009 - start shopping now), my balancing skills are still in the developmental phase.  Yesterday I took a dive on the bus, followed shortly after by some serious trippage in the clothing stores.  (Don't worry, Dad - didn't buy anything.)

Each time I use the restroom at home, I have to climb a winding staircase up to the second level of the apartment.  So of course I'm just waiting to bite the bullet there and do a little back-surfing down the uncarpeted stairs.  Stay tuned.  I'll let you know if I take any Italians down with me.

My living/work situation

Living situation: So, let me explain what's going on with my living situation. I live in the wealthiest part of town, a couple of blocks from the ocean. My apartment is on the top floor and I can see the ocean from my balconies (yes, there are more than one)! The family I'm working for have an apartment across the hall from mine. Their apartment is immaculate. There are the tapestries, large vases, paintings, piano, etc. It's gorgeous. I'm afraid I'll break something. My apartment is beautiful as well. There are three rooms: one is an office, one is my bedroom, and one is a living room. There is also a kitchen and a large bathroom. Btw, the bathrooms here have bidets but I haven't gone there yet. It's kinda weird and I don't know if I can do it. The ceilings are very, very high and there are cute chandeliers in every room. I'm definitely living in luxury. Unfortunately, I still don't have an internet connection. I didn't realize how addicted I was to the internet and my cell phone until I have been without it for a few weeks. I feel cutoff from the world. Hopefully, my internet problem will be fixed tomorrow.

Work situation: I'm finding my work situation a bit odd so far and I'm hoping to get more comfortable with it. I'm working for a family of four. The parents and their two children, who are 4 and 1. To take care of these four people, there are two full time employees. They cook, clean, and watch the children. The parents don't lift a finger. It's not even like the parents are gone to work all day either. Most days they're there at least half the day. Still, someone is there with them from 8 in the morning until 8 at night. So, I joined the crew last week. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what my role is. From what I understand, it is to speak English. I thought I was supposed to be teaching the children English but so far I've been helping the mother more than anyone. What I find to be most odd is our dinner situation. One of the "servants" cooks dinner, sets the table, and leaves. The children are fed before dinner (that way she doesn't have to feed them) and so it is me and the couple for dinner. Talk about weird. I'm like, don't you wanna spend some time alone? Apparently they don't. I feel like the third wheel. I'm being paid to be their friend. The food is good though and free. I feel a little awkward around the two girls who work for them. I'm sure they're wondering what I'm doing there too. I'm just someone else to cook for and clean up after. I try to help them as much as I can. I never would've thought that it would bother me so much to have hired help. I think what bothers me most though is the fact that these kids are being raised by someone other than their mother. She will sit in the other room while someone plays with her kids. I feel like they're aching for attention. I had only been there for two afternoons and was holding the youngest kid. I put her down and she starts crying and reaching for me. Likewise, the oldest said "don't go" when I was leaving the room. It's sad. I don't like it. There seems to be a lot of turnover in the house so I feel like these kids have people coming in out of their lives constantly. I don't know how long I'll be able to stay in this setting. Hopefully I can keep my big mouth shut too ;)

I'm at Annie's place right now, which is very cozy. She lives with three other people who are about our age. She lives in the "real Italy" as I call it. I much prefer it. There are no housekeepers or cooks. Everyone in the neigborhood seems friendly and we've already made friends with the waiter across the street, Luca (as mentioned in the previous blog). For lunch today, we are checking out her neighborhood pizzeria. We'll see if pizza in Genova can compare to the pizza in Napoli. Every city in Italy claims to have the best food in Italy. It's pretty funny. Tomorrow, we're going to meet with Frances who is the manager at the school where we'll be teaching English classes. My Italian classes start next week. I took a placement test and yeah, I'll be starting in the beginner class. K, time for pizza.

We didn't order any wine!

I came to check out Annie’s place today and to use her internet (I don’t have a connection yet which is beyond frustrating). Anyway, we decided to eat lunch at a ristorante directly across the street from her house. Oh my God is all I can say. This may be the best meal we’ve had yet. We sit down and our waiter rambles off today’s menu options. We politely sit there and pretend to understand everything. We then ask for gnocchi pesto. Absolutely the best gnocchi I’ve ever had in my life. As we’re waiting for our meals, our waiter brings over a small pitcher of red wine…..which we did not order. The wine is wonderful though, and I don’t usually like red wine. We talk to the waiter some and Annie tells him that she’s living across the street with a girl named Francesca. Two minutes later, there is another small pitcher of red wine coming our way and he says “for friends of Francesca.” The next thing we know, there is dessert on our table and of course, it’s yummy too. About 30 minutes later, the wine and dessert are mostly gone and we are about to ask for the check. Instead bringing us the check though, our waiter puts down two double shots of jagermeister. Annie is quick to say, “It’s not even 2!” Geez! I have to go to work in a couple of hours! Yet, we drink anyway. I mean, we can’t be rude. To sum it all up, we ordered pasta and water and now we’re stuffed and quite tipsy. Our entire bill came to 15 Euro, or $20.11. Time for a siesta. Viva Italia!

