Hello Again!
I write you now from Naples, Italy: the Bel Paese’s very own Posto al Sole.
For those of you who don’t know, I lived here as
a foreign exchange student for about nine months one year ago (which explains
why I speak Italian). I stayed in Naples with two different host families over
the course of my program, and I met a huge amount of people between school and
activities. Above all, I had a wonderful time. To me, Naples is my own true
Italian home.
Beyond normal things such as being so very very
glad to be eating wonderful food, to be seeing the sea, and to be diving and
dodging through the tiny streets again, I’m very happy to be able to come back
and visit everyone. I’m staying with another family that was very good to me
and I’ve been up to a lot in the meantime.
The first and most important thing that I’ve been
out and about doing is revisiting all of the friends that I made while I was
here. The first day back, I went by on the last day of school to try to terrorize
all of the classes of students that I knew in my time there, as well as run into
some of my old teachers and visit the principal. Let’s just say that Operation
Invasion was a huge success. I passed by the principal’s office without
thinking about it too much at first and she thought that she saw a vision. Next
thing I knew, I was wrapped in her arms. Over the course of the rest of the
hour, she and I had an immense amount of fun calling all of the teachers to the
office individually over the intercom and saying that they needed to coming
with “massima urgenza.” It was so
funny to see their faces when they realized what the “big problem” was. I had a
great day full of lots of surprised faces and warm regreetings.
Halfway through my week and a half stay down
here, my mom and siblings made the long 5-hour train ride down to the city to
see the place that I called home for so long. I picked them up at the station
and took them to their hotel straight away just to get everything square, and
then we set off immediately on a travel program that I wrote just for them…
Our first stop was a lunch break at Trattoria
Nennella.
Here, I was able to get them to have a
satisfyingly close representation of a real, home-cooked Italian meal. They had
a delicious potato and cheese pasta dish (the special of Nennella) and
spaghetti Carbonara, and they loved both. And at last, they also got to try real
buffalo mozzarella and absolutely adored it.
Next I took them up to Vomero (the neighborhood
where I lived) and showed them where I used to do everything. They saw the
school, the church, my houses, places where we hung out, places where we went
walking, the stores where I used to get food and books, everything. They even
got to see the view from the Castle St. Elmo over the whole city. That evening,
I got together a big dinner with my exchange coordinator, all the families
hosting me, and a few friends from school. It went so well. My family got to
finally eat the real Neapolitan pizza (the best!) and meet everyone who took
care of me over the course of the year. My siblings had a good time talking to
some of the people I went to school with, even though they had to work hard to
cross the language barrier. At the end of the night, the family hosting me now
took me and them on a scenic car ride to see Naples by night – one of my
favorite views in the world. Mom said it was like something out of her dreams.
The next morning, they took a bike ride on the street that runs along the
sea, appropriately called Lungomare.
Now (and this is new even for me) it’s closed to street traffic, and people
ride bikes, go skating, and just walk there. It’s so beautiful. I admit that I
really hope it stays that way, because it makes the seaside even nicer. All my
little siblings enjoyed the ride, and I took them to have some typical
Neapolitan and Italian sweets afterward.
After lunch, we made our last pass down Spaccanapoli,
the famous street that cuts the old city in half and has some of the neatest
and most iconic shops in the city: the ones that sell the Presepi. Mom, who loves art, almost never left. And, of course, my
sisters got their taste of shopping. They all had a wonderful visit to Naples and
went back home very content later that day.
Friday some friends and I went to the beach at
Gaiola and I had my “primo mare” of
the year. I caught some sun, went exploring and cliff jumping, chatted in Italian
and in English, and had a good day at the sea. Thanks to the rocks where we
went exploring, my fingers and toes were pretty cut up by the end of the day
(so I’m a little worried about violin practice now) but it was a great sojourn.
Then, that night, I got a crash course lesson in
being a lead singer.
Gabriele, who is the guy I’m staying with (the
oldest son in the family) is a bassist in a sort of band, and he wanted me to
come with them for their latest show to sing “Cough Syrup” by Young the Giant.
They are above all a hard rock music group and occasionally do covers of
Italian and other rock songs. Here is a video of them actually playing
normally.
Anyway, Gabbò was quite excited to have a someone
whose mother language was English to sing a song; so much so that he insisted
all the other players learn “Cough Syrup” and play it that night without ever
having practiced it together before (granted, the song is not exactly that hard
to learn, but there may have been a misjudgment on (Gabbò) someone’s part)…
After getting everything from the microphone (which
was having issues) to the (awful) acoustics of the room figured out, the guys
played. I still hadn’t heard anyone play anything that sounded like “Cough
Syrup” (not even during the first practices or the sound check) so at that
point I had actually decided I wouldn’t have to worry about it. But in the end they
called me on stage after all, so I gave the camera to Livia (Gabriele’s sister)
so she could record everything.
I’ll put on the video without telling you about
the surprise that the guys made me by accident. I’ll just say that they were
always a hard rock group and it was my first time ever to sing on stage with a
band.
Ah wow. At least in the end it turned out
alright.
Over the last few days, I’ve been in Ischia with
my first host family. We went to the beach twice yesterday (including at The
Abasciatore Hotel that Uncle Pietro owns and maintains) and I even got to try small
boat sailing and retake up windsurfing. I hope to return to Ischia again to
stay longer someday, but until then I’ll just have to salute everyone dear to me
there and sling my pack back on my shoulders.
Over the next two weeks, I’m not sure where I’ll
be. I suppose I’ll just be – as the Italians would say – in giro. I’m doing well and continuing to enjoy my adventure. Now,
if I could just find a way to see this straight, I’ll run away to some fortune
that I should have found by now. Until then, I’m waiting for this cough syrup
to go down.
.
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