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!
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