the honeymoon is over

That was the unmistakable feeling I had stepping out of the airport yesterday evening. After 18 hours of traveling I had finally made it home.

Let me start with an important thing, which I have not explained until now:

Why I went to Italy this summer:

1. I had been to Italy twice before and I loved it. I was 12 the first time and 16 the second time, which is really funny to me now because I didn’t know anything about anything, but I loved it nonetheless. I didn’t really become acquainted with the culture at all, just the sights, but I liked the idea of the language and that’s why I decided to study it this year (read: more romantic than Spanish)
2. Because I could. Matt and I were sitting in Jacobson’s room and we just decided that we wanted to go… so we did. (I mean, we “could” like Mommy and Daddy “could” pay for it)

And now I’m home. Which is so WEIRD. One day you’re somewhere, the next day you’re somewhere else. Obviously, right? But still strange when somewhere is another country for 6 weeks.

Let me tell you, those Syracuse people were right: I did learn a lot. Maybe 45% was what I went there to learn — Renaissance art, Italian culture – which is not to say that I didn’t learn a lot about those things, because I did, but I learned a whole lot about other things, too.

From Italy I learned:

• There is a fine line between laid-back and lazy and Italians are RIGHT on top of it.
• Food, wowowowowow.
• How you dress is important because we’re all people in the world, right? And we’re all seeing each other all the time, right? So you might as well make someone look for a good reason.
• There are a lot of great things you can do with tomatoes.
• Many facts about art history and architecture that may be pointless in the “real world” but are going to be extremely pointful, in my non-sensical unreal life.
• Wine and beer. And similarly:
• Our drinking age is not the play.
• Since no one is working, you need to support your economy by charging for things like bathrooms and sand on the beach and water. You know, basic human needs.
• We are lucky in the US because our movies aren’t dubbed.
• We are also lucky that people know who we are in the world.
• We are also really really really annoying when it comes to tourism.
• But at the same time, Italians are really annoying when they cut you in lines.
• In Italy, I’m a dark-skinned American. In the US I’m B-B-Black.
• Our traffic laws are better.
• Though it’s a many-sided argument, I believe Italian toilets are better, especially when you add in the bidet.
• How much I miss/love Princeton.
• How annoying GIRLS can be.
• That some people just never stop talking about themselves.
• There is a huge difference between thinking you’re cool and actually being it.
• You can walk a lot more places than you think.
• How to ride the bus.
• Girls, there are a lot of guys who want to get in your pants, and for some reason think that just because you’re sitting in a park it means you’re looking for some kind of tryst/implausible romance.
• When you become a parent, it doesn’t mean you have to stop looking good or being interesting.
• It is possible to eat an ice cream cone the size of your face.
• I have a great friend in Matt LaMonaca. And,
• You don’t need plans. You don’t need to know exactly where you’re going. Just have a general idea and you’ll get there. 

I mean the last one literally – because there are signs, and maps, and human beings have invented tools to understand things you don’t know – but I also mean it metaphorically. I think the thing I loved the most about this trip was how we just did everything. It was the Nike life. We didn’t really know how anything worked until we tried it.

When I was with my parents in Rome, they were all hung up about going to this restaurant or that restaurant because they knew how it’d be. No doubt you don’t want to have crappy food, but if you have the time to develop a sensibility for knowing what looks good and what doesn’t before you even read any recommendations, you should take advantage of that. Don’t eat in the same places, don’t go the same ways.  Don’t do the same things!

I think we forget that you can, at any time, do whatever you want.

When we were in Venice, we met this Australian woman named Charlie. She had just quit her job and sold her house and was traveling in Europe for a year. You can DO that… You can just.. DO things. I know, it sounds obvious, just like when I had the realization that “the more you look, the more you see”, but it needs to be said. Haha.. Just like when some of the girls on the trip were complaining about walking I said “I mean, you have LEGS. You can USE them.” So obvious, but so not.

I’m really excited to be back, even though I’m having a little post-parting depression from leaving Italy. It’s crazy how you can be gone for 6 weeks and then come back home and everything is JUST where you left it.

I have never seen the New York City skyline look so beautiful as when we landed. It’s truly glorious to return to a country with functioning bureaucracy… to a land that understands the significance of a queue line.

But I’ll miss everything about Italy. And I’m proud to say that I didn’t get pickpocketed once! Except for the time I got mugged. Haha, that was a true statement I made to my mom. That whole incident seems so far in the past. Everyone kept telling me, “don’t let it ruin your trip”, and it really really didn’t. I had the time of my life there. And just when I was getting tired of Florence, I got to go to Rome for a few days, which is a city where I could legit see myself living. So I’m definitely going to keep studying Italian, and I will definitely be back. The honeymoon is over, but the marriage is just beginning.

When I was 16 my dream was to live in Italy and be an artist. And as cheesy as this all is, I’m so happy and so lucky that I can say I’m following my dream. And I just want everyone who’s reading this, no matter how old you are, or what you have spent your life doing, to follow your irrational dream because I don’t know what else you’d want to spend your life doing.

Matt’s Musings

italy was fun
– Matt

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I want to thank everyone for reading my blog, and keeping up with my adventures in Italy. Actually I’ve been wondering who exactly is reading it because my closest friends don’t (of course). Anyways, I’m going to keep blogging, just about stuff that I find interesting/art I’m making/things I’m doing, so please keep checking back… it will be entertaining as always.

Yours truly,
Alexis