I'm always amazed and terrified by life all at the same time.
I'm scared of the unknown, yet so smitten by the fact that there are infinite possibilities for how any second, minute, hour, or your day, can unfold.
My New Years Eve was great. But if we had done a number of things differently, we wouldn't have met these incredible people.
Lara, Morgan, Morgan's friend Sierra, and I all got ready together at Morgan's house. We were running a little bit late, and had to run to the train station in heels.... At least I know now that I could definitely get out of sticky situations/save myself if I was ever wearing heels! Life skills for the win? I've never received so many mixed reactions from people in my entire life.
With literally 3 or 4 minutes before our train was supposed to leave, we arrive at the station panting. Check our train, and it says to go to Binario 4. We continue to run, get to the platform, slip onto the train, and while we're sitting down we realize that the train we are on is going to Firenze, but.... the train numbers don't match up.
Before we can do anything about it, the train sets off. Turns out, this train and our original train were running late. Just happened to be a huge coincidence that our train was late, also going to Firenze, and would soon be arriving at the same Binario.
The staff on the train let it slide. Amazing people. If we had taken our actual train, if they didn't just let it "slide," we wouldn't have met these people.
We get to Florence, wander, have random interactions. I gawked at the Duomo. It's been almost 7 years since I've seen it. Seven. Whole. Years.
We went to a club and stayed there for a bit. If we hadn't gone to this club, or decided to leave that club/bar when we did, or hadn't talked to different people we wouldn't have met these people.
Later as we were walking, we wanted to stop and get some food. It was a last minute decision, we looked to our right and chose the first cafe/bar/restaurant we saw. We sat down. Got Kebabs. I ordered mine in Italian. They didn't make us pay for the Kebabs.
Earlier we had purchased a bottle of Champagne on the street. We were sitting at this table. Completely tired (midnight had already passed), eating Kebabs, but still eager to live the night.
Then. A group of Italians just came and sat next to us. At first they didn't know what to do with us. We were all decked out in tights, heels, black dresses/skirts/shirts, make up, and pea coats. I'm sure they at first thought we couldn't speak Italian. I made a friendly comment to them.
Before we knew it, these 9-11 people befriended us and started talking with us. A mix of guys and girls. I particularly remember Gugliano, Francesca, and Enrico. There are others I remember, but I can't remember their names. These were some of the most amazing people I've ever met.
We drank the champagne with them, they bought us drinks. I told the owner of the restaurant that if he opened the bottle for us, he could have some. He got a huge smile on his face and brought over plastic cups for us.
We all told each other about our lives and got to know each other. Enrico was my crutch the whole night and helped me walk when my feet were sore. Gugliano made sure we all stayed together. And Francesca always greeted us with a smile, and every random person on the street. Whenever Francesca and I didn't see each other for 10+ minutes because we got mixed up in the group, she would always greet me like she hadn't seen me in years, with the biggest smile on her face.
Everyone in the group kind of did that. Everyone looked out for each other.
These random strangers bought us drinks the whole night. And at the end of the night they said if we ever wanted to go to Milan or Florence we had a place to stay and that they all want to meet up again some time in the future.
I just... I get left speechless over stuff like this. Over the generosity of strangers. And the capacity of people to be so open. It's beautiful. And it's one of the biggest differences between the United States and Italy. Americans -- we don't really trust people.
At 4:30 we hopped on our train. It didn't leave for almost another hour. I've never seen a train so packed. We had to sit in the middle of the aisle. To stretch our my legs, I had to put them under other people's seats. The train took forever. We all passed out on the train. Every time we got to a random town, when we all thought we'd finally be arriving in Bologna -- everyone would say in Italian -- "But where are we, does this city even exist?"
It was pretty hilarious.
We all got into Bologna eventually around 7:30ish. We jetted over to Morgan's. I grabbed my stuff, changed my shoes, and walked to my house. When we got into Bologna the sun was just starting to come up. When I was walking home, the sun was coming up behind the two towers.
