La Bella Vita

Ciao my lovelies!

Wow- A TON has happened in the past week and a half, it's a little bit crazy. I'll try to make this email short (and by normal people standards, that means really really long, still).

First of all, happy belated birthday to my girl Matrika (love ya, Triks!), and an early birthday to one of my best friends in the world, Mikhail. Also, a very sincere and excited congratulations to Gina and Mikhail on the engagement. I am SOOOO excited for the both of you- I couldn't think of a better pair, and I feel honored and blessed to be part of your wedding next year. Love ya both so much!!!

When I left off the last e-mail, Maddy and I were getting ready to leave Florence for Rome. The night before we left, we went for a midnight stroll with a few new friends from New Zealand. Amidst all of the great food and beautiful sights, I completely forgot to ask a local for life advice! So I was a woman on a mission, and we headed to the Duomo to meet some locals. Unfortunately, Florence isn't one of those places where you can walk up to someone and expect them to speak a lot of English, soooo....getting advice was proving to be difficult. After a little bit of frustration- but also meeting people who I could tell wanted to understand me, one of my new NZ friends saw two guys riding a scooter and was like, "Hey! Do you speak English!?!" hahaha. They pulled over and said they did, so they gave me some life advice (so strange, but I was in a hurry for it), and both told me to "Work Hard, Party Hard" - that shouldn't be too much of a challenge!

We woke up early the next morning to go to Rome, and although we were exhausted when we got there, we walked around to take the sights in for about 6 or 7 hours anyway. We were greeted with a super sweet B & B, a day of sunshine, and some seriously delicious gelato! The phenomenal sights included: the gorgeous view from the Medici castle; the Spanish Steps; Trevi Fountain (awesome architecture); the place where Mussolini gave his speeches; and my absolute favorite...the Pantheon.

The Pantheon, meaning "Temple of all the gods," was built in Ancient Rome, then rebuilt around 125 A.D. Despite the attention that the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain receive, the Pantheon is actually the oldest structure in Rome to date. What is spectacular about this building is that the height to the oculus (circular opening at the top of the dome) and the diameter of the interior circle are EXACTLY the same (142 feet). It also weighs about 5,000 TONS; it is the largest unreinforced concrete dome. Everything about the building is absolutely perfect, and the really cool thing is that the oculus is wide open, so when it rains in Rome, it pours inside the Pantheon. It really took my breath away to see such a beautiful structure and to think that it was built thousands of years ago. You look at this piece of architectural perfection, and you've gotta wonder, "How in the hell did they do this with no cranes, large machines, etc?" It is so astounding that even architects today are in awe of how the Romans built it.

That night, we decided it was time to go out, so we put on our party dresses (with flip flops...no heels still, unfortunately), and attempted to get on a bus at 10 pm to the other side of town. While waiting for a bus, we heard the sound of American voices, which we hadn't heard in a while, so we turned around to make friends. But the minute I did, all I heard was one of the guys say to me, "Hey! I know you!" Turns out that I met him and the two girls he was with on the train from Nice to Florence four days earlier! So all 5 of us winded up walking around Rome the whole night, and we finished off at a place called "Campo," which is a big square filled with bars and cafes. The night winded up being a ridiculous amount of fun, and I was glad we made new friends.

When we woke up, we went to see the Colosseum and the ancient ruins, which were all spectacular and jaw-dropping. As we walked up to the ruins and stood there in awe, Maddy read the description of where and how Rome was founded, and I being the less mature of the two on this trip, slowly broke into an electric guitar impression and sang, "We built this city! We built this city on ROCK. AND. ROOOOLLLLLLL!" Yes, I am insane.

Although that day was great, it didn't even compare to our last day in Rome, when Maddy and I went to Vatican City. But before we did that, we attempted to mail a package back home at the Italian Post Office, and no one spoke English there. One really sweet Italian lady called her friend to translate what we needed. When we finally were set to go, the postman said (in broken English), "So you know, chance your package never go New York." Alllrighty then. Good confidence builder, really. That's like going into a REALLY expensive restaurant and the waiter telling you after your meal, "I hope you enjoyed it, but we are sorry in advance if you get food poisioning." What made it worse was that we also had to have a return address in Italy, which of course we didn't have, so I winded up writing down the address to some hostel that I have never even stayed at. All I could think of was how some guy was going to be getting a package full of women's clothing and think to himself, "What the...?" hahaha.

