Oh hello again, Italia

So I'm sitting here on the same old couch that I sat on the night before I said said goodbye to my study abroad experience, officially making it a beloved memory. I woke up (late) this morning having to remind myself where I was, and feeling Massimo beside me gave me that feeling of contentedness that has been absent over the last five months. Feeling groggy and jet lagged, the illusion keeps coming to me that I never even left here, that it's just another weekend that I'm back to visit Massimo's house from Florence. It is in moments like this that solidifies the realization that I'm living parallel lives in both places; pieces of my heart remain in both places even when I'm not present. I've grown so accustomed to the Italian life that it felt so incredibley natural to me from the second that I began to hear them surrounding me in the airplane, see the usual landscape, the completely different sense of fashion and mannerisms. These things are no longer a part of "culture shock," and I no longer see them in a different light; they have become a part of who I am. Immediately I'm able to switch from one lifestyle to the other, and like a chameleon I adjust myself to my surroundings in a matter of seconds. Then I think about my return to America, and how much has happened since I returned from studying abroad. The semester was so crazy packed with school that I barley had any time to think or realize that I had made such a drastic change so quickly, and time passed before my eyes and it was already time to come back. While I had an amazing semester with my friends back at home, I found myself having problems fitting back into my own culture, throwing my habits completely off track. I had returned to the home that I had grown up in and all the typical parts of my environment that had defined my life since I was born, and now it's as if that definition has been completely rewritten. Not being able to connect with what I was once used to really threw me in a funk, and I realized that my heart was truly split into two. The life I lived here became such a big part of me, and the experiences that I had have eternalized within myself. This is the biggest difficulty with allowing yourself to become completely enveloped in another culture or way of life; it comes along with the greatest pain upon separation, however you teach yourself how to put the two identities together in order to form one that intertwines your favorite aspects of both. I know it's going to be an insane experience returning to Florence and seeing everything that I saw everyday, and the people that I love so dearly; I know that it is going to be a shock to walk down the old streets, to see the door of our old apartment, to return to the places that defined my experience there....but I know that this is another adventure, and I am so grateful to be able to return to the home that encompasses my heart. I've changed the name of my blog, because while I know that I am no longer studying abroad, I am certain that I will always be a wanderlust. My travels and forever growing captivation of this vast world will never cease to exist, and my writing will continue on.....

In Southern Italian Paradise Part One: Calabria

In the end of June, I got to take the most unexpected and beautiful trip of my summer. For months, my friends Armido and Salvo had been talking to us about going down to their homes in the South the spend time together at the beach and in the sun. The truth is, I had no idea if I was going to be able to go, due to the fact that I had an exam at the University of Florence in the middle of June and I was expecting my Mom to come and visit me sometime after that. I really didn't believe that I was going to get the chance to go. After I finished my exam, all the other Americans had mostly already gone home and I found myself alone, unsure if my Mom was going to come out or not. Massimo was also in the middle of exams which made it impossible for me to go up to Veneto to spend time with him, seen that he really couldn't do anything but study. Therefore, after talking to my Mom about the situation she basically just told me to get out of there and to go be with my friends in the South. It all happened so suddenly and unexpectedly, but I bought my train ticket just two nights before going and packed my bags anxiously to take this last minute vacation with my closest friends. Even when I went down to Calabria to Armido's beach home, I still wasn't sure if I was going to get to go to Sicily since I was unsure if I wanted to retake my exam in the beginning of July or not. At the end, once again after talking to my parents I was encouraged by everyone to just take advantage of the wonderful opportunity that I was given to share this special time with my friends and to give myself an unforgettable experience that really doesn't come every day. We were all so ecstatic that I was going to get to spend the entire vacation with them, for we all really didn't expect it all the way up until the last minute. But you know...that's just exactly how my life works! I've learned to teach myself to have plenty of patience, for in the end everything always ends up working out just fine...even if the process is like having to hang off of a cliff with one foot while the other is trying to keep you planted on the solid ground. Despite how stressful that may be, I've truly come to appreciate my peculiar way of life and accept it for what it is..because up to now, it's really only brought me some amazing once in a lifetime moments. Now who can complain about that?

