So the day after my last entry i got a call, an amazing call, a call that made me scream so loud with excitement that my sister was furiously surprised. I got a call from MariaGrazia, my Intercultura support person, asking me if I would want to go to Roma with the host family of my friend Charlotte, from New Zealand! I don't know if i wrote about this in my last post, but on the 11th of April my host grandmother had a pretty bad fall and came to stay with us. she has been staying in my room since then, and I've been bunking with Francesca, my little sister:) It was pretty difficult at first, because everyone in the house was so nervous and stressed out, and for the first week I felt like i was without a space of my own... without my room, my closet, etc. But now it's much better and I'm settled in (in fact, sharing a room with Francesca has made us so much closer! so in a sense I'm grateful!). Ok.. so how all this relates to Rome... so my family was going to go to Rome the last weekend of April, but after the accident with my grandmother, we couldn't make the trip. which was sad. but then, I got a call! and I went to Rome. and oh my god.
Roma Roma Roma... I could probably write about a 20 page book about how much i love Rome. honestly it's the most beautiful city I've seen in Italy so far... or at least it ties with Firenze. my two favorites. However, Roma is so full of green. for being such a busy full city, there are a surprising amount of trees, flowers, grassy open spaces, and other natural things! Here in Trani, there is not really that much green. not to say there isn't any, because of course, there is green. but roma... my goodness. and on a sunny day, when the temperature is warm, there is a gentle breeze, the piercingly blue sky is splotted with puffs of white,the sound of about 20 languages is fluttering at ear's reach, and your sandaled feet stroll mindlessly along the cobblestone streets, rome is better than a dream.
Ok so as you probably know from my previous posts, if you've been following along in my adventure, I'm a terrible tourist. in the sense that when i see a famous place, and have to retell about it, i usually say something like, "there were these really pretty red oriental poppies growing out from the cracks" or something. not because i'm stupid, because i'm not, but because those tiny little beauties stick with me more than the dates of some battle, or some emperor who lived in a big house. and so, yes i know, the fact that I went to rome and didn't learn much about rome might be considered a bit pathetic. but here's what i know and the touristy things i did for those of you who like to read that kind of stuff:)
Allora... so we arrived, (having driven 4 hours in the car... Me, Charlotte, her host parents Silvana and Giani, her host brother Andrea, and their little terrier dog Laky) around the hour of 2 or something. and we got settled into our cute little bed and breakfast, on the 8th floor of this gorgeous roman building, old, and with an elevator that doesn't leave much to the imagination! and then we set off, having raded the B&B's pantry of whole wheat bread and jam, to walk around the city. of course, there was a gelateria down below, (thank you Italia, by the way, for having a gelateria on EVERY single block!!! makes dieting simply impossible) and so we had a gelato. i tried pear! suprisingly delightful! ok, so we went on this long walk and crossed the river of Roma, i'm thinking its called Tiber River... then again, im not sure, considering i am terrible with names! ok, then we saw some famous buildings in the political district of Rome, and then a Piazza who's name I don't remember, but who I studied in Latin class at SLOHS! there is a fountain in the center, and i think my latin teacher told us a story about how he and his wife met/went out for the first time/had a date there at some point, i can't remember. but it felt cool to stand in a place where someone I know had stood! so then we went to this amazing little restaurant where i ate an immensely delish salad with arugula, fresh tomatoes, huge pieces of Buffalo mozzerella, and some amazing rich balsamic. we all had glasses of beer and shared some bruschetta. yum. but oh how much i miss my family in California's cooking... the fresh, light, veggie/flavour-filled, small portioned meals!
ok, so then we went and saw forum romanum (which i studied in my latin class too!), colosseum, panteon, arch of Titus, fontana di Trevi, and many other things. one monument whose name i cannot remember, but some people know it as the 'Wedding Cake'. if you have no idea what im saying, sorry. ok, then that night, we went out for SUSHI! the first sushi of italy... and here is what i have to say: italy isn't famous for it's sushi for a reason. I left feeling homesick, hungry and 20 euros poorer! but oh well, it was an experience. So the next day we went to the Vatican! after waiting in line for ages we entered, and it was so beautiful. probably the most beautiful church i've ever seen. so immense and filled with art, colours, details. it's crazy that it was made by people before the times of power tools, machinery as we know it, before computers. the capacity of humanity unaided by modern technologies is shown clear as a bell in the Vatican, it is truly a magical feat. speaking of feet... we walked more than 500 steps to the top of the vatican to see a panorama of rome. so amazing, in fact i did it barefoot! my feet were blistered so i removed my shoes during the stair part. don't worry, i wasn't barefoot in the church! but the concept of being up so high, standing above one of europe's most gorgeous churches, seeing all of rome, proved to be even more spectacular than i could ever have imagined. ok, so then we ate lunch at this tiny sweet restaurant caffe and went home to our b and b. Charlotte and I went out together, met up with my second cousin and had caffe macchiato's in another famous Piazza whose name i cant remember. but there was a huge fountain and about a million vespas zooming around! and my cousin, Denver, told us to go to the Spanish Steps. The spanish steps are some (or should i say tons) of marble steps going up up up, covered with geraniums, bouganvilia, and other flowers, and of course a million tourists. I bought a piece of cheese and we sat in the sun enjoying life.
