Beach Weekends

I have spent the past 3 weekends at the beach and I must say, I'm loving it! Lately, the days in Rome have been far too hot to go outside, so I have mostly stayed in the apartment.  I look forward to the weekends when my friends don't work and I have the opportunity to get out.  Temperatures at the beach are much cooler than in the city and the sea breeze is wonderful.

This past Saturday, I went to Borgo Sabotino with Raffaele and Valeria. We didn't know where we were going when we got off the highway; we just knew that the beach was nearby and decided to stop here.  The forecast called for rain north of Rome, so we decided to drive to Borgo Sabotino which is about an hour south of the city. We were lucky and didn't hit any rain.

A lot of the beaches near Rome are private and you have to pay for a chair and umbrella which runs around 8-10 euros/person. The beach at Borgo Sabotino was free, which I was all for!! I'm perfectly happy laying on my towel rather than on a lounge chair. The water at this beach was quite dirty though, as they say the sea usually is near Rome.  We went in the water when we first got there, but never again.  We found a shower nearby, so when we were hot, we would rinse off there.

A man was walking around selling fresh coconut.  Valeria asked me if I wanted a piece.  I was a little hesitant at first as I have never eaten coconut that is not shredded and comes in a bag.  It was actually quite good! It didn't have a ton of flavor and definitely tasted different than dried coconut, but I would eat it again.


Sunday, Raffaele, Simone and I went north to a beach at Santa Severa. We got a late start that morning and didn't get into Santa Severa until 11:45. We drove around for 30 minutes trying to find parking.  We finally found a spot, parked, and started walking to the beach when we saw a sign that said that cars parked on that side of the street would be towed if you park there. We walked back to the car, drove around for another 10 minutes and found no luck.  We decided to leave that part of town and drive down the road where we found a rocky beach with a ton of parking spots. Obviously, we didn't want to lay on rocks and saw in the distance the beach we wanted to be at when we had tried to find parking. The only logical thing to do, of course, was to walk to that beach.  It was at least a 20-25 minute walk on small rocks, then a dirt path, then large rocks, and finally pavement. Things in Italy are never as simple as you'd like them to be! We ended up having a great time at the beach and found a spot near a volleyball court where we watched multiple games played throughout the day.

Week 1-Rome

I have been back in Rome for a week now and don't have too much to report on.  I've been staying at Giuseppe and Francesco's apartment as it has been in the 100's everyday since we've been back. It's too hot to even go out and walk around, so I usually end up staying in the apartment watching shows online, catching up with friends, applying for jobs and, of course, eating. The boys never let me go hungry, that's for certain!

I did go out for a walk yesterday and found a little grocery store nearby. I didn't know at the time, but I later found out that it is a discount store and the quality of food is not great from there.  Francesco didn't work last night and I thought it would be nice if I made him dinner, for once. I'm at the grocery and I see these "breaded meats" in the meat section...I understood that one was breaded spinach and the other was chicken, but I thought the third was fish.  I was in the mood for fish, so I decided to buy it even though I didn't know what "tacchino" was.  I came home, looked it up, and found out it's turkey...oops! Francesco was nice about complimenting me on my dinner, but I knew that it was not very good...fail! I promised to make a better dinner for him next time.

Back to the grocery store.  I was scared to go as it was my first time at a store without an Italian, but I knew that I would have to buck up and go at some point.  In Irsina, when you want produce, there is a person working that puts it in the bag for you.  I was uncertain if that's how it worked here in Rome, as well.  I watched someone put their produce in the bag themselves, so I did the same. I'm standing in line to check-out and notice that the person in front of me with produce has a sticker on their bag with a bar code and price.  I was worried that I really wasn't supposed to put the produce in the bag myself and left the line to figure out what to do.  I had to find out how and where to get the sticker with the price! After standing in the produce section for what felt like forever, I watched someone go up to a machine, weigh their produce, type in a code and out came a sticker. It wasn't difficult at all, but it was something that I was not used to.  It's all part of the learning process of being in a foreign country!

Tuesday night, Giuseppe had the night off work. We took the bus into Trastevere and walked along the river. In the summer, there are tents set-up down there with everything from restaurants to markets to clothing stores to souvenir shops. We had a beer and shared some french fries and it was great to be down by the river.

Last night, I went to the movies with Francesco, Manuel and Valeria.  We saw, "Conan the Barbarian." It was a movie where you don't need to know the language to understand what's going on as there was a lot of killing and screaming, "ahhhh"...universal in all languages. So it was great in that respect, but overall, it was not a good movie. I was appreciative to just be out and about for the evening.

