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| Bye Bye Pizza and The' Alla Pesca! |
Those were the first words out of my dad’s mouth as we drove towards the bus entrance in Naples, Italy. After pulling the Panda or as I lovingly like to refer to it as “the white box on wheels” to a stop, a man and woman came up to the window and started off by saying, “
Bellissima, posso…” My dad already knowing the deal with Naples and pickpockets rudely ushered them away with a “No!” but after spending 5 minutes in the car and receiving a couple of more attempts at conversation by what can only be described as sketchy vagabonds I rolled up the window and found myself telling my dad, “You know what I think I’ll take the knife” and fastening the fanny pack I vehemently refused to wear all the way on the 2 hour ride from Salerno. In retrospect, I realize taking the knife was pretty pointless after all let’s be serious if I was really accosted would I be able to open the pocket knife let alone use it when I can’t even peel an apple? And so I found myself on the Eurolines bus for 16 hours stopping at Rome, Florence, Sienna, Geneva, Venice, Marseilles and Provence. While it was a true test of will power to sit for 16 hours without a footrest, smushed against the sweetest little old Italian lady heading to Marseilles to visit her daughter, I actually liked it. I enjoyed seeing the cities of the North as I’ve only really visited Florence and Pisa, I mean granted I was in a bus and we did take the highway for the most part but I was able to see the sun flower fields the region of Tuscany is so well known for. I learned from the Italian woman I was sitting next to that sunflowers are called
girasoli because they
gira (turn) towards the
sole (sun). I also discovered that I was able to follow French conversations and actually mustered up the courage to ask the intimidating French bus driver who only spoke Spanish and French whether it was necessary to leave the bus for every break and he understood me! While traveling by bus isn’t per say glamorous despite the air conditioning which like wifi is also a commodity in Europe you can’t help but sweat profusely and just feel really gross, I now feel slightly more comfortable with my sense of street smarts. After all, I got off and on the right bus, I wasn’t robbed, I didn’t get left behind or forget my luggage…it’s a start right? By the end of the ride and after I connected with the next bus which took me to Montpellier I was exhausted, glistening and frustrated…to say that I hadn’t had second thoughts about coming to France for an entire semester would be a lie because when I frustratingly realized I couldn’t get by on my Italian it hit me…5 months! I couldn’t help but think that if I’d chosen the Rome program I would have had the opportunity to visit more of Italy and interact with Italians outside of Novi (the village my parents come from and where I’ve spent most of my summers) and I’d be within close proximity of my cousins who are studying fashion and languages as well as being able to visit my
Nonna Tella who I felt I didn’t see enough of in the 3 days I spent in Salerno. But I just had to pep talk myself through it…I’ve taken French for 8 years and while truthfully speaking when in middle school and most of high school I felt we learned the same thing…present tense and passé compose, I knew this was my chance. Plus being able to speak Italian has opened so many doors for me and given me a greater sense of culture and understanding of others. There’s a sense of pride and confidence that comes with knowing another language and being to relay your thoughts to someone who doesn’t speak what most people believe to be the only language, “English.” Also, whether I liked it or not I really didn’t have a choice in the matter anymore…so I had to make the best of it!
