It's Getting Real

I've got three words for ya'll... "It's getting real." Just yesterday, we purchased three brand-spanking-new rolling duffle-bags. But of course they wounldn't be complete without 3 adorable luggage tags--mine is in a buckle shape and blue with pink edges. I also bought an eye-mask and ear plugs for a more relaxing sleep! After my mom got a new make-up bag, we all have our own unique one. Also, we went to Target and acquired a few necessary staple items. If that wasn't good enough, I just recieved an e-mail forwarded from my dad with flight information. In exactly 2 weeks and 6 days, on May 12th, we'll be boarding a plane at 1:30 P.M. After being contained to a cramped up, small breathing area, with few moveable inches for 10 or so hours we'll finally arrive in Londan. If that isn't bad enough, at 8:50, after barely an hour of walking around, we'll hop on our next flight to Milano, which lasts close to 2 hours long. From there we'll be picked up and swiftly ushered to Como, about an hours drive away. All said and done, we'll be at our final destination at around 1:00 P.M. on May 13th (nearly 24 hours after leaving the San Fransico airport, as well as beloved America).

"Things I've Learned in Italy" #7 & #8: On Being Green


7) Whenever possible, ride up on the bumper of the car in front of you and draft it. Bikes do it why shouldn't you.


8) When you go to the grocery store... bring your own bags. This apparently saves on the landfill waste. But to make up for the reduction, milk and juice are packaged in containers which will survive a nuclear blast. Really, all that will be left are the the cockroaches and the milk containers.

Preparation

Today, we just barely dodged a near catastrophy... Jamie was on the brink of not going to Italy. "Why?", you may ask. Well, we have permanently "misplaced" her passport. Something, as you may know, is essential to leaving the country. But need not fret, we have ordered a new one, and, on the bright side, the passport will be coming in a mere 2-3 days before we are flying. Just in time--don't you think? So as you could imagine, my mom is pretty stressed right now. But other than that we're pretty much ready to go. Oh who am I kidding? Nothing's ready. The house is far from being packed up, more clothes shopping is yet to be done, the house-sitter still has to be given all nessesary directions, and our technology, newpaper, mail, etc, must be suspended. So buckle up and bare with me through these stessful last weeks. But for now, well... Ciao.

"Thing I've learned in Italy #4,#5, & #6": Driving

4) Roundabouts appear to be a legalized form of gambling... with one's life.


5) Speed limit signs are merely suggestions. Please don't take offense by their ideas. The implied suggestion seems more to be "do not go below this limit".


6) The most dangerous place in all of Italy is not down some dark alley at night; it's merging onto a highway. Seriously, whoever designed the Italian on-ramp was either into population control or a form of Darwinism (survival of the fittest). In the U.S. I'm sure the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) would be all over this...

Lanuage

I can officially say that after tonight's movie of "Under the Tuscan Sun" I am definitely more excited for Italy. After seeing the spectacular views and beautiful houses I am ecstatic to experience all of it. For all of you who have watched the movie you'll know where I'm coming from. But for the newbies to the movie I would highly recommend it if you would like to get a taste of Italy. Speaking of Italy, we have been hastily taking in the language as bast as possible. What with our numerous books, online sources, and even technology applications. In fact Jamie was pleasantly surprised that the phrase "Are service dogs allowed here" made the top 10 common phrases in one of our books. I'm sure my sister will also be happy when she finds out that some Italians cannot roll their R's--she'll fit right in ;)! In the beginning I thought that all of these Spanish lessons would just be a waste, until, after further phrase-book-reading, I found out that they are extremely similar. In some cases, all you have to do is change a letter or two in a phrase.

More from my dad's e-mail:

"Thing I've Learned in Italy" #2 & #3:Time


2) Don't focus so much on time (as in it's 3:00, time for the meeting). Despite the fact that Italy borders Switzerland... punctuality did not survive the Alpine traverse.


3) The calendar on the computer starts on Monday. Get used to it. Embrace it.