Well, Happy New Year!--it is now 2011 and I don't know what else to say about that. I thought that I would begin by wishing everyone a happy holiday and also would like to add hopes and well wishes that all of my family and friends are joyously looking forward for the year to come. Good thing Pandora shut the box, I like optimism.
I will quickly re-hash a bit about my life, I hope that this blog will become more of a regular habit because I know that many of you have expressed a desire to know where I have been and what I've been doing. I guess I can say that my classes finished in mid-December after which my friends--Italian and English (American, to be more specific)--embarked on their journeys homeward. I prepared for a trip to England during this time, and man was it a confidence building/crazy experience (the travel mostly). I left my house on December 20th at exactly 12:20 PM because I'm a nutcase and I like to be early for everything (thanks dad). I had two suitcases with me, one little and one rolling one that my host family graciously let me borrow--my suitcase weight limit was 10 kg and 15 kg respectively. So I felt like an ass riding the tram with my two clunky pieces of luggage, walked past the train station towards the bus station and bought a ticket for Treviso. Unfortunately the bus was one of those "push the button to stop" kind of deals and for some reason there is never a list of stops included on the bus wall or the ticket; it's almost as if you should know where you are going before you get on which defeats the purpose, I think. Asked a really sweet teenage girl for help, usually they are snarky but she seemed cool and was really very helpful in pointing out where I should get off. I arrived at the airport 3 hours early, could not check in for at least an hour and a half and proceeded to sit on my suitcase and listen to my iPod. I basically people watched and was happy to watch an Italian version of Bradley Cooper reading a dog-eared copy of Luigi Pirandello. Yeah it's slightly creepy, but what's a girl to do when she is sitting in a busy airport waiting for 2 hours? There were a multitude of French people around me whose flight was cancelled due to a snow storm in France and Germany--bummer for them. Bought a salami sandwich (delicious) which the stupid woman at the desk proceeded to heat up for me without asking--just because I'm foreign doesn't mean I want my beautiful panino ruined by a grill. More waiting in line, finally got through the gate. I believe I was the only one with an American passport which was great because it is always accompanied by a stare or two--we are really quite a novelty abroad.
Went to wait to board the plane and, what do you know? It was delayed by two hours which means that I missed my booked British train ride. Had to call Lucy, with whom I was staying but couldn't get my vodafone to function properly. Thank god I was surrounded by British people! So I asked this British couple if they could help me (as in, may I please use your phone, mine isn't functioning?)--the guy was cute, but looked a little like a villain from a Jane Austen novel and his partner was too old for him...but hell, they sure helped me and eventually I did get in touch with Lucy and figured out what would happen once I arrived in the snowy quagmire of Southern-Western Great Britain.
We finally got in line to get on the plane, but the Italian security decided to randomly pat down people on the way out and the Brits started flipping out and complaining about the extreme inefficiency of Italy, which made me a little annoyed because the airline was just doing what it was supposed to. And at this point I was tired and just wanted to start my vacation. We filed onto the Ryanair plane (so so small, very cramped) and I boarded firstish so I got a window seat and then I was praying that I didn't have to sit next to some fussy child or somebody who wanted to talk for the whole flight and as I hoped this with all of my heart Italian Bradley Cooper and his friend decided to sit next to me. Wooh, he was sweet and didn't bug me at all. For the most part the flight was good but after a few hours I wanted off.
We landed, I ran after my bag on the baggage belt wearing my leather boots and with my purple carryon bag because I was in the UK and I didn't care anymore. Things I've learned: Certain types of craziness are appreciated more in different places. My American disregard for what others think about me in public only really works in countries where I can laugh at myself. I don't feel as if I can laugh at how I trip in the piazza and almost break my ankle because people think I'm a madwoman. So GB, I was there, I was overjoyed, I was about 2 hours away from where I needed to get.
Honestly though, it felt amazing to speak English. When I entered the airport to go through customs the officer asked me about forty ridiculous questions and then tried to speak Italian to me (oh that British accent is unforgiving when trying to annunciate!) but I had to do a courtesy laugh and be nice otherwise he probably would have turned me away. Finally, I exchanged my cash euro for pounds, went to ask about a bus to the train station and apparently two Irish women behind me got a glimpse at my passport and my rosy cheeks and asked, would I happen to be travelin' to Dublin by any chance? No, unfortunately I was an American from Italy going to stay with British friends. Shame, they were nice. I was directed to a bus by a woman who told me that "I have been standing in the same place for six hours and would very much like a walk so I will show you where to go" and she left me with "have a safe trip love". I got on the bus and what do you know it did not go straight to the train station, it was another one of those push-button buses. And also the bus was packed with Irish people! Probably because their flights had been cancelled for the past two days as somebody was telling me. Poor people, they just wanted to get home for Christmas and were now betting all of their money on a ferry leaving out of Fishguard, Wales at 3 AM. I also met a grumpy older woman from Bath who was swearing on her phone because her flight had also been cancelled thanks to the snow. She then excused herself for her bad language and gave me advice on where to get off the bus ecc. And phew, I got off I asked a very friendly bespectacled train employee where to go and was told as I marveled at how beautiful and surreal the station really was. It looked like everything Americans think Britain should look like--of course it had beautiful wooden benches and wrought iron handles and the old platform signs. And luckiest of lucky things, when I went downstairs to walk to my platform there was a food stand that was selling food so I bought the most American/British junky food that I could get at the time--A bacon and tomato sandwich, a brownie and *cough* an acqua frizzante. Ran up the platform steps and devoured my food in the cold with my hobo gloves showing my fingers and my nose frozen--I really did feel like a ravenous homeless person alone on that train platform. And then there were two men sweeping snow off of the platform whom I asked about the train and they gave me advice to go to another platform with a train sans connections (ie I could go straight to where I wanted) and of course they added in a "love" at the end as well. If only I could count the number of people who called me love and sweetheart on that trip.
Arrived finally in Exeter and had a nice snowy journey back to Teignmouth thought it was quite confusing to be driving on the other side of the road. Confusing. Collapsed into bed after a pizza and a bit of chatter and of course after meeting Lucy and her sister Sarah as well as her parents. Nice people who literally let me bum around at their home for nine days. What a good time--we played a bit of Wii and were obsessed with this terrible video game called "Bully"--almost took over the school but it shut off in the middle of us playing and I cannot honestly tell you how shocked we were. I think my mouth was hanging open as if to say "we played this game for two days and now my life is gone". Oh well, we learned our lesson there. And so our vacation continued with a visit to Exeter and I finally got to see Harry Potter in English, was very happy with it and have renewed faith in the movies, perhaps I will even read the books again. Bought some chav-y shoes at Primark (why get them for 9 when you could get them for 2?) and went home. Can't really describe the amount of fun I had in England, we just did a bunch of random things together and it was nice and felt like home for a bit. I did get to pull Christmas crackers and eat Christmas pudding for the first time in my life. Good things.
And now I am back in Italy, slightly forlorn and at a lack for things to do with my spare time. I've mostly been sleeping and eating--reading "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, celebrated a humble but pleasant New Year's eve with my host mom and now it is New Year's Day and I haven't really done anything at all. Woke up at 1, had breakfast and am writing this blog. Tomorrow might be more productive, but it is hard to do things when you don't have really anything to do. As of right now I am content with reading and writing, I just hope that time passes quickly over the next week and a half. Have a nice holiday and I'll talk to you all soon I hope. I have a bit of free time so I hope to talk to many of you during the month of January. Just for the record: I'm Still Here.
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