Mama Mia! That's an Italian Journey!

Hey guys! I'm back!

So I already know it is going to be hard to fit the essence of my trip to Italy into a blog post, but I'll try my best. If you didn't know, I decided to visit my friend, Isaac, in Bolonia (the Spanish spelling of the city) this past weekend. Prior to going there, I knew absolutely nothing about the city except that it was north of Rome. That was all.

I'm going to skip all descriptions of the traveling because it's A) not very interesting and B) a way to romanticize my trip. It's easy to list all the inconveniences, and say they just made my time in Italy better because I knew what something un-fun was like, so it had to have made me realize just how great Italy was. In reality, I would rather not have to deal with the traveling because it doesn't do any of the things we lie and say it does. Okay, enough bitterness for one post.

The Two Towers

I'm going to preface the actual descriptions of my trip with this: I'm beginning to realize places are just places. This isn't to say I dislike traveling and seeing and trying new things because I actually really like them. And I would go back to Italy (or Paris or Portugal) in a moment if I was given the opportunity. This trip, more than the others, made me realize the differences between the greatness of places and the greatness of people though. I was visiting a city more because my friend lives there rather than it was the city I super-duper wanted to go to. If it was simply for a city, Rome or Venice would've been my first choices. But in terms of how my weekend would've been, I think it would've been incredibly different, and I wouldn't have understood how people can make my life way more than seeing a beautiful city. (If you are reading this Isaac, don't think you're that cool. You aren't even The Man.)

Now we can get to the things we actual did over the weekend. For lunch on Friday we ate delicious (and cheap) Italian pizza.

An Ode to America

America, you can't have nice things because you ruin nice things.

 You  have destroyed the food of the Italians.

They call your coffee "dirty water"

and I'm inclined to agree.

Your pizza is not real pizza because how did you screw it up so much?

Olive Garden is a sham.

How could you, America?

Sorry, I got a little carried away. I have eaten probably the best food of my life this past weekend (That was the first thing I said when asked about my trip) so I'm a little annoyed at the American idea that a lot of food = good food. I've done some basic calculations (math major) and realized that is utterly ridiculous. I might go live in Italy just for the food.

Anyway, after our huge, delicious pizza (A full pizza for four euros? Yes, please) we toured some of the city center. Isaac was probably the least helpful tour guide. A small sample of his skills:

Me: Isaac, what is that castle thing?

Isaac: I don't know it's name, so it can't be that important.

Isaac: There was something going down, so they built this. Then something happened.

For the most part, it was a hilarious tour by someone who was incompetent in directions (Although it takes one to know one) and constantly had to call "his people" for things to do and places to eat. Which led to us getting sort of lost and just meandering through the city, which was fine by me. Because I didn't have any expectations of the trip, we didn't have a set schedule and it led to a pretty relaxing trip, unlike Paris where we wanted to see everything. It was a really nice change of pace. We headed to a market because "Women like those" (Always trying to get a rise out of me....I can't count the times I told Isaac I was going to punch him) and then went to a park. It had some pretty cool mythological statues which also led to hilarity. There was a carved mural nearby, where some of the figures had missing heads, and almost in reaction, some of the people had super surprised expressions. 

Part of the Tour de Isaac

After our tour of the city we headed back to Isaac's apartment, where I met some of his roommates. In Italy, students go back home for the weekend so I only really ended up talking to one of them for a long time. It was both interesting and tiring because he spoke in a mixture of Italian and English. I could understand a little of the Italian, but it was like having a really fuzzy radio and only being able to catch a few of the sentences. After the three of us talking, I felt like I had an extremely broken translator in my head. But it was worth it. Later, Lori (Lore, Lorrie....? How do you spell an Italian nickname?!?) left and Isaac and I "made dinner." Basically, we boiled water for pasta and heated up a sauce. Which was good, but didn't come close to our meal for lunch.  Because Isaac's apartment is sort of outside the city, we decided just to stay in and watch the only movie they had in the apartment. Which we proceeded to make fun of because the plot line left something to be desired. After, we stayed up and talked to catch up on the Life of Studying Abroad and a bunch of things we noticed and saw changing about ourselves because we decided to Leave America for a while. Then it was time for the sleeping because we were both tuckered out from our long day.