OK im on the last day of our trip! we woke up pretty early, took the metro into the center, and went to a huge mercato di Roma! where i had an amazing experience with an OM bowl. for those of you who don't know, om bowls are like singing bowls, and when you play them, huge vibrations and sounds that penetrate deep into your body, into your soul. so we are walking through the market, and i see this booth with all the things i love: tapestries, om signs, prayer beads, om bowls, little buddha statues, statues of ganesh, but most of all in that moment, i was drawn to the om bowls. there were so many! and so i imedialtey picked one up and started playing it. it was so big and so the vibrations were really strong. i guess that in Italy not many people know how to play om bowls, and so the guy who was working at the booth seemed happy and suprised! he brought out another om bowl from the back that was much bigger and began to seranade me. oh my god. i just closed my eyes as he moved the singing bowl from the crown of my head to the front of my face to myear to my stomach and back to the crown of my head. the vibrations of the sound waves were so intense. it literally left me trembling it was so intense. but so beautiful. it was like a ten second sum up of all my sensations in this experience abroad. so intense, and yet leaving me so trembling, so effected, easliy taken over by a greater power, a greater energy that fills our lives... some type of universal energy i cant describe. but this experience, here in italy, concentrates the energy. increases the flow of this feeling, this sensation of unitedness... all the crazy air molecules vibrating insanely together, fluctuating and pulsing with a vital rhythm. Ok, and although I probably sound crazy and i'm not making any sense, this moment i spent with that om bowl essentially re-directed all this universal energy at me. re-awakened my drive, my courage, my focus.
alrighty i'm done with retelling rome! please excuse my english, i know it has gotten rather horrible! but now on to my life here in TRANI! the city that will always come into my mind first when i think about italy, the city where my family lives! where i have friends, two sisters, a whole crew of adults i see as parental figures for me, and five cats. where i have a beautiful life.
and oh what a beautiful life it is! It's storming right now, quite the fluke, but it has been so lovely! i went to the beach many times, and my family went out on the boat on Saturday! we slept under the strong italian sun, went swimming in the salty adriatic, and ate cucumbers and focaccia:) quite a beautiful day. probably the amazing family helped make it such a beautiful day... oh what an amazing family i have here. they are such loving, remarkable people! it feels like i have two houses now. one in California, and one in Trani.
but all beautiful lives have their difficulties, part of what makes them so aweing. and my difficulties here in this beautiful life are summed up in one word that pops directly and easily into my mind. mentality. the mentality here is so different. i dont want to say it's bad, because it's just a little bit strange. perhaps only for me because im foreign, but for me, the mentality here has been a difficulty. the feeling that you are being judged for almost all you do. the feeling that everyone is always talking about everything, there are always rumors, there is always gossip. of course, you may be saying something like, 'there's gossip everywhere!' and yes it's true. but perhaps its stronger in southern italy, at least it seems it to me. and everyone here is extremely over-concerned with their reputation. they always think about their reputation before they do anything. ok, i shouldn't steriotype all southern italians by saying 'they', so i mean, in general, 'most' souther italians. but its okay. just takes some getting used too. and i think i'm getting used to it. I actually doubted my outfit yesterday before school and changed because it was too low cut. and if you know me at all, you will think, 'Tess changed her outfit to be more appropriate for school???? WHAT???' and i reply, yes, yes, yes. perhaps i'm more italian than i ever thought possible:)
and i'm speaking! pretty well! not fluent at all. but i'm working on it. it seems when i study, my speaking energy gets worse! who knows why:) but i've been studying alot because i'm going to take the certification exam in Bari at the end of June. im thinking of doing level B1 or A2(which is a little easier) i have to pay, alot, and if i dont pass the exam i choose to take, i dont get any type of certification or anything! so i'm thinking it may be better to go the safe route and do the easy one. but then again i think i can do B1! and this experience here sure isn't taking the safe route in life, and so maybe the exam should be a little stressful and scary also, because if i can do it, which i think i can, it will be even so much more rewarding.
I have to say that I LOVE my afs local chapter. they are all so amazing. we had a lovely party in the country last sunday, filled with marvelous food, music, singing, dancing, and good company. we are all one big family! its like a mini globe... all united, all international, all friends. AFS intercultura truly is like a huge global family. a family that I have become a daughter of:)
and i love my families.