Irsina

Francesco and I got back to Rome late Friday night from Irsina.  We were supposed to stay for 10 days, but ended up staying 15. To say that I miss Irsina now is an understatement!! We had such a fun time in our two weeks there and i'm so grateful to Francesco for opening his life to me and including me in everything that he did.

Most people in Italy are on holiday for the month of August, so everyone that's from Irsina, comes home for the month.  The town only has a population of 4,000, but there are at least another 1,000 people there in August. Francesco's high school class was 20 people! I'm pretty sure I met all 20 of those people while I was there.  All of his friends are amazing and treated me like they've known me forever. At first, many of them were shy to talk to me because they were worried about not speaking English well, but by the end of my time there, everyone was talking to me in English. I told them all that they speak much more English than I do Italian!! I am learning some though, but have been spoiled going everywhere with Francesco where he can translate/order things for me.

Life in Irsina is definitely "la dolce vita." It is a small town set in the hills of Southern Italy.  It has the most beautiful landscape and the sunsets at night are gorgeous.  My life for 2 weeks consisted of sleeping until 1:30pm, just in time for lunch, maybe a nap or coffee with friends, dinner at 9:30-10pm, then out on the town.  In August, the main street in town closes to cars and people walk up and down socializing with one another. We did this EVERY night.  There are 2 bars that people hang out at...one is in Irsina vecchio (old Irsina) and one is in the newer part of town. We stayed out until 4, 5, 6, even 7am every night.

Francesco's uncle picked us up from the bus station when we got into town and took us to his house for lunch.  His Aunt made us spaghetti.  I've never been good at eating spaghetti and I usually cut it because I find that to be easier for me.  My first bite, I cut the spaghetti, not even thinking about it and you better believe I was not allowed to cut it again! They were all teaching me how to eat spaghetti correctly and I had a very difficult time learning.  Everyone eats so fast and I think they had to wait about 20 minutes while I finished my pasta.  I'm getting better at eating faster, but i'm still the last one to finish.

Francesco's mom made us lunch everyday. She is such an amazing cook.  Lunch always consisted of a pasta dish, followed by prosciutto, mozzarella, bread, salad, then fruit (watermelon, figs, grapes, peaches, melon, plums, etc-all fresh from their garden) and occasionally, I would have room for a cookie. They only cook with ingredients that are in season, which I love. Dinner was around 9:30-10:30 every night and was usually some kind of meat and vegetable dish, followed by prosciutto, mozzarella, salad and bread, then fruit. Dinners were always lighter than lunches, but still plenty of food that I never went hungry.  I only woke up early enough for breakfast one day while I was there. His mom set-out shortbread cookies, plum cake, nutella and bread, and chocolate cake for me to choose from. It's certainly a different breakfast than i'm used to in the states.

My second day there, we had lunch in the countryside with 15 of Francesco's friends.  We traveled on a dirt road 15 minutes outside of the city and drove up the side of a mountain, where his friend's family owns land. We ate ALL day! First was bruschetta, cheese, and pinwheel sandwiches.  Next, was lasagna, then the meat course, followed by salad, then fruit and cake. It was certainly a feast.  We were there for 6 hours.

One night, we were hanging out in the square at 4:30am, when we saw a firetruck go by.  Now, Irsina is too small of a town to have a fire department, so the closest one is in Matera, which is a 30 minute drive. They say that nothing exciting ever happens in Irsina, so when something exciting does happen, everyone goes to watch.  It turns out that someone blew up a Romanian woman's car.  I guess someone didn't like her.  So the firemen are putting out the fire, when one of them comes up to me and asks if I have any gum.  I had one piece left in my purse and gave it to him.  I thought that he just wanted a piece of gum to chew, but as it turns out, they used the gum to stop the gas that had been used to blow up the car from leaking out of the house.  Everyone joked that I saved Irsina that night!

Francesco's friend from highschool, Francesco (Ceccho) got married while we were there.  Francesco and his best friend, Domenico, each needed to get a suit, shoes, belt and tie for the wedding.  We spent 2 days shopping for them.  One day was spent in Matera for 6 hours that was a very unsuccessful day.  They bought nothing! Another day was spent in Bari.  We left Irsina at 9am that morning; it's an hour drive to Bari. We didn't get back to Irsina until 9:30 that night!! The boys were extremely picky as to what they wanted to buy.  Everything they tried on, they didn't like.  I thought I was going to lose my mind.  Domenico lives in Bari, so we were able to go to his house to take an hour nap while the stores were closed for lunch.  I never would have lasted without that nap!

