1.07.2008

my overseas adventure // part 2 of 4

12.19.07, day seven

Cathy set her alarm for 5:45 p.m. instead of 5:45 a.m. We woke up more than an hour late. Shit. We manage to make it to the train station with a few minutes to spare. We get on the wrong train. Double shit. We get off in time to prevent going north instead of south. And miraculously, we make it to Florence right on schedule.

It’s a lot more metropolitan here. High-end stores with old-world flair. There are magnificent monuments that seem to pop out of nowhere. Very cool.

We’re noticing that we’ve lost weight. Yet my parents still complain that we eat too much (we’re averaging 1.5 sandwiches a day, plus a handful of fruit, and not enough water) or we aren’t walking enough (we’re at about 20,000 steps per day).

I still want my crepe.

I’m really missing all my friends back home.


12.20.07, day eight

Five days till Christmas. Doesn’t feel like it, though. This place is far less commercial than it is back home. I miss the Christmas carols.

We went to the Galleria Dell ‘Academia today and saw Michelangelo’s statue of David. It was pretty spectacular. My favorite, though, was actually a sculpture titled “The Rape of the Sabine,” a beautiful piece centered on a rotating axis, allowing for infinite points of view. The three bodies of the sculpture are depicted in incredible form, and it reminds me of the ballet, the way each body falls into the other. Truly amazing.

We visited the town of Fiesola, right outside of Florence, and it was kind of a disappointment. On the way back on the bus, I sat across from a charming old Italian woman and had the best conversation with her for the entire ride back. She asked if I was from the Philippines (there are many Filipinos in Florence), and when I told her I was from the U.S. – San Francisco, in particular – she reminisced about the time, many years ago, she and her late husband visited the west coast. From there, she told me about the the best sights in Florence, commented on the unusual cold spell they were having, an shared some of the city’s Christmas traditions. The 30 minutes I spent with her will probably be something I remember many years from one as one of my favorite moments of this trip.

Coming back from Fiesola, we shopped on the streets for gifts to bring back home. Mom helped us haggle in her broken Italian; the vendors were kind enough to use their English with us. Basically, we were all trying to make a sale. I got a beautiful Pashmina scarf for myself as a souvenir.

We had our first truly satisfying meal this entire trip. We ate at a Chinese restaurant in Florence, and while there, Mom and Dad chatted it up with some Filipinos at the next table over. Though the food was good, I’m starting to crave something American. Slash fatty and greasy. Ahhh.

Tomorrow: PISA!

P.S. Almost forgot – I finally got my crepe (with Nutella)!


12.21.07, day nine

The Tower of Pisa is just as I imagined: quite large, structurally beautiful, and Leaning. A lot. We took those cheesy kind of tourist pictures where you angle the camera to make it look like you’re pushing the tower over. The one of Cathy looks amazingly fake, and with the green jacket she was wearing today, she looks like a human Godzilla.

The highlight of the day was visiting the Italian Riviera. It was such a beautiful sight, and the water reminded me of home. We took lots of pictures, and I’m pretty sure one of those will end up as my computer desktop background when I get home.

Cathy and I have this incredible ability to make each other laugh endlessly. Everywhere we go, we find something to laugh about. I’m sure people must think we’re insane. We think it’s fun. And it’s nice to spend the majority of your day with the smile on your face.

We found out today that we get free Internet access from the hotel. Yes!


12.22.07, day ten

Our last day in Florence was spent perusing the street markets and visiting Sienna, which wasn’t all that impressive. Ah well, it was nice to take it (somewhat) easy.

My ailments:

(1) My scalp is really bothering me.*

(2) I have a hard lump on the left side of my neck.*

(3) My sinuses are aggravated by all the secondhand smoke.

(4) I’m on my period and we don’t take enough bathroom breaks for me to feel comfortable.

(5) My family is starting to irritate me.

(6) I miss my friends so much and have almost-nightly dreams about them

*I saw a doctor as soon as I got home and learn that (1) is a result of the change in the weather and (2) is possibly a swollen lymph node, which may have developed because of the series of sinus infections I had this past summer.

Realization of the day: I’ve gotten past the point of family vacations. I’m afraid to talk about a lot of things with my family because it would reveal the real me, which turned out a lot different from what they had planned. I know that speaking about anything that truly mattered to me would cause arguments of gigantic proportions, and my own sanity cannot afford that, given the small amount of personal space I have at the moment. I’m treated like a child while I’m here – I can’t walk out of my parents’ sight without being yelled at; I’m not given the opportunity to exchange my American cash, which gives my parents financial control and determines when and what I’m allowed to eat; and all my purchases are criticized for my apparent lack of taste and/or practicality. Italy is beautiful, but my experience has been near torturous. I have to hold my tongue and keep my cool for 10 more days. After that, I’ll keep my distance for a while.

Thankfully, I believe this is the last place my family and I are both interested in traveling to. We’ve talked about future trips we want to take, and it seems as though we want different things from the world. From this point on, I’m on my own.

Tomorrow: Rome, our final stop in Italy.

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