Not Intent on Arriving

The title of the post was inspired by this.

So we leave Cortona and head on down to Cosenza.  It’s a long train ride.  Somewhere on the order of 8 hours in the train. The kids are miserable.  We’re on an InterCity train. They are notoriously slow and late.  This one was no different.

A train that looks like the one we took

The day was horrible for travel.  Outside, the temperatures hit 40 degrees celsius.  Not good for anyone who is traveling, but worse for us.  Our carozza (carriage) had air conditioning, but it was not working.  In one of the compartments, I put Rob and Lowell.  The two of them quickly found this was the worst experience of their life.  They asked me when I came to check on them if they could pay to upgrade to first class.

Then, an hour or so into the ride I hear a scream.  A loud one.  One that drew the attention of everyone on the train. Rob was freaking out.  The kids in the car gradually calmed him down, but it was not a good experience.  I felt bad, but there was little I could do to fix the conditions.  Traveling south in the summer sucks.

Another two hours go by.  I keep making wellness visits.  The kids are going well.  I open one compartment.  The curtains are closed.  I ask how everyone is doing and am about to close the doors.  I notice, in the center, someone is sitting in the middle in various levels of dress.  I’m assured that they are just giving each other massages and close the door. What a wild ride.

Eventually we arrive in Cosenza.  Well first Kelly and Amanda get off at Praja because their families live out by the water.  We get off in Cosenza and are swamped by host families.  It’s a mob.  Everyone goes off on their own.  I’m grabbed by Maria, my quasi-host mom.  She drives me home and I sleep.  I barely notice how we get to my host family. I’m zoinked.

One man’s TMI (that’s “too much information” for anyone who isn’t hip out there) made me think back to a funny incident that occurred to us in Cortona.

I was walking to the grocery store today at work, looking for a quick afternoon snack. As I cross the street, a young man pulls up next to me.  He’s chatting on his cell phone.  Well, really yelling. It’s impossible not to hear what he’s talking about.  Why do people have to yell?  Does it not upset anyone else?

Well, Mr. Young Businessman wanted to have a chill evening yesterday, but some of his “bros” called him up and asked him if he wanted to get a lap dance.  I missed the next bit, but heard it again when he said, “Yeah, and then we did the Ecstasy.”

This reminded me of a young woman we saw in Cortona.  As I mentioned before, the main piazza often plays host to weddings (often of foreigners).  One day, after class, my kids wanted to go to this restaurant that overlooks the main piazza.  You can the balcony of the restaurant in this picture.

A view of the restaurant balcony

From the restaurant, we had the perfect view of everything in the piazza.  I got pumped immediately.  I saw that in a little bit a newly-married couple would leave the church.  Yay! The kids would get to see an Italian wedding. A short while later, I saw the groom and a lady leaving the church. They walked down the steps to showers of red rice (an italian tradition).

I figured the lady was part of the party but not the bride, and thought it was weird he wouldn’t walk out with the bride. But she couldn’t be the bride, I thought.  Not in a dress like that…

Now that’s not her, but she looked close to that.  Hardly bride attire.  Well, I guess it is.  But, it gave us an impression about her.  If a white wedding gown gives the impression of purity and innocence, well, this dress gave the opposite impression.  The kids made jokes about her the rest of the day.  I hope the couple is happy.  Even with that dress.

Pretty close to the dress

A funny final part to the story of the guy on the cell phone.  I had been looking to try one of these two new restaurants that have recently opened in D.C. Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza (in spite of its hidden website) have earned lots of praise, and I really want to try them.  As I’m walking past my new cell phone friend, I look over.  There they are.  Right next to each other and in a location I’ve walked past 20 times already this summer.  Every day.  I’m so silly.

A quick interview on Good Stuff Eatery (I’ll let you know how it is):

The city of Cortona gave our group so much in the way of random memories. One night, we decided that we’d hike to the top of the mountain to catch the sunset.  The walk was a stark contrast to the usual walk down the hill from our hostel that can be seen below.

Walk into town from the hostel

So that night, we hike and hike.  The group is following me, thinking that I know the way.  Hahahaha. Of course, I don’t.  I figure instead that walking upward is the right way and that eventually we’ll make it to the top.  We do eventually make it to a road that looks like it might take us there, so we stop for a picture before the sun sets.

Sunset pic!

Cute.  Well, we keep walking and determine that the road will not take us to the originally envisioned top.  I decide, instead, that we should head down for dinner.  The kids (relectantly) agree. But not before Nolan decides to disobey my orders and start climbing up the ivy on the side of the road.  Once he makes it up 15 feet (on an incredible jump by the way), he decides he’s stuck.   My exact words were, “Golly gee Nolan! Dang nab it.  You sure got yourself into a real fine pickle this time.”  Or something like that.