Cathedral

Saturday, we slept in and then went wandering around the city again.  We went wandering around for a while, trying to find a park which we eventually did. Huzzah! It was an extremely beautiful day out which made this an excellent decision. Our walk to the park left something to be desired and by the end I was pretty sure Isaac was trying to show me the most boring parts of Italy. He found this pretty funny because everyone apparently sees the prettiest parts. After the park, there was another call to "his people" to find a restaurant. His people really pulled through and told us about a really great place to eat.  We had to wait a little while for a table so, we headed out to one of the main streets that is closed to traffic on weekends.  We went to an amazing cathedral, which was so different from the bustle of the streets and Isaac's words on the church were it "settles a stillness in you."  Can more people talk like this please? 

We went back to the restaurant and the pasta we had was superb. I had um....tortellini with ricotta cheese and sage and butter (I think....) and after that we got chocolate and something-with-chocolate gelato. I never want to eat American food again. Then, because we had to work off the carbs (or something), we went on a mini-pilgrimage to the church of San Luca at the top of a giant hill. The entire way was covered, and there were a bunch of arches to go through to get to the top. Each was numbered so you knew how far you had gone. I almost died from a heart attack because stairs are against my principles. Realizing this, Isaac had more opportunities to tease me and say we had a lot farther to go then we actually did (There are 658 arches, not 2000, you liar!) The vies from the top was incredible because you could see the entire city and the church was gorgeous. It was super different from those in Spain because it wasn't a Gothic church and therefore looked more friendly. We had timed it so we could watch the sunset from on the hill and (attempt) to take pictures of it. My camera dislikes me, so my sunset photos didn't work. Le sigh.

After going back down (much better than up) we went looking for a supermarket to buy groceries for dinner. We only found little stores that sold fruit for a long time, and Isaac kept talking about if he had a supermarket he would call it the "Sell your Soul Supermarket" so that's the kind of store we looked for:

"That looks like a place you could sell your soul. Let's go there!"

Honestly.... After, we waited for a long time for a bus but they didn't like us. Isaac told me sometimes the people who drive buses will go on strike for something like eight hours just because they can. In the end, we started walking back and got a long, long way before we saw another bus. We ended up running to catch it, which is also against my principles. When we got back to the apartment, we ended up making pasta again: green olives, tomatoes, bacon and onions make a really good sauce.

We ended up just relaxing at the apartment for the rest of the night because I was real tired out from our pilgrimage to San Luca.

The next morning, I met one of Isaac's other roommates, Joe (Short for Giovanni, so I'm sure it is spelled differently. Oh well) who was incredibly nice. I had the same I-can-sort-of-understand-a-little-Italian experience, so Joe was able to speak in a mix of Italian and English. He made Isaac and me coffee, and Italian coffee is fantastic. (Why, America? Why?)

Isaac suggested we go to an Italian mass and, even though I understood next to nothing (Like I knew when they were saying the Our Father) it was an enlightening experience. And the church was, once again, beautiful. We had more Italian pizza (<3) for lunch and then it was time for me to go on my way. I'm going to skip the actual traveling part again (Because who actually cares? I lived it and I don't...). I was super tired when I got back, so I took a shower and went straight to bed. Which was a mistake.

A 3:41 AM Conversation

[Ringing phone. Instead of answering, girl assumes it's her alarm and presses the 'END CALL' button. Realizing her mistake,she tries to listen to the message that was left but the instructions are too fast in Spanish and it is too late for her to understand. She decides to figure it out tomorrow. The phone rings again. This time she answers.]

GIRL: [in sleepy voice] Hullo?

WOMAN'S VOICE: Emily? Is that you?

G: [still in sleepy voice] Yeah. Whuddo....What's happening Mom? It's 4 in the morning...

WV: I just wanted to make sure you got back alright. You didn't email me back or message me...I was worried! You didn't give me the right phone number. It has a 5-8 at the end.

G: [Confused, unintelligible grumbling for a few seconds] M'kay. I just was tired and went to bed when I got back. I messaged Claire. [In expressionless, sleepy voice] I'm mad at you.

WV: What? Why?

G: [Sleepily, slightly confused] You woke...me...up... I'm mad at you.

WV: [laughs] Okay. Love you.

G: [Gives up having any energy for the conversation] Love you too. I'm mad at you. Goodnight.

[Girl promptly falls back asleep, unsure who she might be mad at or why. The confusion goes away as she drifts off.]

Life lesson #54: Always tell your Mams when you get back in the country.

On a related note: I will be seeing said Mams and my little hermanita this coming Thursday! I'm SOOOO EXCITED. There. Are. No. Words.

I may not update next weekend due this and more traveling; I'm not sure if I'll bring my computer. We shall see. So don't be super surprised if nothing is up next weekend.

Adios until next time!