Anyway, that was an adventure in and of itself, but at least it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as the bus ride TO the Vatican. I have never felt so hot and sweaty in my life. You know when you are on a crowded bus or train, but there is still some empty space in the middle and back? This was NOT one of those times. As we got off, drenched in other people's sweat, Maddy turns to me and goes, "That was worse than trying to get back to campus from a Hamilton barn party!" haha, so so true. The Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel were absolutely amazing. Once inside, it took us about 20 minutes of walking through incredibly beautiful walls and rooms just to get to the Sistine Chapel. When we finally did, there was a guy shouting, "No pictures, please!"...so I took a video of it instead =). Though it wasn't exactly what I imagined it to be, I couldn't help but feel awestruck that I was standing in the same room that an artistic genius stood in (well, hung in) for about 9 years of his life. To see the artwork that made Michelangelo permanently blind and paralyzed was just crazy...gave me chills. It was a really amazing last day; I grew up Roman Catholic, so it was certainly an experience that I felt honored to have...to see all of that history that I'd learned about as a kid.


That night, Maddy and I took a night train to Sicily, which was a blast....well, at least for the most part. Her and I had an entire compartment to ourselves, and we had a few amazing conversations about love, life, graduating, next steps, etc. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that after 11 pm, without fail, I get my 3rd wind or something! So of course, I'm talking in my best Italian accents with words that I was pretty much making up (just adding "eria" or "oni" to the end of everything). Maddy and I couldn't stop laughing, but trying to fall asleep was a disaster, as we felt like we were going to fly off our bunkbeds (about 1/2 the size of a twin bed) the entire time. It was a little bit scary, but we arrived to a sunny Sicily!

We both had our preconceptions of what Sicily would be like, but let's just say for the first few hours, those expectations were not met. We arrived in a sketchy neighborhood, and because it was 8 am (people in Sicily wake up at around 10), no one was out so that made it even worse. On our first night, the owners and staff of the hostel invited us to have pizza and beer with them, and it was a real blast. I stayed up until about 2 a.m. talking to everyone and having some really great, meaningful conversations that I am sure to remember for quite some time. One thing I learned from the conversations in general is that we can't always judge things by our first impressions, because our first impressions often involve a host of other things- fear, tiredness, skepticism, etc. Usually, the best things in life come when you are patient...when you give things a chance. It was definitely an important reminder to me that life rewards patient individuals.

Even though I was sad to leave, the next place we stayed at had a room where I could leave my toiletries out by the sink, blast 80s music and dance on the bed, and there was a HAIRDRYER! Maddy and I spent the next day at the pool and got up to go to lunch at a small Italian restaurant on a random side street. The place was packed with locals, so I figured the food had to be good (and ohhhhh, it was!). Everything was going great and normal, until 4 men in nice suits pulled up and all of a sudden, a table was rushed out for them. But, I guess that spot wasn't good enough because they moved to another spot where there wasn't a table and the staff LITERALLY moved that table and re-set it up at the men's preferred spot. Food was brought out to them in about 5 minutes, and everyone at the restaurant was staring in their direction. Now, I don't know for sure what that was about, but I have a pretty damn good idea. All I am going to say was that the whole lunch experience was priceless. (If you have no idea what I am talking about at all, just ask me when I get home). Later that night, we went out to a "drinkeria" and had a great time sipping on overly strong mojitos and daquiris....good times had by all!