The city was in transition between people finally going to bed, and those who were early risers.
People were cleaning the streets, and prepping it for the street sweepers. The city got destroyed for NYE.
One worker said Buongiorno, Buon Anno, and Auguri to me. I was tired and kept walking. That was so rude of me. Every employee I saw after that I said buongiorno.
When I finally got to my street, I saw buongiorno to one, and he asked "tutto a posto;" is everything okay? Did you celebrate last night?
I looked pretty tired. I said yes, I had just returned from Florence. He was surprised I didn't stay in Bologna, but when I said I was a foreigner he understood. We talked for a little bit about what I was studying, how he was doing. Others listened in on the conversation, but didn't say much. He was an old, but super sweet man.
I said I had to go upstairs, but I told them Happy New Year and have a good day. He said you too. And wished me well in the rest of my life.
As I was walking upstairs, I thought I should make them coffee. I eagerly got upstairs, looked out my window to the street to ask if they wanted some, but they were gone.
I just got back from having french toast casserole, rosemary potatoes, and eggs at Morgan's while we indulged in our guilty pleasure of Gossip Girl. The girls are napping at her house right now. I couldn't fall asleep, so I came home for a little bit.
I'm going back over to her house for dinner.
On the way home, I had my ipod in, and then realized how stupid that was. It's my last day of being 21, I'm days a way from coming home. I need to be present. I first paused my ipod, but kept the headphones in. Then when I realized a church I always pass by, but never see open, had it's doors ajar, I took out my headphones and headed in.
This church was beautiful. I was overcome with chills as I was staring at the flickering tea candles, while I could still here the saxophone player outside jamming "Stranger's in the Night."
It's the first day of 2013. For now, I love the unpredictability of it all. But also with my last semester of undergrad about to start, I'm starting to feel myself be paralyzed by fear. If you guys ever notice that I'm losing this sense of self, awareness, and excitement for life again... please hit me over the head.
I hope you all had an amazing NYE. Good luck with all your goals and hopes.
I'm scared of the unknown, yet so smitten by the fact that there are infinite possibilities for how any second, minute, hour, or your day, can unfold.
My New Years Eve was great. But if we had done a number of things differently, we wouldn't have met these incredible people.
Lara, Morgan, Morgan's friend Sierra, and I all got ready together at Morgan's house. We were running a little bit late, and had to run to the train station in heels.... At least I know now that I could definitely get out of sticky situations/save myself if I was ever wearing heels! Life skills for the win? I've never received so many mixed reactions from people in my entire life.
With literally 3 or 4 minutes before our train was supposed to leave, we arrive at the station panting. Check our train, and it says to go to Binario 4. We continue to run, get to the platform, slip onto the train, and while we're sitting down we realize that the train we are on is going to Firenze, but.... the train numbers don't match up.
Before we can do anything about it, the train sets off. Turns out, this train and our original train were running late. Just happened to be a huge coincidence that our train was late, also going to Firenze, and would soon be arriving at the same Binario.
The staff on the train let it slide. Amazing people. If we had taken our actual train, if they didn't just let it "slide," we wouldn't have met these people.
We get to Florence, wander, have random interactions. I gawked at the Duomo. It's been almost 7 years since I've seen it. Seven. Whole. Years.
We went to a club and stayed there for a bit. If we hadn't gone to this club, or decided to leave that club/bar when we did, or hadn't talked to different people we wouldn't have met these people.
Later as we were walking, we wanted to stop and get some food. It was a last minute decision, we looked to our right and chose the first cafe/bar/restaurant we saw. We sat down. Got Kebabs. I ordered mine in Italian. They didn't make us pay for the Kebabs.
Earlier we had purchased a bottle of Champagne on the street. We were sitting at this table. Completely tired (midnight had already passed), eating Kebabs, but still eager to live the night.
Then. A group of Italians just came and sat next to us. At first they didn't know what to do with us. We were all decked out in tights, heels, black dresses/skirts/shirts, make up, and pea coats. I'm sure they at first thought we couldn't speak Italian. I made a friendly comment to them.