For your first night in Genova....

Smiling here.  Kim and I had our first full day in Genova today.  She got to know her au pair family and see the school where we'll work.  I got to sleep in, lounge, catch up on email, and get some groceries.  We hadn't seen each other all day, so we decided to meet in the middle and grab a drink.

Ok, we go into this bar which barely looks open.  The bartender says they're open for as long as we want, so we sit down for a glass of wine.  It's 3 euro a glass.  I put down a fiver for mine.  He takes it and says that'll cover our first round, since it's our first night here.

Kim asks for another glass, I say Basta (that's enough).  He gives me a little more, and her a full glass.  A little while later, both of our glasses are filled again, and we've become friends with everyone in the (mostly empty) bar.  So now our new bartender friend Nani (short for Fernando) is trying to make us shots, while Monica offers us cigarettes and Georgio saunters behind the bar as if he works there.  It was like Cheers!  We met around 9, and before we know it, it's midnight!  Since it's basically halfway between our two places, I'm guessing we might become regulars, even if just for coffee or snacks.  Heck, we already get free drinks there!  

We didn't drink much - Kim explained to them that she's the devil and I'm the angel of our duo (hah!), so we're both sober on our respective ways home.  And though we enjoyed Napoli, Genova feels much safer to me.

As I walked back to my new apartment, there were very few people on the street.  Apparently they party on Wednesdays and weekends, like college back home.  Every so often on the quiet walk home tonight, I crossed paths with someone.  At first I'd tense up, preparing for any situation, but each time it was a group of jocks, or some nice person walking their dog.  I rounded the corner on Via Sturla near a gas station, and it was eerily quiet.  Suddenly I heard dragging.  An old man was putting plastic chairs away from the outside section of his restaurant.  He was singing loudly, a comforting, romantic-sounding tune.  He was short, stocky, and bald with white hair on the sides and a round figure.  When I was directly across the street from him, I turned, smiled, and said, "Buona sera!"  He gave me a big smile back with, "Ciao!"  

I like it here.

Picture Time!

Ciao, friends!  I've finally uploaded pictures from our first week here!  These are from a farewell Happy Hour from AACN ladies and then our first week in Napoli.  You can view the picturese HERE.  Enjoy!

Teamwork

Annie and I have started sharing the job of speaking Italian. Together, we do quite well. For example, we were having trouble remembering directions, a very important thing since we're on our own and ask for directions quite frequently. To correct the situation, we decided that Annie would remember the word for left and I would remember the word for right. When it gets to the point that Annie needs to say right, she looks at me and I fill in the word. It's working quite well. Problem is, we won't be living together after tomorrow. Looks like I'll be going right a lot!

Just to make you jealous...

Today's menu:

Breakfast-coffee, yogurt, banana

Lunch-an entire margherita pizza and a glass of wine

Snack-the best freakin gelato ever

Dinner-course number 1 - pasta pomodoro and pasta pesto
course number 2- fresh mozarella, salami, bread
dessert-grapes

My Luggage Arrived!

Thank you to everyone for your concern for my luggage. We picked it up the evening after we arrived in Napoli. My things made it, but my bag did not. It was completely ripped to shreds. I guess that teaches me to not buy cheap things in Chinatown. I think I paid $50 for it. Well, I had to buy a suitcase to get my things to Genova. Of course my cousin, Nico, kept saying "no worries, no stress." With his attitude, I would have never gotten a new suitcase. I had to give in and buy an expensive (and pink) one while Annie and I were shopping on via roma. I definitely brought way too much with me.

Can't Sleep

Less than 2 hours ago I couldn’t keep my eyes open in the car on the way home from dinner.  Kim woke me up because I kept tipping over onto her, but I couldn’t help it.  Ex. Haus.  Ted.  So now it’s almost 1am here in Napoli, and I’m wide awake.  Let’s talk.

I’m going with the flow, ok?  Kim’s bags didn’t make the flight to Roma from Amsterdam, so we only had my bags and our carry-ons for the first 2 days here (if you count the day we arrived).  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we were barely able to get my bags on the train.  Wow.  Dad was right, this is too much stuff for me to carry.  Because I worry about getting it all to Genova on my own, Teresa kindly shipped a box of some of my heavy things to my new roommate Francesca at my new address.  Hopefully that will help my continued journey.  It’s still the same number of bags, though…..

