quatro giorno

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Ciao Americanos!

Life is good in Italia!

…Other than the fact that I am running on absolutely no sleep.

I don’t think I’ve fully adjusted to the time change yet because I’m hungry and sleepy at all the wrong times. I haven’t been able to sleep since I got here! Even after all the Melatonin I’ve popped, I still lay in bed and toss and turn for a couple hours, sleep for maybe two hours, and then wake up and toss and turn again. I’ve gotten out of bed every day at like 6 am and just killed time by working out. This morning I laid in bed wide awake for an hour or two before I couldn’t take it anymore and I got up and ran the 7 flights of stairs 5 times. Or, I’ll go out on our huge top-level deck and watch the sunrise and the locals set up their shops while I “make contact elbow-thigh” from knowing Ab-Ripper by heart! It’s nice to have that time and motivation to work-out, but it catches up with me when we’re walking around Rome for hours in the blazing heat. I sweat all I do is yawn and take pictures! I always have intentions of going straight to bed after dinner, but plans like a walk to the Vatican or Gelato at the Trevi Fountain always seem to sound a little more appealing.

Today wasn’t quite as overwhelming as yesterday. We went to a huge museum at the Capital Line with about a bazillion sculptures and paintings. I have a feeling that is the first of many! It is incredible to think that each and every one of those sculptures was carefully chiseled into the detailed piece of work we still see today, hundreds of years later. These sculptures are MASSIVE! And there is so much detail in their wrinkles, hair, eyes, and expressions. I can’t believe how beautiful they are and how long they have lasted. I’ve never been an appreciator of art and I will probably never have a passion for it, but being here even has me in awe at these works of art. Paintings, not so much. Architecture… Eh. It’s the sculptures that really fascinate me! Maybe because 97% of them are naked men…? Haha! We’ll never know! Either way, I’ve been surprised at how interested I am in them. Hopefully it lasts through the next 27 days’ worth of identical statues!

We saw the Theatre of Marcellus, the Temple of Hercules Victor, and the Temple of Fortuna. We learned about the difference Greek architecture and Etruscan architecture.

We also went to the Pantheon today. I’m such an idiot… Everyone kept talking about it like it was the Eifel Tower, so I felt like the only person in the world who had no idea what the Pantheon was. I didn’t dare ask any questions. The adrenaline and excitement of everyone else was really contagious and really built up this building. Walking there, I was on pins and needles (no, but really… my feet were in so much pain!) anticipating seeing this building that everyone was so excited to see! We got there and it was cool, but not that cool. It’s absolutely ginormous. It’s a huge dome with a cut-out window in the top so the only light is the natural light spilling in through the hole. It really was pretty. And the architecture was incredible. To me, it just wasn’t chill worthy. BUT, since apparently it’s a hot commodity around here, I’m just excited to be able to say I went there. Regardless of how little it moved me!

Steve (our instructor) took us out to lunch today. I’ve been waiting all week to get that big bang moment and fall passionately in love with authentic Italian food. So far, not impressed. We eat breakfast and dinner at the hotel every night… It’s edible, which I’m delighted about, it’s just not the love affair I was expecting! But eating out at a real little Italian café proved to me there is still some good in the world and authentic Italian food really is to die for! It was like swallowing Christmas! Or chewing Disneyland. That’s how good it was! I was purely infatuated with that ham and cheese Calzone. I was finally convinced of the EAT Julia Roberts put in Eat, Pray, Love. For a while, I was having doubts.

Everyone here smokes. Everyone. We walk down the streets and see little kids puffin’ cigs! As young as 10 or 11 years old. It breaks my heart. It’s seriously worse than any trip I’ve ever taken to Vegas. The air here is toxic from everyone’s second hand smoke. And it seems like they do whatever they can to blow it all right in your face. I may have cancer when I come home!

Ps, I checked my grades and I got straight A’s!!! I honestly have NO IDEA how I pulled that one off. It had to of been an act of God, because I was prepared for the worst in my physical science class. That final raped me and I thought it would have for sure tampered with my perfectly hand-crafted 4.0 Associated Degree!!! But I am absolutely delighted to inform you all that miracles really do happen and I am graduating this semester at the top of Dean’s list! :)

All I can say is:

I’M EXHAUSTED!!!

Haha, kidding. I really am, but I only said that because I haven’t said it once this email and I didn’t know if you’d recognize me without it.

Really, tho, all I can say is:

Everything here is beautiful. Even if it’s found in the little old Italian woman playing the accordion on the corner, the shattered cement of an ancient building, a thin-crust pizza at a corner café, or a conversation between old Italian men in fancy suits… Everything I’ve seen here has earned a second glance. It’s all breathtaking and unique and spectacular.

I am drowning in luck and gratitude. I can’t believe I’m living in this opportunity.

Thank you for loving me, believing in me, and always encouraging me to take risks. This risk is unforgettable.

Hopefully my emails do something, however small, to bring Italy to life for you.

I wish you all were here.

Lots of love,

Wit