So the day came, and I made the trek alone down to Southern Italy from Florence, since my friends had left the day before. The only reason I had to stay behind was to meet with my professor the next morning, and I was able to leave directly afterwards. Luckily I got to take the fast train which had internet, so even if it was a three hour ride I was able to watch a movie to pass the time! I arrived in Salerno, which is in Campania, another region near Calabria. I took a slow train from there to arrive in Scalea, the town where Armido has his beach home. Riding the train in Southern Italy was definitely another experience; none of the vending machines worked, I had to run around looking around for a machine to validate my train ticket only to discover that there were none, and on a train ride of over two hours there were absolutely no controllers to come around and check my ticket. Immediately, you can tell the drastic difference of the way things work between Northern and Southern Italy...it was crazy! I arrived in Scalea at ten at night, so happy and excited to see my friends again. They got me from the station and we returned to his house to have dinner and hang out there for the night. The apartment was absolutely adorable; it was up on a hill almost at the top floor of the complex with beautiful views of the mountains behind, and the kitchen and dining area were on the balcony outside...just the most perfect little Italian life. So much emotion rushed through me...I was just overly high on life to be starting this experience with my amazing best friends!
Here is Mido's adorable little apartment which hosted us for our stay:

The first morning in Calabria, we woke up and right away got ready to head down to the beach. We strolled down through the city center and made our way to find a nice spot right in front of the water. Right when I set my eyes on it's glittery transparent blue color, a rush of adrenaline and joy spread immediately throughout my body. We threw all of our stuff down and tore off our clothes, and ran off into the waves as if we were parched wanderers in the middle of the scalding desert seeing water for the first time. We all jumped in and out of the waves laughing and yelling with happiness, and just shared an infinite moment of pure ecstasy. We spent the rest of the day laying out and taking in the warm sun while listening to the sound of the waves with some great company...definitely the most relaxing day that I had experienced in a long time! As the day went on, the sea got quite a bit more agitated. The place where we were swimming actually was more of like a cove, since the shore didn't last very long and dropped straight down. For this reason, the waves crashed up against the drop and splashed forcefully onto the shore. When we were swimming, we all got taken under a couple times pretty well by the waves, and each suffered swallowing some salty water and the burning sensation of it invading our noses. One time, as I was coming back to the shore, unexpectedly a huge wave took me under from behind and shoved me underneath the rope for the buoy, and it kept me under for quite a bit. When I finally made it up, I had two seconds to breath and it took me down again hard, and it stung as more water kept going down my throat and into my nose. The force of the wave retreated quickly and left me sprawled across the shore, bottomless and with my top completely twisted. I had to hurry and cover and redress myself in order to save the entire beach from the ridiculous site. Needless to say, I was a bit traumatized for a bit and spent the next hour out of the water...you really can never play with the force of the ocean! That shit is intense. However, we were all in such good spirits and thoroughly enjoyed our first afternoon of our vacation.

After the beach, we went to get a yummy gelato and then to the supermarket to buy food and alcohol for the evening. Before dinner, we went to the internet caffè in the center and Jess and I officially purchased our plane tickets to come home from Sicily...so it was all official! That night we celebrated with a feast of Riso Insalatone and the "Cocktail of Death" aka Peach Vodka, Clear Vodka, and Lemon Soda. That night, we partied hard just the four of us in the little apartment. Those are definitely pictures that will never be seen by anyone...but just remembering the night provides some damn good laughs ;)

The next day, we woke up and this was our first reaction:

Clearly we were not really enjoying life. The first thing that popped into my head was just throwing myself into the ocean to feel alive again. We cleaned up the house and headed out towards the city center to make our way to the beach. On our way, we realized that we were starving so we searched for something yummy to eat, and we came across a peculiar Napoletano pizza place that served "pizza cones." It was basically the dough baked in the shape of an ice cream cone, and it was refilled all the way to the bottom with all the dressings of a pizza and cooked to perfection. I didn't expect it to be so wonderful! If you ever come across one of these beauties, take the opportunity to try it. It's really something special!