Before we knew it, these 9-11 people befriended us and started talking with us. A mix of guys and girls. I particularly remember Gugliano, Francesca, and Enrico. There are others I remember, but I can't remember their names. These were some of the most amazing people I've ever met.
We drank the champagne with them, they bought us drinks. I told the owner of the restaurant that if he opened the bottle for us, he could have some. He got a huge smile on his face and brought over plastic cups for us.
We all told each other about our lives and got to know each other. Enrico was my crutch the whole night and helped me walk when my feet were sore. Gugliano made sure we all stayed together. And Francesca always greeted us with a smile, and every random person on the street. Whenever Francesca and I didn't see each other for 10+ minutes because we got mixed up in the group, she would always greet me like she hadn't seen me in years, with the biggest smile on her face.
Everyone in the group kind of did that. Everyone looked out for each other.
These random strangers bought us drinks the whole night. And at the end of the night they said if we ever wanted to go to Milan or Florence we had a place to stay and that they all want to meet up again some time in the future.
I just... I get left speechless over stuff like this. Over the generosity of strangers. And the capacity of people to be so open. It's beautiful. And it's one of the biggest differences between the United States and Italy. Americans -- we don't really trust people.
At 4:30 we hopped on our train. It didn't leave for almost another hour. I've never seen a train so packed. We had to sit in the middle of the aisle. To stretch our my legs, I had to put them under other people's seats. The train took forever. We all passed out on the train. Every time we got to a random town, when we all thought we'd finally be arriving in Bologna -- everyone would say in Italian -- "But where are we, does this city even exist?"
It was pretty hilarious.
We all got into Bologna eventually around 7:30ish. We jetted over to Morgan's. I grabbed my stuff, changed my shoes, and walked to my house. When we got into Bologna the sun was just starting to come up. When I was walking home, the sun was coming up behind the two towers.
The city was in transition between people finally going to bed, and those who were early risers.
People were cleaning the streets, and prepping it for the street sweepers. The city got destroyed for NYE.
One worker said Buongiorno, Buon Anno, and Auguri to me. I was tired and kept walking. That was so rude of me. Every employee I saw after that I said buongiorno.
When I finally got to my street, I saw buongiorno to one, and he asked "tutto a posto;" is everything okay? Did you celebrate last night?
I looked pretty tired. I said yes, I had just returned from Florence. He was surprised I didn't stay in Bologna, but when I said I was a foreigner he understood. We talked for a little bit about what I was studying, how he was doing. Others listened in on the conversation, but didn't say much. He was an old, but super sweet man.
I said I had to go upstairs, but I told them Happy New Year and have a good day. He said you too. And wished me well in the rest of my life.
As I was walking upstairs, I thought I should make them coffee. I eagerly got upstairs, looked out my window to the street to ask if they wanted some, but they were gone.
I just got back from having french toast casserole, rosemary potatoes, and eggs at Morgan's while we indulged in our guilty pleasure of Gossip Girl. The girls are napping at her house right now. I couldn't fall asleep, so I came home for a little bit.
I'm going back over to her house for dinner.
On the way home, I had my ipod in, and then realized how stupid that was. It's my last day of being 21, I'm days a way from coming home. I need to be present. I first paused my ipod, but kept the headphones in. Then when I realized a church I always pass by, but never see open, had it's doors ajar, I took out my headphones and headed in.
This church was beautiful. I was overcome with chills as I was staring at the flickering tea candles, while I could still here the saxophone player outside jamming "Stranger's in the Night."
It's the first day of 2013. For now, I love the unpredictability of it all. But also with my last semester of undergrad about to start, I'm starting to feel myself be paralyzed by fear. If you guys ever notice that I'm losing this sense of self, awareness, and excitement for life again... please hit me over the head.
I hope you all had an amazing NYE. Good luck with all your goals and hopes.
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