 

I’ll back up.  Kim and I are in Napoli, staying at the apartment of her cousin Nico, short for Dominico.  (Holla, Dom!)  He lives just below his parents, Teresa and Dino.  Swell people, all around.  They are so much fun to talk to, and are really taking great care of us.  Nico basically handed over his apartment to us and is staying up at his folks’ while we’re here.  Va bene.  Unfortunately, they ran out of water the day we arrived.  In our travels around Napoli so far, we’ve seen the water men working on the problem, but they haven’t fixed our place up just yet.  So yes.  We smell.  Haven’t showered since Ohio!

 

So far we’re not freaking out.  We have Tons to learn and will be quite dependent on the English-speaking for a while, but we’re getting by with those who speak only Italian.  Kindness, patience, dictionaries, and hand gestures all contribute to our continued success.  Living out of a suitcase with family to take care of us, it feels like vacation right now instead of a move.  And I guess it is.  Things will be different next week when we move into our real places.  That’s when it’ll get weird.

 

There’s more to report from our first full day in Italia, Friday, October 10, 2008.  But that will have to wait for another post.  I can’t hog it all myself!  And tomorrow, Capri.  Buona notte.

Ciao Y'all!

I've repacked three times and my stuff just won't fit! Seriously, how do you pack for an indefinite amount of time? I'm down to nine pairs of shoes and three purses...and that's a lot of sacrificing for me! I've also put back most of my summer stuff and am planning on picking it up when I'm home for Christmas. Ohhhhh....did I mention we leave TOMORROW?!?!?! There's no way I'll sleep tonight. Eeekkkkk!!!

Arkansas has been great and I'm very glad that I came here for three weeks. I was hesitant at first, but it has been very relaxing. My accent took about two days to come back and man is it strong. I'm turning one syllable words into two like crazy! It was nice not being rushed like I usually am during the holidays. I realized that there are several things I miss about the south (besides friends and family). 1) The weather is awesome. It is still pretty warm here. My first few weeks the temp was still in the mid-80s, which was perfect for our camping trip. I'm really tired of winters. 2) People are so freakin' friendly here. I never thought people in DC were rude by any means but southerners really go out of their way for you. 3) The food. Man, my mom and sister can cook. Who knows how much weight I've gained while I was here. 4) There's lots of green stuff down here. I didn't realize how few trees and grass there are in DC. I mean, I love Dupont Circle, but that's about the extent of the greenery I'm used to. There are grass and trees everywhere here. I never realized it before...who knew? 5) Sonic...Oh, how I have missed Sonic! Vanilla Rootbeer! Yes, I realize that two out of the five things have to do with food ;)

Oh, did I mention we leave tomorrow?!?!?! I'm obviously very excited. I can't wait to see my family again (it's been 10 years). I can't wait to hear the beautiful language. I can't wait to see the Mediterranean. I can't wait to eat some pasta!

I leave tomorrow evening at 7pm from Memphis. If all things go well, and they will, Annie and I will meet up in Amsterdam 8 hours and 45 minutes later. From there we're on the same two hour flight to Roma! Holla! Now, from here forward it will be a bit tricky. You see, I have 115 pounds of luggage, plus my purse and laptop, which is at least another 15 pounds. Annie will have two bags (although not as large as mine), a guitar, laptop, and a purse. How in the world the two of us are going to manage all of these things should be quite entertaining...well, for you anyway. For us, it's going to be a back-breaking circus. Hopefully, there will be some sort of cart action allowed between the airport and the train station. We'll let you know what happens. Then we have to get all of this stuff up onto the train. Another tricky situation. Worst of all, we're going to have to fit all of this into a European car. I imagine the whole clown car scenario (but with luggage) and Annie and I pushing the car.

Despite my extreme excitement, I must admit I'm a little sad. I'm missing my DC friends like crazy and one person in particular. He would kill me if I said much more than that, so I won't.

Well, the next time you hear from me, it will be from across the pond! Ciao y'all!

P.S. I'm noticing a pattern here. It looks like I'll be your long-winded blogger. I can't help it. As my dad said I started talking the day after I was born and haven't stopped since!

Wine for breakfast?

Maybe not. I got to Ohio on Sunday afternoon, settled in with the family for dinner and red wine. Joyce proceeded to pour the rest of the not-so-empty bottle in my glass, so it was nice and full. Monday morning I woke up with the last finger of wine still in my glass, next to my bed. Hah. I sauntered out of my (read: Emily's) room while all of those regular suckers headed off to work and school. And as I sat, leisurely, contemplating what to fix myself for breakfast, there was a moment when that glass of wine seemed like an apt start to the next leg of my life.

But wait. Starting my day with alcohol? Inappropriate? Or is it the most appropriate thing ever?