"Grazie per ongi singolo momento nostro"

It’s strange to think that this time next week I will be back in the United States (not at home because we are moving my dad to Shreveport, but the States none the less).  I am having trouble figuring out how I am going to adjust being back, even though I have only been here 2 and a half months, this has become normal for me.  First off my house is going to be so empty (when I finally make it home) because my dad won’t be there, my brother will still be at debate camp, I won’t have the Sabatos.  Even though my dogs tend have outbursts of barking fits, it won’t be the same as Roberto’s “MAAAAA!!!”, the blaring of Riccardo’s music, Maralia on the phone walking around the apartment, and Lello’s “CIAO Lindz!”.  Second I will be able to understand everything that is said around me when I go to the mall or to a restaurant (can you say English overload?).  Third I won’t have the sea, the Nicholson’s pool will have to do J.  On the other hand I will get to have Pei Wei and Fantastic China again, lentil soup and hummus (from work), CHIPS AND SALSA.  Oh and I guess it will be good to hangout with my family and friends again.  J

And as my trip is winding down (seriously I feel like I am in like a vortex of time right now) I have been doing so much reflecting on this summer.  It has definitely been a rollercoaster, but the kind that my uncle would take us on, at Silver Dollar City, over and over again if the line was short enough because we loved it that much.  Today I have 5 days left, it feels like yesterday that I had just a week till I was supposed to arrive! It feels like yesterday that I got off the airplane in Naples and saw Maralia’s shining happy face waving at me.  It seems like yesterday that I walked into the house to big hugs from Roberto and Riccardo.  It seems like yesterday that I sat in the car with Lello talking about my Italian lessons for the summer.  I am a major homebody, I love my family very much and I don’t like being away from them, but this summer that went away (for the most part) because an equally amazing family surrounded me.  (I may or may not be bawling my eyes right now).

My whole life I grew up hearing stories about my “Italian family”. They were sort of like “rock stars” or mythical, magical beings in my mind. I just couldn’t wait til I finally got to meet them.  Then in 2007 I finally met them and I loved them instantly.  They maybe weren’t rock stars or mythical beings, but they were real and they were faces to put with all the stories.  Now after spending the summer with them they really are family.  I am so lucky to have them. 

Roberto:  I don’t know if everyone knows that my brother is my best friend.  We do almost everything together.  I think it was almost the hardest to be away from him this summer.  He is the one that gives me new music, shows me the funny videos on you-tube, tells me how it is, (he never sugar coats anything for me).  This was Roberto this summer.  It’s hard to describe, but I just clicked with him.  He made it easier for me to be away from William.  I mean down to introducing me to new songs (some being American songs) that I hadn’t heard to the “no Lindsay…no” (usually that kind of honesty would hurt my feelings, but for some reason I could take it from him).  So many beach trips, walks on the Villa, tuna fish and tomato sandwiches, “Lindsay make up your mind now”…”hurry up!”, the best bear hugs, and “saving” my life multiple times. When Zio Lello brought up the idea of Roberto coming home with me for a few weeks this summer, even though he didn’t want to (and I completely understand) I was pretty excited about the idea (that flight is too long for anyone to have to do by themselves, that’s really the only reason I wanted him to come ;)) Ti volgio bene sir :] I’ll miiiiiiiisssssss youuuuu! 

 Roberto and me :] 

Riccardo:  I have found my best friend.  Seriously.  I don’t even know where to begin with all the things that he and I think are so funny that no one else would get. Such as walking down the street singing about what we were doing or using the “William Tell Overture” not only for the motorbike theme song, but also as a theme for just about everything we did. We made up “itinglish” which is what we spoke most of the time.  There were so many times that I just needed a hug and I knew that I could go and get one from him.  I have been to the library more in Castllammare with him than I have been to the library in Little Rock ever.  I was introduced to the cappucione and Kung-fu Panda (two of my new favorite things).  There were a few days in a row that I didn’t see him and my day felt incomplete, just meaning that every other day we were joined at the hips.  I am going to save you all and not post all the inside jokes because there are so many.  Your welcome.  Kung-fu love and Kung-fu miss you already.  

Riccaro and me at the Harry Potter movie (yes...in italian)

 

Maralia:  What and extrodinary lady! I have been so blessed to spend so much time with her.  She has been my mom away from mom this summer, starting with helping me decide which dress to buy to trying to get a splinter out of my foot.  We went on many walks, shopping together (she has a great style), we painted our nails together (we tried to paint one of my hands with stripes like on the American flag for the 4^th of July), we went to the beach countless of times (she tans a lot easier than I do, like my mom), we studied together (she studied English and I studied Italian and we spoke to each other in those languages) we ate so much ice cream together (it is very hot here, you have to eat ice cream everyday to cool off ;])  we laughed together (again too many jokes to try and sum up here).  I am going to miss her so much to say the least.  

