On Sunday I was heading out to this small town outside of Florence. This town is so small that is not even on Google Maps unless you know to look for it. In Marridi I would find a pretty famous and highly popular Chestnut festival (otherwise know as: Castagne di Marroni).
However my story doesn't begin truly until I reached the S.M.Novella train station and bought my train ticket. It was 20 to 11 and I figured I had time to settle myself on the train, set up my sketch pad, pull out my almonds for a nice train snack (clean, requires no additional steps other than eat, and quiet) and watch as I go through the Tuscan hills. Oh boy was I wrong.
I'm sitting in my kitchen eating zucchini (just zucchini) out of a bowl disproportionally large to its contents, and drinking ice tea out of a wine glass. Somehow in my mind this makes sense for a Monday night. Thinking back to the strange weekend I just had.... Somewhere down the line it probably did. Lets start off with Saturday morning, I wish I could say I was bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to take on the day. In reality, I was having an epic battle within myself as to which idea sounded better: staying in my plush down bed all morning with a cup of tea and not a care in the world? Or would I make the great trek out to Bologna like I had been planning all week. I am ashamed to say the bed came so close to winning. Closer than I would like to admit. So with great regret, and mild disgruntlement I made my way to the train station at 7am with what was promising to be an interesting day.
Paris was such an unexpected adventure. I left with the intentions of only staying two days at a friends flat and ended up staying for four! I have had many a crazy travel shenanigan in my day but nothing compared to what this past weekend had in store for me. It all started in India where I met Solen(see India Part I), we had such a fab time on our trip and hanging out we both invited each other to visit any time. So my first free weekend I booked a trip out to Paris to visit! I planned a short stay friday night through Sunday afternoon, just expecting Solen to show me a couple thing but thinking I would be trekking out on my own for the most part. I was so wrong, not only did she show me around, introduce me to the locals and show me the inner workings of Paris but when tragic circumstances struck she saved my life quite literally. My trip was mind blowing and I owe it to Solen for showing me all that she did.
I awoke, early the next morning (day two) feeling bruised and like I had taken a turn in a washing machine on high... I would soon learn, that the feeling would be a reoccurring event each morning. We arose extra early to try and watch the sunrise over the Taj Mehal. By the time we had walked over to the Taj, the sun had already risen and there was a considerable line. There were four different lines to get in to seethe monument: Indian Men, Men, Indian Women, Women with seperate prices for each group. I'll leave you to your own emotions on that on, but we had gotten half way through the line when we realized, they didn't sell tickets. Robin ran back to one of the shop owners who had tried to corral us into buying something from him, and somehow convinced him to take her on his moped to buy tickets and that we would stop in after our trip inside.
As I sit in my room in Florence, I think back to how all the events unfolded to create my trip to India. Where do I even start? Do I start in September when Robin Joking mention me visiting? DO I start with crazy visits and running around New York with my mom and sister? Or does the adventure really start when I get off the plane. I believe that adventure is in the eyes of the beholder. I had cleaned out my fridge, picked up such essentials as pro-biotics, a multitude of drugs, a new bag that I wouldn't mind sacrificing to India and other such wonderful trinkets. The one thing I did pick up was some good old fashioned Italian Pizza. I was ready to go.
Its been such a whirlwind I haven't been able to think straight everything happened so fast I can't believe its almost over. As I suspected at the beginning working 5 days a week with a rotating schedule, having graduation parties to attend, family events, and what ended up being a whole lot less time to sleep than I ever had to deal with (and I was a college student on the crew team) - my travels through CT were put on hold. although I did visit more places than I blogged about whoops. I had much less free time than I anticipated.
I did see so many things during my brief travels and definitely learned a lot about myself and Connecticut. The main point that was really emphasized by not only the people I spoke to but also the culture of many towns was the importance of tradition and family. When I boil down everything I heard from people around our great state family and tradition was the overwhelming sentiment. Someday I think it would be a great project to pick up again as it was so interesting, a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be! There are so many hidden gems in Connecticut than people give it credit for(myself included) and it can be extremely easy to discount as boring if you don't know where to look.
What: working in retail, visiting friends and living with my family this summer taught me was to have courage in my convictions and to be more confident in my decisions. I made some friends, had some laughs and learned some new tricks. Month's ago I used to joke that I wasn't going to leave college without a fight, I was actually at peace after I got settled back at home. My School is just a bunch of buildings, but the college experience I loved and will miss is college; that is doing Teach-For-America in Newark, that is going to India for a year to study women in Rugby, that is going to Ireland to be a screen writer, that is working in the Manhattan, and the other million and one people doing amazing things. That is what I will miss, and as I learned this summer- that college wont end just because we aren't living together in that physical place any more.
Fast forward two months of working long hours, seeing people every other weekend, and a sudden realization of my love of Iron and Wine and you arrive at the end of July.
Thursday July 28th - I get a call offering me the job to be the RD in Florence
Tuesday August 2nd - I move into campus housing
Sunday August 21st - I will fly out to Florence
So in the span of four days I packed up my entire room, got my finances in order and went back to school for
training. I lugged all my suitcases up one flight of stairs which was enough for me reconsider every single item I packed, there is no way I need all of those clothes! Especially if I am going to not only have to lug them on a 5 hour train ride, through the airport, connecting flight, and up six flights of stairs. No way Jose. I tell anyone who asks about traveling is to pack light, you need a lot less than you think you do! Only, I didn't take my own advise. Everyone re-wears clothes when they travel and you can always buy clothes there. However my logic in the extraordinary amount of things I packed (two of the largest suitcases I could find in JCPenny, a rolling carry on, side bag and purse all packed to the brim) is that.... and how do I put this delicately..... I am not of average size. I have on occasion (in jest of course) been compared to an Ent (a mystical tree in the book series Lord of the Rings) for my contemplative nature and tall stature. They don't exactly carry Ent-sized clothing in European stores as the average size woman I overshot by 8 inches before my freshman year of college. My choices are very limited when I comes to replacing the simple things like shoes, and pants which most people don't think of as difficult items to buy - I may just have to develop a stronger friendship with the mail-room than I ever anticipated. As for now though I feel like I have everything packed and ready for blast off at the end of August.
