I simply cannot believe how lucky I was to be able to visit Anna and her family in Italy for the past couple days! I honestly had the best time getting to hang out with her family and eat their delicious food and see their beautiful city! It is almost unbelievable how smoothly everything went as far as traveling to Italy went, too! And yes, hhaha, I will tell you alllll about it. :)
I got to the airport about a half hour before boarding, which sounds kind of like cutting it close, but for me it just meant I didn’t have to sit alone in an airport for ages. When I went to get my ticket, the airport people were super friendly and complimented me on my French, and then proceded to offer to check my bag for free so I wouldn’t have to carry it, which I did! On the plane, I sat in a row all by myself so I got to stretch out my legs and sort of lie down for the hour that we were in the sky. The plane ended up flying more quickly than usual somehow, so we actually landed early, and when I got to the baggage claim, my bag was the first to pop out! I exited my terminal at the airport and ended up finding Anna before she could find me hahah. AND WE HUGGED! And I wanted to cry a little bit because I had a little piece of home right there in my arms, and she was going to show me her home and the world seemed perfect. :) Anna and I blabbered about anything that came to our minds all the way to her house with her dad occasionally breaking in and asking for translations hahah. It was a splendid ride!
When we got to her house, her mom ran up and hugged me and so did her sister and then after dropping off my things in Anna’s room, we headed upstairs to eat dinner. I was amazed by how big and beautiful Anna’s house was! There were so many floors and the garage looked like an actualy parking garage for an appartment building and somehow in this huge house, everything was warm and homy and smelled good hhahah. I immediatly loved it there. I have talked a lot about how French meals have many courses. Well, Italian meals have even more! Even for the “casual family meal” we had that night, I am pretty sure we ate at least four things on four different plates. Anna was right, her mom’s food is AMAZING! Her mom was so humble about everything though hahah. We talked as we ate and after dinner they brought out this lovely dessert tray and forced me to try their favorites’ on the tray. After dessert, we had this decaf coffee drink that they apparently all drink as a family every night after dinner, and it was sooo good! I was tired from traveling but there was no place I would rather have been. I felt so warm and loved and happy. That night, Anna and I stayed up pretty late talking, and then fell asleep in our cozy Italian beds!
The next morning, Anna and I woke up and got dressed and ready to take a bus to Lago di Como. We had a little time before the bus would leave, and we were pretty sleepy, so Anna taught me how to prepare an Italian espresso and we drank one before leaving! It was really cool how she made it, and while I am in Europe I would like to purchase one of those little machines. I have decided that Italian coffee is, trully, the best coffee hahah just like everyone says! The busride was a half hour long and Anna and I spoke in English while getting strange glances from the other people on the bus. Anna’s English is so good that everyone thought she was a tourist just like me hahaha. We walked to one of Anna’s favorite cafes and ordered orange-infused Italian hot chocolate and whole-wheat croissants which were AMAZING! Italian croissants tasted a lot different than French ones and were much more filling, to my surprise! I love both though hahah. Anna treated me to this breakfast because she is the most giving and fantastic person ever, and then we left and walked around the town a little and looked at different stores. The streets were so small and there were so many people walking there. Also, I found people to be a little more smiley there than they are in Paris, which makes sense but according to Anna she lives in one of the snobbiest parts of Italy. It was so cool walking around with Anna because she was a total local. She knew how to be cool around the fast cars that I thought would kill us and she knew exactly where we were all the time! I felt so lucky to be there with her, and it honestly made me want to move to Italy a little hahah. After walking around the town, we took a huge walk around the lake. We walked until our legs and shoulders ached, and for most of the walk we talked about how many great people we both know and about how much we love them hahah. You can always count on Anna to talk about the good there is in the world. It was also so nice to be around someone who knew me so well. I had somehow forgottent that since she lived with me, she knew how I felt about things which meant I didn’t have to explain everything I believed in to her, because she had already been around me long enough to know me and my heart and everything. After moving three times in three years, this sort of connection was relieving. The lake was foggy and cold, but everything about that walk was perfect for me. I love Anna and I love Como hahah.
After that, we headed into the town and down to the train station where we met up with….SEQUOIA! Anna had surprised me with the information that Sequoia would be joining us the night before, and I was super stoked to see her! I had never been super close with Sequoia, but she was another little part of Ukiah that I would get to hug and I couldn’t wait to see her! Once we had Sequoia with us, we met up with two of Anna’s friends at a little plaza and then walked to a pizza restaurant to get lunch. Her friends were gorgeous and stylish and soooo kind! They were a boy named Francesco and a girl named Ilaria. Francesco looked and sounded really Brazilian when he spoke English to Sequoia and I, which made everyone laugh a lot, and Ilaria could say “whatever” like a true Californian girl hahah. :D We all got pizza together and then little coffee drinks in another cafe. Eating with them was intimidating because I was positive I was eating the pizza all wrong, but I just laughed it off and tried to do whatever they were doing! Soon it was time to take the bus home so we could help Anna’s mom prepare for the NYE dinner. I wanted Anna’s friends to come with us because they were so funny and nice, but I just reminded myself that I would definitely come back to Como someday and then we would all get lunch again and it would be great haha.