As always, we’d finish off our nights in Cortona with a group meeting in the boy’s room.  Then, some of us would stay and play cards (and I would win).  One night, everyone made a big deal of my sandal tan.

Jump to the last night.  We decide to go out to dinner with Serena.  I pick this restaurant that appears to have just re-opened after a holiday.  I’m super excited.  I make reservations and bring the group down.  Well, everyone first of all decided to get dressed up, which was really nice.  We get down there and the place is packed.  I can’t figure out why for a second, but then I realize.

The World Cup final is that night.  By chance, they’ve placed us in front of this huge screen where you can see the finale.  How cool.  Then, it comes time to order.  Serena pushes me (along with the kids) to have wine with dinner.  I cave, but blame her if I get in trouble.  Our antics were caught.

Our last supper

I’d point out how bored Bajia seems and how creepy Sam appears. After the meal, we head out into the piazza and catch the end of the game.  We go to our favorite meeting spot and challenge three of the Landon kids who come by to a game of mafia.  Someone, of course, kills off one of our new guests the first round (nice job guys) and the others are awkwarded out.  At the end, one of them murmurs to the other Landon kids, “come on guys, let’s go get wasted.”

We go back into the piazza and take some pictures.  Photographs were a common part of the trip and some really awesome ones were taken.  This night yielded mixed results.  Look below for a creepy one and a cute one.

It’s like Psycho and Nelly Furtado (“I’m Like a Bird“) came together and were bred with the cast of Jersey Shore.

Ah, a normal picture taken with Caitlen in the piazza.  And gelato.  Mmmmmm…. gelato.

And with that, I can say “Bye Cortona!”  It was real ganzo (cool).

To go out of order with our chronology for a second. Jump to the final day in Napoli and our train ride up to Venice. We’re about one hour into the ride and Kelly runs into me (with Bajia).  Kelly is shaken up, it’s clear she’s almost in tears.  She tells me quickly that she made a big mistake and left the group journal in the hotel room in Napoli.

I spring into action mode.  I called our local rep, who called the hotel, who got the journal from the dresser in the room where Kelly was staying.   Enzo (the local rep) later went back to the hotel, got the journal and sent it to the national office.  They sent it to me.

Today I got it.  We are reunited.  Photocopies to come shortly.

Yay!

Our time in Cortona was coming to an end.  The time had been spent wonderfully.  We took a day trips to Florence and Siena, which lived up to the expectations of the kids in more ways than one.  Travis and Lowell both purchased nice, leather jackets and treated us to a fashion show that evening at the hotel.

The cities were packed, but not overwhelmingly so.  It was a bit weird for me to be back in Florence, where I had spent more than a semester just over a year and a half ago (seems like just yesterday).  But some things never change.  I still saw the crazy woman I walked past, every time I headed to Ponte Vecchio.  When the kids had free time for shopping, I took a trek up the hill to Piazza Michelangelo, my favorite spot for thinking.

Then, I was super excited to take my kids to the little restaurant where I passed many a lunch hour during my time in Florence.  It was right on the street where Middlebury has it’s home in Florence (Via Degli Alfani).  But, I was bummed out because they had a special that day of a cheeseburger with french fries that the kids snapped up.  Nooooo!!!! American-style food.

Anyways, Florence was gorgeous, even if we didn’t get to spend enough time there.  One night as we’re back in Cortona, we happen upon this classical music concert.  It’s set in this beautiful church, right in the center of town.  The kids (much to my surprise) love it.  The music is very classical and traditional.  They wish we stay longer.  One of the girls, Kelly, notices a group of monks outside and tries to get them to chant.  It goes horribly badly.  They don’t chant and she’s horribly embarrassed.  Here begins our “chance encounters.”

Her embarrassing request out of the way, Kelly just wants to forget about it.  The next day we do this beautiful walk to a monastery in the Tuscan countryside.  Once we arrive, who do we meet?  The very same monks Kelly ran into before. She’s embarrassed, but they don’t chat.

As I begin to get over my laughing, something happens that startles me.  We get back to the hostel, now called the “brothel” by my kids, and I hear that a group of Americans is coming.  I’m thinking, “that’s cool the kids haven’t seen Americans for a while, maybe they can make friends.”

These Americans come in and take up the entire room that leads to my room.  It’s kind of awkward actually.  I talk to them though and discover they come from the private school that was right next to my high— The Landon School. The world is a small place.

And it gets even smaller.  Two days later.  The group is getting on the train to head down to our homestay in Cosenza.  We’re waiting.  Two minutes before the train pulls up a man arrives at the platform, running.  Who is he?  The same monk Kelly had spoken to before!