Now that I got that business, I'm here in Italy and doing well, despite some difficult bureaucratic issues getting here. And, might I add, those that I'm continuing to work through being here. The strange thing is not that I'm finally here, but how comfortable Italian life still feels. Part of me wonders if I'm ruined for life as an American because I am spending such "formative adult years" in another language and culture, but I'm willing to take that risk for whatever I'm going to learn in the meantime.
At the moment, I am living with my colleague, and now friend, Valentina. We spoke a few times in email and on Skype and she invited me to live in her home until I found my own place. Italian hospitality at it's finest. Valentina studies under the same professor as I will at the Universita' degli Studi di Firenze (UNIFI) and has very similar research interests. Sometimes when we talk, I feel like I am with a version of myself from an alternate universe. She's almost me, just Italian. But joking aside, I can't imagine how much better my life is and how much easier my transition is thanks to Valentina and her family. I can't imagine how I could ever repay them, other than a trip to Wilmington and the Dawson's Creek sites.
Last weekend we went to a free concert in a nearby town. The square was packed but somehow we ended up directly in front of the stage. I really got into the music and the singer, Paola Turci, is apparently pretty famous. She sang half an 80s song in English and then I heard this song which sounds exactly like this one, which I knew. Apparently it's a cover, but the translation isn't that similar. Plus, the song is Paola's claim to fame. Interesting, no?
Yesterday, we came into the city to get some work done in the dipartimento, but we found the locked doors like this:
One of the political parties had a big old-fashioned sciopero, or strike. Getting home was even difficult because most of the trains were cancelled and those that were going were late and crowded. Sadly, we stood as merely victims to the strike.
But finally today I was able to do some work today and it feels so nice to be busy again. It's a little difficult getting back into the swing of it (especially in a different language), but I just love studying psychology. I know I'm a nerd, but there's just nothing like it. I was just so excited I forgot to eat lunch. Suffering the consequences now (because in Italy you can't just eat whenever you feel like it), but I'll live.
Yay! Glad you're settling in. Let's skype soon, ok?
ReplyDelete