doing nothing
So I've finally come to accept just how different this city is from the one that I'm coming from back in America. at first I had a problem comprehending the slowness of life here, from one's speed walking down the street to the time it takes to receive a letter from the post office. but I've finally adjusted accordingly. I feel like I'm even adjusting too much, perhaps, as all I did this weekend was vegetate, alternately watching Fashion TV, BBC News and MTV Italia, and eating Grancereale grain cookies smothered in homemade apricot jam and Nutella. Honestly, I think I would feel completely content and proud of myself if, by the end of my stay here in Italy, all I could say I'd done was sit in my family's home in the country and do nothing. However, this weekend I'll have to get back up to speed when I visit Tara in a true cosmopolitan city, Paris. a city that even apparently has almost as many Starbucks as New York. I want to say I won't go to Starbucks when I'm in Paris, but really, I can't make any promises, unless of course all bars in France serve their coffee in a bowl like at Le Gamin in the Village, because then I won't need to go to Starbucks... do they serve their coffee in a bowl? or is that just a crazy myth that developed because of the American population's need for inhumane amounts of caffeine, and the need for a justification of having such sizes at coffee shops as a "venti"?
Either way... I'm dealing with the slow pace of life here; I understand that Italians--in a spirit similar to that of Cyndi Lauper 20 years ago--just want to have fun. They just want to eat and drink and not care about their jobs or their government or anything else for that matter. Italians know that they've already created a veritable cultural crater in history, so why do anything else now? Of course, this is a problem for me, because well, I still have work to do while I'm here. sure, I'm already gaining weight from all this tasty food, and I'm already scoping out the discos in the area, but I guess I've also had to accept the fact that I'm "here on business", if you will. contrary to popular belief, classes here are not as easy as people make them out to be. or maybe because all of my classes are still related to my major, I feel pressured to do as well as I can. (of course, the paper I finished at 7:30 in the morning the other day, that was due an hour later, would say differently.) still, I really cannot complain.
in other news, plans for spring break have been almost finalized. I'm going with my roommate, a girl who was in Italian class Spring 2007, and her roommate. we make a nice little team, I'd say. plans at the moment consist of about three days each in Prague, Budapest and Vienna, and possibly a day trip to Bratislava, because let's be real--who goes to Bratislava?
Brittany also bought her ticket to come here, she'll be in Italy for ten days and I'm already far too excited about that. seeing one of your best friends in Europe is lucky enough; I don't know how I was so fortunate as to have three of them floating around the continent, among other people (though plans to visit Mamie in Malaga are still up in the air).
I also finished reading Eat Pray Love, which seems to be requisite reading for American girls in Italy, and it's worth the read, if you can stand her complaining. the passage worth reading is really her travels in India, which is the most interesting and made me wish I could find my own soothing spiritual side. I know I have a spiritual side in me somewhere, and I'm hoping being in a different country will coax it out of me. and if it should not decide to come out to play, I've always got great food and great clothes and Starbucks in Paris (now I'm looking forward to them) and great art. oh, and Lost. can't forget Lost, even while I'm here. suffice it to say that after this past week's episode my head EXPLODED in a way no thing in Europe, or the world for that matter, could ever make my head explode. I'll leave you with that.
Either way... I'm dealing with the slow pace of life here; I understand that Italians--in a spirit similar to that of Cyndi Lauper 20 years ago--just want to have fun. They just want to eat and drink and not care about their jobs or their government or anything else for that matter. Italians know that they've already created a veritable cultural crater in history, so why do anything else now? Of course, this is a problem for me, because well, I still have work to do while I'm here. sure, I'm already gaining weight from all this tasty food, and I'm already scoping out the discos in the area, but I guess I've also had to accept the fact that I'm "here on business", if you will. contrary to popular belief, classes here are not as easy as people make them out to be. or maybe because all of my classes are still related to my major, I feel pressured to do as well as I can. (of course, the paper I finished at 7:30 in the morning the other day, that was due an hour later, would say differently.) still, I really cannot complain.
in other news, plans for spring break have been almost finalized. I'm going with my roommate, a girl who was in Italian class Spring 2007, and her roommate. we make a nice little team, I'd say. plans at the moment consist of about three days each in Prague, Budapest and Vienna, and possibly a day trip to Bratislava, because let's be real--who goes to Bratislava?
Brittany also bought her ticket to come here, she'll be in Italy for ten days and I'm already far too excited about that. seeing one of your best friends in Europe is lucky enough; I don't know how I was so fortunate as to have three of them floating around the continent, among other people (though plans to visit Mamie in Malaga are still up in the air).
I also finished reading Eat Pray Love, which seems to be requisite reading for American girls in Italy, and it's worth the read, if you can stand her complaining. the passage worth reading is really her travels in India, which is the most interesting and made me wish I could find my own soothing spiritual side. I know I have a spiritual side in me somewhere, and I'm hoping being in a different country will coax it out of me. and if it should not decide to come out to play, I've always got great food and great clothes and Starbucks in Paris (now I'm looking forward to them) and great art. oh, and Lost. can't forget Lost, even while I'm here. suffice it to say that after this past week's episode my head EXPLODED in a way no thing in Europe, or the world for that matter, could ever make my head explode. I'll leave you with that.