Last Saturday and Sunday, we went to the sea at Policoro.  Both days were beautiful and we had so much fun with his friends.  Their beach days consist of swimming, playing cards, playing volleyball and racketball, having an apertivo at the bar in the afternoon and a little sunbathing. I'm so used to just going to the beach, listening to my ipod and doing nothing. There was a ping-pong table at the bar, where I challenged Domenico to a match because I told him I grew up with a table at my house.  I've never been good at the game, but that day, I played the best I ever have and won!! I was so proud because everyone told me what a good player Domenico is.

Francesco hosted a big dinner party our final night in Irsina.  There were 40 people that came.  We worked all day preparing.  Domenico and Alessandro made the pizza dough, enough to make 35 pizzas.  The girls came over and we helped prepare all of the toppings.  People started coming over around 9pm and everyone wanted to help out.  The last pizza was made around 2-3am! At the end of the night, some people thought it would be fun to have a water fight.  I was washing dishes in the kitchen, when this guy, Michele, picked me up, took me outside and they poured a whole bucket of water on me!! Another guy, Giambaptista, went home and brought back a water gun.  Everyone was soaking wet, but it was a lot of fun.  We danced, talked, and celebrated our last night until 6am.  It was great to have everyone together one last time.

It didn't take long at all for me to feel like Francesco's friends were my friends.  In a few short days, we would go out together, but I would go off with his friends, while he was able to do what he wanted and we would meet back up at the end of the night. We were definitely very sad about leaving Irsina and coming back to Rome.  I understand that soon everyone will be gone, but we were the first of the friends to leave. Rome is so much bigger and Francesco and Giuseppe are both working long days at the restaurant now.  I know that soon their friends in Rome will become my friends, but I feel like I have to start all over again. I'm so grateful for the experiences I had in Irsina and will always treasure them.

Everyone lives in different parts of the country, whether it be Turin, Milano, Perugia, Bologna, Parma, Napoli, Bari, etc. I hope to be able to visit some of those cities while i'm here and see his friends again.  Everyone comes back at Christmastime and Easter, but they say that it's nothing like August. There were basketball and volleyball tournaments, a treasure hunt, concerts many nights in the square, a wine festival, etc.  Irsina is definitely a community in every sense of the word. It's now time for me to get to know Rome and to start establishing my life here.  My "vacation" is over and now starts my adventure here. I'm nervous about ordering my first cappuccino and finding my way around the city, but I look forward to the challenge and am ready to take it on.

Yesterday, Pippo invited me to go to the beach with him and 3 friends.  It was so nice of them to invite me. I came home for 30 minutes to shower and we were off to a dinner party at Roberto's house for the rest of the evening.  My first day spent in Rome and I was already not alone! Tonight, my friend, Simone's band is playing at a bar; they play American cover music, so I'm sure it will be a lot of fun!

Sarah and Frankie's Big Adventure

I made it safely to Rome this morning.  The 9 hour flight was brutal.  I tried to sleep as much as I could since I got in at 9:30am and wanted to have the energy to do stuff today.  Anna surprised me at the airport; she was supposed to leave for Spain this morning, but doesn't leave until tomorrow morning!

Giuseppe got me set-up with a cellphone.  I got the cheapest flip phone they had.  It's a pay-as-you-go phone which is great for me because I can't imagine using my cell too often.

I leave first thing tomorrow morning for Irsina (Giuseppe's hometown) with his brother, Francesco. He is staying there for 15 days, but I'm not sure how long I will stay. At least 10 days.  All of their friends have left Rome since August is holiday.  Irsina is a small town of approximately 4,000.  Most people don't speak English there.  It will certainly be an experience since my Italian is not great.  I suppose it's all part of the adventure!

I don't think I will have internet access in Irsina, so I will update about my trip when I get back. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post as well.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

My love for Italy started last May when I visited for the first time. My younger brother, Andy, was studying abroad in Rome for a semester at John Cabot University, so the whole Smith gang visited for 2 weeks. I went back to Chicago and Italy was all I could think about for the next couple months. 

Fast forward to September 2010.  I went to San Diego for a few days with my cousin, his girlfriend, Susan, Giuseppe and four of his Italian friends.  Giuseppe and 2 of his friends then came to Chicago.  We all went out one night with my friend, Anna, and had the night of our lives.  The next day I talked to Anna and asked her how she would feel about moving to Rome. She agreed and it's now 11 months later and i'm finally leaving!! There have been a few roadblocks along the way, but the time has finally come. 

I leave Cleveland tomorrow afternoon, August 2nd, and arrive in Rome early Wednesday morning.  Anna is going to nanny a family in Spain for a month, so I won't see her until September.  I'm bummed that i'll just miss her, but it will give me a chance to get settled in Rome before she comes back. Giuseppe will pick me up from the airport and i'm beyond excited.

Let the adventure begin....