9:00 AM, Italy Time
My nutella trick didn’t work. WTH. I still can’t believe that. I need to work on my booby trap skills.
So after getting back I fell “asleep.” I woke up at 6 in Naples, then at 7 we got to Termini station in Rome. I ate a muffin and proceeded to run to the Leonardo Express. It was way easier than arriving. At least my Italian can get me directions now.
Unknown time, probably around 11pm, Italy Time
On a boat/ship of hell
So begins my 37 hour journey home. I’m on a sleeper train with a sick Columbian grandma who won’t stop yelling in Spanish about how sick she is, her daughter, a gross women who is judging me for absolutely no reason, and a women I suspect is a prostitute.
Taormina is a city on a cliff. The ocean is on the bottom. It’s all fun and games going downhill. The sun is shining. The ocean is beautiful. The day is spent drinking wine on the beach and soaking up the vitamin D.
And then the sun sets.
You realize that what stands between you and your destination is a mile of stairs and infinity winged crocodiles. Yes. Winged Crocodiles. Let me tell you about the bugs here. They are GIANT. And mean. And they are plotting against you.
July 3, 2011, 7:30 PM Italy time
Spent entire day at the beach. I mean entire day. Felt so good. I think I am falling in love with Italy. I feel like I am learning how to not be…hmm, I’m not really sure actually. It’s sort of hard to explain. I have a routine here. I pray more. I enjoy things more. I think and observe without judgment. I sort of like it. I think I will miss Taormina.
July 2, 2011, 6:55 PM
The bedroom, after the most exhausting Saturday ever.
So last night Susan wanted to go out. Bad. “It’s a Friday, it’s a Friday.” All I wanted to do was get a glass of wine and go sit somewhere, but no: we were going to DÉJÀ VU. I told Germane and she agreed to come with us. I was so tired I couldn’t even talk to anyone. Not that I wanted to though. To be honest I’ve never felt less into trying to talk to guys. I’m not really sure why, but I have absolutely no interest in being all flirty. I’m really over it.
June 30, 2011, 7:04 PM, Italy time
My room, waiting to go to a dinner with the host fam at 9pm
THEY EAT WAY TOO LATE HERE. Good thing I ate like 2000 calories of gelado and cookies after work. I can’t wait until 5pm on Friday so I can relax!! I feel in full force here now and super ready for the weekend.
I have composed a short list of things I want to do when I get back to Norcal and Newport:
June 26, 2011, 5:51 PM Italy time
A table in the living room in Taormina, Italy
There are two gates in Taormina that mark the city boundaries: Door Messina and Door Catania. The city is a huge tourist town and it is easy to see who is here on vacation. I am convinced now that people who say they have been to Italy are slightly full of shit. These people who vacation here have not been to Italy; they have been to America in a different time zone. They wake up and speak English with each other and then talk to Italian workers in English and the Italians who work at these tourist places speak English back. They eat at restaurants meant for tourists and order pizza even when the pizza sucks there. They take the wire way to the beaches and pay too much for coffee. They think that all of the Italians are fashionable and marinara is tomato sauce.
SINCERELY, LIZ B 