Tuesday, August 14, 2012

cominciare il mio buon viaggio!

Last year I taught high school Spanish in Buena Vista, Virginia. This year, however, I will be adventuring and working hard to remind myself that I am only 23. Clearly I am not ready to dive into grown-up world quite yet. Is there such thing as a quarter life crisis? In 10 short days I will be moving to a suburb of Rome, Italy to work as an au pair for an Italian family there; but first, I will spend the final days of my official vacation with my childhood friend, Jess, and her brother Elliott and his family in Sicily (Motta to be exact). There will be plenty more to come on my job in the ancient capital, so a bit on Motta for now. Check out these digs!

 view from the back porch

front door


alley way on the way to the market (example of one of the many VERY narrow streets here!)


The terrain is much more arid than I would have expected, but I guess that makes sense since it is so close to Africa...go figure. No AC either, but living in my Lexington apartment this summer definitely prepared me for that. The streets here are all cobblestoned, windy, and narrow, which remind me a lot of Toledo in Spain. I would HATE drive a stick shift here. 

Although there were no personal TV's for my 9.5 hour flight from Chicago to Rome, I did meet a really interesting Italian man named Manuel on the plane. He got me even more excited about spending the next 3 months here and even helped me warm up my infant level Italian. I am so passionate about learning this language. It is so incredibly beautiful and fun to speak (well, try anyway). I was a pretty solid faker today as at least two Italian women asked me questions about the flight in their rapid fire mother tongue. "Si si." 

Not much to report today, just trying to stay awake mainly. Jess and I played with the baby, went down to the market to pick up veggies for dinner, sat out on their incredible porch (pictured) with a breathtaking view of surrounding rolling hills. Just had shrimp salad and feta spread on fresh homemade bread for dinner with the whole fam and now we're headed out to get gelato (my first of many) and to check out the big Medieval Festival that is going on here this week too. 

All in all, I am extremely thankful I got through today making my three connections (all flights were delayed), not getting lost, and receiving my bags on the other end. Going through Customs in Rome was a pretty comical experience as an American. I didn't even realize I had already gone through once it was over...I received no stamp or anything. Does this mean I can stay forever without a VISA? Just kiddingggg...or am I? ;) 

My fall adventure is finally here and I couldn't be more thrilled!

1 comment:

  1. So beaut Sare! I can't wait to follow your experience here. It's on my favorite bar at work! Yay! Miss ya cheek. Ciao

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