Me and Maralia!

Zio Lello:  I wouldn’t be here if Lello hadn’t of decided to study abroad all those years ago :] I can’t even begin to start thanking him for this experience. Non ci sono parole. I not only I learned some Italian this summer, I learned some English words (the one’s that only our grandparents still use hahaha!) and I learned where a lot of words come from (latin, greek).  With the help of Zio Lello I spoke in front of group of people in (not great) Italian, but I didn’t back down (which was a big deal for me, because I don’t even like doing that in English).  Really I was just plain lucky to be in the presence of such a remarkable man and be able to call him “zio”.  Again thank you so much for this summer! 

(I don't have a picture of Zio Lello yet)

I AM SO SAD, but I am trying to optimistic. I get to see my family, help my dad move into his new house. Spend a week with just my mom. WILLIAM WILL FINALLY GET HOME.  I am just going to miss my Italian family and friends so much.  This summer really has been the summer of my life! I have a wonderful time and been so blessed to get to spend it with all of these great people. :] Vi voglio bene!!

ciao a tutti!!!

Ciao!!! Io sono vivo!!! io sono stato molto occupato!...allora...hey everyone! I am so sorry for being absent for almost the whole month! I have been doing so much that it is has been hard to find time to sit down and write about it all! I may not be very eloquent now, but I am going to try and summarize everything.

The food:  I have had pizza everyday for a week...only skipping one day.  One morning I even had it for breakfast. :] I am going to get home and not know what to do if we aren't eating pizza! But seriously the pizza here is the most amazing thing I have ever tasted, having it everyday is not problem! I just want to make sure everyone knows I am not complaining, just informing.  There is one that has ham, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and this green leafy thing on it. I could eat a whole meter of that by myself! Its fantastic. 

I love that we have pasta everyday for lunch. It is a different pasta everyday!  It's my own heaven.  I found out the other day that Riccardo (one of the sons that I am living with) doesn't care much for pasta!?! I nearly had a heart attack...I don't understand how you can be Italian and not like pasta! I like it enough for the both of us though. 

Ice cream.  There is a new ice cream shop literally downstairs from the apartment.  I have only been once...but it just opened. I have a feeling they will know me by the end of the summer.  We eat ice cream almost everyday at the house.  It gets so hot during the day, and even with all the doors and windows open we are all sweating, so ice cream is the only solution to cool off. Again I am not complaining. 

The Beach:  Now I don't want to make anyone jealous (maybe just a little jealous!) but just to sum this up my birthday was 7 days ago I have been to the beach 6 of those days this week.  No big deal! I am still one of the palest people here. The difference is that they are all this nice olive color...I just turn red.  There is not much more to report about the beach: I go. I sit. I get hot and go get in the water. I sit. I get back in the water. I sit. We go shower off. I sit. We leave.  It is also fantastic! So relaxing.  I want to be a professional beach bum. 

The Events:  These are going to be hard to go back and talk about.  The past 2 weeks I have been to two birthday parties (one was my own), a day on the boat, a few name day(omnastico) parties, a "class reunion", and an AFS gathering.  There are pictures of all of these things, I can't really describe them all.  I have met some of the most amazing people here and getting to hangout with all of them is so much fun!

Last night was the AFS gathering where Lello (the dad) spoke about when he was in the U.S staying with my dad and his family.  After Lello spoke he wanted me to say a few words in Italian to everyone...I would like to let everyone know that I am not a fan of speaking in English to a group of people this big...so saying it was scary was an understatement. But I didn't back out, and though it did not go as well as i would have liked it to, I can at least say that I did it.  It was a "growing experience" as my mom would say. 


I cannot believe that it is already the 1st of July.  I am not ready for this month to be here! There is so much I still want to do...but I do miss my family and friends very much.  I have said it before yall just need to come to Italy. It would make this so much easier! :] I hope everyone has a great day (week or month...depending when my next post is :) hahaha!) 


Ciao a tutti!!! Vi voglio bene (i think that is right?)!!!

 I have gotten so bad at posting! I have just been so busy! I don't even know where to start! My fantasitc adventure gets better and better everyday.  I am  still not very good at the language, but I can understand more and more everyday. Sometimes I even try to speak, ma l'italano e' molto dificile.

I cannot begin to say how thankful I am for this experience.  I have said it before and I will say it again: this has been the best decision that I have ever made.  Being here has taught me so much and introduced me to some of the greatest people! (I am getting a little mushy, I will save the rest of that for my last post).

I have some pictures here from the last few weeks, they are not nearly all of them but they are just an idea of what I have been up to. This one is of me and one of the cousins (I say one of them because there are so many!) Fulvio.  Our birthdays are very close together and he won't be here for either of them, so we had a birthday night.  This is us "blowing out our candle". 