Back at the house, we sat down at the kitchen table to help Anna’s mom with some food preparations, and then we went downstairs to get ready before the guests arrived!
The guests arrived and everything was in Italian and I had no idea what was going on for most of the night hahah. I smiled a lot and waited for translations that sometimes never came, and it was awesome. The food was also spectacular. The table was beautifully set up and there were so many delicious courses. I did my best to only eat small amounts of everything, and I actuallly did a pretty good job! I wasn’t too full by the time we were done with all the dinner foods, and we left before dessert was served to go dancing as the New Year began! Anna, Sequoia, and I met up with Anna’s friend and her boyfriend at Anna’s zumba studio that had been turned into a club for the evening. I’ve said it once and I will say it again: clubs are not my thing hahah. I didn’t like being in the crowded and loud place full of drunk youths, but then I kept remembering that I was in Italy and that a new year was begginning and those thoughts made me happy. Also, I had had a fabulous day with Anna wandering thoughout her town and around the lake and eating lunch with her friends, so I had a lot to be thankful for! Anyways, we didn’t stay at the club for too long. We headed back to Anna’s house at around 2am where her parents were still awake because they wanted us to shoot fireworks and eat some dessert! So basically the night ended really well hahah. We were asleep by 3am and there was no rush to wake up early the next morning.
The next morning, Sequoia left to take a train home around noon, and Anna and I spent a good chunk of the morning cleaning her room and helping her mom tidy the house a little. They let me help out, which made me feel very accepted hahah. I remember doing chores with Anna at home in California, so it was cute to do them with her at her house in Italy! At lunch I got to try some freshly-squeezed orange juice that they make all the time at home! During lunch with her family, her dad announced that there was another part of their area that I must see, and that I also must try realy Italian gelato there! So after lunch, Anna, her father, and I went on a long, windy, drive up to this little village where their family used to live. I was impressed that Anna’s dad could drive so confidently on those tiny, curvy streets! We got out and walked around for a bit, and then headed up to this lookout where we could see the mountains and the lake below. It was beautiful! On the way back, we stopped at the gelato shop next to Anna’s dad’s office, where Anna selected the flavors she thought I would like and I ate my first realy Italian gelato! It was delicious hahah.
When we got back to the house, it was time for me to pack up and go to the airport. Anna and I sat on her bed and talked for a final good 15 minutes, and then it was time to say goodbye. Anna had to pack for her ski trip that would begin early the next morning, so she couln’t come with me to the airport, but that was okay. I spent so many good moments with her during those three days, and I had already made up my mind to go back and visit her again before going bach to the States. I hugged Anna goodbye, and then her mom and her sister too. Her mom handed me a dinner that she had packed for me to eat on the airplane filled with yummy sandwhiches and some Italian goodies too. On the drive to the airport, I talked a lot with Anna’s dad. We talked about how wonderful Anna is, and then about my family in the US. We began to discuss how important family is, and how there is nothing like being surrounded by those you love, and I began to cry a little. I’m not sure if he saw me, but I didn’t feel embarrassed. I think love is a perfectly reasonable thing to cry about at this point hahah. Anna’s dad walked me all the way up to security at the airport, and we hugged goodbye. He told me he hoped I would come back soon, and I promised I would. In the airport, I sat down at my gate and thought a lot about the days I had spent in Italy, the conversation I had just had with Anna’s dad, and since it was the first day of 2016, the year ahead of me. Throughout my voyage back to Asnieres, I thought not about what I want to do this year, but who I want to be. I decided I want to be more like all the people I love, but in different ways. The thing about my life at this point is that most of the people I love don’t know the other people I love. Of course, they have all heard of each other because they are my favorite thing to talk about. I want to be more spontaneous like Sarah and less judgmental like Caleb and humble like my dad. I want to be caring like my mom and brave like Molly and thoughtful like Jess and loving like Miri and Maira and practical like Cherish and I don’t know what word to choose for Olivia but I want to be like her too. I want to walk with my head up and make eye contact with those who intimidate me and love and respect myself a little more, too. When I got back to Asnieres, the house was empty because Fred and Cecile and Prune are in Bretagne, but I felt lucky to be who I am in the universe I live in and live the life I live. I climbed into my bed and rolled around ‘till I was warm and then I fell asleep happy. 2015 had been a huge year of ups and downs, but finishing it made me feel strong, and 2016 was already off to a great start. :)
*dinner
I had so much to say about my trip to Italy that I decided not to blog about my week around the trip, but I have a couple pictures that I thought you would enjoy that have nothing to do with my trip and I want to include them!
Before going to visit Anna, I took a trip to the Eiffel Tower with Prune and Cecile’s Italian family, and it was a really nice day.
Also, the day after I got back from Italy, I decided to explore the Pompidou Museum since everyone I knew was still out of town. I really enjoyed the museum because it was so weird hahha. It is filled with modern and contemporary art and everything was strange and whimsical and interesting.
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