I know.
- I know that I have been slacking on my blogging responsibilities.
- I know that people are waiting to hear about what has been going on over here in Italia.
- I know I need to do it everyday.
I don't want to make excuses for myself, because that is not very responsible or mature, but I would like to try and explain the reasons behind my silent blog.
Despite all these things that I know, I simply haven't been able to sit myself down everyday and just "blog". Being a writer, my mind just doesn't really work that way. I need to first jot down ideas, then write a draft, then go over the draft and revise, revise, revise, (obviously some writing I can just jam out in a short period of time, but it usually isn't very good or interesting.) I need this process in order to transform my writing into something I am proud of and something worth reading.
But, just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been writing. I have two journals with me on this trip. One is an educational journal/notebook for class. One is a personal journal. I write in both almost everyday. The educational one I bring with me everywhere and write notes about the places I have been visiting. I also just write down things I notice, or things that fascinate me, or things that are peculiar. In other words, it is chock- filled with notes, quotes, questions, facts, sketches etc. The personal journal is my introspective writing. It is where I have been writing my thoughts, reactions and feelings about everything that has happened.
But continueing with my original statement, I need time to process everything that happens, especially on a trip like this, where I have been seeing and doing things that are completely new, outrageous, magnificent, breath-taking and mind-boggling all at the same time.
Additionally, it has been hard because this trip has been completely off the charts. When I say, "off the charts", I mean that everyday is different. I never know what to expect when I wake up in the morning. The first week was a whirlwind of walking, seeing the most important sites in the city, (4-5 sites per day it seemed like, but that might be an exaggeration,) getting over jetlag, and getting situated/comfortable with a new country and city. Needless to say, it was absoultely overwhelming. When I tried to sit down those nights and write about my day, I didn't even know where to start! With everything we were doing, I would come back and it would seem like I had just had two or three days of experiences all in one. Looking back, I also think I was still in overdrive mode. I didn't want to stop and write things down, I wanted to go experience and explore and soak up everything I possibly could.
The second week slowed down a little bit, and at the same time we all became more comfortable with the city so we started doing more things at night and during our free afternoons. Instead of blogging, I chose to go experience the city and explore, something I love to do and something I came here to do, because I think the best way to learn is through experience, and supplementing it with reading and discussions and writing. Going and seeing something firsthand is much more educational and meaningful for me, then simply sitting and reading a book about something.
Anyway, the third week was an eventful one, we were finally let go and were allowed to/ expected to go do our own "excursions," which at first was odd for us because we had spent so much time going and going and going the two weeks before it. Halfway through this week we went on our, much anticipated, first trip out of Rome, which turned out to be a, "Beauty and the Beast" experience. Part of it was spectacular and heavenly, and part of it was extremely harrowing.
Now we are back in Rome, with only 9 days left on this crazy ride. Things have calmed down and I am starting to have a little time to make sense of everything that has gone on. I'm starting to get a little sad about leaving, so I'm trying to make the most of the last few days I have here. On top of everything else, without even realizing it, I have become at home here, in Rome. Though my dreams of grandeur, (becoming completely assimilated into the Italian culture and being a "real italian,") were abandoned long ago, I have found a happy medium. I am completely comfortable in the city, partly because it reminds me a lot like New York, and partly because I have gone out there and seen almost all of it. I have found my favorite places to go, the park around Castel San' Angelo, Trastevere, Campo di Fiori, the little caffe down the street where I get cappuccino, the gelateria around the corner and of course "The Billa"(local supermarket.) I go out in the morning to different places, (if theres time I stop in for a cappuccino before leaving) , then I come back and have a nice lunch of prosciutto and mozzarella on crostini or yogurt(all things I've gotten from the billa). In the afternoon, I go out again for another excursion or go to the park and write, or shop. We have "class" at 6, and dinner following it. Some nights we have been making it ourselves in the kitchen of the dorm, sometimes we go out to a cute ristorante. At some point there is a gelato run and probably some walking around different areas of the city following that. Obviously everyday is different like I said earliar, but since being back in Rome this is the way things have been playing out. I also need to point out something I have noticed, simply put, my body loves Italy. I have taken very well to all of the fresh food, excessive amounts of walking and sun. I don't know what I'm going to do when I can't walk everywhere, eat fresh food everyday and get a nice golden tan without even trying. Thinking about it, I don't know what it is going to be like coming home, or in what ways this trip will have changed or affected me, (all I do know at this point is that I am going to go through some serious, walking, pasta, cappuccino and gelato withdrawls.)
On a final note I want to reference one of my favorite writers of all time. In his book a Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway says that you can't write about a place until you have left. You need time to process everything, internalize it, and then, once you have removed yourself from the place you can actually think clearly and write about it. This is an idea that I believe very adamantly.
I think that you can't fully make sense of a place or appreciate it fully, until you leave it. I know this from personal experience. It took me going all the way to New Orleans, Louisiana for college to find my true appreciation and love for New York City, my hometown. I think that Rome ,and Italy in general, will be the same way. Once I get home I will be processing this trip for a very long time. I truly believe I will benefit from everything that has happened to me here in someway or another.
This all being said, I will be blogging about everyday I have spent here and every experience that has touched me from this trip, (it's very likely that I will be blogging about this trip long after it has ended as well.) So, I am asking all of you to simply be patient. Some of the things I have seen and done here have been so amazing, I cannot wait to share them with the world! Just hang in there, because there is definitely a lot more to come. Ciao Ciao!
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