Me in front of some pretty sweet graffiti. 

This is me and my Italian cousin Riccardo at the beach and in the convertible on the way to the beach. 

Me and my italian cousin Roberto!

Me at the beach! It is so beautiful!! I could live on the beach.

Fulvio, me and Roberto eating pizza for Roberto's uncles birthday!

I love these girls!! Me and Luisa and Mariapia at a restaurant in Sorento, one of the towns around Naples.

Me and Mariateresa after having pizza.  The background was so beautiful, but it was too dark!

Me in front of a church in Pompei.

I have been to so many birthday parties this past month, have had so many pizzas, ice creams, coffees, trips to the sea. I could describe each one of them in great detail and length, but that would take forever, so what I will say is that the people are wonderful, the pizza is fantastic, the ice cream is phenomenal, the coffee is terrific, and the sea is memorizing.  I am in love with this country.

I miss my family and friends terribly. So here is the deal y'all just come here and live in Italy. See you when you get here!!

ciao ciao, Lindz

Soak it up.

I am currently sitting out, doing my new favorite thing (besides shopping and eating ice cream), which is being outside enjoying the breeze, listening to the horns honking, and soaking up the wonderful sun.  I love being up this high on the balcony, so that i can watch all the people buzzing around under me.  I've started playing a game with myself, imagining where they are going, what they are going to do, who are they meeting.  It is a very entertaining past time!

 I finally got to go to the beach! I was so excited! I really think that I belong in a place this close to the sea.  There were huge stones that we layed out on instead of that obnoxious sand that gets everywhere :] I even got in the water at one point...which was incredibly cold...but it was so worth it.  Im trying to think of words that could describe it properly for you.  Bright. Salty.  Breezy.  Breathtaking (refering to the veiw and the cold water).

Yesterday started the speaking to me only in Italian (at least at the house)! EEk! I think that this is clearly the only way I will learn the language though! And I think it won't be as scary as I was thinking that it would be! I mean all of these people are speaking to me in English to me I should at least try to speak the language of the country I am staying in.  So I will keep you updated on how that is going! Haha! 

I hope all of you are having great weeks!!

ciao, Lindz

Pictures

 

 One night we went out and had such a good dinner of fish :] We all looked very lovely if I can say so myself. 

And these girls are so amazing! 

 

 

  

 I think it must be something that runs in the family, because these guys are all pretty amazing!

 Best. Cake. EVER.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIATERESA!!!

Again, I love these girls!!! Luisa and her sister (the two girls in the middle) had us over for pizza! It was so sweet!

People Watching

I went to Naples at about 930 this morning (I figured it would be a lot better than just sitting around in the apartment).  At first i was just sitting at a little coffee bar at the university reading.  It was pleasant.  Then as we moved locations, I decided to explore a little bit.  It was so beautiful outside today (and it was nice to walk in the sun considering that I am constantly reminded of how pale I am).  I walked around the university, because of my awesome (not) directional senses I didn't want to go too far.  I just walked around the block a few times and window shopped and after I finally got the courage to walk into a store and ask to try on a shoe (which have become my weakness) speaking in my way less than perfect Italian (no parlo Italiano...si beige...cuaranto...).  Then sitting out on the steps of the university I was listening to bits of Italian around me, cheerful greetings and such, and thinking to myself that it is amazing how many people I know that keep walking past me. More than once i almost yelled out someone's name, quickly remembering where I wa and instantly thanking God that I had not just been that crazy American shouting at random passerbys.


I had a post written for a couple of days ago, but of course I forgot to save it...so to sum it all up:

1. I am having an amazing time.
2. I am eating amazing food.
3. I have made some really,really awesome friends.


I miss all of you very, very much and I think of you often, but i think that this trip has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.  It has taught me so much already and made me really think about a lot of things.

I will post more pictures soon!! 

ciao Lindz

more pictures

There was a beautiful view behind us...but you are stuck with just a beautiful picture of us instead thanks to the flash!











One night we were just taking a walk by the sea and i just looked over and saw this. It is just the most beautiful mix of colors! I kept saying to the guys i was walking with that they were so lucky to live in a place this beautiful!

Me and Giovanna at her graduation! ( I didn't get any pictures of the cap that there families or friends make them, but i will see if I can maybe steal a picture from someone!)

 On the way back from the graduation! We were being taken to another car, so we had to fit 5 people in the back seat for a brief ride.  It was cramped but we managed.

 Me and my "cousin" Riccardo at a birthday dinner! We got to listen to some really wonderful singers!

Riccardo and me with Damiano and his girlfriend Stefania! (Damiano is the birthday boy)!

More of the group from the party.

 This was the graduation party that i went to for Giovanna! It was really funny to watch the food tables.  Every time they brought out food, it would be gone within 3 minutes. No joke! 

Again at the party! Everyone looked so beautiful! :)