On our last day in Sicily, we spent the day at this beautiful beach called Mondello. Everyone was tan and beautiful, and the beach was just stunning. Since I am half Sicilian, being in Palermo was definitely a dream come true for me....everyone should have the opportunity to visit the places they are from. While I was in Florence and Rome the week before, I couldn't help but look around at the locals and think to myself, I don't look the slightest bit Italian. But when I got to Sicily, I recognized myself in others right away. Sicilians are a little bit darker, curvier, sassier. They like the sun, they like their food, and they like to go out until 4 am. Hmmmm....yup, now I see it. Of all the sights on this trip, nothing compared to looking in the eyes of other Sicilians and seeing a piece of who I am. It was a really great experience, and I hope to go back some day.

On the note of eyes, my new friend Emmalee was talking to me and telling me how she thought that people have a certain light to them...something you could pick up on almost instantly if you were paying attention. Interestingly, I was just finishing up a book called Brida by Paulo Coehlo (great read, if anyone is bored and needs something to do). The book touched upon the same notion- that you can recognize your Soulmate by the light in his or her eyes. The belief in this book is that the world is comprised of matter that is neither created nor destroyed. When we die, our matter becomes part of others and in our next life, we can literally find ourselves IN other individuals. We search our whole lives for those people and when we find them, we can look at the light in their eyes, see a part of ourselves, and know that they were meant to be part of our world...whether for an hour or a lifetime. I thought this was profound, and it certainly makes you pay closer attention to people's eyes!


I'm going to quote P. Diddy here, which is relevant because I've been watching a lot of Making the Band this past week (the only show that is actually in English): " A person's eyes reveal their soul. That is why I wear glasses...I don't want to share my soul with everyone." It sounds silly, but look into the eyes of a family member, best friend, or significant other. You'll recognize the light in their eyes and go, "Ahhhhh. So that is what makes my life so special."

So many amazing things have happened during my week in Italy- it would be impossible to write about all of the funny, jaw-dropping, and inspiring moments. But one thing that stood out in particular occurred to me after I bumped into the three people I had met previously on my trip. Maddy and I were not even planning on taking the bus that night- we made that decision on a whim. Had we walked or taken a cab, our night would have gone completely different. We wouldn't have met the same people, gone to the same places, etc. This is one of the scariest but coolest realizations that one could come to....as much as we don't like to think about it, the smallest decision- like when and where to take a bus- could change ones entire life trajectory. This might sound frightening, but it's a reminder that we must pay attention to even the smallest choices, but also have fun with it and trust our gut instincts. We have to find the courage to get past the fear and get to the empowerment of knowing this simple reality:

Every Moment Is A Decision.

Life is yours to create...Take care and pride of the movements that you make!



Love Life Always,

Melissa


Observations:

1. There is no such thing as bad food in Italy. I'm not kidding.
2. I might be sick if I eat another pizza or gelato.
3. Crossing the streets in Italy is crazy, but in Sicily it's impossible- there aren't even many crossing lights, and cars only stop if you walk in the middle of the road as they are coming at you full speed!
4. You'll get better service if you attempt to speak the local language. Sounds intuitive, but you'd be amazed at all of the people who never bother to try.
5. Palermo, Sicily reminded me of Hamilton in that we kept seeing the same people over and over again. Except, when we saw them again, they were nice enough to smile or wave back!
6. There are Starbucks all over the world..but you won't find one in Italy. Why? The local coffee is so damn good here, I'm guessing Starbucks would have zero customers.
7. Sicilian men are very attractive. Very.
8. It's important enough to emphasize again: Every Movement Is A Decision.


Trip Stats:
Days: 27
Roommates: 42

Local Life Lesson:
"Fear makes strangers out of people who should be friends" - Emmalee, A great new friend from Sicily

Jukebox: "Out Loud" - Dispatch


Random Thought: The last two weeks of my life would have been completely different had Maddy not made the choice to travel around Italy and Greece with me.


Quotable:

" So any stories to tell. Even more to live." - Billboard Sign
"Life is too short to be miserable." - Store sign. So true!


Overheard:
" Choosing to spend the rest of your life with someone goes beyond finding someone with common goals. It is about a shared willingness to sacrifice your unshared goals for one another." - A wise 27-yr.old fellow hostel-goer. Very deep.