Spain, Florence and Venice

"Do you know where this street is?" "No, Mi dispiace." "Do you want to take a ride with me in my car?" "Oh absolutely, you are probably about 50 years older than I am, I met you two seconds ago, and you have already given me the cheesy line of 'Youre the most beautiful thing Ive seen in all of Rome' Yes please, open your car door because in all honesty I cant think of a better way to spend my Saturday night." NOT!

So for some reason, and I cant understand why, all the men that show interest in me are older than my father. No joke. There are plenty of beautiful Italian guys my age, but nope, they dont say one word to me. Lovely.

Oh and just a little detail for those in the Ruocco family, this man's name was Stefano. No lie. But no, he wasn't smoking a cigarette. But Im sure if he was, I would have fallen in love! (Just kidding Meema)

Ive been all over the place lately, I went to Spain for a week with a friend from the TEFL course. Her and I had quite the adventure on the ferry ride which should have taken 16 hours and ended up being more than 24. I still am amazed that I did not puke from the tipping back and forth of the boat. In case that wasnt enough, about 75 percent of the ferry was filled with Italian teenagers who seemed to spread out in the lobby and discoteque area like a contagious disease. No offense to the teenagers reading this. It just seemed as though the only place to be was in the hall or in our small sleeper room which consisted of two bunkbeds and a tiny bathroom. But in contrast to the sleepers on the trains, it was a luxurious ride! Sherry and I met a girl named Maggie who lived in Italy but was from Hungary. She had a friend in Barcelona who was going to help her get a job there. He too was Italian, but he spoke some Spanish. Maggie spoke very little English. So, when all four of us sat down to eat once we were on land (although it felt as though the ground was still rocking back and forth) Andrea had to speak through me if he wanted to talk to Sherry. And if I really wanted to say something to Maggie, I had to tell Andrea and he then translated to her. We contemplated the idea of all livnig together in Barcelona. We decided that probably after 2 or 3 months, we'd all be trilingual or quadralingual.

On the train to Madrid, Sherry and I were in a sleeper car. This Spanish woman was directing all of us in the cart where to go and what to do with our stuff. These sleepers hold six people, two columns of 3 beds. This woman decided that she should press her body up against mine to help us lift Sherry's suitcase onto the top bunk. That imagine in itself isnt very pleasant. But let me add more. She smelled bad, and she was one of those people who wears clothing about 10 times too small. Maybe she was trying to suck in the rolls of fat with the tight shirt, Im not sure. All I know is that the body smudge was not very pleasant. I had to get out of there. So Sherry and I went to the snack bar cart to sit down and eat our recently purchased canas (pastries) and drink our water. But there, we encountered a lovely man behind the counter who yelled at us and said if we wanted to eat there, we must purchase something from him. Grrr. I let all the atmosphere get to me and instead of charming the man and trying to work something out, I just became incredibly agitated and rather ticked off. I went and sat on the floor and ate my pastry which turned out to be not so good. Why should it be?

But then we arrived in Madrid, saw some beautiful sights, Sherry got a job, and looking back on it all, it makes for quite the story. In addition, in Barcelona, we saw a Flamenco show for all of five euros. I must say that was the best thing Ive probably ever spent my money on. Because of my Spanish culture class in college, I knew a little behind the history of the dance and really appreciated actually seeing what I had studied. I also saw some famous Spanish paintings both in Barcelona and Madrid which I studied as well. Spain is a fascinating place and Im sure I will return there again soon...just hopefully not on a ferry!

I returned to Rome and the following day my family arrived. Mom, dad, jordan and anna. We too had quite the adventure seeing as much as we possibly could in Rome, then heading to Florence and Venice. One night, we went to Zio Franco's house and had some of Zia Marias good cooking, shared gifts with the family and attempted to talk in Italian and English. It was a lovely night, and I am definitely going to miss Franco and his family.

My poor family had no time to sleep and no time for jet lag as we were constantly on the move. Overall though, it was a great time I just wish we had more than one week to see what we saw. Train jumping (catching the wrong one once which put us an hour behind...my bad!) and sleeping in a hostel...oh yes my mother slept in a hostel. Clean sheets though and one big room all for us. Not a bad deal for 21€ each. We had a lot of good food and mom and dad took way too many pictures. I hate looking like a tourist. It was inevitable though.

This is a rather long blog, sorry, I dont like writing this much. But I finally had the chance to sit down at the internet and catch up on whats been going on. Tomorrow I head back to the states, but not for long. I got a job in Honduras as a teacher at a montessori school there, so in two days time, Ill be in Central America again. I will keep you all posted.