From there, we were completely filled up however we couldn't resist the temptation to get as to the sea as quickly as possible. Instead of the same place, we trekked over to another little cove a little bit farther down where it ran into the coastline. This area was filled with large rocks that you could climb up on and jump off of. The water was also much more transparent, and the shoreline lasted longer so the waves didn't crash up against the shore as hard. It was truly such a beautiful little spot! We spent much more time in the water here, swimming in and out of the waves and climbing up onto the different rocks. And since it was much more clear, we succeeded in taking some pretty bad ass underwater pictures. When we laid ourselves out on the beach, we buried Armido under a bunch of sand, which was more like tiny little rocks. We covered him completely, but unfortunately he was still able to get himself up pretty easily! Took out a little of the fun ;) We then just relaxed for the next couple of hours under the sun and listened to music, going back and forth between laying out and swimming. We met the most wonderful Roman family that were seated next to us, and talked to them for a good half hour before heading out. We talked much about the differences of cultures between Italy and America, and also of the differences within Italy itself. They were all so sweet! 

After we were all dry and ready to leave the beach, we wanted to take a walk into the old city center, which sits up on the hillside. So, we wandered around until we found our way, meanwhile stopping to get a gelato. It was one of the most delightful gelati that I have ever tasted...I took pineapple and coconut, and literally felt like I was on some island paradise. The texture was just perfect, and the flavors weren't too sweet or too fake...truly just right. 

We found the little road that led up to the old center, and wandered up until we arrived at the first overlooking point. It was such a beautiful little area; they had flowers everywhere, there was a small restaurant and lights that had decorated the street leading up into the main part of the center. It also had a beautiful terrace that overlooked the entire coast of Scalea, showing all of its beauty from above.

We walked upwards to get to the top, and there was almost nobody else meandering through the streets. It really seemed to be abandoned, and the buildings were almost falling apart. Every now and then some of the houses seemed to have some life inside, most likely populated by elderly who've had the homes within their family for years and years. Near the top, we came across an old church that was actually in service when we got there, and there were plenty of elderly that came in and out during the time that we were there. Every now and then, we saw the occasional tourist like us adventuring around and taking pictures. There was something so beautiful and tranquil about this abandoned part of the town; it was like a chunk of history preserved right on the hillside to add a bit of antiquity to the city below. Life seemed to move so slowly in the short time that we were up there, as if we had been on pause and watching everybody else carry on with their daily activities below in the modern day.

That night, we went back to the house to make an early dinner and to clean up the house since we had to wake up at three in the morning to get ready for our train at five am. We finished the food, tidied up the apartment, took a quick walk in the center to use the internet then headed back to the apartment to get the little sleep that we could. Around three thirty am, we woke up obviously miserable with life and got ourselves out of the house and trekked to the train station. We were to take a train from Scalea to the port where we had to take the ferry to Sicily, and then from there take the ferry to Messina, where we had to take another three hour train to get our final destination: Palermo. On our way, I realized that I didn't bring my passport when we were to return in the plane...and that started the beginning of the chaos. First of all, I didn't even plan on going to Sicily whatsoever since I thought that I would have to return either to take my exam again or to meet with my mom. Also, I had no idea that they even planned on ever taking a plane, since when I heard them discuss all the plans, all they ever talked about were train tickets. Therefore, when I glanced at my passport as I was preparing my bag, I thought to myself that it would be better to leave it behind since I was only going to be staying within Italy and traveling by train...after all, I was also going to be going to Southern Italy and I was afraid to have it stolen from me as it happened to other students this year. Of course, I still felt like a complete idiot once I realized that I didn't have it, and completely believed that I was screwed. I had already bought my ticket for Sicily which wasn't cheap, and I wouldn't have been able to refund it. Also, getting from Sicily to Florence by train would have required about an entire day with numerous changes and confusion....alone. I was literally crapping my pants. The entire trip, besides when we were sleeping, we were researching what we could do to get my passport to me. I thought that maybe since we were going to be there for an entire week that I would be able to have my landlord expedite it to me, however I had the keys to my locked room and he wasn't able to get in. I even thought of sending my keys to him and him sending my passport to me, but here in Italy they don't have the overnight expediting option like we have back in the states, so it really wouldn't have worked. We decided to go to the American Consulate once it opened, since it was Saturday we weren't able to plan on going until Monday morning. Just a complete and utter mess. And that's how the entire trip in Sicily all began.....